IT Pro Gives RDX QuikStation 8 5 Stars
A highly versatile and speedy RDX IP SAN backup appliance that's priced right
for SMB's
Pros:
- Huge potential capacity
- Virtually unbeatable compatibility
- Good Value
Verdict:
The
QuikStation 8 is a great, affordable solution for SMBs that want total control over their backups. Along with good performance and virtually unlimited capacity, it has the power to handle multiple backup jobs simultaneously, and the myriad device emulation modes ensure it'll work with almost any backup product.
Tandberg Data's RDX removable drive technology is a great backup option for small businesses. The sturdy RDX cartridges are built to last, the hardware is cheaper than LTO tape drives, and the latest 4TB cartridges clearly show there's no slacking in the development department.
The new
QuikStation 8 makes the format even more appealing, with big improvements over the QuikStation 4. This 2U rack chassis houses eight SATA RDX drives, presented as iSCSI targets, with quad Gigabit Ethernet connections, plus a single 10GBase-T port. Inside, the processor's been upgraded from an Intel Atom to a much more potent 3.6GHz Core i3.
It also offers even more emulation modes than before: by default, the appliance presents all eight drives as separate targets, which appear to initiators as standard removable drives. But alternatively, it can now emulate a single disk autoloader with eight slots, or two separate fixed or removable logical volumes, using the upper or lower rows of drives.
LTO tape library emulation also makes a welcome return: the appliance can now pretend to be a
Overland
StorageLoader LTO with
eight slots and one LTO drive, or an
Overland Storage T24 Library with
two LTO drives. If you want the best of both worlds, the hybrid mode lets you have a four-slot StorageLoader LTO and four standard RDX drives.
On top of all this, there's also a protected mode, which presents the drives as fixed or removable logical volumes with either single or dual-drive redundancy. Along with support for SSD-based cartridges, Tandberg also provides free software utilities for encrypting cartridges or turning them into WORM (write once read many) media for regulatory compliant archives.
It's all controlled from a powerful web interface: this opens with a list of drives and cartridges, from which you can eject, erase or test selected media. Sensibly, when a host is logged on to a drive, you can't erase its media from the console, nor use the manual unload buttons on the appliance.