Netbackup - Planning and Desining

Veritas NetBackup™
Backup Planning and

Performance Tuning Guide
UNIX, Windows, and Linux
Release 6.0
N281842
November 8, 2006
Veritas NetBackup
Backup Planning and Performance Tuning Guide
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Veritas NetBackup 6.0

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Contents
Section I Backup planning and configuration guidelines

Chapter 1 NetBackup capacity planning
Purpose ..................................................................................................................12
Introduction ..........................................................................................................13
Analyzing your backup requirements ..............................................................14
Designing your backup system ..........................................................................16
Calculate the required data transfer rate for your backups ..................17
Calculate how long it will take to back up to tape ...................................18
Calculate how many tape drives are needed ............................................20
Calculate the required data transfer rate for your network(s) .............21
Calculate the size of your NetBackup catalog .........................................22
Calculate the size of the EMM server ........................................................23
Calculate media needed for full and incremental backups ...................25
Calculate the size of the tape library needed to store your backups ...26
Design your master backup server based on your previous findings ..27
Estimate the number of master servers needed ......................................29
Design your media server ...........................................................................31
Estimate the number of media servers needed .......................................32
Design your NOM server .............................................................................33
Summary .......................................................................................................36
Questionnaire for capacity planning ................................................................37
Chapter 2 Master server configuration guidelines

Managing NetBackup job scheduling ................................................................40
Delays in starting jobs .................................................................................40
Delays in running queued jobs ...................................................................40
Job delays caused by unavailable media ...................................................41
Delays after removing a media server ......................................................41
Limiting factors for job scheduling ...........................................................41
Adjusting the server’s network connection options ...............................42
Using NOM to monitor jobs ........................................................................43
Disaster recovery testing and job scheduling ..........................................43
Miscellaneous considerations ............................................................................44
Processing of storage units ........................................................................44
6
Disk staging .................................................................................................. 44

File system capacity .................................................................................... 45
NetBackup catalog strategies ............................................................................ 45
Catalog backup types .................................................................................. 46
Guidelines for managing the catalog ........................................................ 46
Catalog backup not finishing in the available window .......................... 47
Catalog compression ................................................................................... 48
Merging/splitting/moving servers ................................................................... 48
Moving the EMM server .............................................................................. 49
Guidelines for policies ........................................................................................ 49
Include and exclude lists ............................................................................ 49
Critical policies ............................................................................................. 50
Schedule frequency ..................................................................................... 50
Managing logs ...................................................................................................... 50
Optimizing the performance of vxlogview .............................................. 50
Interpreting legacy error logs .................................................................... 51
Chapter 3 Media server configuration guidelines

Network and SCSI/FC bus bandwidth ............................................................... 54
How to change the threshold for media errors ............................................... 54
Adjusting media_error_threshold ............................................................. 55
How to reload the st driver without rebooting Solaris .................................. 57
Media Manager drive selection ......................................................................... 58
Robot types and NetBackup port configuration ............................................. 58
Chapter 4 Media configuration guidelines

Dedicated or shared backup environment ....................................................... 60
Pooling ................................................................................................................... 60
Disk versus tape ................................................................................................... 60
Chapter 5 Database backup guidelines

Introduction ......................................................................................................... 64
Considerations for database backups ............................................................... 64
Chapter 6 Best practices

Best practices: new tape drive technologies .................................................... 66
Best practices: tape drive cleaning ................................................................... 66
Best practices: storing tape cartridges ............................................................. 68
Best practices: recoverability ............................................................................. 68
Suggestions for data recovery planning .................................................. 69
Best practices: naming conventions ................................................................. 71
7
Policy names .................................................................................................71

Schedule names ............................................................................................71
Storage unit/storage group names ............................................................72
Section II Performance tuning

Chapter 7 Measuring performance
Overview ................................................................................................................76
Controlling system variables for consistent testing conditions ...................76
Server variables ............................................................................................76
Network variables ........................................................................................77
Client variables .............................................................................................78
Data variables ...............................................................................................78
Evaluating performance .....................................................................................79
Evaluating UNIX system components ..............................................................84
Monitoring CPU load ...................................................................................84
Measuring performance independent of tape or disk output ...............84
Evaluating Windows system components .......................................................85
Monitoring CPU load ...................................................................................86
Monitoring memory use .............................................................................87
Monitoring disk load ...................................................................................87
Chapter 8 Tuning the NetBackup data transfer path

