Backups are painfully slow 1

[jwest1]

Have 2 different sites. At each we have a Dell PowerVault 122T LTO connected to a PowerEdge 4600 W2K3 F&P server. Backup Exec Ver 9.1 loaded on both.
Backups are painfully slow on both. 98MB/min (6GB/hr) No prescan/verify. (capable of 900MB/min, 54GB/hr)
Most of the data is on the F&P itself, however we have tried just backing up remote servers with the same throughput experienced.
Have we missed anything configuration wise??? At a bit of a loss as we cannot see anything obvious to alter.
Have updated SCSI drivers to latest Adaptec ones (39160 card)

Thanks in advance (hopefully)
JW

 

[Zelandakh]

when you start the server, it should detect the LTO. What speed does it say? Can you also check the config on the LTO and see if it is set to 10MB/s or something daft.

Then in BE, check the device config to ensure BE controls them.

Here is the curveball - if all of the above is not applicable, try putting a spare SCSI device on its own at the end of the chain as an expensive terminator. I had slow backups for ages then took the terminator off and replaced it with a Jaz drive. Speed took off enormously...

 

[justin2000]

jwest

I remember something like that on here a while back - it was the SCSI drivers causing the issue - I think they contacted Dell for the correct one.
Try the MS SCSI driver see how that goes.

 

[jwest1]

Cheers

Have flashed SCSI BIOS to latest version and updated dvr's. Also disabled removable storage manager service in OS. Ensured Veritas dvr's where being used for tape drive.
Still no joy. Throughput has actually gone down. Will try some of your ideas.

 

[Rols]

What SCSI card are you using?? (Make sure you change the SCSI cables & terminator - for piece of mind).

Also are you testing local or network backups??

 

[MJoyce]

I had similar problems last year, however my slowdowns were due to having IDE drives, which just could not move data fast enough.

 

[Rovent]

we used to have this problem with all of our Compaq 1600s and some of our Dell's. after months of 12MB/min, i happen to notice an extremely high level of dropped packets on the switch ports (Cisco 2900s) the servers were plugged in to.

check your NIC settings, and see if they are set to "Auto Detect". i changed mine from that to "100 Mb/s / Full Duplex" and instantly i was getting 430MB/min+ transfer rates.

- Alex

 

[NMatejic]

Similar issues with BE 9.1 and a Dell Powervault 120T DDS4. Ran fine (~150 Mb/min) under W2K. After upgrading to W2K3 (multiple server platforms), local backup is maybe 2 MB/min. Have used MS and Veritas drivers.

 

[LaChimere]

HI all

I have notice some issue with backup performance on a SYSLOG server.

I presume you have a lot a file on your disks.

Try to to do a defrag on your disk.

 

[jwest1]

Still no joy on this. Have had conflicting advice off Dell (Support call + forum).
Haved flashed SCSI Bios to latest version. Used latest Adaptec dvr's and MS dvr's. Disabled OS storage manager service with both. Still no improvement.
Set SCSI to default values. Ensured everything is on differing SCSI id's as well.
Dell forum has common theme regarding the Adaptec 39106 SCSI. People have had success reverting back to older dvr's. Am going to give this a try and then try some of the suggestions on here.
Many thanks to everyone. Will let you know how it goes.

 

[jwest1]

Meant to say 39160 SCSI

 

[Jesperrim]

Read the below input in a previous thread regarding the same issue:
When utilizing a Dell server (though I imagine this can be replicated with other servers) with a Dell PowerVault 128T tape changer through an Adaptec 39160 card, you may notice tremendously slow data through-put of within 50-100MB/min range. This problem had baffled me for quite awhile, since on other nearly identical servers with the same Adaptec SCSI card and tape unit, the backups run within the 500Mb/min-1000Mb/min range. I finally narrowed the issue down to either the bus or the scsi card itself. The bus was a 33/66Mhz 64-bit PCI, so this appeared fine. SCSI card drivers were the latest from Adaptec, for 39160/Ultra-160, so tried an earlier version. This still did not improve things. Finally, installed the generic Microsoft 3960D drivers dated from 1999 directly from a Windows 2000 CD as the driver of choice for the 39160, and presto, we are back at the 500-1000Mb/min through-put range. Adaptec apparently doesn't pay their technicians to actually read tech support emails, as the response we have received thus-far when explaining this issue is "install the latest drivers from our web site" (the ones that were giving the trouble in the first place). Hope this saves someone some trouble!

haven't got the original thread - just copied the content as this helped a couple of my customers.

 

[jwest1]

Finally solved. Reverted back to Adaptec W2K drivers (found on Dell support site) for 39160 SCSI.
Now getting 650MB/min backup rate. Good enough for me. Judging from the forums I have been on, including Dells own,
this is a common problem regarding the 39160.

Much thanks to all who replied.

 

[royalmail]

I am having the same issue.

I found the following drivers on the DELL site:

SCSI non-RAID: Adaptec 39160 SCSI - Family Manager Set, Driver, Windows 2000, English, Multi System, v. FMS1.0 S3, A07

Could you confirm that they are the ones you used to fix the issue please?