Help with implementing and improving backup strategy

[Matt34]

Thank you in advanced for any help you can provide.

I am using Backup Exec 12.5 (1 CAS, 3 Media servers).  The CAS is installed on a Server 2003 x32 with two processors.  The other media servers are installed on server 2003 x64 boxes with a lot more memory and processing power.  The environment is around 5+ TB of data to back up.  Our biggest backup consists of a drive that is 2 TB that contains many small files (tifs, word docs, etc..).  All of the items are going to a B2D target located on the CAS server (The target is on a SAN (NETAPP)).  Currently have 3 tape drives (2 LTO4 HP Drives, 1 LTO3 Dell)

The biggest job is split into 16 different jobs - 4 Per server going to the same B2D target on the CAS.  I am running into the issue of this getting very slow backups (50MB/Min) so the job will take over 50 hrs to complete.  I have also noticed that the CAS server is pegged at 100% CPU utilization while this is going on. 

If this job is going on...or multiple jobs as once (Usually 4+ jobs) the server will hit 100%.  These jobs are not all running on the CAS, some or most will be running on the Media server.  This really does not happen during the week because of the timing of the jobs and there usually are no more than 2 jobs running at once.

I am attempting to do a Weekly Backup (Starting Saturday Morning 12AM until Sunday night 11PM).  If I start the 2 TB job it will tank all other jobs that are set to run.  I am spending Monday trying to write this stuff to disk and trying to ensure the nightly jobs will run Monday night...but that usually does not happen. 

As for going to disk, I have tried to duplicate the job, but that runs very slow...so scratched that.

What I am thinking I will attempt is to split the SAN space up and locally attach the disks to each media server.  I was hoping this will take the load off of the CAS server so it is not hitting 100% on the weekends.   Will this help with the speed of 50MB/Min and help the CPU utilization on the CAS?

Would anyone have a better plan for backing up this data more efficiently?  I am up for any suggestions, I need to get the backup time down and actually have all jobs run correctly over the weekend/week day.

Thank you,
Matt

[CraigV]

Are those other servers all connected to the SAN? The reason I am asking is that you haven't mentioned this, and if you don't then your jobs are going across your LAN. 2TB of data will take a long time as a result.
Something to look into is Backup Exec's SAN SSO option. Instead of backups running across your LAN, they will run directly across your SAN and make use of that speed (2 or 4GB vs. 100 or 1000MB), and backups should complete much quicker. That's the upside...the downside if you need to load that option on a server designated as a SAN SSO server, and then you need to load full versions of Backup Exec on each SAN-attached server, and run a wizard to configure them to use that server.
I used this option on our Head Office site before it got virtualised, and cut backup times by 60%.
If this is too pricey, I'd look into using a FULL/INCREMENTAL backup strategy. This will ensure that your daily jobs go through successfully, and quite quickly too, leaving your weekly job to run over a weekend.
I take it your CAS is initiating the jobs? I run a CAS in our environment, and basically use it for monitoring only. THe site servers do their own management of, and initiating of jobs. A major reason for this is the WAN speeds into Africa and Asia.

[Matt34]

CraigV,

Thank you for your response on the subject. 

2 of the 3 Media servers are connect to the SAN, so I am going to present LUNS to them to get local disks.  As for the 3rd Media server, I do actually have the SAN SSO option, but it was not installed.  I will try to install that option on that 3rd server to see if that will help.  

To install that SAN SSO do I need to do anything other than installing 12.5 and adding that License to the option of installs?

I have all the jobs created on the Media Servers themselves.  The CAS is saying the Media Servers name when I look at the jobs.  So should all be off of the CAS.

As for the current backup strat.  I do Incrementals Monday - Friday and do Fulls on Sat/Sun.