Overview ................................................................................................................90
The data transfer path ........................................................................................90
Basic tuning suggestions for the data path .....................................................91
NetBackup client performance ..........................................................................95
NetBackup network performance .....................................................................96
Network interface settings .........................................................................96
Network load .................................................................................................97
NetBackup media server network buffer size ..........................................97
NetBackup client communications buffer size ........................................99
The NOSHM file .........................................................................................100
Using multiple interfaces .........................................................................101
NetBackup server performance .......................................................................102
Shared memory (number and size of data buffers) ..............................102
Parent/child delay values .........................................................................108
Using NetBackup wait and delay counters ............................................108
Fragment size and NetBackup restores ..................................................119
Other restore performance issues ...........................................................122
NetBackup storage device performance .........................................................126
8
Chapter 9 Tuning other NetBackup components

Multiplexing and multi-streaming ................................................................. 130
When to use multiplexing and multi-streaming ................................... 130
Effects of multiple data streams on backup/restore ............................ 132
Encryption .......................................................................................................... 133
Compression ....................................................................................................... 133
How to enable compression ..................................................................... 133
Using both encryption and compression ....................................................... 134
NetBackup Java .................................................................................................. 134
Vault .................................................................................................................... 134
Fast recovery with bare metal restore ............................................................ 135
Backing up many small files ............................................................................ 135
FlashBackup ............................................................................................... 136
NetBackup Operations Manager (NOM) ......................................................... 137
Adjusting the NOM server heap size ...................................................... 137
Adjusting the NOM web server heap size .............................................. 138
Chapter 10 Tuning disk I/O performance

Hardware performance hierarchy .................................................................. 140
Performance hierarchy level 1 ................................................................ 142
General notes on performance hierarchies ........................................... 145
Hardware configuration examples ................................................................. 147
Tuning software for better performance ....................................................... 148
Chapter 11 OS-related tuning factors

Kernel tuning (UNIX) ........................................................................................ 152
Kernel parameters on Solaris 8 and 9 .................................................... 152
Kernel parameters in Solaris 10 .............................................................. 154
Message queue and shared memory parameters on HP-UX ............... 155
Kernel parameters on Linux .................................................................... 157
Adjusting data buffer size (Windows) ............................................................ 157
Other Windows issues ....................................................................................... 159
Appendix A Additional resources

Performance monitoring utilities ........................................................... 161
Freeware tools for bottleneck detection ................................................ 161
Mailing list resources ................................................................................ 161
9
Index 163
Section I
Backup planning and

configuration guidelines
Section I helps you lay the foundation of good backup performance through
planning and configuring your NetBackup installation. Section I also includes
some best practices.
Section I includes these chapters:
■ NetBackup capacity planning
■ Master server configuration guidelines
■ Media server configuration guidelines
■ Media configuration guidelines
■ Database backup guidelines
■ Best practices
Note: For a discussion of tuning factors and general recommendations that may
be applied to an existing installation, see Section II.
Chapter 1
NetBackup capacity
planning
This chapter explains how to design your backup system as a foundation for
good performance.
This chapter includes the following sections:
■ “Introduction” on page 13
■ “Analyzing your backup requirements” on page 14
■ “Designing your backup system” on page 16
■ “Questionnaire for capacity planning” on page 37
12 NetBackup capacity planning
Purpose
Purpose
Veritas NetBackup is a high-performance data protection application. Its
architecture is designed for large and complex distributed computing
environments. NetBackup provides a scalable storage management server that
can be configured for network backup, recovery, archival, and file migration
services.
This manual is for administrators who want to analyze, evaluate, and tune
NetBackup performance. This manual is intended to answer questions such as
the following: How big should the backup server be? How can the NetBackup
server be tuned for maximum performance? How many CPUs and tape drives
are needed? How to configure backups to run as fast as possible? How to
improve recovery times? What tools can characterize or measure how
NetBackup is handling data?
Note: Most critical factors in performance are based in hardware rather than
software. Hardware selection and configuration have roughly four times the
weight that software has in determining performance. Although this guide
provides some hardware configuration assistance, it is assumed for the most
part that your devices are correctly configured.
Disclaimer
It is assumed you are familiar with NetBackup and your applications, operating
systems, and hardware. The information in this manual is advisory only,
presented in the form of guidelines. Changes to an installation undertaken as a
result of the information contained herein should be verified in advance for
appropriateness and accuracy. Some of the information contained herein may
apply only to certain hardware or operating system architectures.
Note: The information in this manual is subject to change.

