Tape Capacities Show No Sign of Slowing Down

LTO Generation:-

The LTO consortium announced the availability of LTO-8, the next generation of LTO tape technology.  LTO is run by three technology provider companies (TPCs), namely HPE, IBM, and Quantum.  Since the first products were released in 2000, LTO media has increased from 100GB capacity with LTO-1 to 12TB on LTO-8.  The future shows a roadmap of cartridges capable of holding half a petabyte of compressed data within another decade.

Timeline of the growth of LTO media from 2000 to 2017

LTO Roadmap


Figure 1 shows the LTO timeline of product releases, with capacities and throughput.  The right axis shows capacity, scaling from 100GB to 12,000GB with LTO-8.  I’ve drawn the graph with a logarithmic scale because the early products don’t show on the graph at all.  Figures are quoted in GB because the graph would revert to negative numbers when using TB capacities (100GB = 0.1TB, but is negative on a log scale).  The right axis shows throughput in MB/s, from 20MB/s initially, to 300MB/s with LTO-8.  Again this scale is logarithmic.

We can see straight-line growth improvements in capacity from the technology, to the point you can almost draw a line with a ruler across the data points.  Throughput has been more challenging, with modest improvements until the jump at LTO-6.  LTO-9 onwards (where the figures are projections rather than actual) show bigger jumps in performance.  There are two straight-line leaps to around 1100MB/s.

LTO Future

The increases in capacity continue for LTO-9 onwards, with a commitment to LTO-11 and LTO-12 generations that weren’t on the previous roadmap.  LTO-12 will have a raw capacity of 192TB (480TB with 2.5:1 compression) and throughput of 1100MB/s.  The idea of being able to store half a petabyte of data on a single cartridge seems hardly imaginable to where the LTO project originally started from.

One of the interesting aspects to LTO and tape continuing to develop at such a rate is the way in which hard drive technology gets incorporated into tape over time.  LTO-8 drives, for example, use TMR heads (tunnel magnetoresistive) rather than GMR.  TMR was originally introduced into disk drives around 2004.  So tape (not just LTO) benefits from the development work done in the hard drive industry.

LTO-8-M

As a small bonus, the new LTO-8 drives will accept new (unused) LTO-7 cartridges and provide 50% additional capacity over an LTO-7 drive.  This capability is being called LTO-8 Type M and is aimed at easing the transition from LTO-7 to LTO-8 for customers who have already invested in LTO-7 media.  So LTO-7 media (typically 6TB) will store 9TB when used in LTO-8 drives.

Changing Role of Tape

When LTO was first introduced, tape was a mainstay of the backup world.  In the 1990’s we saw huge tape silos from vendors like StorageTek that used tape for both backup and archive.  In most cases, archive wasn’t really a thing, but just a collection of historical backups from which data was restored.  The industry has moved on, with dedicated backup appliances now replacing the first generation of disk-based backup storage.  It’s much more practical to use disk for backup, so tape is being positioned more as an archive technology.

On pure media costs alone, tape is way cheaper than disk and a fraction the cost of using online cloud services like S3.  Obviously, TCO includes drives, libraries, software, people as well as media.  So we can’t just look at the cost of a single tape.  However, in a well structured archive, the cost of the media becomes the incremental costs in managing more capacity.  So as an archive scales, the $/GB cost continues to reduce.

Gateway to Tape

Tape is of course purely the medium for storing data.  We need a way to get data on and off tapes and that’s where we see a challenge.  In a recent Storage Unpacked podcast, Martin and I talked about some of the challenges, like using LTFS for format independence.  We also discussed Black Pearl from Spectra Logic.  The Black Pearl appliance is effectively a cache in front of one or more Spectra tape libraries.  It manages the translation of API calls based on AWS S3 into storing data onto tape media.

S3 and object storage, in general, is seen as a great way to archive content, however, using disk at large scale (or even S3) may not be cost-effective.  Large amounts of data in an archive can be inactive, making the cost of storing on disk an expensive one.  AWS itself is probably using tape for Glacier because the access times for content are so long.  This is, of course, reflected in the cost of the service.

Not sure that the object storage vendors have fully embraced tape yet.  To fully scale, object stores will need to support tape and in a way that makes it flexible and easy to use.

Shiny fun stuff tends to get the news in storage (and probably all of IT).  However, storage has always had a cost/performance/capacity balancing act to achieve.  Data Tiering has been around forever and there’s no reason to not include tape.  While backup may be better served by disk, long-term retention of data suits tape well.  This could be for compliance or as part of an active archive.

