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Symantec backupexec slow to backup exchange 2007 VM

Hi

We have a windows 2008 virtual server (VMware) with exchange 2007, datastore is stored on a seperate disk mounted as a raw LUN.

We are using backupexec 2010 on a remote server (windows 2003 ) to backup the server using the backupexec remote agent.

When backing up the server (just a few Gig worth of data) we only get approx 200MB/min

Compared to other Virtual machines and physical servers this is exteramly slow.

The problem occurs when backing up to tape and Disk.

Any suggestions?

joelsplace

Have you tried a speed test to see if the problem is network related or related to the backup?
A Symantec tech recommended running contig on any large files on the server. (such as the Exchange DB)

ianmellor

Hi,

Are you using GRT (Granular Restore Technology) in your Exchange backup? When you sue this it take a while to backup Exchange it has to back ever single item in the mail. Also are you running CCR cluster in Exchange 2007?

Cheers,

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

Backups using an Agent in the VM will be very slow.

Change to a Backup product which can backup the VM at the disk, block based level. e.g. Veeam Backup and Replication.

pancho15

ASKER

Other vm's using backupexec agent backup fine 1500 MB / min , using VMWare agent backup runs at 3200 . For testing we are only backing up a folder on the Exchange server not the db. We have also tried backing up the db but same speed issue.

ianmellor

Hi,

Run the backup again and un-tick GRT and report the speed.

Cheers,

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

Exchange server is not running on a Snapshot?

pancho15

ASKER

Same speed , we are testing without backing up exchange . We are only backing up a 5 gig folder . No matter what we backup , the speed is slow .

pancho15

ASKER

Hanccocka , no snapshot

ianmellor

Hi,

Is the Windows 2008 server that Exchange is on full patched? Can you create and attached a virtual disk to the exchange server and backup from there? What service pack is Exchange on?

Cheers,

ianmellor

What version of Backup Exec are you running?

pancho15

ASKER

Exchange 2007 fully patched - including windows 2008 fully patched. Backupexec 2010 R2 patched.
Dont understand why you want me to create another virtual disk?

pancho15

ASKER

I have also tried running a backup job on the troublesome server by using the Vmware agent option and only using the NBD transport since I know the SAN transport works well.

NBD also worked fine or as expected. 1300 MB/min . So it's not a network problem .

I'm out of ideas?

ianmellor

Hi,

Are you running your RDM in Virtual Compatibility mode? Backup Exec does not backup RDM in Physical Compatibly mode. The reason I asked about another disk is to see if everything is okay with the storage. Are the RDM's a LUN from a RAID group that other virtual machines are using or are they on their own RAID group?

Cheers,

pancho15

ASKER

The Exchange server is configured in the following way. C drive is a standard virutal Disk and the second disk is a Mapped Raw LUN on our Equallogic SAN

The mapped LUN is configured in Physical compatability mode. But I'm only attempting to backup a file / foldes from the C drive.

ianmellor

Hi,

There are may factors that can be responsible for backup speed, file size, network, disks, memory. Below are some tech notes from Symantec about performance.

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH11562

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH8326

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH49521

Hope this helps,

pancho15

ASKER

Tried these , its not a network problem as nbd transport over VMWare agent works fine , as does other vms using network bqckup.

maytrix

What's the nic speed showing on the Exchange VM? Perhaps its got the wrong NIC and running at 100 instead of 1000?

pancho15

ASKER

Nic in vm is set at 1000 , file copy over the network runs as expected. The backup jobs starts at 1500 then within a few seconds gradually gets slower and slower, within a minute its down to 200 . Symantec is looking into the issue, but its now been a week and they haven't done anything other than review job logs.

pancho15

ASKER

With more testing we have found that copying a 1 GIG file to the same drive (system drive) it takes over 5 minutes. after the first copy it then runs okay.

Any one?

ianmellor

Hi,

Do you have any anti virus running on the system drive? Try a copy of a new file with AV turned off.

Cheers,

pancho15

ASKER

No av on this server. Have even tried stopping Exchange services . Problem still persists. I think if I can resolve this copy issue the backup problem will correct itself

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

pancho15

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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

I've just noticed, I seem to have deja vu!

pancho15

ASKER

Yes ... Lol ... They kind of are two different problems , I'm hopying if one gets resolved so will the other. Is there a way to merge questions ?

pancho15

ASKER

Issue was with the Underlying disk (Dell had configured the switches incorrectly - reconfigured and all is working well)