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My Media server is not backing itself up using SAN

dz3000
Level 4
Hi everyone, I have a netbackup 6.5.4 Enterprise environment.  I'm trying to back up my media servers and expected them to go directly to the SAN but the job seems pretty slow and "transport type" says LAN. I think I must be missing something in the media servers configuration. I read the SSO admin guide and I'm not sure if the media server configuration should be the same as the configuration for a SAN client?

Is there anything else that needs to be done when you back up a media server? Should I stop the netbackup services and run the backup from another media server?


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Accepted Solutions

Peter_Jakobs
Level 5
Partner Accredited Certified
Hi, There is a big difference between sso media server or san client. The San client has no access to the tape drives, and only uses the SAN to transport his data to the media server.

An SSO media server writes directly to tape (or to disk). the transport type that you see in the activity monitor will still be LAN, but you should see the media server in the Detailed Status. Of course you need a Storage Unit, and if you have a storage unit with more media servers you have to specify on the media server properties the 'use local drive' flag.

Peter

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9 REPLIES 9

Peter_Jakobs
Level 5
Partner Accredited Certified
Hi, There is a big difference between sso media server or san client. The San client has no access to the tape drives, and only uses the SAN to transport his data to the media server.

An SSO media server writes directly to tape (or to disk). the transport type that you see in the activity monitor will still be LAN, but you should see the media server in the Detailed Status. Of course you need a Storage Unit, and if you have a storage unit with more media servers you have to specify on the media server properties the 'use local drive' flag.

Peter

Nicolai
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP   

Are you looking for the MUST_USE_LOCAL_DRIVES setting ?. This setting ensures a media server uses it's own tape drives.

You can set the setting by issuing : nbemmcmd -changesetting -MUST_USE_LOCAL_DRIVE YES -machinename {MEDIA_SERVER_NAME}

To clear, use the same command but specify NO instead of YES.

dz3000
Level 4
I don't see the option on the media servers properties.
oh It is an option under  "master server properties" --> General Server --> "must use local drive"

Which manual has the MUST_USE_LOCAL_DRIVES setting?




Nicolai
Moderator
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You can use the command line  or you can activate it in the GUI by going to General servers and check marking "Must use local drives (does not apply to NDMP drives).

Symantec tech note : About the general server properties.

I would recommend to use the command line for each media server you have. You can red about the setting in the NBU 6.0 command change manual page 26 - BUT it's bad documented and some of it is wrong.

regards

Nicolai




dz3000
Level 4
I ran the following command:  nbemmcmd -changesetting -MUST_USE_LOCAL_DRIVE yes -machinename BKME3
It is still running slowly and the backup says "transport type" is LAN.


Nicolai
Moderator
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Even if you're media servers are writing to their own tape drives(via SAN)  transport type will still be LAN - this may be a little misleading. Only if you have Fibre Transport Layer servers  (FTL),  the transport type will change to "Fibre Transport". FTL servers only run on Solaris or Linux and operates on a a limited series of Qlogic adapters.

Regarding performance have you configured NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS, SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS ?.

just to show the gain:

Before tuning: 19MB/sec (default values)

Second tuning attempt: 49MB/sec (using 128K block size, 64 buffers)

Final result: 129MB/sec  (using 128K block size and 256 buffers)

Since it's a LOT3 drive have a native transfer rate of 80MB/sec any further tuning attempt are meaningless.

Backup where Transport type = Fibre transport.
ftl.jpg

Peter_Jakobs
Level 5
Partner Accredited Certified

Hi dz3000

If your backup is still going slow you should tell us more about the configuration (OS, hardware, file system, number of files, tape drives, etc)

Maybe it's the file system it self. It can be tested with the

# time /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpbkar -nocont -nofileinfo -nokeepalives / > /dev/null 2> /tmp/file.ou

Peter

Nicolai
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP   

LOL - Connect works  - Sharing information !!

That bpbkar command look  VERY similar to one i posted in this thread  (DZ3000 - I suggest you read this thread)

Keep that command, it's very handy :)


Best Regards

Nicolai


jbaczynski
Level 2
Partner Certified
Hi,

refer to "Veritas NetBackup (tm) Backup Planning and Performance Tuning Guide", page 105, chapter bpbkar, available here: http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/307083.htm.

"To measure disk I/O using bpbkar" :)

Bye Jan