Backup-To-Disk Software Compression Not Working

[BrandonLP]

I have been unable to get any software compression on my Backup-to-Disk jobs.  I use a single policy with a grandfather-father-son template arrangement, all of which use Software compression.

When the jobs run, the number of bytes reported backed up very closely matches the size increase in the .BKF.  Also, the media shows a blank compression field or 1:1 depending on where I look.  The job logs show Software Compression 1:1.  When I manually ZIP compress the identified files using the lowest-compression settings, I get 5:1 compression (database backups and transaction logs mostly), so I know the data *is* compressible.  Not using encryption.

It seems to just be broken.  Anyone encountered this before or has seen it actually work?

I submitted this as case 500-276-183 to evaluation support.

Message Edited by BrandonLP on 04-20-200710:26 AM

[Patty_McGowan]

Hi Brandon,

What type of drive do you have your B2D's located on?

Thanks.

Patty

[BrandonLP]

They are Seagate external 400Gb hard drives over USB.  Each is mounted as a subdirectory such as

x:\media\b01

x:\media\b02

...

When I created each Backup-To-Disk folder, it created the changer file in the root of the hard drive.  There are no drive letters attached to each drive either.

Also, they are in service full time and are not being hard removed and re-attached.

[Patty_McGowan]

Thank you.

Are they in NTFS format?

[BrandonLP]

Yes, of course.  Standard cluster size.  No tricks.

[Patty_McGowan]

Brandon,

As a test, could you run a backup to disk job to a folder on the local HD?

This would rule out any issues with the drive.

Patty

[BrandonLP]

I just created another Backup-To-Disk folder on a hard drive local to the server (SCSI Raid). It created the changer.cfg and folder.cfg files at that time.

I then created a single backup job, selecting about 2.62 GB of SQL Server transaction log files, directed the backup to the new B2D device, and selected Software compression.  The job ran without errors.

The media reports 2.63 GB used capacity, 2.63 GB data, Compression Ratio is blank.

The size of the BKF file is 2,753,785.

Here is the job results.

Drive and media information from media mount: 4/20/2007 3:47:32 PMDrive Name: backup03Media Label: B2D000007Media GUID: {ced96a65-556b-46ab-9892-72a601b024c0}Overwrite Protected Until: 12/30/9999 7:00:00 PMAppendable Until: 12/30/9999 7:00:00 PMTargeted Media Set Name: Keep Data Infinitely - Do Not Allow Overwrite
All Media Used B2D000007

Job Operation - BackupBackup Options

Media operation - append.Compression Type: Software

Server - NETSERVER2

Set Information - X: FilesBackup Set Information

Family Name: "Media created 4/20/2007 3:47:30 PM"Backup of "X: Files"Backup set #1 on storage media #1Backup set description: "Backup 00004"Backup Method: Differential - Changed Files

Backup started on 4/20/2007 at 3:47:37 PM.Backup completed on 4/20/2007 at 3:49:56 PM.

Backup Set Summary

Backed up 11 files in 5 directories.Processed 2,816,882,456 bytes in  2 minutes and  19 seconds.Throughput rate: 1160 MB/minSoftware compression ratio: 1:1

[Patty_McGowan]

Thank you.

The Remote Agent is what actually does the Software Compression.

It compresses it before it hands it over to be written.

There are no known issues with the Software Compression, so I would recommend opening a support case so the debug logs for the Remote Agent can be reviewed to see what is happening.

Patty

[BrandonLP]

I noticed that there is now a Remote Agent even on the local BE server machine.  The RA on the local BE server does the compression in that case also?

[Patty_McGowan]

Yes it does.

You can run SGMon.exe and run the job, you should see as the job runs the compression settings.

If you run it, that may tell you what is occurring.

Patty

[BrandonLP]

Where is this RA log?

[Patty_McGowan]

If you run Sgmon.exe it will show in a console.

If you would like to debug RAWS you can stop the service type in -debug in the start parameters and select START, if you select ok here the service will not go into debug mode.

The file will be created in Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\Logs

Patty

[BrandonLP]

You had indicated there were no issues with Software Compression.

Today I got a response on my case.

Software compression does not work on Windows 2003 x64 or Windows XP x64 bit systems.

http://support.veritas.com/docs/287306

Unfortunately, now that I have 350Gb of BKF files on my media (including a full rotation of new media BKF files), turning on Windows software compression becomes a bit complex.

In any case, thanks again for the excellent response times and help!

[Rob_Swift]

There was a bunch of discussion on this near the beginning of the month.  See

https://forums.symantec.com/syment/board/message?board.id=115&message.id=9305&query.id=114626#M9305

Bottom line was to install build 7170 which was made available at the end of March.  This fixed the problem for us.

[BrandonLP]

Thanks, Rob!

Forgive me if this turns out to be a dumb question, but where can I get 7170?  All I see now is 6235 and a series of Hotfixes.

[Rob_Swift]

Not a dumb question at all since it seems to be hidden!  Here is how we got a copy:

1) Got to http://www.symantec.com/backupexec/

2) spot the Free Downloads section on the left side,

3) download the trialware for the version you need. 

4) You'll be given the option to install your license keys during the installation process to make the install permanent, rather than a 60-day eval.

I'm not sure why Live Update can't find it yet.  Best to leave that question to a Symantec employee.

There are several forum topics on this build (search on build 7170).  We had no problems with it other than finding it!

[BrandonLP]

I am downloading it now.

Thanks again for all the help!

I'm hoping it will just install over the top of 6235.

[BrandonLP]

I can now also confirm that 7170 fixes software compression on B2D for x64.

[Patty_McGowan]

Very good.

Thank you.