Meeting enterprise data growth challenges head-on, the Spectra Cube Tape Library delivers enormous scalability to keep pace with unpredictable data growth.

Choose from a range of base configurations and scale up to 1,670 LTO tape cartridges in increments of 10 slots for capacity on demand. Incorporating between 1-30 Half-Height (HH), 1-16 Full-Height (FH), or a combination of FH and HH LTO tape drives you can consolidate and store up to 50.1 PB native using LTO-10 or 125.3 PB (2.5:1 compressed) maximum using LTO-10 tape cartridges, of enterprise data.

Scalability to meet uncertain data growth

Buy only what you need today for backup and archive, and then expand the library for higher capacity and performance as your data grows.

The Spectra Cube Tape Library is capable of scaling capacity in as little as 10 LTO slots at a time. Both FH and HH tape drives can be used in the Cube with 1 to 30 HH, 1 to 16 FH drives, or a combination of FH and HH. When frame capacity reaches a maximum slot count or more throughput is required, additional Cube libraries may be installed to expand the libraries capacity and total drive count.

Notes: The Cube can support both full-height (LTO-6, LTO-7, LTO-8, LTO-9 and LTO-10) and half-height (LTO-6, 7, 8 and 9) drives.

Media Handling

TeraPack® magazines are unique in how they are used in the library. TeraPack magazines increase library density beyond all competition. Multiple tape cartridges are grouped in a single magazine that is used throughout the library and beyond. Library robotics can transport a TeraPack within the library and select a requested tape from the TeraPack magazine. In this unique architecture, each TeraPack magazine equals 10 x LTO media tape slots. A robot can move a bar-coded TeraPack magazine that contains 10 pieces of media in a single robotic move, while other tape libraries require 10 separate robotic moves to accomplish this task.

Traditional libraries organize tapes one-tape-deep along the library chassis wall. The Cube library uses TeraPack magazine cases to store tapes, with each TeraPack case extending into the library’s interior. This provides Spectra Tape Libraries with very high density, allowing more tapes in a given area than competitors’ libraries.

The library’s TeraPack Access Port (TAP)provides a practical and efficient method for inserting and removing media. To simplify use and reduce time spent on data protection, Spectra Tape Libraries provide a configurable entry/exit pool, so all magazines to be exported are identified before the operator unloads media. The TeraPack cases can be swiftly unloaded through the front TAP, 10 LTO tapes at a time. Because tapes are loaded in multiple quantities, bulk loads and unloads save significant time.

LumOS Management Software

The Spectra Cube Tape Library provides a graphical interface that is extremely easy to use. You can monitor and manage the library from the tape library’s front panel or remotely. Reporting is also straightforward. The library, drive and media status can be viewed at a glance with complete reporting available if needed at the touch of a button. LumOS is included as a standard feature.

Library Lifecycle Management

LumOS Library Lifecycle Management (LLM) tracks the library and its components across the library’s lifecycle. Through Hardware Health Monitoring (HHM), LumOS tracks maintenance thresholds for key library components and notifies you when maintenance tasks are required to keep your library in optimum operating condition. When a component reaches its maintenance threshold, the status bar displays a Maintenance Notification icon and automatic e-mail alerts may be generated.

Library Lifecycle Management (LLM) collects or maintains the following information

• – Library serial number and name (if configured)
• – Information about key library components monitored by HHM including maintenance thresholds transporter moves including drive- o-drive moves, drive-to-slot moves, slot-to-slot moves, slot-to-drive moves, and importing/exporting media

Drive Lifecycle Management (DLM)

DLM gathers data each time a tape is unloaded from a drive. The data stored by the library includes the following information about the last 50 tapes unloaded:

• – Read/write errors, including soft and hard errors
• – Tape alerts
• – Flags generated while the tape was loaded in the drive
• – Recent errors or recent information posted through the drive’s single-character display

The library uses this data to generate a report on overall drive health as well as health reports for individual drives. These reports, along with LumOS drive clean, test, and resets, help you determine whether a problem exists with a drive, a tape, or another library component

Drive Performance Monitoring

The Drive Performance Monitor lets you get the most out of your library by ensuring that drives are performing at the highest possible throughput rate. Performance monitoring graphically displays the read/write performance of the drives in the library. Metrics can be tracked per individual drive or by tracking overall library throughput.

EnergyAudit Power Monitoring

EnergyAudit, the LumOS power monitoring feature, tracks power use over time and by component. Customers can use this information to adjust and optimize power use. Tracking this data becomes increasingly important as energy prices continue to climb.

