Backup with PV132T slow as anything

[Chris_Luther]

We have a Powervault PV132T library that for some reason Symantec backup writes exceptionally slowly to, and I mean slowly 4MB a min.
My test backup of a 3GB file has just finished backup up after taking hrs 20 mins. This file was local to the server, it is at the moment of running a verify reading from tape at just over 3GB a Min.
tested with both Dell drivers and Symantec drivers. Had same problem on ver 10d. We are currently using a large disk array to backup to.
Help, at the moment the PV132T is about as much use(with Symantec backup anyway) as either an ash tray on a motorbike or a chocolate fireguard.

[Simon_1976]

where do you connect the library? standalone SCSI adapter or on-board SCSI/RAID controller?

Try to backup the data by NTBackup to see if the backup performance was high.

[Deepali_Badave]

Hello,

Please try installing latest device drivers.

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/285593.htm

Regards,

[Chris_Luther]

The library is installed on a SCSI adaptor card which is seperate from the RAID card.

I have backed up data before with NT backup and it was much higher. I am trying to get NTbackup going at the moment but having some probs getting it to see and use the tapes.

[Chris_Luther]

After much hassle, I have managed to get NTbackup to backup the same file to the library.
*****copied from backup report ****
Bytes: 3,046,723,652
Time: 2 minutes and 48 seconds
********
as you can see the file is 3 GB and backed up in less than 3 mins (roughly a gig a minute compared to 4MB a min, quite a difference to the 9hrs it took veritas to back it up.
I am atm using the Dell drivers for the library.

I am going to try using 11d with the dell drivers and see if there is any improvement

[Russ_Perry]

In BEWS get properties on the drive in the Devices screen. The configuration tab should show 64K block and buffer size and 10 and . If these are not correct, the device hasn't been properly detected by Backup Exec. Disable and delete the drive from Backup Exec then cycle the Backup Exec services to re-detect the device. Also, what is resource usage like when the BEWS backup is running? Is the server running out of CPU or memory?

Russ

[Chris_Luther]

Devices config shows
Block size 64K
Buffer size 64K
Buffer count 10
High Water Count 0

I will run another test on it and check the perfomance tho I do not recall seing high usage on the CPUs and RAM.

[Chris_Luther]

CPU usage 0%
Commit charge:436M / 5973M

server specs Dual Dual Core Xeon 3.2 Ghz
4GB Ram

[Chris_Luther]

Veritas drivers now reinstalled and still slower than a snail..

[Ken_Putnam]

Make sure that all "Pass Thru" and all "Single Block" settings are NOT selected for the device

[Chris_Luther]

Write single block and write pass thru were selected. unticked and started test job.
It looked as though it was better as it sat around 150mb but it is slowly dropping, now at 54MB/min but still dropping.

[Shane_Vincent]

Can I ask what AntiVirus you are running (even if not enabled during backup). I recently had an issue of extremly slow backups (Symantec could no fix). By upgrading our Symantec AntiVirus CE from 10.1 to the latest 10.1.5.5000 the problem mysteriously went away... even thou Symantec denied there was a problem the upgrade fixed 6 servers...

[Chris_Luther]

Our AV is Sophos ver 6.5.0, however there is currently no AV software installed on this server.

[Matt_Guglietti]

I'm having the same trouble with my Dell 124T. It was working fine with version 9.1 (985MB/min), now I'm getting 5MB/min!!!
I followed the advice above, but have seen no difference. 9.1 was upgraded over the top so it shouldn't be SCSI settings or a RAID card problem.
Symantec..... help.

[Matt_Guglietti]

Sorry to threadjack IT Dept, but it seems this is a VERY common problem. My specs for reference are below:
Dell 2950
Adaptec 39320A
Dell 124T (Fully Loaded)
Symantec Antivirus 10.1.5.5000
Medium Changer ID 6 Lun 1 (Dell driver - 2/15/05)
IBM TD3 SCSI Tape Drive ID 6 Lun 0 (Veritas Driver - 9/5/06)

I know some will say move the SCSI off ID6, but keep in mind that I was seeing 985MB with the same data using BE 9.1 with no other changes. The upgrade I performed 2 days ago is the only difference.

[Chris_Luther]

Feel free to threadjack, glad to know I am not the only one with slowness.

My server specs are
Dell PE2950
Dual Xeon 3.20 (8 cores in total)
4GB Ram
2003 SP1
PERC 5/i for OS disks
PERC 5/e for Storage Unit
Adaptec 39320A
MD1000 with 1.2TB data storage

The MD1000 is connected to a Perc 5 using SAS
the PV132T is SCSI connected to the 39320A
Library is Target ID 1, LUN 1, (Dell 15/11/2004)
IBM Ultrium III TD Target ID 1, LUN 0 (Symantec 05/09/2006)
No AV at present but would be Sophos 6.5

I have seen write speeds of 1GB a min using NTbackup.
Now that there is a 64bit version of Backup Exec, I am considering rebuilding the OS to Win2k03 R2 64bit

[Chris_Luther]

Matt, a big thank you to you. I have read your post about your PV124T problems you were having. The part that helped me was actually your respsonse to yourself about the adaptec drivers.
I checked the drivers that were loaded on the server and they were MS provided ones that were obv released in 2004. Checked Adaptec web site and downloaded some from this year and updated the installed ones. After rebooting the server and running a test backup I am now getting over a Gig a min (had 1.5gb when i started this). 8.5 GB in 8 mins is so much better that 3 GB in 9/12 hrs. Obv BE is fussy or more demanding than NTbackup was.

Again Matt Thank you.

[James_Currie]

I also had the same issues with BE 11d. Symantec support was no help. Averaged 30 MB / Min on a Dell 124T. Thanks to this thread I updated the Adaptec SCSI controller drivers and now I am writing 1200 - 1400 MB / Min.

[Paul_Harrigan]

Hi,

I had exectly the same problem but found a fix. My Spec:-

DELL PE2950
Adaptec SCSI Card 39320A-R
DELL PV 124T
Backup Exec 11d


The problem is acknowledged by Adaptec.
http://adaptec-tic.adaptec.com/cgi-bin/adaptec_tic.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=13312

Even though my hardware does not exactly match the hardware listed in the article, the solution certainly worked.

The solution
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/897346

[Lauri_Saarni]

I had same problem

Dell PE860
Win 2003 r2
Adabtec 39320A

Dell PV 124T

I changed Adabtec SCSI Bios setup Multiple Lun to yes for Tapeloaders scsi ID.
Then upgraded Adabtec 39320A driver to latest on Adaptecs site. Now it's working smoothly. Speed is now up to 2000 MB/s