Backup for thousand of smal files - backup window impacted

[Joe_ab]

we have file server with 15TB and miliion/ huge amount of number of files, the backup window is taking long - very long time , the speed is okay but the issue with the number of files which makes this window last for weeks.. any suggest to mitigae and rectify this matter ?

[Marianne]

@Joe_ab

What type of backup storage are you using?
If you have NBU Appliance or MSDP media server, you could use client-side dedupe and/or Accellerator.

If backup storage is tape, then you may want to look at FlashBackup feature. 
You firstly need Enterprise Client license for that or else Capacity license that includes all agents and options. 
Information about FlashBackup and HOWTO in NetBackup Snapshot Client Administrator's Guide 

 Another option is to simply enable multiple data streams and multiplixing (in STU and schedules), and break down the Backup Selection into multiple streams.
We have had much success at various customers with something like this: 

NEW_STREAM
X:\folder1\a*
X:\folder1\b*
X:\folder1\c*
.....
..
NEW_STREAM
X:\folder1\g*
X:\folder1\h*
X:\folder1\i*
.....
NEW_STREAM
X:\folder1\m*
X:\folder1\n*
X:\folder1\o*
.....
NEW_STREAM
X:\folder1\r*
X:\folder1\s*
X:\folder1\t*
......
etc..

Backup windows of more than 72 hours was reduced to less than 8 hours. 

IMPORTANT: ONLY make changes to Backup Selection when a Full backup is due, otherwise your incrementals will run as Full.

[Joe_ab]

many thanks, we are using physcial tape library , using NDMP backup on EMC NAS , i think the flash isnt an option here..

[Marianne]

It always helps when all relevant info is shared upfront. 

You clearly tagged Windows 2012.

[mph999]

Millions of small files is a big issue for 'any' backup software, as each file has to be individually accessed, time/date stamp modified etc ...

The only solution for this is to use flashbackup / snapshot of some kind, although Mariannes multi-stream suggestion might be acceptable.

Unfortuntaley, you cannot get around this - file has to be accessed to back it up, this changes the file accessed time, this then has to be set back so it doen't look like it was touched -> multiple this by several million files and you can understand the problem.