Using more than 1 tape drive at a time for backups - NBU 7.5

[jonnyguitar]

I'm running NBU 7.1 with an ML6000 library.  Our system should be configured to use more than 1 drive at a time in the ML6000 during backups (there are 8).

Currently backups are very slow and only using 1 drive at a time for each job.  Is there a way to use more than 1 drive at a time for each job?

Thanks

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

A single job can go to one drive only.

You need multiple jobs in order to use multiple drives.

Depending on what policy config looks like, it is possibly for one policy to generate multiple jobs.

Multiple clients in a policy will generate one job for each client.

Backup selection in combination with 'allow multiple data streams' can generate more than one job per client. Max Jobs per Client in Master Server Global Properties needs to be higher than 1.

To increase backup throughput, we normally multiplex a number of jobs per tape drive. (MPX of 4 gives good  backup and restore performance.) 
Multiplexing is enabled in Storage Unit Properties and in Policy Schedule.

[jonnyguitar]

Really helpful as always Marianne!  Thanks very much.