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MSL4048 library scaled cleanly in our backup environment and has been stable under daily operations.
AK381A
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HPE StoreEver MSL4048 tape library
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AK381A
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- HPE StoreEver MSL4048 tape library
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AK381A Overview
AK381A is a SAN storage system engineered for demanding enterprise environments, featuring 12 drive bays that support a wide range of drive types including SATA, SAS, SSD, and NVMe. It delivers a total storage capacity of up to 512 TB and incorporates RAID levels such as RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, and RAID 10 for optimal data protection and performance.
AK381A is powered by an Intel Xeon processor with 8 cores and comes with 8 GB of pre-installed DDR4 ECC memory, expandable up to 128 GB. The system offers versatile connectivity through USB 3.2 and 10GbE network ports, with additional features including expansion support, redundant fan cooling, and a redundant 350W power supply. Ideal for SMB backup, enterprise data centers, virtualization, and media server applications, AK381A ensures high reliability and scalability for mission-critical deployments.
AK381A price is $4,815.45, a 32% saving from the Hpe list price of $7,081.55. AK381A is in stock and available for next-day dispatch. (terms applied)
Request bulk order quote for AK381A for additional pricing. Browse the full Hpe Storeever Tape Storages series or explore all Hpe products.
AK381A Specifications
- Width
- 17.3 inches
- Weight
- 45 lbs
- Height
- 3.4 inches
- Form Factor
- Rackmount
- RAM Type
- ECC DDR4
- Hot-Swap Support
- Yes
- LAN Ports
- 2
- Power Supply
- Redundant
- Virtualization Ready
- Yes
- RAID Support
- RAID 0 / RAID 1 / RAID 5 / RAID 6 / RAID 10
- Depth
- 28.5 inches
- Max RAM Capacity
- 128 GB
- Power Supply Wattage
- 350W
- Product Type
- Storage System
- Storage Type
- SAN
- Supported Drive Types
- Mixed
- CPU Type
- Intel Xeon
- CPU Cores
- 8
- Network Ports
- 10GbE
- USB Ports
- USB 3.2
- Expansion Support
- Yes
- Cooling
- Redundant Fan
- Operating System
- Custom OS
- Snapshot Support
- Yes
- Cloud Sync Support
- Yes
- iSCSI Support
- Yes
- Surveillance Support
- No
- Max Supported Capacity
- 512 TB
- Use Case
- SMB / Enterprise Data Center / Media Server / Virtualization
- Bay Count
- 12-bay
- Installed RAM
- 8 GB
- Product Name
- AK381A Enterprise SAN Storage System
AK381A Use Case
Regulatory Compliance Archiving for Financial Institutions
Financial services firms deploy the AK381A-HPE StoreEver MSL4048 tape library to automate long-term retention of multi-petabyte transaction records, audit logs and client data under SEC, GDPR and MiFID II mandates. Integrated WORM (Write Once Read Many) cartridges and encrypted tape drives ensure 99.999% data integrity, reduce on-premises storage costs by up to 60% and enable sub-hour retrieval for regulatory audits and e-discovery requests.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity for Enterprise IT
Global enterprises leverage the scalable 48-slot AK381A-HPE StoreEver MSL4048 tape library as a core component of their off-site disaster recovery strategy. Automated tape rotation with SAS connectivity delivers rapid full-system restores and incremental backups, achieving Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) under four hours and reducing annual DR infrastructure spending by 50%, while maintaining air-gap protection against cyber threats.
Cost-Effective Cold Storage for Media & Entertainment Archives
Media and entertainment companies use the AK381A-HPE StoreEver MSL4048 tape library to archive raw footage, post-production files and finished content in a high-density, energy-efficient format. With support for up to 1.5 EB of tape capacity in a single rack, automated cartridge management and offline indexing, organizations cut archival storage TCO by 70% and guarantee rapid access to legacy assets for future projects and licensing.
Quality Certifications
To get the detailed certification, please go to the Compliance Center.
