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That is indeed a cheap autoloader. If you would use the full configuration with 2 tape drives, the cost of the system might be around $15k, which is very reaso

That is indeed a cheap autoloader. If you would use the full configuration with 2 tape drives, the cost of the system might be around $15k, which is very reasonable for a tape library with autoloader. I think that this autoloader is a good choice, especially if the price includes "1 x IBM LTO-9 SAS Tape Drive Installed". As I have said, I believe that it is better to choose the option of also including the second tape drive. For the tapes, there is no reason to worry about specific distributors. I have always bought them from Amazon, but shops that are specialized in storage products should be OK, unless they charge a premium price over what can be found at Amazon or Newegg. While the tapes are made by Fuji or Sony, they are usually easier to find and at at lower prices as IBM, HP or Quantum branded tapes. The prices vary, so whichever vendor is cheaper when you buy a batch of tapes should be fine. An LTO-9 cartridge should be only slightly over $100. In time the prices of LTO-9 cartridges should drop. For now they are more expensive than the older cartridges, because they are still relatively new. I store the tapes in Turtle cases: https://turtlecase.com/collections/lto https://turtlecase.com/collections/lto You must check the tape drive requirements for the SAS HBA PCIe card that must be installed in the server, which must have compatible connectors, and you must buy an appropriate SAS cable. I believe that the LTO-9 drives require the newer 12 Gb/s SAS standard and also the newer variant of the external SAS connectors (perhaps SAS HD SFF-8644 connectors). If you already have a 12 Gb/s SAS HBA that has only internal connectors for SSDs, it is possible to reuse it by buying a SAS internal to external adapter of the appropriate connector types, which must occupy one of the empty expansion slots of the server case and which plugs into the internal connectors, while providing external connectors. Such adapters can also be used with server motherboards that have on-board SAS controllers. If you have a SAS HBA card that has external connectors, but different from those on the tape drive, e.g. SAS SFF-8088, there are cables with mixed SAS connectors that can connect the tape drives. The HBA cards usually have at least 2 external SAS connectors, suitable for 2 tape drives. With the autoloader, it should be easy to make the backup or retrieval process completely automatic, so that an operator should not have to visit the tape autoloader more often than at a few months interval, except for the initial phase when you would have to write 2 PB on almost 120 tapes (or a double number for improved redundancy, beyond the redundancy added per each archive file; 2 copies can be stored in 2 different geographic locations, to avoid the catastrophic loss of all tapes), so you would want to keep the tape autoloader in an easily accessible place for that time. The initial cost for writing 2 copies of 2 PB of data, i.e. 4 PB of data, would be not much less than $30k for the tapes. This, together with the autoloader with 2 tape drives, HBA card, cases, cables and maybe adapters, would be in the range of $45k to $50k, so within your estimated budget. As I have said, it is convenient to have a database with the metadata (including content hashes, made e.g. with BLAKE2b-512 or with BLAKE3-256) of all the files that have ever been archived, which shall be used whenever information must be retrieved and which can also be used for deduplication (for which the content hashes are handy), to check whether a file is already present in some earlier archive, so there is no need for its backup.

adrian_b 2y ago
I want to add that when you start testing the tape drives, one of the first things that you need to do is to measure the exact capacity of an 18 TB LTO-9 tape cartridge. For instance, I write the tapes with "dd bs=131072 if="$file_name" of=/dev/nsa0". This means that I am using 128 kB blocks. I have measured that a 6 TB LTO-7 tape cartridge has a capacity of 45905860 such 128 kB blocks. The position of the read/write head, measured in blocks from the beginning of the tape, can be obtained with "mt rdspos". After you choose some block size, e.g. 128 kB, you should forever stick with it in all your write commands and on all your tapes, so that you will always get consistent information about the position of the read/write head. The tape capacity can be measured by writing files, preferably of the same size that you will typically use for archives (in order to write a similar number of file marks), until you get a write error. With the capacity of the tape known exactly, after any writing of a new file you get the current position and you compute the remaining free space on the tape, to know whether you can still append data or you must change the tape. The position in blocks can also be used to verify that the tape drive works OK. For example when after rewinding the tape you go to the end of the written part, to append new files, you must see the same position as after your last write. Or when writing a copy of a tape, you must see the same positions on both tapes for any file. For retrieving files, the position in blocks does not matter, but only the ordinal number of a file. You position the read/write head to the beginning of a file with "mt rewind; mt fsf $file_number". Then you read the file, possibly in a loop if you want to read multiple consecutive files. For going to the end of the written part of a tape, to append new files, you must use "mt locate -e; mt bsf 2; mt fsf", as I have mentioned in a previous posting. The explanation of why this is needed is buried in the documentation about how tape marks and head positioning really work. Whenever I start using the tape drive, I use "mt comp off; mt status" and I check the status output to be as expected. The tape is ejected with "mt -f /dev/esa0 rewind".
- alchemist1e9 2y ago
  I really appreciate all this information you have given. It’s extremely useful for me and details I understand and can use. https://www.cdw.com/product/quantum-superloader-3-with-model-c-drives-tape-autoloader-lto-ultri/7548179 https://www.cdw.com/product/quantum-superloader-3-with-model... Perhaps I should just get equipment from CDW and do my own research. What I wish I had was a vendor who knows this stuff well and had pre-tested Linux/FreeBSD configurations.

adrian_b 2y ago

I want to add that when you start testing the tape drives, one of the first things that you need to do is to measure the exact capacity of an 18 TB LTO-9 tape cartridge. For instance, I write the tapes with "dd bs=131072 if="$file_name" of=/dev/nsa0". This means that I am using 128 kB blocks. I have measured that a 6 TB LTO-7 tape cartridge has a capacity of 45905860 such 128 kB blocks. The position of the read/write head, measured in blocks from the beginning of the tape, can be obtained with "mt rdspos". After you choose some block size, e.g. 128 kB, you should forever stick with it in all your write commands and on all your tapes, so that you will always get consistent information about the position of the read/write head. The tape capacity can be measured by writing files, preferably of the same size that you will typically use for archives (in order to write a similar number of file marks), until you get a write error. With the capacity of the tape known exactly, after any writing of a new file you get the current position and you compute the remaining free space on the tape, to know whether you can still append data or you must change the tape. The position in blocks can also be used to verify that the tape drive works OK. For example when after rewinding the tape you go to the end of the written part, to append new files, you must see the same position as after your last write. Or when writing a copy of a tape, you must see the same positions on both tapes for any file. For retrieving files, the position in blocks does not matter, but only the ordinal number of a file. You position the read/write head to the beginning of a file with "mt rewind; mt fsf $file_number". Then you read the file, possibly in a loop if you want to read multiple consecutive files. For going to the end of the written part of a tape, to append new files, you must use "mt locate -e; mt bsf 2; mt fsf", as I have mentioned in a previous posting. The explanation of why this is needed is buried in the documentation about how tape marks and head positioning really work. Whenever I start using the tape drive, I use "mt comp off; mt status" and I check the status output to be as expected. The tape is ejected with "mt -f /dev/esa0 rewind".

alchemist1e9 2y ago
I really appreciate all this information you have given. It’s extremely useful for me and details I understand and can use. https://www.cdw.com/product/quantum-superloader-3-with-model-c-drives-tape-autoloader-lto-ultri/7548179 https://www.cdw.com/product/quantum-superloader-3-with-model... Perhaps I should just get equipment from CDW and do my own research. What I wish I had was a vendor who knows this stuff well and had pre-tested Linux/FreeBSD configurations.