Electronic Storage Corporation Announces iSCSI Support for the LaserVault ViTL Virtual Tape Library for IBM i

Electronic Storage Corporation, developer of LaserVault Solutions, announced that LaserVault ViTL is now available with iSCSI connectivity, allowing IBM i systems to connect to virtual tape over standard Ethernet networks without requiring specialized Fibre Channel or SAS connectivity.The new capability expands deployment options for IBM Power Systems environments, including on-premises, cloud, and hybrid configurations, while preserving familiar IBM i backup and recovery workflows.

High-Performance Ethernet Connectivity 
In initial testing, ViTL achieved approximately 380-400MB/s over a single 10 Gigabit Ethernet connection. 

Performance can also scale through parallel operations. Testing with two virtual tape drives performing simultaneous save operations achieved approximately 600MB/s aggregate throughput, with each drive delivering roughly 300 MB/s. Actual performance will vary based on network, server, storage, and workload configuration.

“These results demonstrate the potential of iSCSI connectivity to deliver substantial throughput while using standard Ethernet infrastructure,” said Al Jensen, VP, LaserVault. “There is additional testing underway to explore performance across different network and cloud configurations.” 

Fibre Channel and iSCSI Can Coexist 
Customers are not required to choose between Fibre Channel and iSCSI. 

ViTL can support both FC and iSCSI connectivity, allowing organizations to use the transport mechanism that best fits each IBM i environment. 

For organizations moving toward cloud or virtualized infrastructure, iSCSI also provides additional deployment flexibility. ViTL can be deployed in a Windows virtual machine without requiring a Fibre Channel or SAS HBA, using standard network connectivity instead.

Existing Backup Workflows Remain Intact 
One key advantage of ViTL’s iSCSI implementation is that customers can continue using familiar IBM i backup applications and commands. 

ViTL presents itself to IBM i as a tape library and tape drive, allowing customers to continue using established backup and recovery processes. ViTL supports native IBM i SAV/RST commands as well as Backup, Recovery and Media Services (BRMS), and Robot Save, and GO SAVE.

Existing ViTL customers using Fibre Channel or SAS can also add iSCSI connectivity without converting their existing virtual tapes. Virtual tapes created through existing ViTL deployments can be restored using an iSCSI-connected ViTL environment.