NB Flashbackup

[Sameer_Nirmal]

Hi guys,

I need to understand the flashbackup advantages , when it should be used etc.
Does anyone knows the flashbackup enhancements from version 4.5FP to 5.1MP4?

How would on collect the performance stats of flashbackup clients from backup , restore perspectives?

[Lance_Hoskins · Accepted solution]

Flash backup is like a raw backup where it does the backup at the block level--the main difference is that it can do differentials.

The catch is that the entire volume will be backed up (i.e. if you have a 72GB volume, but only 6GB used space, the full backup will be 72GB).

The major advantage however, and the place where Veritas/Symantec recommends using Flash Backups, is when you have a large number (millions) of small files. Flash backup will back up these files much faster since it's doing a block level backup rather than trying to pick up each file from the file system.

I'm not sure of the origon of the verbage "Flash Backup", but we have used it on a couple of Macromedia Flash Com. server where there are millions of 1-4k files on a single partition and backing them up using a standard Windows-NT policy results in very slow full backups (can't even finish in a 36 hour window) and virtually no incremental backup capability (since it always ends up with a client read timeout).

Lance

[AKopel]

As for performance stats. Just give it a try.
You will probably find quite a bump in performance.
As an example. One filesystem that we backup gets only about 8-10MB/sec doing a normal backup. When using flashbackup, we get close to 30MB/sec.

Like Lance said, it works best for filesystems that are clost to full, so you aren't wasting tape.

[Sameer_Nirmal]

Hi Lance,

Thanks for the quick reply.

We are having bunch of video files getting accumulated on daily basis. The partition size is 600GB. We are using 4.5FP5 HPUX /solaris clients and flashbackup configured. We would upgrade these clients to 5.1 MP4 shortly

How do I catch the performance performance statistics of Flashbackup under this environment
5.1 NB DC server and Media server on Windows
4.5 & 5.1 NB HPUX/Solaris clients using flashbackup

Secondly where do I get the documentation for 5.1 flashbackup system administration for unix ? I could only see such document for 4.5 only
Can you tell me the documentation site for veritas NB 5.1?

[Sameer_Nirmal]

Hi Aaron,

How do you catch those stats?
Do you use any s/w or tool to measure backup performance?

Thanks for you guidance

[Stumpr2]

Starting with NetBackup 5.0, Advanced Client combined the features formerly provided by the following NetBackup add-on products: Core Frozen Image Services, Extended Frozen Image Services (Array Integration Option), Offhost and SAN Data Movement Services, FlashBackup, Persistent Frozen Image, and Oracle BLI Agent.

VERITAS NetBackup (tm) 5.1 Advanced Client Quick Start Guide for UNIX and Windows
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/268110.htm

VERITAS NetBackup (tm) 5.1 Advanced Client System Administrators Guide for UNIX and Windows
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/268106.htm

VERITAS NetBackup (tm) 5.1 Advanced Client Configuration and Compatibility Guide (formerly AdvancedClient_ConfigNotes)
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/268391.htmBS

[AKopel]

You can see kbits/sec right in the Activity Monitor.
You may have to add the column if it isn't there.