Regardless of size, most organizations face the same data management challenge—efficiently and cost-effectively protecting ever-growing data. Whether you are managing gigabytes or several petabytes of data, finding the optimal backup and archive solution is critical to staying nimble and responsive to your changing business requirements. No matter how much data your organization manages, it is the core of your success.
Spectra® tape libraries offer exclusive efficiencies for small to large businesses all the way to the largest, most data-dependent enterprises. Every Spectra library lowers costs—through significantly reduced management time, lower power and footprint usage, and on-demand scalability; reduces risk—through very high reliability, decreased downtime, and pain-free encryption; and saves time—through extreme ease of use and management by leveraging our BlueScale® software interface.
BlueScale®: Simple, Yet Powerful Library Management
BlueScale is the common software management interface for all Spectra libraries and brings enterprise command and control features right to your fingertips. Available through each library’s on-board LCD color touchscreen and also through remote web access, BlueScale is an easy-to-navigate, browser-based library management tool that enables our storage solutions to work easily, flexibly and safely with your data.
• Monitor your tape’s activity and health with Media Lifecycle Management (MLM)
• Track hardware health with Library Lifecycle Management (LLM)
• Monitor your drive’s health with Drive Lifecycle Management (DLM)
• Verify the integrity before writing to your Spectra Certified Media with PreScan
• Verify the integrity of the data stored on your Spectra Certified Media with QuickScan and FullScan
• Manage from anywhere using a secure web browser
• Monitor power usage with EnergyAudit™
• Monitor the interior of your library through a web-based camera
• Secure your data through integrated encryption with key management
• Support multiple partitions in a single library with Shared Library Services (SLS)
Complete Lifecycle Management
For highly reliable tape archive and backup, Spectra libraries track and report the expected lifetime utilization thresholds for tape media, drives and library components. With advance notification, you can address any potential concerns about the critical components of your entire library before they become an operational issue.
To ensure the viability of your data, Media Lifecycle Management (MLM) tracks and reports on health and security related statistics for Spectra Certified Media. Detailed reporting mitigates media problems and restore issues, allowing you to copy and move your data onto new media before degraded media affects your data.
Like MLM, Drive Lifecycle Management (DLM) extends the same proactive approach to drives by integrating tape drive analysis and reporting within the library. Using easy-to-manage, color-coded icons, you can quickly identify the health status of a drive. DLM also offers easy-to-use tape drive diagnostics to test and verify drive health and operation.
Managing the health of your library’s critical components is made easy with Library Lifecycle Management (LLM). By delivering utilization metrics relative to the expected useful life of library robotics, filters and other critical components; you are able to service your library before issues occur.
Data Integrity Verification
To give you data integrity verification on tape, Spectra’s BlueScale management interface offers a sophisticated suite of features that allows you to actively check data already written to tape. Each process is performed by the library independent of the application used to read and write data.
PreScan
ensures that tapes are usable and can accept data. PreScan checks each imported tape and verifies that the tape can be written to, scanning the tape for potential issues including broken or dislodged leader, poor media health and write-protected status.
QuickScan
confirms that a single track (one direction) can be read. QuickScan scans a tape uni-directionally by reading the length of one track of the tape to provide a rapid indicator of integrity of data written.
FullScan
checks an entire tape to ensure that all sectors can be read. FullScan confirms that there are no media errors on the tape by reading the entire length of the tape up to the end of the recorded data.
After the PreScan, QuickScan and FullScan operations are complete, the library stores the information into a database. Users can set triggers to check the health of tapes over an interval of time to ensure that the data is valid. Users can also verify a specific tape’s data integrity on request. This process allows for rapid spot-checks of data integrity.
Exclusive TranScale® Architecture
Spectra has developed another industry first concept that protects your initial investment in storage—TranScale. The TranScale® architecture utilizes components that are interchangeable among our Spectra Libraries, allowing you to seamlessly transform and scale (TranScale) your library as your organization grows.
LTO Technology
LTO (Linear Tape-Open) Ultrium Technology is optimized for high capacity and performance with exceptional reliability in either a stand-alone or an automated environment. Ideally suited for backup, deep storage and archive applications, the LTO tape format establishes a new benchmark for large volume data protection and archive. LTO technology will meet the needs of the enterprise with a roadmap and migration path that extends into the next decade.
Spectra Certified Media: Efficient Management and Data Assurance
Spectra Certified Media is ready to use when you receive it: cleaned with CarbideClean,® pre-labeled, pre-loaded in TeraPacks, and covered by Spectra’s Lifetime Media Guarantee. Our Certified Media offers a wide range of media options: bulk or individual cartridges, cleaning cartridges, and custom and standard bar-code labels. Spectra’s Certified tapes also support Media Lifecycle Management for lifetime health tracking and notification of at-risk media. We also offer custom-fit Iron Mountain cases for secure offsite handling.
Efficiently managing hundreds of tapes is an ongoing challenge. Spectra’s patented solution: TeraPack® media containers. The unique TeraPack design gives Spectra’s libraries unrivaled storage density, offers secure stacking for storage and provides you with highly efficient media handling. The 9- and 10-tape TeraPack containers allow for bulk media loading which can reduce the time you spend handling tapes up to 90%.
