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Oracle has added an analytics option to the administration of StorageTek, the tape storage franchise it inherited in the Sun Microsystems acquisition.
The Redwood City, Calif.-based giant on April 9 announced Oracle’s StorageTek Tape Analytics, which is intelligent, automated monitoring and management software for StorageTek tape libraries.
Many StorageTek deployments can number in the thousands of cartridges, so the automated control of tape management in these cases is a welcome addition to many IT shops.
Management, Not Data Analytics
Oracle said that StorageTek Tape Analytics is designed to simplify tape management by eliminating manual intervention, which saves time and improves operations. It should be made clear that this software does not perform analytics on the data stored on the tape.
The analytics software captures library, drive and media performance metrics and presents them to a single control console. It can proactively identify potential problems–such as capacity limitations, intrusion entry points, and others–while providing immediate recommendations to prevent data loss, Oracle said.
StorageTek Tape Analytics also allows rapid drill-down into detailed drive and media health specifics, enabling users to proactively make decisions about their tape infrastructure, as well as reduce downtime and data management resources, Oracle said.
Key features, according to Oracle, include:
- monitoring of tape infrastructure globally from a single analytics management server deployment. (This single, global view is also ideal for users with cloud deployments using tape for backup or archive. Additional management servers and switches are not required at each library location.)
- use of the management server to gather data directly from the tape libraries, rather than interrupting the data path and exposing sensitive data to a separate monitoring environment.
- scalability to meet the needs of the largest archives.
Oracle will host a Webcast April 10 at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET to provide more information on the new software package.