New software turns mobile-phone accessory into breathing monitor

The Optical Society ( OSA)


Researchers have developed new software that makes it possible to use low-cost, thermal cameras attached to mobile phones to track how fast a person is breathing. This type of mobile thermal imaging could be used for monitoring breathing problems in elderly people living alone, people suspected of having sleep apnea or babies at risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

In The Optical Society (OSA) journal Biomedical Optics Express, the researchers report that their new software combined with a low-cost thermal camera performed well when analyzing breathing rate during tests simulating real-world movement and temperature changes.

"As thermal cameras continue to get smaller and less expensive, we expect that phones, computers and augmented reality devices will one day incorporate thermal cameras that can be used for various applications," said Nadia Bianchi-Berthouze from University College London, (UK) and leader of the research team. "By using low-cost thermal cameras, our work is a first step toward bringing thermal imaging into people's everyday lives. This approach can be used in places other sensors might not work or would cause concern."

In addition to detecting breathing problems, the new approach could one day allow the camera on your computer to detect subtle breathing irregularities associated with pain or stress and then send prompts that help you relax and regulate breathing. Although traditional video cameras can be used to track breathing, they don't work well in low-light situations and can cause privacy concerns when used for monitoring in nursing homes, for example.

"Thermal cameras can detect breathing at night and during the day without requiring the person to wear any type of sensor," said Youngjun Cho, first author of the paper. "Compared to a traditional video camera, a thermal camera is more private because it is more difficult to identify the person."

Personal thermal cameras

Thermal cameras, which use infrared wavelengths to reveal the temperature of an object or scene, have been used in a variety of monitoring applications for some time. Recently, their price and size have dropped enough to make them practical for personal use, with small thermal cameras that connect to mobile phones now available for around $200.

"Large, expensive thermal imaging systems have been used to measure breathing by monitoring temperature changes inside the nostrils under controlled settings," said Cho. "We wanted to use the new portable systems to do the same thing by creating a smart-phone based respiratory tracking method that could be used in almost any environment or activity. However, we found that in real-world situations this type of mobile thermal imaging was affected by changes in air temperature and body movement."

To solve these problems, the researchers developed algorithms that can be used with any thermal camera to compensate for ambient temperature changes and accurately track the nostrils while the person is moving. In addition, the new algorithms improve the way breathing signals are processed. Instead of averaging the temperature readings from 2D pixels around the nostrils, as has been done in the past, Cho developed a way to treat the area as a 3D surface to create a more refined measurement of temperature in the nostrils.

Testing in real-world situations

In addition to indoor laboratory tests, the researchers used the mobile thermal imaging approach to measure the breathing of volunteers in a scenario that involved breathing exercises with changes in ambient temperature and in a fully unconstrained test where volunteers walked around inside and outside of a building. During the walking tests, the thermal camera was placed between 20 and 30 centimeters from a person's face using a rig that attached the camera to a hat. A cord then connected the camera with a mobile phone carried by study volunteers. It is also possible to hold a smartphone with an imaging camera about 50 centimeters from the face to measure breathing.

"For all three types of studies, the algorithms showed significantly better performance in tracking the nostril area than other state-of-the-art methods," said Cho. "In terms of estimating the breathing rate, the tests outside the laboratory showed the best results when compared with the latest algorithms. Although the results were comparable to the traditional breathing belt sensor, for mobile situations our approach seems to be more stable because the belt tends to get loose."

Because the new approach is more stable than standard chest belt respiratory sensors, the method could potentially be used to optimize an athlete's performance by providing more reliable and accurate feedback on breathing patterns during exercise.

The researchers took their work one step further by inferring a person's mental load or stress through automatic breathing analysis. They used their thermal imaging software to track the breathing of people who were free to move around while performing various types of tasks, and the results aligned well with findings from studies that used much more sophisticated equipment, indicating the portable thermal-camera based approach could be a useful tool for apps that help people relax.

"By using mobile thermal imaging to monitor only breathing, we obtained results very comparable to what other studies had found," said Bianchi-Berthouze. "However, those studies used complex, state-of-the-art techniques that involved multiple sensors monitoring not just breathing but also heart rate."

The current version of the software doesn't estimate the breathing rate in real time, but the researchers are working to incorporate this capability and to test their algorithms in more real-life situations.