NetBackup capacity planning 13
Introduction
Introduction
The first step toward accurately estimating your backup requirements is a
complete understanding of your environment. Many performance issues can be
traced to hardware or environmental issues. A basic understanding of the entire
backup data path is important in determining the maximum performance you
can expect from your installation.
Every backup environment has a bottleneck. It may be a fast bottleneck, but it
will determine the maximum performance obtainable with your system.
Example:
Consider the configuration illustrated below. In this environment, backups run
slowly (in other words, they are not completing in the scheduled backup
window). Total throughput is eight to 10 megabytes per second.
What makes the backups run slowly? How can NetBackup or the environment be
configured to increase backup performance in this situation?
Figure 1-1 Dedicated NetBackup server
The explanation is that the LAN, having a speed of 100megabits per second, has
a theoretical throughput of 12.5 megabytes per second. In practice, 100BaseT
throughput is unlikely to exceed 70% utilization. Therefore, the best delivered
data rate is about 8 megabytes per second to the NetBackup server. The
throughput can be even lower than this, when TCP/IP packet headers,
TCP-window size constraints, router hops (packet latency for ACK packets
delays the sending of the next data packet), host CPU utilization, filesystem
overhead, and other LAN users’ activity are considered. Since the LAN is the
slowest element in the backup path, it is the first place to look in order to
increase backup performance in this configuration.
Analyzing your backup requirements

Many elements influence your backup strategy. You must analyze and compare
these factors and then make backup decisions according to your site’s priorities.
When you plan your installation’s NetBackup capacity, ask yourself the
following questions:
■ Which systems need to be backed up?
It is important that you identify all systems that need to be backed up and
then list each system separately so that you can identify any that require
more resources to back up. Document which machines have local tape
drives or libraries attached and be sure to write down the model type of
each tape drive or library. In addition, record each host name, operating
system and version, database type and version, network technology (for
example, ATM or 100BaseT), and location.
■ How much data will be backed up?
Calculate how much data you need to back up. Include the total disk space
on each individual system, including that for databases. Remember to add
the space on mirrored disks only once.
By calculating the total size for all disks, you can design a system that takes
future growth into account. You should also consider the future by
estimating how much data you will need to back up in six months to a few
years from now.
■ Do you plan to back up databases or raw partitions?
If you are planning to backing up databases, you need to identify the
database engines, their version numbers, and the method that you will
use to back them up. NetBackup can back up several database engines
and raw file systems, and databases can be backed up while they are
online or offline. To back up any database while it is online, you need a
NetBackup database agent for your particular database engine.
If you use NetBackup Advanced Client to back up databases using raw
partitions, you are actually backing up as much data as the total size of
your raw partition. Also, remember to add the size of your database
backups to your final calculations when figuring out how much data
you need to back up.
■ Will you be backing up specialty servers like MS-Exchange, Lotus
Notes, etc.?
If you are planning on backing up any specialty servers, you will need
to identify their types and application release numbers. As previously
mentioned, you may need a special NetBackup agent to properly back
up your particular servers.
■ What types of backups are needed and how often should they take place?
The frequency of your backups has a direct impact on your:

