Backup Exec 2010 DeDuplication = Ticking Time Bomb ?

[Alexxx]

I have been using backupexec now for a few years and have been battling with the deduplication module of backupexec 2010 now for a few months. I can get it working fine, configured etc but the data is extremely prone to corruption. If the server is suddenly powered off, a file is in use when writing to etc. This results in backupexec 2010 jobs writing to the deduplication store to entire a deadlock state of continuously trying to start the job.

I have had this in the past where i have had to purge the entire dedupe store (not the ideal solution). Is there any way of bad block checking on the dedupe store without having to delete everything in there just so jobs will start to run? I dont really want to duplicate the deduplication store to another server as i am duplicating data which is normally done at the end of month to a tape.

Using SMB works perfect and can recover fine from sudden server/ service failure. I don’t think its possible to make the BE service redundant or bullet proof as i tried with VMware FT but the product just doesn’t seem to work right.
 
 

[CraigV]

Hi Alexxx,

Best bet would be to look at upgrading to BE 2010 R2...I believe it has a number of upgrades/improvements over BE 2010, especially with deduplication. I will be doing this from Monday.

Laters!

[Symanticus]

hi Alex,

What's your Dedupe disk type ? is it SAN or NFS mount or just Windows Partition ?

I've been using BE 2010 dedupe drive on separate partition only dedicated for this dedupe and so far so good got no problem, but when i put NFS mount as the backup/dedupe store yes sometimes it doesn't work well since the physical disk is just D-Link DNS 323 NAS device.

[CraigV]

Hi Alexxx,

Any news here?

Thanks!

[teiva-boy]

Albert, NFS is not a supported storage type for the dedupe folder.  It must be block level storage.  e.g. fiber attached, iSCSI, DAS, internal disk.  It also must be NTFS formatted (not to mention other specific windows settings to grow out to 16TB volumes)

BE2010R2 is more stable, but I've yet to get good consistent dedupe rates.  They are all over the board, even with files I know for a fact that have not changed during my test runs.  Does it save space, yes.  It is a miracle cure all, not so much.  I can only hope that some application streamers will be made for vmware, sql, and exchange to perform better dedupe rates.  

[Symanticus]

thanks man, for the reply now I understand why it shouldn't be running on NFS.

I Appreciate your help and explanation.

Cheers. 

[dominikD]

Exactly the same problem here on my site. I hade to purge the entire dedupe store on a regular basis. Sometimes it works perfect for several weeks. Then it mostly starts with a "PDVFS driver error" in the application event log. Backup Exec hangs and you just can reboot your server. After that, the dedupe store is offline. Sometimes it is possible to bring it back online but unfortunately only sometimes. I am running R2, all patches are applied, dedupe store is on fc san and i read all the best practises guides from symantec.

Purging the dedupe store should not be a common scenario. Hello Symantec, have you read that? And have you read all the other posts regarding dedupe in this forum? Can you show me one customer who is happy with your implementation of dedupe in BackupExec?

[Gurvinder]

Make sure you have these 2 HFs installed

HF 145462 and HF 146017

www.symantec.com/docs/TECH145462

www.symantec.com/docs/TECH146017

Update the RAWS as well. Reboot will be required

[teiva-boy]

The people on this forum represent perhaps 1% of all BackupExec installations in the world if not less.  And people dont join this forum to post up about their wonderful experiences...

It works, it can work well, but still needs work to be better, which BE2010 R3 will address.  

I have a number of customers happy with the dedupe, and I have some unhappy, but there are more happy than not.  Me, I'm indifferent.  I've had more issues with cheap storage in use, or initial versions of BE2010 installed than anything else.

[CraigV]

Hi Teiva,

You seem to have quite a bit of knowledge around dedupe, and dedupe in BE 2010 specifically. How about posting a blog/article on what to look for in terms of configuring the softwrae + storage, and how to get it running well?

I have tried and failed...some expert knowledge would be great to have shared in the community!

Craig