Quantum Simplifies Archive Migration From Oracle’s SAM-FS/QFS to StorNext

Quantum Corp. has added a new archive conversion feature to its StorNext data management software to simplify migration from legacy archive platforms. This capability provides greater control and significantly shortens ‘time to access’ archived files on third-party archival platforms during migration to the StorNext system. This announcement is the latest enhancement to StorNext software following the addition of LTO-5 tape technology support earlier this year. These advancements reinforce the benefits of StorNext in enabling performance and cost effectiveness for tiered data storage and long-term data retention strategies in enterprise environments.

StorNext’s new Archive Conversion Utility (ACU) is designed to minimize the burden associated with legacy storage platform migrations and significantly reduce the expense and time it takes to move files from existing legacy archives to a StorNext solution. The first release of this conversion tool will support the conversion of data from Oracle/Sun’s SAM-FS and QFS software platform.

"Working closely with the Quantum StorNext team gave us the opportunity to test this exciting new archive utility in our environment," said Robert Plaster, CTO of RPI Consulting. "We are pleased to report that it has been easy to install and configure, and in fact, we’ve successfully converted and validated millions of QFS archived data files. The conversion process has been painless from our QFS archive system and we are now using our QFS archived files with our heterogeneous StorNext clients."

With the ACU, terabytes (TBs) or petabytes (PBs) of archived data located on tape media can be accessed within hours – instead of months – of initiating a data migration to StorNext. Quantum’s innovative approach enables storage administrators to transfer only file system structure and metadata information about the associated data files to the StorNext Storage Manager file server. Once the transfer completes, normally within a matter of hours, all non-StorNext files on original media can be accessed and modified from the StorNext File System. Administrators can control data movement over time from the legacy media to StorNext Storage Manager native media without disruption to the organization’s business workflow operations. This approach provides complete flexibility on how quickly physical data migrates to the StorNext supported system.

"Quantum continues to invest significant development resources behind the advancement of StorNext’s unique capabilities," said Janae Lee, Quantum senior vice president, Disk and Software Products Group. "For enterprises that may feel locked into a limited file and archiving system, our new Archive Conversion Utility makes the migration process straightforward and fast, minimizing the impact on ongoing operations. This utility is another example of how, by leveraging our data management expertise in some of the world’s most demanding and dynamic computing environments, we are focused on bringing cost-efficiency, flexibility and performance benefits to all StorNext customers."

LTO-5 Support
Complementing the ACU, Quantum’s support of LTO-5 in StorNext Storage Manager enables administrators to take advantage of the new performance and capacity improvements available in this latest generation open-source tape technology. LTO-5-based tape libraries offer the lowest cost per gigabyte for data protection and consume less power and footprint, making them a choice for archiving in cost- and energy-conscience enterprise organizations.

StorNext’s Archive Conversion Utility with support for SAM-FS/QFS migration will be available from Quantum’s worldwide distributors and partners in December 2010.