Backup to Disk vs Backup to Dedupe

[jpk]

I'm on an ongoing quest to figure out why my speeds seem sub-par when backing up to disk.  Some servers seem ok while others are horrible.  One thing I did notice is when I backup to a standard BU-2-Disk Folder, my verify operations are 8-10x faster than the verify job against the same exact data set that lives within a BU-2-Dedupe folder.  I'm assuming this has to do with the "hydration" process that needs to be done on the data.  Is there any way to improve this performance?  My server is no slouch (Dell PE R515 Dual 6-core Opteron; 32GB Ram; Dedicated BE Server; 6 x 2TB 7.2K SAS disks in RAID5 ~9TB) and had way more power than what BE seems to be attempting to pull from it.

Example:

Server1:  Full Backup to Disk Storage - 15GB; Speed - 905MB/min; Time Elapsed - 00:17:33
Server1:  Full Verify to Disk Storage - 15GB; Speed - 30,782MB/min; Time Elapsed - 00:00:33

Server1:  Full Backup to Deduplication Disk Storage - 15GB; Speed - 883MB/min; Time Elapsed - 00:22:06
Server1:  Full Verify to Deduplication Disk Storage - 15GB; Speed - 4015MB/min; Time Elapsed - 00:03:56

This scenario has occured on all of the servers I've tested sending jobs to dedupe and standard disk storage folders.

I've also attempted to back up my main fileserver to dedupe for the first time over the weekend.  The process is so much slower than going directly to tape that I don't know what to make of it.  Again, a verify directly from tape goes at 8000MB/s versus 2600MB/s to what was moved into the dedupe folder. 

Data to depict this:

Example 2:

Fileserver:  Full Backup directly to tape - 1950GB; Speed 2950MB/min; Time Elapsed - 11:25:00
Fileserver:  Full Verify against tape - 1950GB; Speed ~8000MB/min; Time Elapsed - ~4:00:00 (The verify was incl. in the main job so i had to dig it out)
Fileserver:  Full Backup to Deduplication Disk Storage - 1950GB; Speed 1907MB/min; Time Elapsed - 17:38:00
Fileserver:  Full Verify to Deduplication Disk Storage - 1950GB; Speed 2627MB/min; Time Elapsed - 12:49:00

Is this normal?

I've spoke with many Symantec support reps about the poor performance issues I've been seeing throughout the product.  I finally told them to close the case I opened as I was getting nowhere with them.  The general response seems to be that any situation can be normal but that doesn't help me troubleshoot this product!

Any insight from the other admins would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Josh

[Carlos_Quiroga]

Dear Sir:

Please clarify if you are using client side or server side deduplication, as this is relevant for your issue. It is also recommended not to verify your deduplication backups in the same job, but rather schedule the verifies at a time where there is less activity.

The volume where the deduplication folder resides should be dedicated exclusively to deduplication.

You may also want to take this document into account:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=DOC3276

Regards,

[jpk]

Thank you for taking the time to read over my posting...

I currently have the job configured for server side dedupe.  However, I haven't noticed much of a difference between client side or server side.  I originally had my jobs configured for client side dedupe but at the advice of a Symantec rep, I changed many of my jobs to server side since my server had ample horsepower to perform the tasks.

The deduplication folder is pretty much by itself on the 9TB disk array.  There is a B2D folder also homed on that drive, but it's only used for very small log file backups at this time.

I've read that document in the past.  I will go through it again to make sure I haven't missed anything important.

Thanks