Auto Drive Clean

Auto Drive Clean provides library‐based cleaning of drives without user intervention. The Auto Drive Clean feature uses a dedicated cleaning partition with specially labeled Maintenance TeraPacks. The cleaning partition can be shared by multiple storage partitions and is used by the library to automatically clean drives whenever necessary.

Automated drive cleaning results in fewer failed tape read/write operations and is the recommended method for cleaning drives.

Advanced Reporting

Syslog

A Syslog server is used to easily monitor all system messages. Once configured, the library automatically sends all system messages to a designated Linux server that has been configured to support Syslog. Syslog is a standard for forwarding log messages over an Internet Protocol (IP) computer network. It provides separation of the software that generates log messages from the system that stores the messages.

AutoSupport Logs (ASL)

The Spectra Cube Tape Library has a Phone Home feature, AutoSupport, which can be configured to automatically create and send e-mail messages about issues or problems to designated e-mail users, including technical support. The data included in these e-mail messages include trace information, log data, a system description, and information about any message or issue. You can also elect to copy this same data to a USB device, if security concerns prevent the use of automatic outbound e-mail. You can set whether some or all messages are sent, per severity level of the message. This easy-to-use and easy-to-administer feature helps identify issues before they turn into problems and speeds the resolution of problems. If the site is set up to use SSL, the Phone Home service uses the secure connection; otherwise, the service uses the network.

Best in class reliability

As data becomes more and more mission critical, and downtime becomes more costly to the enterprise, customers are requiring high availability consolidated storage solutions which offer hot-plug components and redundancies of key operating subsystems (tape drives, power supplies, control modules and filters).

Data Encryption for added security

ESKM: The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Secure Key Manager, using the industry-standard KMIP protocol, reduces your risk of a costly data breach and reputation damage while improving regulatory compliance with a secure centralized encryption key management solution for LTO-10, LTO-9, LTO-8, LTO-7 and LTO-6 Technology drives within the Spectra Cube Tape Library. In addition, the ESKM provides strong auditable security and reliable lifetime key archival. The ESKM with KMIP and LTO-10/LTO-9/LTO-8/LTO-7/LTO-6 Technology drive encryption in the Spectra Cube Tape Library provides a complete and secure privacy solution to protect customer’s confidential data.

BlueScale Professional Encryption

BlueScale Professional Encryption offers LTO users integrated encryption key management provided through the library’s user interface and is the only truly integrated encryption key management option for data on tape. Secure and easy to use, BlueScale Professional Encryption provides powerful key management features for encryption and decryption and is suitable for customers who desire more than one encryption key for all data stored by a single tape library. BlueScale Professional Encryption has the capability to manage up to 30 individual encryption keys on the tape library. The BlueScale user interface manages the encryption keys without any need for an external server, reducing operational complexity.

Spectra SKLM Encryption

For organizations with more complex and extensive encryption requirements, Spectra SKLM Encryption Key Management is time tested and proven across enterprise-level customers requiring the highest standard of encryption security. With Spectra SKLM, customers can deploy a centralized and redundant key management solution that meets the most complex key management requirements. Spectra SKLM allows multiple tape libraries to connect to a centralized key manager, giving all of the libraries access to the same encryption key store. Optional redundancy provided by Spectra SKLM provides high availability of the encryption keys.

Bulk media import/export for significant time savings

The Cube library Center TeraPack Access Point (TAP) allows for up to 10 LTO tape cartridges to be imported or exported into the library at one time.

LTO Ultrium Technology

LTO (Linear Tape Open) Ultrium Tape Drives use best of breed technology. By taking the best features from other tape technologies and combining them into a single new technology, Ultrium tape drives are in a league of their own. LTO technology is an open industry standard format.

Data Rate Matching

Data Rate Matching combines sophisticated buffer management with variable tape drive motor speeds to match the tape drive transfer rate to the host output. This feature ensures that the tape drive continues to stream data regardless of the environment, and brings three big advantages:

• – It optimizes performance and maximizes overall efficiency, allowing the drive to respond immediately to any data speed changes from the host.
• – It minimizes rewinding and repositioning of the tape, significantly reducing physical wear and increasing reliability.
• – It minimizes the power requirements for the drive by reducing the number of repositions needed.

WORM (Write-Once, Read-Many) Drive and Media Support

Critical to the success of data retention policies in highly regulated environments is the ability to store and manage data in an unalterable state. Following stringent guidelines set forth by regulatory agencies such as the SEC and HIPAA, IT organizations must now integrate new solutions and policies that can verify the integrity of stored data for periods that can extend well beyond seven years.