How to Lock the File in UNIX

FILE Locking in UNIX



LOCK THAT FILE DOWN

Sometimes you want to make a file very very secure.

To do this, change the permissions to 000

# chmod 000 [file]

No one except root will be able to access it.
Even the owner will have to change the
permissions to be able to do anything to it.


Although It's like a red flag that says.. "I'm an important file"





NOTE: DO NOT EVER DO THIS TO THE /etc/passwd FILE!

How to reset the MAC hardware

Reset Mac Hardware:-



NVRAM corruption is fairly uncommon, but if your Mac seems to take forever to figure out which disk to boot from, if it starts up with the wrong screen resolution, or if you have weird audio problems (like there’s no sound whatsoever, or the menu bar’s volume control is grayed out), it doesn’t hurt to reset the NVRAM—it’s quick and harmless.

To reset your NVRAM, you use exactly the same procedure you once used to reset PRAM.

-- Shut down your Mac.

-- Press the power button, and as soon as you hear the startup chime, hold down Command-Option-P-R.

-- Keep holding down those keys until you hear a second startup chime. Then let go and allow your Mac to continue starting normally.

-- Then check the Startup Disk, Display, and Date & Time panes of System Preferences to make sure they’re set the way you want them.

Ten Countries Where One Indian Rupee Will Make You Feel A Lot Richer

Indian Rupee Will Make You Feel A Lot Richer


We think twice before planning a trip to New York, Paris or Australia. Because we think that Indian rupee is a weak currency and one needs pots of money to travel to foreign countries.

But what if I tell you that there are several countries in the world where carrying less money won't affect your travel experience anymore. Because Indian Rupee is a strong currency compared to currencies of those countries.

Yes! You can spend vacations at beautiful places where the Indian rupee is held as a strong currency.

In nutshell, these are the countries where the Indian currency is higher. Fret not, just book affordable flights to these countries and explore without bothering much for the budget. No time for being price conscious now because, at these places, Indian Rupee will make you feel rich.

Conversion rates may alter  


1. Sri Lanka  



1 INR (Indian Rupee) = 2.37 LKR (Sri Lankan Rupee)

Sri Lanka is a perfect place to visit for people who love thrill and wildlife. Did you know that though the country is small in size, it is considered among the top five biodiversity hotspots in the world?

Elephants, sloth bear, leopards, sambar and wild buffaloes are a treat to watch. The country is also known for being one of the best places for beach holidays because of its two monsoon winds that bring rains in two corners of the country at the different point of time.

2. Indonesia



1 INR (Indian Rupee) = 207.58 IDR (Indonesian Rupiah)

What makes Indonesia wonderful is that it is the largest archipelago ( a group of islands) in the world comprising 13,466 large and small tropical islands.

I don't know about you, but I love beaches. The white sandy beach, rolling waves, enchanting culture, dance and music... Wow! Indonesia has pure, blue seas where one can dive with dugongs, dolphins and large manta rays. You must have heard about the giant Komodo lizard, the Orang Utan, the Java rhino, the Sulawesi anoa dwarf buffalos, the cockatoo and the bird of paradise, these all are the jewels of this country.

A perfect package for holidays where you don't need to spend a lot of money because the value of the Indian rupee is higher than country's currency.  

3. Vietnam



1 INR (Indian Rupee) = 353.78 VND (Vietnamese Dong)

Vietnam is known for its beaches, old towns, rural adventures and islands and waters. It is famous for its Ruou ran (snake wine), a Vietnamese speciality of rice wine with a pickled snake inside, and is believed that it can cure any sickness. A fascinating thing about the country is that the Vietnamese language has six different tones. This means that every time the tone changes, so does the meaning of the word. This makes the language a bit difficult to understand.  

4. Costa Rica



1 INR (Indian Rupee) = 8.96 CRC (Costa Rican Colón)

Called as one of the most visited international destinations, Costa Rica, is a place one can visit any time of the year. The jungle, the beaches, lush flora and adventures are the highlight of the country.

It has Tortuguero National Park, which is called little Amazon forest because of its rich biodiversity. It has green turtle, the manatee, the American crocodile and the Gaspar fish, which is a living fossil. You will be surprised to know that Costa Rica is home to some of the most important turtle nesting beaches in the world. This means hundreds of turtles arrive on Costa Rican beaches to complete their tireless mission for survival.

