Backup Exec 11D dropped from 644 MB/min to 14 MB/min

Is this for a local backup or a network backup.
If it's a network backup, check if you have the same problem backing up all hosts across the network or only one host.
That should narrow down the problem. If it's a network backup problem, maybe consider changing to a different switch port. Also make sure NIC settings match switch port settings with regards to speed&duplex. Make them autoneg on both sides or fix them to a certain speed/duplex on both NIC & switch. But don't mix fixed settings and autoneg.

Here's a few things that i would try with slow backing up speeds

1)Check the log to see which server is backing up slowly firstly.

2)Do a test backup and see which directory is the backup starting to slow down. With my experience it was easy to pin point the directory that was slowing down the backup.Directory with heaps of small files can really slow down a backup as through put will be slower for smaller files.

3)Replace NIC point at the switch and replace cables(Highly unlikely but part of the process)

4)Run updates on the backup Exec

5)Also worth re-installing the agent on that server.

Let me know how it goes

I will check more and get back on some of these suggestions.  Thanks.

I updated the driver on the scsi card. The job rate is slowly rising. Hopefully this is the fix.  It's not much, but it's at 54 MB/min now, up from 14 MB/min. I'll keep watching it and keep you posted. Thanks!

I'd like to see more details about what the backup device is -- manufacturer, product name, tape drive type,  

Is it possible your tape heads are dirty and need cleaning?  Or that your tape is old, and throwing errors?   Does your library manufacturer have tools to be able to run diagnostics on the hardware?

The tape manufacturer is Exabyte 1x7 2U LTO-3. I have switched to our backup tape drive which is the same except it's an LTO-2 drive.  The drive on this library isn't dirty since it's never been used before, nevertheless I cleaned it anyway without any change.

When I try to run a diagnostics on the library, I get a communications timeout error.

These are the  things I done so far that I can think of:

Repaired application - Backup Exec 11D 7170 sp4, hoffix 62 running on Windows 2003 Enterprise sp2
Updated NIC drivers on server, client, scsi card and drive
disabled TCP offload on the NIC
applied windows updates
replaced server cable
increased the paging file
defragged the drives
checked media flow on nic and switch
configured the backup nic - moved from Intel Pro 1000 MT to 3COM Etherlink XL 10/100
checked event viewer logs - no errors
checked backup exec logs - no errors that I can see
I applied windows patch KB948496 per symantec

I'm pretty much at my wits end with this. Everything was running fine and boom! drop about 3 weeks ago.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance!!!!!

Did you see where extactly it was slowing down?..do a test backup of that server and see exactly where it is slowing down that will give you a clue as to what might be causing it .Or is it just slow from the start?

It's slow from the start.

I don't know what happened but it's back down to 10 MB/min.

Quick Question did you update the remote agent on the other systems when Updated Backup Exec? I have had to reboot my remote servers to get the new agent to take effect.

No, I didn't. I'll do that now and run a job and let you know the speed then. Thanks.

Ran live update and it installed 11.0, sp4,(these were already installed) and hotfix 64. Rebooted, then pushed out the remote agent. Rebooted. Now backups are running at 8.0 MB/min! Ughhhh.

You rebooted the remote systems? The only thing I know of that would run this slow is an old Exchange installation or the agents are not running. Check the remote systems and make sure the remote agent is running and looking to your media server.  The final item I can think of is how much space is available on your Backup server. Is it low on space on C:?

Normally if you are running the same version of the remote agent  and media server the transfer will run as fast as your network will allow. Is Exchange, a database, or just files?

I checked and the backup exec remote agent service is running. I have 49 Gb of free space on the disk.

I'm just backing up files.

Have you tried creating just a test backup? Choose a subset of the files and run the test backup and see if it runs at normal speed or is slow also. If it is slow also, I apologize I have run out of options. If it does then the issue is with the original job and recreating will clear the issue.

When the backup exec remote agent is running you should have an icon down by the time where you can configure it, not just the service running.

THe backups are running at 647 MB/min and climbing. I have 2 BlackBox switches. The one the backup server was plugged into has a fiber connection to another switch. The other (working) switch is a standalone. Amazing. I plugged this connection in the standalone when I first started having problems with no change. Must have been this coupled with the nic updates.  THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!!!

I am very relieved. I now have a host of things to try the next time this happens. Hopefully there will be no next time.