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Backup to disk slowness question

John_Anderson
Level 3
Hi - I setup a backup to disk solution and am having some slowness problems. Let me explain the setup, then what problems I am seeing.

Dell server I installed a Gigabit NIC and used a GB crossover cable to connect to the GB port on an Infrant ReadyNAS NAS device.

I got the routing all setup on the server and setup Veritas to do backup to folders. Infrant has a PDF on doing that.

Started the backups and the first 5 days went great, backed up 85 to 95GB of data in about 11 hours.

Then the second week started and Monday night the backup ran for 24 hours and backed up 33GB, then it errored out because the Tuesday job started and knocked the Monday job offline.

The only thing that I see has changed is that I'm writing over the older backup jobs.

Any ideas?

Could it be a hardware problem?

Am I doing something wrong?

Any information you can provide would be great.
12 REPLIES 12

Douglas_Dahlber
Level 4
I'm sure one of the Symantec techs will post a reply with a link to the performance problems articles. Sorry I don't know those off the top of my head.

Did you switch compression methods? When backing up to disk it is typically better to use software compression. Especially if the backup destination disk is a NAS or iSCSI device.

In those performance articles they will tell you to check ta bunch of stuff including the following..


Check disk fragmentation on the backup source disk. What kind of data is it? A few big files or lots of small ones?
Is there an Antivirus agent running?
What type of compression is being used?


Plus Is the backup data coming from a remote agent(s)?
What kind of network connection do they have?

Can you post more configuration information? Particularly what is being backed up, where and how (locally or remote).

Check compression methods until you get a post from one of the techs.

John_Anderson
Level 3
Douglas - Thanks for the information. I changed the Compression methods to see if that helps.

Just checked the fragmentation level - wow, I'll need to work on that.

The answer to your question about the files, about a 50/50 mix, there are tons of small files, and a bunch of larger ones.

Data being backed up is MS Exchange, and data files (some video files, then normal "business" docs - letters, spreadsheets, etc.)

Everything is local, 1 server is backing up to the NAS over a GB ethernet crossover cable.

TrendMicro Office scan is running on the Windows Server, the NAS is running a linux varient and I do not think it has an av package on it (or it might have clamav, not sure).

If that brings anything else to mind, let me know.

Also, I'm very interested to read the Performance articles from the Symantec techs.

Thanks.

Douglas_Dahlber
Level 4
> Douglas - Thanks for the information. I changed the
> Compression methods to see if that helps.
>
> Just checked the fragmentation level - wow, I'll need
> to work on that.

Be sure to get a good defrag program. The one built into Windows is ok but just doesn't defrag that much.


> The answer to your question about the files, about a
> 50/50 mix, there are tons of small files, and a bunch
> of larger ones.

There is never really much you can do about that stuff. If you are a real performance freak you can try to use different partition for storing the large files and different one for the tons of small files. That way when the system is pulling data its not reading small file -> small file -> big file - small file. Your thru put speed will always be better on large defrag'd files because the heads of the drive are jumping around constantly. Separating can sometimes help but you are not always in the position to do that anyway.

>
> Data being backed up is MS Exchange, and data files
> (some video files, then normal "business" docs -
> letters, spreadsheets, etc.)

When backing up Exchange are you backing up the information store or individual mailboxes? Backing up the info store is much faster but you loose the ability to restore individual messages.

Also make sure to schedule your backup job time around when Exchange does it's nightly database defrag. (if you are running the default settings).


>
> Everything is local, 1 server is backing up to the
> NAS over a GB ethernet crossover cable.
>
> TrendMicro Office scan is running on the Windows
> Server, the NAS is running a linux varient and I do
> not think it has an av package on it (or it might
> have clamav, not sure).
>

Should be fine here. Not much experience with Trend. Just don't run a backup job the same time it's doing a virus scan.



> If that brings anything else to mind, let me know.
>
> Also, I'm very interested to read the Performance
> articles from the Symantec techs.
>
> Thanks.
Welcome. Hope it helps.

What's the hardware config of the server?

Gauri_Ketkar
Level 6
Hi,

-Is any Operating system running on this NAS box ?

-refer the links given below :

Known compatibility issues with Backup Exec for Windows Servers and NetApp Filer Systems
http://support.veritas.com/docs/270396

Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliance compatibility with Backup Exec 8.x , 9.x, and 10.x.
http://support.veritas.com/docs/237737

Update us on the same and revert for any further Query
Hope this will help you


Thank you
Gauri

Additional Information :
For information on the recent VERITAS Backup Exec security vulnerabilities, including links to the downloads for the necessary hotfixes, please refer to the following document:
Patch summary for Security Advisories VX05-001, VX05-002, VX05-003, VX05-005, VX05-006, VX05-007

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/277429.htm



NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked "assumed answered" and would be moved to "answered questions" pool.

John_Anderson
Level 3
Hi,

Thanks everyone for the help. I've got this about 98% ironed out. The Defrag and the Compression was helpful.

The only other question / problem that I am currently having is with the Backup-to-disk folders.

Everytime I reboot the Windows server, the Backup-to-Disk folders show up as "Offline" and I need to manually go in and mark them as "Online".

Is there a way around this?

Thanks.

--John

Douglas_Dahlber
Level 4
Do you connect to the device over iSCSI?

If so make sure the partition is formated as basic and not dynamic. Otherwise you won't have persistant connections thru iSCSI.

John_Anderson
Level 3
Nope, the connection is a Cat6 Ethernet Crossover cable.


--John

Douglas_Dahlber
Level 4
So you are not using the Microsoft iSCSI initiator to communicate with the NAS.

John_Anderson
Level 3
No, but I'm reading over the iSCSI stuff now and I might look to implement that. Is that the only way that you know of to do that?

Thanks for the help.


--John

Douglas_Dahlber
Level 4
That would because the BE services are loading before you server has connected to your NAS device. Check you event logs.

How are you implementing the connection to the NAS from your server? Are you mapping a share to an static IP? UNC?

Asma_Tamboli
Level 6
Hi John,

Could you please update us on the issue?


NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked assumed answered and would be moved to answered questions pool.

jepsontech
Not applicable
Partner
I have the same issue when the backup server is rebooted, the NAS is marked "offline" and I need to manually check "online" from the properties before a backup job can see it again.
 
I am using UNC to connect. Is there any way to automate the reconnection?

Message Edited by jepsontech on 05-11-200711:14 AM