Backup with DLTVS80 and Arcserve 6.6 for Netware run very slow.

[AlienZ]

Hello. I've recently installed an internal DLTVS80 tape drive in my Novell Server and i'm running ArcserveIT for Netware which is version 6.6. When a backup job is performed it runs very slowly. There is approximately 25Gb of data to backup. I've read something about the Block size of the DLT which is currently set to the default of 512. I think it needs to be set to 64K or 32K minimum, but how is this acheived?

 

[Guest_imported]

I've got the same problem. I've recently installed an HP 1/8 Autoloader which uses the VS80 drive onto my NW5.1 Sp2a server. A previously attached VS80 single drive used to backup and fully verify around 40Gb in about 7 hours (approx 100Mb/Min). Since installing the autoloader, I'm getting a throughput of 6-7Mb/Min.

To change the blocksize in Arcserve you need to add an entry to the Tapesvr.CFG file in the \ARCSERVE\NLM directory. Do a search on the CA.COM site for blocksize for more info. However I've tried this without success.

HP recommended changing the SCSI card to an Adaptec 29160, as this is the card that they tested the drive with. I'm sceptical this is the solution since it worked correctly prior to the upgrade.

If you find a solution I'd be interested to hear.

Stephen Curtis
Network Adminstrator (Paterson Candy Ltd)
curtiss@bv.com

 

[BWB]

I had the same problem with the same drive but under W2K. The problem was that the current patches for Arcserve had to be loaded and then I had to reload the Device driver list that Arcserve uses to define the properties of the tape drives. Look under the Device Manager in Arcserve and confirm that it sees the tapes in the slots as a DLT. Before I fixed it the best I got was about 10mb/sec. After the patch we were getting about 120-130 mb/sec.

BTW: Would you beleave that CA wanted to charge me for the support after spending over 1G for the software within about 10 days on purchase. That compnay has lost it. I fought them on it and finaly got if got it for free.

Good Luck

 

[homerunkevin]

Hm I looking to install the same DLT surestore autoloader 1/8 onto my Win 2k sp3 server. However, my server doesn't recognize it and I 'm looking to find a driver for this autoloader. However, anywhere, can i find this driver. If anyone know where I can find this driver, please let me know.

Thanks.
Love always,
Kevin Z
Techncial Support specailist
kevin@hsmc.com

 

[SoupRice]

AlienZ. Question, in Device Manager, what does Arcserve list as the name of your tape drive? In checking the AS Certified Device Lists the VS80 is not listed for AS6.6 but is for AS7.0.

 

[nryan1980]

There are many things that can affect the performance of your drive. Some basics:
Blocksize (which some of you seem to know about already, should be 64k for VS80).
The recommended card for that drive (as stated above) IS the AHA-29160lp, however, it is more important to ensure that there are no other devices on the same scsi bus as the tape drive. They're pigs and like to suck up all the bandwidth. If you have a hard drive on the same scsi bus, they will do nothing but compete for the bandwidth and you'll get all sorts of data collisions resulting in slow backups.
You don't need to perform Verify at all. These drives have 2 sets of read/write heads and perform RAW (read after write) writing, so the verify option is quite redundant.

If you want to know more, check out this page

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=lpg50167