Ditto on previous responders - A current AIX box like the p660 is the absolute best way to go.
Rember that I/O, I/O, it's all about I/O - don't skimp on fast disk for the server, enough buses to your tape drives. When in doubt, assume you will have the same performance issues as on your mainframe - the more paths the better. Don't sweat it too much for the initial configuration - as one responder said, just make sure you have enough expandability to add adapters & memory in the future, as you need them. And WHATEVER you do, don't skimp on tape drive quality- TSM beats them to death. Many of the types of drives you see people using in network environments are cheap for a reason - they just aren't as durable under load as the types of drives you are used to in a mainframe environment. For what you describe, based on my personal experience I would not consider ANYTHING but LTO2, IBM3590, or STK9840/9940 in terms of speed/reliability. All those work great. (But because you expect rapid storage growth, that probably rules on the 9840, maybe the 9940 also.) Then it's a matter of balancing your costs - you can get the LTO2 drives at much less cost than the 359x. Given that you already have 3494's, this might help you: Did you know that you can SHARE your 3494 with your AIX box? It's not hard; we do with Windows (rather than AIX). And you can order a field-upgrade kit and have IBM CONVERT some of your ESCON 3590's to Fibre 3590's that can be used with AIX. That's what we did a couple years ago, converted some of the 3590E drives to TSM use, share the 3494 between TSM/Windows and OS/390. We also bought an Ethernet card for the 3494 (non-OS/390 systems communicate with the robot via either the Lan or a serial cable, rather than ESCON). You might consider that as an interim strategy for one of your 3494's. Also, buying an additional storage frame (no drives, just slots) for the 3494 is inexpensive - about $16000, I think. Both the 3494 (3590 drives) and the 3484 (LTO2) are both EXCELLENT choices, just depends on what works with your budget and schedule. My opinions, hope it helps.. Wanda Prather -----Original Message----- From: Nancy R. Brizuela [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2004 7:19 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Sizing an AIX platform and tape libraries Hello All, We will be phasing out our OS/390 mainframe in the next few years. Currently, we have our TSM server installed on the mainframe, so we will need to move it off and on to something else. Based on conversations to this list and the Redbook, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Implementation Guide, I believe that we definitely need to move to AIX. The above Redbook is not very helpful as far as sizing the AIX machine, saying that it is an "inexact" art. Here are our current and future requirements: 1) Right now we are backing up about 150 GB/ night, but we need to add Exchange and a new student information system (Banner) to this. We are estimating that we will soon grow to at least 500 -600 GB/night. 2) Workload consists of 95 clients, consisting of from small 20-30gb Unix and Windows systems, to DB (Oracle) and file servers with half to one terabyte of storage. This will grow to 120 or so clients soon. 3) We are currently storing 10.7 TB total data in two libraries, one local tape library and a second copy of everything at a remote tape library (3494 ATLs w/3590 E drives). Looks like this storage could triple, given how much we will be backing up each night (15 TB in each location). 4) Network is Gigabit Ethernet. 5) We would like to use one large server vs. multiple servers. Does anyone have a similar scenario that is on AIX that works well? Please describe, including tape libraries! Does anyone know of any additional guidance available on choosing an AIX platform size and choosing an appropriate tape library? Thanks! Nancy Brizuela University of Wyoming IBM Systems Group Ivinson Room 238 (307)766-2958