■ Tape requirements
■ Data transfer rate considerations
■ Restore opportunities.
To properly size your backup system, you must decide on the type and
frequency of your backups. Will you perform daily incremental and weekly
full backups? Monthly or bi-weekly full backups?
■ How much time is available to run each backup?
It is important to know the window of time that is available for each backup.
The length of a window dictates several aspects of your backup strategy, for
example, you may want a larger window of time to back up multiple,
high-capacity servers. Or you may consider the use of advanced NetBackup
features such as synthetic backups, a local snapshot method, or
FlashBackup.
■ How long should backups be retained?
An important factor while designing your backup strategy is to consider
your policy for backup expiration. The amount of time a backup is kept is
also known as the “retention period.” A fairly common policy is to expire
your incremental backups after one month and your full backups after six
months. With this policy, you can restore any daily file change from the
previous month and restore data from full backups for the previous six
months. The length of the retention period depends on your own unique
requirements and business needs, and perhaps regulatory requirements.
However, keep in mind that the length of your retention period has a
directly proportional effect on the number of tapes you will need and the
size of your NetBackup catalog database. Your NetBackup catalog database
keeps track of all the information on all your tapes. The catalog size is
tightly tied in to your retention period and the frequency of your backups.
Also, database management daemons and services may become bottlenecks.
■ If backups are sent off site, how long must they remain off site?
If you plan to send tapes to an off site location as a disaster recovery option,
you must identify which tapes to send off site and how long they remain off
site. You might decide to duplicate all your full backups, or only a select few.
You might also decide to duplicate certain systems and exclude others. As
tapes are sent off site, you will need to buy new tapes to replace them until
they are recycled back from off site storage. If you forget this simple detail,
you will run out of tapes when you most need them.
■ What is your network technology?
If you are planning on backing up any system over a network, note the
network types that you will be using. The next section, Designing your
Designing your backup system
backup system, explains how to calculate the amount of data you can
transfer over those networks in a given time.
Depending on the amount of data that you want to back up and the
frequency of those backups, you might want to consider installing a private
network just for backups.
■ What new systems will be added to your site in the next six months?
It is important to plan for future growth when designing your backup
system. By analyzing the potential future growth of your current or future
systems, you can insure the backup solution that you have accommodates
the kind of environment that you will have in the future. Remember to add
any resulting growth factor that you incur to your total backup solution.
■ Will user-directed backups or restores be allowed?
Allowing users to do their own backups and restores can reduce the time it
takes to initiate certain operations. However, user-directed operations can
also result in higher support costs and the loss of some flexibility.
User-directed operations can monopolize media and tape drives when you
most need them. They can also generate more support calls and training
issues while the users become familiar with the new backup system. You
will need to decide whether allowing user access to some of your backup
systems’ functions is worth the potential costs.
Other factors to consider when planning your backup capacity include:
■ Data type: What are the types of data: text, graphics, database? How
compressible is the data? How many files are involved? Will the data be
encrypted? (Note that encrypted backups may run slower. See “Encryption”
on page 133 for more information.)
■ Data location: Is the data local or remote? What are the characteristics of
the storage subsystem? What is the exact data path? How busy is the
storage subsystem?
■ Change management: Because hardware and software infrastructure will
change over time, is it worth the cost to create an independent test-backup
environment to ensure your production environment will work with the
changed components?

Following an analysis of your backup requirements, you can begin designing
your backup system. Use the following subsections in the order shown below.
Note: The ideas and examples that follow are based on standard and ideal
calculations. Your numbers will differ based on your particular environment,
data, and compression rates.
■ “Calculate the required data transfer rate for your backups” on page 17
■ “Calculate how long it will take to back up to tape” on page 18
■ “Calculate how many tape drives are needed” on page 20
■ “Calculate the required data transfer rate for your network(s)” on page 21
■ “Calculate the size of your NetBackup catalog” on page 22
■ “Calculate the size of the EMM server” on page 23
■ “Calculate media needed for full and incremental backups” on page 25
■ “Calculate the size of the tape library needed to store your backups” on
page 26
■ “Design your master backup server based on your previous findings” on
page 27
■ “Estimate the number of master servers needed” on page 29
■ “Design your media server” on page 31
■ “Estimate the number of media servers needed” on page 32
■ “Design your NOM server” on page 33
■ “Summary” on page 36
Calculate the required data transfer rate for your backups

