Backup Exec 2012 - DataDomain VTL - Slow Performance

[Taqadus_Rehman]

Hi,

We recently have configured Backup Exec 2012 with Data Domain VTL to backup our VMware virtual infrastructure. 

Here is berif description how we setup our backups.

- Backup Exec server is zoned with DD and Storage.

- all VMFS volumes are visible to BE server to backup over SAN

- 50 VTL drives are visible to BE server.

-BE server is fully patched.

on running backup we observe 5000-9000 MB/min. and our backup size is like 12TB.

any idea to improve performance.

[CraigV]

Hi,

Check the TNs below:

BE 2012 Tuning Guide:

http://tinyurl.com/kldgjrc

http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO23086

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH49521

Thanks!

[teiva-boy]

Frankly, 50 drives is too much.

OST and 10GbE is a better option than FC VTL

To support 50 drives, you should be using some 3-4 BackupExec media servers each with dedicated HBA's for tape access, and HBA's for VMFS access.

There is a point of diminishing returns as you add more drives.  I bet if you made it 30 drives you would get the same performance.  Thus, your bottleneck is not the DataDomain.

Which Model DD will also dictate performance.

[Taqadus_Rehman]

one thing i noticed DD and VMFS volumes are on same HBAs. which i need to sort out, but how much performance i will gain by this i dont know. 

any idea what would be the optimum job rate with 30 drives and shared HBAs?

[teiva-boy]

Tell me what DataDomain model you have and I will layout possible configs for you.

[Taqadus_Rehman]

DD870

[teiva-boy]

DD860 or DD670?  There is no 870.

[Taqadus_Rehman]

sorry it is 860, typo error.

[teiva-boy]

The DD860 over VTL with 4+ shelves of disk and 4x8GB FC HBA's can do over 1000MB/s.  In BackupExec speak, that is 60,000MB/min!

You probably only have 1 dual port 8GB FC HBA in your DD860.  I don't know how many shelves.  But it's pretty safe to say that 200-400MB/s (12,000MB/min) is possible in your current config of maybe a single shelf. 

However, BackupExec needs to be configured to be able to push that amount of data.  This means dedicated ports, proper PCI-E cards, and your SOURCE volume (i.e. SAN) can read data fast enough to match what you are capable of writing.

You probably have a SAN that can't push the reads needed, as well as an insufficient amount of BackupExec media servers.

Drop your VTL tape drive count to around 4-8 drives per FC port, anything higher will not benefit you.

[Taqadus_Rehman]

thank you for kind reply,

please explain me one thing more. if you have experience of working with the DD config, how do we use ports 1a 5a 1b 5b,

should i distribute drives all across ports?

[teiva-boy]

Yes drives should be distributed as evenly as possible.  You are still at the mercy on how BE will allocate drives, but you can only do so much, before you realize that there are better products out there that intelligently balance better via logic. (e.g. NetBackup)

As for the ports, for what Interface?  the numbers you mention will vary based on what interface was installed, GbE, 10GbE, quadport nic's, FC HBA's, etc...