Window Size/Frequency Recommendations ? 2

[sendhilk]

Could someone comment on the best way to set the window size and frequency for the policies. I understand the frequency should be slightly greater that the backup window, but here is my question

1. Is is better to have a smaller backup window and have a lot of policies.

2. Or have just a few policies and have more clients of similar kind under each policy and have a large backup window.

I am having around 300 policies (Almost one per client) in my Environment now and i still see a lot of 196 errors.I would like to redo my Environment for easier administration.
Please advice a strategy that i should follow.

Thanks,
Sendhil

 

[lenski]

Well as much as possible you should try and reduce the number of polices. If two clients are the same then why not have them in the same policy?

But you need to look close at what you are doing. Just having the clients in the same policy will not ensure that they have time to run. Have you got the resorces to deal with the ammount of data? Have you got your backups load balanced across the tape drives. Could you use multiplexing?
It's very tme consuming but you may benifit from laying out a time map for when your backups run and on what. Do it for a week and you will be able to see which jobs are hogging the drives and if there is any spare time not being used.

 

[Stumpr]

I just wanted to add to lenski's suggestion. I did exactly what he suggests and I keep it updated. I use an excel spreadsheet with a worksheet for each storage unit. I plot 24 hours across the top (x-axis)and the days of the week for the policy(ies) that use the storage unit down the side(y-axis).
I enter the number of drives in the storage unit that are used by the policy in the field defined by the hour (x) and day . Then I can do a summation from all the policies that use the storage unit.
I agree. It is a lot of work initially. But it is worth it to me. Especially if you have an environment where changes occur frequently and you need to know when a window is available.

Bob Stump
Incorrigible punster -- Do not incorrige