BackupExec8.6+SonyAIT3= SLOOOOW!!!!!

[the0utsider1]

I have SonyAIT 100(2 of them actually) on older dual HP Pentium2-300Mhz. Each has 180M ram and 1-6G(scsi) hd and 1-100G(ide) HD. I own and have tried the same hw on a second identical machine.

When i run the backup, the tape does no better than 40M/min.
After messing with it, once in a blue moon, the backup will do 300M/min but it drops to 40M/min after a few days.

I use BE8.6 win2000 advanced server
I opened a ticket with Veritas but they couldn't help me.
The cpu usage is less than 10%

Why does it work right one day and slow the next?
Does the drive need a faster cpu?
Does it matter that i run the sw\hw on a domain server?
I have updated everything there is- firmwares\SP's\HW itself.

 

[comtec17]

Your drive speed will be as fast as your SCSI adapter and bus can push. Since this is an older machine, I would guess that the bus is a shared bus and only runs around 33mhz. You will also need to increase your RAM if you want to cache the data so you will not "Shoeshine" your drive.

You can also change the buffer amount in the drive properties within backup exec.

 

[Rols]

What SCSI adapter are you using??

 

[the0utsider1]

I am using an adaptec 7880 scsi card.
I don't want to dump good money only to find out the problem is still here.
I'll borrow some HW to confirm.

Also, the computers HD activity LED's show that the HD is inactive alot. also cpu usage stays less than %10. Lastly, several times i reboot the system, it works fine doing up to 300M/min. With this behavior, that is why i never suspected slow system.

 

[technome]

Sound like not enough memory. With a 2.8 ghz, 2gig ram ,BK 8.6, I hit 1.2 gig/minute on my Sony. Had this unit on slower servers and 300 Meg/minutes sound good for a P2 300. You might try lowering your scsi speed on the adaptec adapter, flash your firmware on the card, and have the newest Adaptec drivers.
In the future avoid Veritas tech support at all costs, they want your money but very rarely supply answers.

 

[the0utsider1]

I just got a Xeon 1Ghz with 512Mg mem, adaptec 160 card and SCSI HD. I tried the BE8.6 and same-o same-o.
it did 40M/min. This is pitiful!
Again, from the beginning, both drives tested fine with Compaq's diag sw. There must be some special setup that this drive needs to work properly.
anybody have ANY ideas???

 

[technome]

Can't answer why your having this problem but I will tell you my setup..
Adaptec onboard scsi u320 controller cable ,and u320 terminator( on tape drive) both directly from Adaptec. Scsi controller setting are defaults. Veritas has recommendations for the Adaptec card if you search on the Veritas site under "scsi settings".
I set this drive up a year ago, and the drive itself needed some dip switch settings changed, which is located on the bottom of the drive under a plastic plate. Believe I set it to emulate a Sony AIT 500. I would call Sony and ask about this.
The other strange thing I found about this drive is it does not like driver updates. I had to repeatedly reinstall the drive with reboots before the speed came up. From my previous post, my estimate for a P 300 might be high. On a 1 ghz server I was getting 325 meg/minute.