Product Comparison Table 
| AK381A |  BB874SB |  BC029A |  BB873SB |  EH970SB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Type | Storage System | Storage System | Storage System | Storage System | Storage System |
| Storage Type | SAN | NAS | NAS | SAN | SAN |
| Form Factor | Rackmount | Rackmount | Rackmount | Rackmount | Rackmount |
| Bay Count | 12-bay | 8-bay | 12-bay | 24-bay | 12-bay |
| Supported Drive Types | Mixed | SATA HDD / SATA SSD | Mixed | SATA HDD / SAS HDD / SATA SSD | SATA HDD / SAS HDD / SATA SSD |
| Hot-Swap Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Max Supported Capacity | 512 TB | 512 TB | 1 PB | 512 TB | 512 TB |
| RAID Support | RAID 0 / RAID 1 / RAID 5 / RAID 6 / RAID 10 | RAID 0 / RAID 1 / RAID 5 / RAID 6 | RAID 0 / RAID 1 / RAID 5 / RAID 6 / RAID 10 | RAID 0 / RAID 1 / RAID 5 / RAID 6 | RAID 0 / RAID 1 / RAID 5 / RAID 6 / RAID 10 |
| CPU Type | Intel Xeon | Intel Xeon | Intel Xeon | Intel Xeon | Intel Xeon |
| CPU Cores | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Installed RAM | 8 GB | 16 GB | 16 GB | 16 GB | 16 GB |
| Max RAM Capacity | 128 GB | 64 GB | 128 GB | 64 GB | 128 GB |
| RAM Type | ECC DDR4 | ECC DDR4 | ECC DDR4 | ECC DDR4 | DDR4 |
| Network Ports | 10GbE | 10GbE | 10GbE | 10GbE | 10GbE |
| LAN Ports | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| USB Ports | USB 3.2 | USB 3.0 | USB 3.2 | USB 3.2 | USB 3.2 |
| Expansion Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cooling | Redundant Fan | Redundant Fan | Redundant Fan | Active | Active |
| Power Supply | Redundant | Redundant | Redundant | Redundant | Redundant |
| Power Supply Wattage | 350W | 500W | 750W | 500W | 750W |
| Operating System | Custom OS | Custom OS | Linux | Custom OS | Custom OS |
| Snapshot Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cloud Sync Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Virtualization Ready | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| iSCSI Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Surveillance Support | No | No | No | No | No |
| Use Case | SMB / Enterprise Data Center / Media Server / Virtualization | Enterprise Data Center | SMB / Enterprise Data Center / Virtualization / Media Server | Enterprise Data Center / Virtualization | Enterprise Data Center |
| Product Name | AK381A Enterprise SAN Storage System | BB874SB Enterprise NAS | BC029A Enterprise Storage System | BB873SB Enterprise SAN Storage | EH970SB Enterprise Storage System |
| Height | 3.4 inches | 4.5 inches | 3.5 inches | 4 inches | 3 inches |
| Width | 17.3 inches | 17.5 inches | 17.5 inches | 17.5 inches | 17 inches |
| Depth | 28.5 inches | 25 inches | 27.5 inches | 28 inches | 28 inches |
| Weight | 45 lbs | 35 lbs | 45 lbs | 50 lbs | 25 lbs |
Reviews & Ratings
I
Irfan Mahmood
4
Solid build quality and easy expansion options.
L
Lucas Tremblay
5
Good management interface and reliable robotics.
M
Morten Johansen
4
Handles large tape pools without issues.
E
Evan Carlisle
4
Met our enterprise backup requirements.
Questions & Answers
What is the native and compressed capacity of the HPE StoreEver MSL4048 tape library?
The HPE StoreEver MSL4048 provides up to 48 LTO-8 cartridge slots delivering 576 TB of native storage and up to 1.15 PB of storage at 2:1 compression.
Which tape drive generations are compatible with the MSL4048?
The MSL4048 supports HPE LTO-8 and LTO-7 half-height tape drives, enabling seamless integration with existing backup workflows.
How many tape drives and magazine slots does the MSL4048 support?
The library accommodates up to four half-height tape drives and 48 cartridge slots in two removable magazines for scalable storage growth.
What data transfer rates can I achieve with this tape library?
With HPE LTO-8 drives, you can achieve up to 360 MB/s native (720 MB/s compressed) per drive, delivering up to 1.44 GB/s aggregate native throughput with four drives.
Which connectivity interfaces are available on the MSL4048?
The MSL4048 offers two 16 Gb Fibre Channel ports per drive enclosure for direct SAN connectivity and high-speed data transfers.
How do I manage and monitor the MSL4048?
You can manage the MSL4048 via the embedded SCSI Web Management Interface, HPE OneView integration or SiteScope plugin for proactive health monitoring.
Does the MSL4048 support hardware encryption?
Yes. The MSL4048 features HPE Secure Encryption with AES-256 tape drive encryption to protect data at rest without performance impact.
How is scalability achieved in the MSL4048?
Scalability is provided by adding up to two additional magazine modules (24 slots each), expanding from 48 to 72 total slots and supporting four drives.
Which backup software solutions are certified with the MSL4048?
The MSL4048 is certified for HPE Data Protector, Veritas NetBackup, Commvault, IBM Spectrum Protect and other leading tape-based backup applications.
What form factor and rack space does the MSL4048 require?
The MSL4048 occupies 7U of rack space in a standard 19-inch rack and includes front-accessible magazines for easy cartridge loading.
What reliability and durability features does the MSL4048 offer?
It delivers an MTBF of over 200,000 hours, redundant power supplies, dual robotics for failover, and extended environmental tolerance for 24×7 operation.
How does HPE OneView integration benefit MSL4048 management?
HPE OneView provides unified infrastructure management, alert aggregation, firmware updates and role-based access control for the MSL4048.
What are the power and environmental specifications?
The MSL4048 operates on 100–240 VAC, 50/60 Hz, consumes up to 750 W, and supports operating temperatures from 10 °C to 35 °C.
What warranty and support options are available?
The MSL4048 includes a one-year limited warranty with next business day onsite support and optional HPE Care Pack extensions up to five years.
Can I automate media handling and slot mapping?
Yes. You can configure auto-import/export slot mapping and robotic media handling through the web interface or via SMI-S for third-party integration.
What are the typical use cases for the MSL4048?
Common use cases include long-term archive, data protection for SMB to enterprise, regulatory compliance, and offline air-gap storage.