improving backup bandwidth 1

[langleymass]

I am trying to backup a few monster servers. One is over 1 TB. Another is about 500 GB. Naturally, our bandwidth is critical. We have a 1 Gbps network. I have upgraded the network drivers on all the Windows servers involved.

Backup bandwidth is pretty poor, however. Are there any software tweaks that will improve backup bandwidth? Machines are mainly Windows 2000 and 2003.

 

[Vela]

Do the server's have millions of small files? If so, it will be slow.

What you could do is create seperate policies for each of the drives on the box. This will cut your time down

 

[comtec17]

I would make these servers media servers and let them back themselves up.

 

[langleymass]

I have thought about separate policies. There could be a lot of small files. How would separate policies cut down the time?

The biggest server only has a C and D drive. The C drive is only about 5 GB. The D drive is the really big one. It is all spanned on RAID 5 over at least ten drives.

What do you mean by making them "media servers" and "let them back themselves up"? Do you mean I should put a tape drive into these big servers?

 

[comtec17]

By making this large server a media server, you will not only save backup time, but you will also save your network bandwidth.

You can either purchase a small library for this server or attach your current library and tape drives to a SAN and share them with other servers on a SAN.

 

[langleymass]

I am afraid that buying more hardware isn't an option at this point, although I do think that would be the best solution.

 

[Stumpr]

I suggest you read the article written by George Winter which is available from this VERITAS link. You will see the article at the bottom of the page titled "VERITAS NetBackup Software Performance Tuning"

http://eval.veritas.com/downloads/van/van_news_nov_i.htm

Click on the "Read More" button and it will bring up a pdf document. This tuning document also covers what you are looking for.


Bob Stump
Just because the Veritas documentation states a certain thing does not make it a fact

 

[langleymass]

That actually was a helpful answer.

 

[langleymass]

For some strange reason, I can view the PDF document but can not print it.

 

[langleymass]

I saved it to my desktop and then printed it.

 

[langleymass]

I turned off compression in the backup policy. This seems to have a world of good. My bandwidth is better than it ever has been.

 

[creakyjoe]

cool, you're letting the hardware do the compression then, far more efficient!

 

[langleymass]

I guess tapes always do compression by default. I know that double compression causes problems. You also end up actually using more space.

 

[Stumpr]

I just submitted the link to be included in the FAQ's

Bob Stump
Just because the VERITAS documentation states a certain thing does not make it a fact and thats the truth