Fujitsu Siemens Computers and Fujitsu Services implement comprehensive Linux Based Cluster storage solution for ADMA-OPCO

The project consisted of a complete change of infrastructure and operating system and had to be implemented in several phases owing to the complexity of the project. Nearly 8.5TB (tera-bytes) of archive data had to be migrated to a new back-up environment, while ensuring minimum disruption to ADMA-OPCO's backup clients.

Hardware used in the project included two Fujitsu Siemens Primergy TX300 servers and one Storage Array providing cluster infrastructure, RedHat Linux Advance Server 2.1 cluster, Fujitsu Siemens Scalar 100 Tape library with LTO2 tape drives and SAN (Storage Area Network) module, 8-port Fiber Channel switch to provide SAN infrastructure, and a Fiber Channel router.

ADMA-OPCO's first requirement was to upgrade its legacy Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) 5.1, running on a proprietary server, to the new TSM 5.2 running on a clustered Linux platform. The existing TSM 5.1 was connected to a tape library over a SCSI (small computer system interface), so the second requirement was to implement a new Scalar 100 tape library with SAN module. The existing tape library was moved to the same SAN environment in parallel, thus enabling fiber channel connectivity between the TSM Linux 5.2 cluster, and both existing and new tape libraries.

"Our primary requirement was an efficient data back-up system to complement the increasing growth and complexity of our business operations. We chose this solution as it was found to be the most cost-effective one among various offerings that we evaluated," said Ali Al-Shafey, Technical Services Team Leader, ADMA-OPCO.

"Oil and gas exploration companies like ADMA-OPCO collect voluminous data to aid the exploration process and there is a need for more advanced solutions for storage and data management. We worked together with Fujitsu Services to provide a solution that was not only cost-effective, but also compatible with ADMA-OPCO's legacy system," said Colin Britto, Sales Manager, Large Enterprises, Gulf Region, Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

"Fujitsu Services chose to implement a new tape library over the SAN module as SAN can simplify the backup process and consolidate the management of backup operations while taking advantage of the reliability of data integrity offered by a fibre channel SAN connectivity. Moreover, SAN access technology allowed us to enable fiber channel connectivity with ADMA-OPCO's existing SCSI tape library and the new SAN driven tape library, "said Ivan Shishkov, Account Manager - Oil and Gas, Fujitsu Services.

In the first phase of the project, Fujitsu Services installed the RedHat Linux AS 2.1 on both Fujitsu Siemens Primergy TX300 servers and a cluster aware Fujitsu Siemens SX30 was used as a shared storage to build the cluster. After that, TSM 5.2 was installed on the shared storage and was configured as a cluster aware application service. The service was tested by simulating some failures to ensure that failover occurred as expected.

Once the tape library functionality was proven on TSM 5.2, the third phase of the project was migration of backup client configuration and historical data. Since migration of 8.5TB of data is a time-consuming task, it was broken into several smaller tasks. Fujitsu Services moved all ADMA-OPCO's historical and archival data to the new TSM 5.2 cluster, while ensuring that the old library remained connected to the existing server to maintain access to historical data.