5. Japan



1 INR (Indian Rupee) = 1.70 JPY (Japanese Yen)

Japan is famous for its dense cities, imperial palaces, mountainous national parks and thousands of shrines and temples. Couples in Japan celebrate Christmas just like Valentine's Day. If you're a foodie, Japan offers famous Noodles, especially soba (buckwheat), that is slurped loudly when eaten. It's believed that slurping indicates that the food is delicious.  

6. Iceland 



1 INR (Indian Rupee) = 1.66 ISK (Icelandic Króna)

Iceland has no forests. The country has many more things that will amaze you. Like the babies in Iceland are routinely left outside to nap. There are no surnames in Iceland. People use the traditional Nordic naming system. Under this, an individual's name includes his/her father's name first. The father's name follows one's own name.    

7. Paraguay:-



1 INR (Indian Rupee) = 88.24 PYG (Paraguayan Guarani)

Did you know that Paraguay was called Parrot? According to the ancient facts, the name Paraguay comes from a parrot which was known by the name of Frank. It was first found and eaten by the earliest Jesuit who settled in this place.    

8. Cambodia:-



1 INR (Indian Rupee) = 63.69 KHR (Cambodian Riel)

There goes a saying that Cambodians can eat anything. People buy fresh food daily from many open air markets located across cities. They have the greeting tradition called 'sampeah', which is based on India's way of saying 'namaste.'

As per old tradition, birthdays are not celebrated in Cambodia. Older people don't even remember
their birthdays.  

9. Hungary



1 INR (Indian Rupee) = 4.00 HUF (Hungarian Forint)

An extraordinary country where wine is produced since the 5th century AD. For those who have never been to Hungary, there's a place Budapest's City Park which has the statue of Anonymus. He holds a pen. According to local legends, touching it can bless you with great writing abilities. Hungarian nagymamák (grandmas) swear by the power of Pálinka. It is a famous fruit brandy, which is a cure for most ailments. This is how it goes.

Headache? Pálinka. Menstrual pains? Pálinka. Feeling nervous? Pálinka. As the saying goes: "Palinka in small amounts is a medicine, in large amounts a remedy."

10. South Korea



1 INR (Indian Rupee) = 17.67 (KRW) South Korean Won

South Korea will dazzle you with beautiful landscapes, amazing food, advanced technology, efficient public transit system and incredible shopping offers. You will be shocked to know about the 'Ajummas', Korean for 'elderly ladies'.

'Ajummas' rule the streets as they can rob you of your belongings, or they can even shoo you away. But they are respected in South Korean society no matter what they do

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What is Data Protection Manager (DPM)?

Data Protection Manager

I’ve talked about DPM a lot lately and I still receive more questions like: “What is DPM?” and “What makes DPM so good?”.  To me, DPM is the best backup solution for the Windows Platform. Period!  DPM allows you to backup File Servers (even open files!), that’s easy, but it also allows you to backup Exchange Servers, SQL Servers, SharePoint Servers, Virtualized workloads, and desktops!  DPM can even back up your mobile desktops.

Not only does it allow you to intelligently backup these workloads, but it does all of this without creating an outage to take these backups.  DPM will make backups of your Exchange Servers, SQL Servers, SharePoint Servers, Virtualized workloads, File Servers, and desktops in real time without user interruption!  Take note: virtualized workloads can be backed up in real time as long as the guest OS is VSS aware (Volume Snapshot Service).  VSS is included in Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 (and R2) as well as the Client OS’, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.  These virtualized versions of Windows can be backed up in real time.  Keep in mind that the Windows Client OS’ are the professional SKUs only.  The home use SKU’s are not supported in a virtual environment.

For non-VSS aware OS’, the VM is paused while a snapshot backup is taken.  Typically, this snapshot backup takes less than two minutes, but there is an outage while this snapshot is being taken.  DPM can even allow you to backup an Exchange, SQL or SharePoint server within a VM.  I just love this flexibility, because now you can backup (and restore) all of your important workloads seamlessly with one tool.


As you know, I love doing the “How to videos” so you can see our products in action.  This time, instead of doing the video myself, I’m going to point you to a great video presented by Jason Buffington.  Jason was one of our Technical Product Managers for DPM and does a great job of helping you understand the impact DPM can have on your backup needs.  

Here’s more detail on how to get started with DPM:

DPM Overview Datasheet

How to protect Exchange with DPM Datasheet


The Data Protection Manager landing page with more information on DPM:


http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/system-center/data-protection-manager.aspx