Page 10 of 12 Why Choose Native Fibre Channel Backup? July 2001 Tape drive speed is better utilized because data can be streamed directly to tape instead of being held up by server performance limitations. Backups can take place at any time without impacting the network or servers, completely eliminating the concept of a limited backup window. Data recovery is quicker because frequent “snapshots” of the network are more convenient to perform; backup tapes contain more recent versions of data, so there is less work to recreate and business can resume more quickly. Be aware that some tape systems implement serverless backup by attaching a storage router that manages the data movement between the SAN and the tape drive.  Exabyte’s M2 is the first tape drive to offer built-in serverless backup support.  The router—  an expensive piece of equipment that is a potential point of failure and a source of performance bottlenecks—  is unnecessary. Bypassing the server boosts backup performance, eliminates backup window constraints, and allows servers and backup devices to be used more efficiently. 4 3 2 1 Local Area Network Server Disks Tape drive Fibre Channel switch Server issues Extended Copy command across SAN to tape drive Tape drive instructs disks to read and send data Disks send requested data across SAN to tape drive Tape drive writes data to tape Figure 2 Serverless backup between disks and a tape drive on a Fibre Channel SAN p1   p2   p3   p4   p5   p6   p7   p8   p9   p10   p11   p12