We are evaluating Backup Exec for Vmware image backup purposes and compared to other backup products like Veeam and VCB we notice it's considerable slower. We're placing backups on a Netgear nas device, and as explained in this doc, http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/348139.htm we have to disabled granular backups.
When we first tried backing up a vm, it went ok with acceptable speeds at 1600MB/Min., but then after doing 30Gigs of backup it failed. The problem was related to Netgear/Granular backups, so we turned off Granular backups. After doing this, the data rate dropped to apx. 600MB/Min. The backup server is a fast 2*3Ghz Enterprise class server and it is also a dedicated backup server with no other tasks. We tried the backups with both Software compression on and off, and the rate dropped to apx. 500MB/Min with it turned on. The CPUs were operating with 10-15% load with compression on.
The Netgear nas is not fragmented and contains very little data. We're connected with Gbit uplinks and the network datarate is good. Both Veeam and VCBMounter.exe backups run apx. 3 times faster than Backup Exec under the same working conditions. We're at or above ESX Enterprise 3.5U2, so Backup Exec 2010 should use the Vstorage API's implemented. Liveupdate have also updated all updates available. Symantec B2DTest tool reports the volume as fit for backups.
Soon we will upgrade to Vi4 and we also recently did upgrade to Vcenter4.
An Off-Topic problem I also noticed was that when choosing the Vcenter server under the backup selection list, all vm's do not show up. This is not good when vmotion is running.
How can we have granular backups disabled and still do backups with an acceptable data-rate ?
Do Backup Exec 2010 still have the possibility to use VCB, and can it be forcibly selected ?
