BE 9.0 server recommendations

[sonicman]

We've recently consolidated several STK 9714 DLT7000 tape libraries into one ADIC Scalar 1000 SDLT320 library with 12 drives.

We thought we'd identified all the potential bottlenecks that the backup system would face, and implemented the most robust solution we could come up with:

2 GB Etherchannel network connectivity
3 x 2 Gb FC connectivity between server and library
2 GB RAM
2 x 1.4 GHz Pentium III processors
72 GB Ultra 320 hard drives in a RAID 1

However, we've found that our nightly backup schedule has put a huge strain on our processor resources. We typically run ~400 jobs per night, and they begin within a 5 hour window, starting between 4:30pm and 9:30pm. So, at any given time, we could have ~100 jobs in an active state, consuming processor resources. (by "active", I mean: running, pre-processing, ready, or queued)

We know we could alleviate some of the processor load by spreading the jobs out over a longer window, but we also want to keep the backup window as short as possible for other administrative reasons.

We also don't want to set the Backup Exec services to run at a lower than normal priority.

Before we go out and spend thousands of dollars on a new 4-proc or 8-proc server, I'd like to know if anyone else is using a system that powerful to run their backups. Is that much power overkill, or do you think it would allow us to monitor our backups normally, and not have to wait several minutes before seeing a response to a click?

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[dkediger]

I'm not familiar with the needs of a tape library, but the one thing that stands out is why so many jobs? I could certainly see the management of that many jobs just killing a system. Can they be combined into just a few, or even one, job? Or is there some management or organizational reason for that degree of separation?

 

[Raid5]

I would combine your jobs into several larger one's. My recomended config would be to have one job which gets your AOFO targets in it, and another that gets your Non open file agent targets. If you wanted that much granularity in your backups then you are using the wrong product. Backup exec is great for most situations, but Netbackup gives you the job granularity that I think you would be looking for. Your hardware is more than enough for your situation.
How much data are you backing up in a full backup? Are you doing Diffs or INc during the week?

 

[sonicman]

Thanks for the feedback. Here's a brief description of our backup "strategy":

We backup ~350 servers, and typically have one backup job for every drive on the remote server (C:, D:, E:, SQL, Exchange, etc.)

We do daily Full backups of SQL and Exchange databases (~800 GB total), weekly Full backups of all remote server drives, and daily Incremental or Differential backups of all remote server drives.

Daily Full backups currently average ~1.3 TB total, plus, we have ~350 GB worth of Incremental and Differential backups, for a daily total of just under ~2 TB.

With that much data, lumping all our backup jobs into one big one isn't really an option, considering that Backup Exec can't stripe data to multiple tape drives simultaneously.

Even lumping together our filesharing servers, for example, isn't currently a feasible option, because they range in size from ~150 GB to ~400 GB, we have 17 of them, and all but one of them is stuck on a 100 Mbps network connection. (the other is gigabit)

We know that Backup Exec isn't a true Enterprise backup solution, but last year's budget only allowed us to upgrade our hardware or software, not both, and we were having lots of tape drive/media problems, so we decided to buy a new library.

 

[justin2000]

sonicman

My suggestion is to use other servers as backup Exec media servers and offload the processing done.
Set them all up in an SSO environment.
in this way you will be using the SAN to backup the data( I take it you have a SAN happening there?).

You best bet, and seriously is to talk to Veritas regarding this - they may have a better solution for you and they will be the best people to speak to.

 

[steveot]

I would agree with Justin. Im sure that library has a fiber card or you can get one for it. SAN/SSO would be your best bet at this point.