This is the rate of transfer your system must achieve to complete a backup of all
your data in the allowed time window. Use the following formula to calculate
your ideal data transfer rate for full and incremental backups:
Ideal data transfer rate = (Amount of data to back up) / (Backup window)
On average, the daily change in data for many systems is between 10 and 20
percent. Calculating a change of 20% in the (Amount of data to back up) and
dividing it by the (Backup window) will give you the backup data rate for
incremental backups.
If you are running cumulative-incremental backups, you need to take into
account which data is changing, since that affects the size of your backups. For
example, if the same 20% of the data is changing daily, your
cumulative-incremental backup will be much smaller than if a completely
different 20% changes every day.
Example: Calculating your ideal data transfer rate during the week
Assumptions:
Amount of data to back up during a full backup = 500 gigabytes
Amount of data to back up during an incremental backup = 20% of a full
backup Daily backup window = 8 hours
Solution 1:
Full backup = 500 gigabytes
Ideal data transfer rate = 500 gigabytes/8 hours = 62.5 gigabytes/hour
Solution 2:
Incremental backup = 100 gigabytes
Ideal data transfer rate = 100 gigabytes/8 hours = 12.5 gigabytes/hour
To calculate your ideal data transfer rate during the weekends, divide the
amount of data that needs to be backed up by the length of the weekend backup
window.
Calculate how long it will take to back up to tape

Once you know what your ideal data transfer rates are for backups, you can
figure out what kind of tape drive technology will meet your needs. Because you
also know the length of your available backup windows and the amount of data
that needs to be backed up, you can also calculate how many tape drives you will
need.
Table 1-1 lists the transfer rates for several tape drive technologies. The values
listed are those published by their individual manufacturers and those observed
in real-life situations. Keep in mind that device manufacturers list optimum
rates for their devices. In reality, it is quite rare to achieve those values when a
system has to deal with the overhead of the operating system, CPU loads, bus
architecture, data types, and other hardware and software issues.
The typical gigabytes/hour values from Table 1-1 represent a range of real-life
transfer rates for several devices, with and without compression. When you
design your backup system, consider the nature of both your data and your
environment. It is generally wise to estimate on the conservative side when
planning capacity. For instance, use the low end of the typical gigabytes/hour
range for your planning unless you have specific reasons to use the higher
numbers.
To calculate the length of your backups using a particular tape drive, use the
formula:
Actual data transfer rate = (Amount of data to back up)/((Number of drives)
* (Tape drive transfer rate))
Table 1-1 Tape drive data transfer rates
Drive Theoretical Theoretical Typical

gigabytes/hour (no gigabytes/hour (2:1 gigabytes/hour
compression) compression)
LTO gen 1 54 108 37-65
LTO gen 2 108 216 75-130
LTO gen 3 288 576 200-345
SDLT 320 57 115 40-70
SDLT 600 129 259 90-155
STK 9940B 108 252 (2.33:1) 75-100
Example: Calculating the actual data transfer rate required

Assumptions:
Amount of data to back up during a full backup = 500 gigabytes
Daily backup window = 8 hours
Ideal transfer rate (data/(backup window)) = 500 gigabytes/8 hours = 62.5
gigabytes/hour
Solution 1:
Tape drive = 1 drive, LTO gen 1
Tape drive transfer rate = 37 gigabytes/hour
Actual data transfer rate = 500 gigabytes/((1 drive) * (37 gigabytes/hour)) =
13.51 hours
With a data transfer rate of 37 gigabytes/hour, a single LTO gen 1 tape drive will
take 13.51 hours to perform a 500 gigabyte backup. A single LTO gen 1 tape
drive will not be able to perform your backup in eight hours. You will need a
faster tape drive or another LTO gen 1 tape drive.
Solution 2:
Tape drive = 1 drive, LTO gen 2
Backup length = 500 gigabytes/((1 drive) * (75 gigabytes/hour)) = 6.67 hours
With a data transfer rate of 75 gigabytes/hour, a single LTO gen 2 tape drive
will take 6.67 hours to perform a 500 gigabyte backup.
Depending on the several factors that can influence the transfer rates of your
tape drives, it is possible to obtain higher or lower transfer rates. The solutions
in the examples above are approximations of what you can expect.
Note also that a backup of encrypted data may take more time. See “Encryption”
on page 133 for more information.
Calculate how many tape drives are needed

