How do you address the challenges of cost-effectively managing data in your enterprise, while still optimizing tape utilization and ensuring data integrity?

You know that the data stored in your tape library is critical to the success of your business, and managing this data is a significant, but critical responsibility. As storage requirements are growing at a staggering pace every year, so too do your hardware, labor, and floor space costs.

DSI offers an end-to-end tape data migration solution that easily converts tape media from one format to another or enables the migration of your entire tape library to a new tape storage technology. Our services are performed onsite and offline utilizing proprietary software and stand-alone SCSI, ESCON, or channel-attached hardware devices, resulting in virtually no usage of CPU time and minimal impact on day-to-day operations. Or, if desired, DSI can handle all conversion tasks at one of our secure sites.

This service generates an exact copy of any active tape volume and migrates it to a new tape volume of the same media type. Since the contents of the new volume (including the volume label, for labeled tapes) is not changed, the new volume may be used in place of the old one immediately.

This service generates a bit-for-bit copy of any active tape volume and migrates it to a new tape volume of a different media type. Since the contents of the new volume (including the volume label, for labeled tapes) are not changed, the new volume may immediately replace the old one.

This service stacks multiple active tape volumes (a volume-set) onto one or more new tape volumes of a different media type. The logical structure of the old volume-set is not changed; however, since the new media is of a different media type, the number of volumes in the new volume-set and the dataset’s segment structure may be different.

This service enables multiple datasets from multiple volume-sets to be stacked onto one or more new tape volumes of a different media type. Selective dataset stacking may also be performed. The logical and physical structures of the old volume-sets will be changed since the new media is of a different type and multiple volume-sets are combined.

Tape conversion, volume stacking, and dataset stacking may change the logical and physical structures of the old volume-sets if the new media is of a different type and/or multiple volume-sets are combined onto a reduced number of media volumes. If the tape volumes are under the control of a tape management system (TMS), updates must be made to the TMS database and OS catalog to ensure data integrity.

DSI’s tools for Tape Data Migration automatically analyze the information contained in the customer’s TMS database for the datasets and volume-sets to be stacked and combines them with the new information coming from the stacking operations to generate all input data needed to update both the TMS databases and the OS catalog. This makes the off-line nature of the stacking services transparent to both the TMS and OS catalog. Most popular tape management systems are supported, including CA-1, RMM, TLMS, and Zara.

• Tape Labeling and Initialization
• Tape Label Verification
• TMS Pre- and Post-Processing

• Up to 95% reduction in off-site vaulting costs
• At least 25%-75% improvement in cartridge utilization
• Requires no additional tape mounts
• Onsite delivery of services addresses security issues encountered when required to send tapes offsite
• No need to purchase or lease additional hardware or MIPS
• Reduces floor space requirements
• Ensures critical or deep archive data is usable
• Consolidates long-term retention datasets and volumes