Forum Discussion

tpoulter's avatar
tpoulter
Level 2
13 years ago

Backups taking twice as long

Hi,

I will give you the setup first then will try to explain my issue,

external hp ultrium 920 connected to a Smart Array Controller P212 in a HP ProLiant DL380 G6, running vmware esxi 5.0, with 2 windows 2008 R2 servers, one is the DC/FS/Exch and the 2nd is the sql server running a document manangement server.

What is happening is the time to do the backup job has almost doubled what it was doing before for the same amount of data

The time on average now is about 3 hrs(job rate 2247MB/Min) when before it was about 1.5 hrs(1262MB/Min) on average. Average byte count is about 210GB.

Now what happened was the tape drive failed(failed writing to tape) so we got it replaced and thats when the customer noticed that the jobs are taking longer.

The configuration is exactly the same setup as before the drive was replaced.

I did look at the job histories from before and after the drive was replaced and it looks like its taking longer to backup the main server, but there has been no major changes at all to the server configuration or software

 

Im new to troubleshooting backup exec so I am un-sure where to start first.

 

2010
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec
Troubleshooting

4 Replies

  • Backup_Exec1's avatar
    Backup_Exec1
    Level 6
    13 years ago

    Hi

     

    If you hve replaced the tape drive , then please ensure if it is library you have installed unknown medium changer for Microsofot instead of OEM driver for Medium changer

    Also for your tape drive , please install Symantec drivers for tape drive using tape inst.exe

    http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH17931

    Also before installing tape drivers for symantec please ensure Backup exec is fully patched up

    Once done do a good power cycle , by powering off library & then media server. Once done Power on library wait for it to be intialized & then power on media server

     

    Thanks

  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    13 years ago

     

    a) Do the folllowing to power-cycle the library
     
    1) Stop the media server and the library
     
    2) Start the tape library
     
    3) Start the media server
     
    b) In the Windows Device Manager, check that the tape drive is using the Symantec driver.  Re-install the tape drive if necessary.
     
    c) In the Windows Device Manager, check that the library is listed as an Unknown Medium Changer with a Microsoft driver.  Re-install the driver if necessary.
     
    d) Tune your tape drive.  See my article
     
    https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/tuning-my-lto4-tape-drive
     
     
  • tpoulter's avatar
    tpoulter
    Level 2
    13 years ago

    Hi,

     

    Ok I will take a look at those later this evening.

    I do know that the tape drive is using the symantec driver. But i am unsure about the Medium Changer, as I have not see it listed in the device mananger.

    Would there be one for just a single tape drive?

  • CraigV's avatar
    CraigV
    Moderator
    13 years ago

    ...the Ultrium 920 is a stand-alone device...there will be no medium changer. The other thing being your backup server is a virtual machine, and Symantec haven't qualified using a VM as a media server...