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Backup Exec 20.1 and Tape Drive Performance Tuning

mk128935
Level 5
Employee

Hi, do we have any recommended settings to maximize tape drive performance in BE? My customer is doing some performance test with DELL EMC's ML3 tape library (http://www.dell.com/ae/business/p/ml3-tape-library/pd) and they want to tune some of the parameters in the tape device properties such as block size, buffer size, read data one block at a time, write data one block at a time, SCSI pass-through mode settings, etc. to maximize performance. One of the properties they're thinking of changing is the 'write data one block at a time' setting to 'disabled'. They're asking if there's any other parameters worth tuning. I appreciate the advice on this. Thanks.

 

 

 

2 ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS

Accepted Solutions

Larry_Fine
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP   

I believe that the standard answer is to use the largest block size and bufer size that are supported in your environment(s) and leave the other setttings at the default.  Changing anything to enhance performance may comprimise readability or restorability.

The concern with the larger block & buffer sizes (which definitly increase performance) is that your disaster recovery sites & scenarios also need to support the same block and buffer sizes or else you could end up with unreadable tapes.  The max block and buffer size supported is impacted by your SAS and FC HBAs (and their drivers), which may or may not be the same at all sites & servers.

View solution in original post

Gurvinder
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.TECH69559
Using Backup Exec's Discover tool to determine the maximum allowable block size for a tape drive.

 

View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2

Larry_Fine
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP   

I believe that the standard answer is to use the largest block size and bufer size that are supported in your environment(s) and leave the other setttings at the default.  Changing anything to enhance performance may comprimise readability or restorability.

The concern with the larger block & buffer sizes (which definitly increase performance) is that your disaster recovery sites & scenarios also need to support the same block and buffer sizes or else you could end up with unreadable tapes.  The max block and buffer size supported is impacted by your SAS and FC HBAs (and their drivers), which may or may not be the same at all sites & servers.

Gurvinder
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.TECH69559
Using Backup Exec's Discover tool to determine the maximum allowable block size for a tape drive.