One consideration to make here is that the IBM recommendation for Fibre LTO drives is no more the 2 per HBA. Although taking into consideration that this was with LTO1 drives on 1Gb FC HBAs, I would assume you could get away with up to four LTO1 drives per 2Gb FC HBA, but only 2 LTO2 drives per 2Gb FC HBAs.
Another consideration is that you should isolate tape only traffic to the HBA's serving the drives. Ideally you could have a separate zone on your san switches to serve exactly this purpose (or even have dedicated switches for serving the tape drives should costs allow). As for the ideal of switches or hubs... You should definately go for switches and not hubs. A switch will let you run pretty much full bandwidth across all connected devices whereas a hub is just a looping device so your max throughput is the speed of the SAN, eg 2Gb per second. Hope this provides you with some more food for thought! Cheers Andy Wilcox Midrange Services Aquila Networks Services Ltd > -----Original Message----- > From: Tom Kauffman [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 10 September 2003 17:39 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: How have you got your fiber-attached LTO drives connected to > your TSM server? > > I will be going fiber-attach next year and will have two adapters in my > TSM > server. > > Do I put a fiber switch in the tape library (3584), tie all the drives to > it, and run two fibers back to the TSM server? > > Do I run seperate fibers for all the drives back to my existing switches? > > Do I put a pair of fiber hubs in somewhere, and hook half the drives to > each > hub? > > Ah, yes, it's that wonderful time of year when the leaves start to turn -- > and the next year's budget projections are due :-) > > Tom Kauffman > NIBCO, Inc > CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail and any attachments are for the > exclusive and confidential use of the intended recipient. If you are not > the intended recipient, please do not read, distribute or take action in > reliance upon this message. If you have received this in error, please > notify us immediately by return e-mail and promptly delete this message > and its attachments from your computer system. We do not waive > attorney-client or work product privilege by the transmission of this > message. > > > ************************************************************************** > ************************** > Confidentiality: This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are > confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity > to whom they are addressed. If you have received this e-mail in error, > use of this information (including disclosure, copying or distribution) > may be unlawful. Please notify [EMAIL PROTECTED] and > delete the message immediately. > > Security: Internet e-mail is not a 100% secure communications medium. > > Viruses: This e-mail (and any attachments) has been checked (using Sophos > Sweep 3.68 + patches) and found to be clean from any virus infection > before leaving. > Therefore neither Aquila Networks Services Ltd nor Midlands Electricity > plc or any of their group undertakings (as defined by the Companies Act > 1989) (together referred to as the "Companies") accept legal > responsibility for this message or liability for the consequences of any > computer viruses which may have been transmitted by this e-mail. > > Monitoring: All electronic communications with the Companies may be > monitored in accordance with the UK Regulation of Investigatory Powers > Act, Lawful Business Practice Regulations, 2000. If you do not consent to > such monitoring, you should contact the sender of this e-mail. > > Aquila Networks Services Limited, > Registered office: Whittington Hall, Whittington, Worcester, WR5 2RB > Registered in England and Wales number 3600545 > This e-mail may be sent on behalf of any of the Companies. > ************************************************************************** > **************************