Design and Implementation of a Network Aware Object-based Tape Device

Data storage requirements have constantly evolved over time. In recent times, the rate of increase in volume of data has been exponential, partly because of regulations and partly because of increase in richness of data. This trend has led to an equally explosive increase in cost of management. Intelligent storage devices built using object- based storage (OSD) interfaces have gained increased acceptance due to the benefits of reduced management costs. The command set of the current OSD standard does not work well with tape-based storage solutions. In this work we propose a few extensions to the OSD standard in order to facilitate easier integration of tape devices into the object storage ecosystem. Further, we propose an intelligent buffering mechanism to maximize the utility of network attached tape devices, and we also propose mechanisms to make tape cartridges more portable within any object storage ecosystem. Our results for the intelligent buffering mechanism show that our scheme adapts better to mismatches in network and tape drive bandwidths. Specifically, our scheme helps minimize the repositioning of the tape, leading to better utilization and increased lifetime of the tape.