Every generation of LTO Ultrium since LTO-3 tape drives features the ability to archive and store data in a read-only, non-rewritable format that meets the most stringent regulatory guidelines. Using a combination of integrated fail-safe features in the drive firmware, cartridge memory, and tape formatting, LTO Ultrium provides the ability to archive large amounts of data for periods of up to 30 years in a secure, untampered state. Ultrium tape drives include support for both rewritable and WORM media providing a secure, long-term archiving solution into any data protection strategy. LTO Ultrium WORM provides the following advantages:

• – A single drive to support all backup and archiving needs
• – Two distinctive tape cartridges to easily distinguish and manage both rewriteable and WORM data cartridges
• – A specially designed WORM data cartridge with multiple integrated fail-safe features to prevent accidental or intentional overwriting of data
• – Support from many backup and archiving software vendors, providing the most comprehensive and mainstream support in the industry

Spectra Certified Media

Spectra Certified Media is designed to ensure that customers have the most reliable and automated tape storage available. No other supplier places as much emphasis on continual enhancements and features that simplify all aspects of the media management process.

From manufacturer selection to testing and customer shipment, every step of the certified media process is designed to ensure you have the most reliable and automated tape storage available.

Quality

Hewlett Packard Enterprise believes that the test program for HPE Ultrium storage supplies is the most thorough and comprehensive in the industry. In order to carry the HPE Brand, designated cartridges must satisfy an exhaustive battery of additional procedures that relate directly to how the product is used in real life situations when real data and real businesses are at stake. Some of these procedures - e.g. "five corner" environmental interchange, load/unload for automation, ageing simulation and drop testing are not found in the standard logo test. These exhaustive tests on media and both HPE and non-HPE drives ensure that HPE LTO Ultrium storage supplies will always offer maximum reliability even in the most extreme conditions. Unique to Spectra Certified Media is an additional proprietary cleaningprocess gives further peace of mind for Spectra Cube, T950 and Spectra TFinity Plus library customers.

Intelligence

Media Lifecycle Management (MLM) reduces the most common media-related failures. MLM allows you to proactively manage your tape inventory through simple monitoring of over 40 health statistics and automatically identifies at-risk tapes ready for retirement.

Verification

Spectra TeraPack Media assures data integrity using an integrated, intelligent and comprehensive set of Data Integrity Verification (DIV) tools when integrated with your tape library. PreScan verifies your tapes are safe prior to usage and QuickScan and FullScan verify your data has been properly written to tape.

Protect

When combining Spectra Certified Media and our tape library family’s integrated Encryption Key Management, your data is protected with a straightforward, easily installed solution.

Management

Media arrives on customer’s doorsteps, individual tapes unwrapped with pre-applied barcode labels bundled in TeraPack magazines and ready for bulk-loading into your tape library.

Warranty

Lifetime Guarantee warrants our tapes to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for the life of the media. All Spectra storage media products are supported by a worldwide network of resellers and service providers as well as toll-free 24 X 7 technical phone support during the warranty period.

Data Integrity Verification

Spectra Cube, T950 and TFinity Plus Tape Libraries’ data integrity verification features a set of background processes that provide multiple levels of integrity verification for LTO data cartridges. These features help ensure that data stored over any length of time, including archived data stored for years, can be retrieved as needed. These processes include PreScan and PostScan (QuickScan or FullScan). PreScan checks newly imported tapes to make sure they are ready to use (for example, in good health and not write-protected.) FullScan verifies readability of all the data written on the tape. Quickscan verifies the readability of the data on a single pass of the tape.

PreScan:

Once configured, the library automatically inserts each newly imported LTO cartridge into a tape drive in the partition and checks the drive to determine the following about the cartridge:

• – Non-MLM-enabled tape
• – Broken or dislodged leader
• – Poor media health
• – Write protected
• – Encrypted tape with a moniker not currently stored in the library

PostScan

After data is written to tape, a PostScan can be conducted to verify that the data written to the tape has no errors. Using QuickScan , the drive will scan each LTO cartridge and confirm that there are no media errors on the tape by reading either a single length of one wrap of tape or the entire length of the tape, up to the end of the recorded data (EOD).

The PostScan process is performed by the library independently of the backup application normally used to read and write data to the tape. The results of the scan are stored in the library’s media-health database. The user can set triggers to check the health of tapes over an interval of time, to ensure that the data is valid. You can also verify a specific tape’s data integrity manually/by request.