Netbackup Enterprise Multiserver Architecture Advice Needed

[OskarP]

Hello All,

Currently I'm building a new Netbackup architecture migrating from a single master/media server into 1 master (Solaris t2000 sparc)  and 2 media server (Solaris x86 Sun x4500 Thumper) and need some advice on DSSU vs STU on the media servers.
My initial thinking was to use two arrays of the media servers (48TB combined) as STU and use my tape library (Spectra Gator 10 ait-5 drives) for vaulting/archiving only. However maybe using the arrays as DSSU and doing nightly relocations is a better solutions.

Any thoughts/suggestions? Anyone running a similar setup?

Cheers!
Oskar

[Abesama]

If you use vault, NetBackup will try to do the same routine on the fixed schedule.

Good in ongoing maintenance perspective.
And vault will give you good book-keeping insight on the tapes onsite and offsite.

Bad (not desirable) to run un-necessary tasks if there's plenty of space left on disk - vault will not check if the disk array needs to be dup-emptied or not, it will just run when it's due to run.
And if some error condition occurs with vault, you will need to spend time to fix it while all that might have been un-necessary from the first place.

Unless customer's requirement says all overnight backups to be sent offsite the following morning, DSSU is more flexible in utilizing tape resource, I think.

One nice thing about DSSU is that the restores can be much faster - if configured properly, even after the backup images have been duplicated to tape, sometimes you would not need to mount the tape at all.

You can mix-n-match DSSU (duplication) and vault (offsiting) for the optimal efficiency, if you already have vault license in your hands.

48TB ...  I'd try to utilize the disk as much as possible, while ensuring backup images are properly protected on tape too.

A

[Mouse]

Recently we found one problem with master server installed at the box with T2 processor: EMM database is a single-thread app and this can lead to unwanted bottlenecks, so if you are planning to perform a lot of backups - it's better to use some X-series Sun boxes for it (because each single thread at T2 processor is quite slow comparing to Intels and AMDs).

[Nicolai]

I would recommend to use Storage Lifecycle Policies instead of DSSU.  A lot of logic has been put in Storage Lifecycle Policies. I am currently runnig  DSSU's but are going to change them to SLP's.

PROS of DSSU: Easy to configure
CONS of DSSU: Limited staging features, limited checking of remaining disk space

PROS of SLP: Very flexible regarding staging, duplication. Does pre-allocating of disk space before starting backups.
CONS of SLP: Not a beginners job to configure - there are some deep pits.

But yes, use disk as much as possible,and take care obtaining maximum performance. Use VXFS if possible, Netbackup has implemented allocation of disk images so there are 0% fragmentation (worst enemy when it comes to disk backup's). Check out  the free Storage Foundation Basic