Backup Exec 2010 Backup Rate Slow

[norinse]

My environment:

1. 2 x 2008 R2 with Clustering Services as file server

2. Servers connected to SAN via FC switches

3. Sever connected to a tape library with 1 LTO4 tape drive using FC and SAN switches

4. BE 2010 SP1 Media Server installed in one of the member server of the cluster

My question:

Using Backup Exec 2010 to backup files stored in the SAN, used to achieve 500MB/mins, can now only achieve 200MB/mins after installing latest Windows Updates (exclude Windows 2008 R2 SP1), no improvement after all patches was uninstalled.

Please help.

Many thanks.

[CraigV]

Hi there,

Those backups are all going across your LAN, not your SAN.

To use a LAN-free backup setup, you'd need to have Backup Exec SAN SSO installed on your media server. Along with this, you'd need a full installation of BE on every server you want to make use of the SAN-attached drive.

What SAN SSO does is share your storage/library with the other servers, managed by the central SAN SSO server. It kind of controls access to the drive/s.

Using this method, you're able to make use of your SAN's speed. Without it, as I said, you're simply making use of the RAWS agent which backs up across your LAN!

Along with the Windows updates, did you do any BE updates, and then push them out to your remote servers? If not, try that, and see if it helps at all...

Otherwise consider SAN SSO...

Thanks!

[norinse]

SAN SSO already licensed in the media server which hold the cluster resource. I check this by looking at "Tools", "Install Options and Licnese Key on this Media Server".

[CraigV]

...OK, then you need full versions of BE installed on each server connected to your SAN. It's the base installation with the necessary agents.

Once done, run the SAN SSO wizard on your media server to set things up, and then run it on your SAN-connected servers afterwards. You'll need to zone your other servers to see the library in order for this to work...

[norinse]

Hi CraigV,

Where can I find this "SAN SSO wizard"? There is no SAN SSO wizard under "Tools > Wizards".

[CraigV]

I had it installed on 1 of my media servers when I was still running 12.5 on it, and there was a wizard there...check around under Tools...if you have licensed it correctly, it will show up there...

[norinse]

Btw, the problem has not been resolved.

I also observed that the verify speed is also very slow, only about 900MB/mins, is it indicates that there is something wrong about the connection between the tape library and the media server?

We used to achieve 6000M/mins for the verification, however, the speed dropped dramatically after we have installed security patch and reboot the the server, the speed cannot recover even after we have uninstalled all the patches.

Will it help if we reset the connection between the media server and the tape library? i.e. power down the media server > power down the tape library > power up the tape library > power up the media server.

Many thanks!

[CraigV]

It's worth a try, as restarting the server might flush something out of cache. How long it lasts though, is best-guess.

What was the security patch you installed? What happens to your verify job if you uninstall it?