Forum Discussion

BackupExecAdmin's avatar
BackupExecAdmin
Level 3
3 months ago

Flex Appliance Sizing

Hi Guys,

 

I'm new to Netbackup products, even more so to its Appliances. We've received a new Flex 5260 appliance, which we're going to configure. Before starting the configuration, we're consulting the Veritas documentation to better understand how the device works.

 

For a first review, two questions come to mind:

  1. Size of the application instances volumes : In our Appliance, we'll create two instances, one Primary and one MediaServer (MSDP); How can we get NBU recommendations regarding volumes sizes ? (Primary Catalog, MSDP, AdvDisk, Staging ... Etc).
  2. In the configuration of a new MediaServer instance, we came across the following volumes : MSDP, AdvancedDisk, Staging. And since we are going to use Dedup, then automatically we'll create an MSDP volume. In this case, should we set AdvancedDisk and Staging to 0 GB ?
  3. What is the purpose of the "Staging volume" ?
  4. Is there any sort of Sizing Tool provided by Veritas for this purpose ? To get the right requirements for each component depending on the environment to be backed up (Number of clients, FET, BET ...etc.)

 

Thanks in advance for any provided guidance.

Regards.

catalog
DESIGN
flex 5260
MSDP
netbacup
Sizing
  • kiyan's avatar
    kiyan
    Level 6
    3 months ago

    1&2-it depends all on the amount of front-end backup size, the type of the backup and retention period.
    you can keep the catalog size at 500 GB, and if needed increase it later on.
    usually(and recommended), you will create an advanced disk to save your catalog backup on top of it , instead of saving it on top of MSDP.
    you can assign the rest of the available size to MSDP.always keep around 10 to 20 TB un assigned for future (in case you want to extend your advanced disk or MSDP in future)
    3- I think if you hover your mouse over the staging icon it will give you information what is it used for ( I dont recall the message myselft). you can give 30 GB to 50 GB to it.
    4-usually veritas sales person (or presales) will do the calculation for an environment (or it will confirm closely with a partner) to ensure the sizing for a client.
    I am sure you can engage them about the calcuation , but if you are going to have only one master and media instance (no worm instance, no other instances in the future) it is pretty straight forward.
    if you are not sure ,or you might consider adding more instances, ask your veritas account manager or the local partner to get engage with you for further assistance regarding the sizing.

    Regards,

     

    • BackupExecAdmin's avatar
      BackupExecAdmin
      Level 3
      3 months ago

      Hi kiyan 

      thanks for the reply.

      Just to be sure, isn't it possible to put the catalog backup in an MSDP volume? Or is that not recommended?

      • kiyan's avatar
        kiyan
        Level 6
        3 months ago

        well, it is possible for sure to save it on MSDP but as I said, it is not recommended to use a deduplicated storage (MSDP) for catalog backup, take a look at below link(or you can refer to netbackup admin guide):
        https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/doc/89578623-162720925-0/v93537876-162720925
        I usually keep the catalog backup on basic disk (or advanced disk not saved on local master server) and a copy to offsite (tape) if available in customer environment.

  • bhdrkzltn's avatar
    bhdrkzltn
    Level 4
    2 months ago

    Staging volume is used to store NDMP accelerator track log content. If you don't have NDMP type of policies then leave it as default.