Macky4546
asked on
Backup Exec: Backup speeds
Ok i am currently working with BackExec 10d, and a sony AIT-LIB-81 tape library. We are performing backups to tapes from numerous servers around the network. The tape drive is attached via SCSI and all servers on the network are opertaing full duplex 1000mbps. I am backing up arond 202Gigs of files nearly everynight. I know i should go through it and only backup the files that get changed everyday. But im not the boss and the boss wants it everynight, full backup. Anyways i have roughly 202 gigs of files. It's taking around 16-18 hours to backup those files from servers around the network to the tape drive. Is there any way of speeding this process up?
Network_Data_Support
does 10d have a open file agent? like 11d
ASKER
No from what i recall there is no option like that. The only thing is the advanced file to state if you want it to skip open files. If you dont select that option the backup is most likely going to fail due to the open files. I have the option checked to skipped open files.
i have a great solution for you man...
what os are you using? Win2k3 r2?
use DFS man...
example..
run DFS on every server that share file , have a big server that can store all your file on the network.. drawing below
[ all servers (fileshare) run dfs ] ------ switch ------- [ dfs (large storage) that has the Backupexec 10d] - tape drive
http://www.microsoft.com/winme/0512/25905/Branch_Server_demo_mbr.asx the video...
http://madegreatonline.info/dfssetupforeasybackup.PNG for picture.. sorry not a good drawer.... watch the video so you know how to do it..
what os are you using? Win2k3 r2?
use DFS man...
example..
run DFS on every server that share file , have a big server that can store all your file on the network.. drawing below
[ all servers (fileshare) run dfs ] ------ switch ------- [ dfs (large storage) that has the Backupexec 10d] - tape drive
http://www.microsoft.com/winme/0512/25905/Branch_Server_demo_mbr.asx the video...
http://madegreatonline.info/dfssetupforeasybackup.PNG for picture.. sorry not a good drawer.... watch the video so you know how to do it..
Your average througput seems to be around 202MB/min. You're not saying what the tape drive technology is (AIT-1, AIT-2, ...). The native uncompressed speed of AIT-1 is 240MB/min, so if you have AIT-1 you may not be able to improve your backup speed much.
In case you have more performant tape technology, the best way to reduce the backup window would in my opinion be to backup some of the data to disk first. Then use a Backup Exec duplication job to write the data to tape.
Right now you have only one tape drive, so you can only run one job at a time. If you created a "Backup to Disk" device, you could run two or even three jobs in parallel. With 3 jobs running at the same time, you could probably get more out of your Network, which seems currently underutilized. While one job writes direct to tape, others can write do disk.
When the backup to disk is ready, you can the run a duplication job to write the data from "backup to disk" device to tape. This has the advantage that it's generally faster than direct to tape backup and it also doesn't put any load on the network as all data transfer will happen internal to the backup server - from internal disks to direct attached tape.
Another way to possibly speed up the backup would be to use software compression - this will put extra CPU load on the processor of the source server, but less bytes will have to be transferred across the network.
Another consideration is Exchange Mailbox backup. You don't specify whether you back up Exchange mailboxes, but if you do, cutting them out of the backup will speed things up considerably. Just rely on the Exchange Information Store backup.
In case you have more performant tape technology, the best way to reduce the backup window would in my opinion be to backup some of the data to disk first. Then use a Backup Exec duplication job to write the data to tape.
Right now you have only one tape drive, so you can only run one job at a time. If you created a "Backup to Disk" device, you could run two or even three jobs in parallel. With 3 jobs running at the same time, you could probably get more out of your Network, which seems currently underutilized. While one job writes direct to tape, others can write do disk.
When the backup to disk is ready, you can the run a duplication job to write the data from "backup to disk" device to tape. This has the advantage that it's generally faster than direct to tape backup and it also doesn't put any load on the network as all data transfer will happen internal to the backup server - from internal disks to direct attached tape.
Another way to possibly speed up the backup would be to use software compression - this will put extra CPU load on the processor of the source server, but less bytes will have to be transferred across the network.
Another consideration is Exchange Mailbox backup. You don't specify whether you back up Exchange mailboxes, but if you do, cutting them out of the backup will speed things up considerably. Just rely on the Exchange Information Store backup.
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