Tandberg Data BAKStor 1000-12 review

For testing, we used a single Gigabit Ethernet link to the appliance and created a RAID0 stripe across two drives, which we split into virtual disk and tape slices. Using Microsoft's Software Initiator 1.06, we logged on to a virtual tape slice whereupon our Windows Server 2003 system automatically loaded its embedded LTO-2 driver. CA's ARCserve r11 also had no problem recognising the virtual tape drive and reported an impressive 26.4MB/sec while securing a 9GB mixture of test data from the server. Performance for standard iSCSI disk targets was reasonable, with the open-source Iometer reporting transfer rates of 76MB/sec with two workers.

Backup facilities to local tape drives or tape libraries extend to selecting a slice and scheduling jobs for regular intervals. You can request a snapshot to be taken prior to the job starting, but bear in mind you can only secure or restore a disk or tape slice in its entirety and can't view the contents of the physical tape. We successfully ran tests using a Tandberg Data SDLT600 and saw backup performance of 15MB/sec while securing a disk slice.

Combining virtual tape and disk targets into a single device makes the BAKStor extremely versatile. Add in the snapshot and AiiR features, plus support for external tape drives and libraries, and you have a storage system that brings out the best in iSCSI.

Author: Dave Mitchell