To calculate how many tape drives you will need to perform your backups, use
the formula below and the typical gigabytes/hour transfer rates from Table 1-1
“Tape drive data transfer rates” on page 19.
Number of drives = (Amount of data to back up) /((Backup window) * (Tape
drive transfer rate))
Example: Calculating the number of tape drives needed to perform a

backup
Assumptions:
Amount of data to back up = 500 gigabytes
Backup window = 8 hours
Solution 1:
Tape drive type = SDLT 320
Number of drives = 500 gigabytes/ ((8 hours) * (40 gigabytes/hour)) = 1.56 =
2 drives
Solution 2:
Number of drives = 500 gigabytes/((8 hours) * (90 gigabytes/hour)) = 0.69 =
1 drive
Although it is quite straightforward to calculate the number of drives needed to
perform a backup, it is difficult to spread the data streams evenly across all
drives. To effectively spread your data, you have to experiment with various
backup schedules, NetBackup policies, and your hardware configuration. See
“Basic tuning suggestions for the data path” on page 91 to determine your
options.
Another important aspect of calculating how many tape devices you will need is
calculating how many tape devices you can attach to a drive controller.
When calculating the maximum number of tape drives that you can attach to a
controller, you must know the drive and controller maximum transfer rates as
published by their manufacturers. Failure to use maximum transfer rates for
your calculations can result in saturated controllers and unpredictable results.
Table 1-2 displays the transfer rates for several drive controllers. In practice,
your transfer rates might be slower because of the inherent overhead of several
variables including your file system layout, system CPU load, and memory
usage.
Table 1-2 Drive controller data transfer rates
Drive Controller Theoretical Theoretical

megabytes/second gigabytes/hour
ATA-5 (ATA/ATAPI-5) 66 237.6
Wide Ultra 2 SCSI 80 288
iSCSI 100 360
1 Gigabit Fibre Channel 100 360
SATA/150 150 540
Ultra-3 SCSI 160 576
SATA/300 300 1080
Ultra320 SCSI 320 1152
Calculate the required data transfer rate for your network(s)

When designing your backup system to perform backups over a network, you
need to move data from your client(s) to your backup server(s) at a fast enough
rate to finish your backups within your allotted backup window. Using the
typical gigabytes/hour transfer rates from Table 1-3, you can find out the
typical transfer rates of some fairly common network technologies. To calculate
the required data transfer rate, use the formula below:
Required network data transfer rate = (Amount of data to back up) / (Backup
window)
Table 1-3 Network data transfer rates
Network Technology Theoretical gigabytes/hour Typical gigabytes/hour
10BaseT (switched) 3.6 2.7
100BaseT (switched) 36 32
1000BaseT (switched) 360 320

Note: For additional information on the importance of matching network

bandwidth to your tape drives, see “Network and SCSI/FC bus bandwidth” on
page 54.
Example: Calculating network transfer rates

Assumptions:
Backup window = 8 hours
Required network transfer rate = 500 gigabytes/8hr = 62.5 gigabytes/hour
Solution 1: Network Technology = 10BaseT (switched)
Typical transfer rate = 2.7 gigabytes/hour
Using the values from Table 1-3, a single 10BaseT network has a transfer rate of
2.7 gigabytes/hour. This network will not handle your required data transfer
rate of 62.5 gigabytes/hour. In this case, you would have to explore some other
options, such as:
■ Backing up your data over a faster network (1000BaseT)
■ Backing up large servers to dedicated tape drives (media servers)
■ Performing your backups during a longer time window
■ Performing your backups over faster dedicated private networks.
Solution 2: Network Technology = 1000BaseT (switched)
Typical transfer rate = 320 gigabytes/hour
Using the values from Table 1-3, a single 1000BaseT network has a transfer rate
of 320 gigabytes/hour. This network technology will be able to handle your
backups with room to spare.
Calculating the data transfer rates for your networks can help you identify your
potential bottlenecks by looking at the transfer rates of your slowest networks.
“Basic tuning suggestions for the data path” on page 91 provides several
solutions for dealing with multiple networks and bottlenecks.
Calculate the size of your NetBackup catalog

An important factor when designing your backup system is to calculate how
much disk space you need to store your NetBackup catalog. Your catalog keeps
track of all the files that have been backed up. The catalog’s size is directly tied
in to several variables, including the frequency of your backups, the number of
files being backed up, the path length for each file being backed up, and your
retention periods. On average, the size of your catalog can be between 1% to 2%
(or higher) of the total data being tracked.
To calculate your NetBackup catalog size, you need to know how much data you
will be backing up for full and incremental backups, how often these backups
will be performed, and for how long they will be retained. Here are two simple
formulas to calculate these values:
Data being tracked = (Amount of data to back up) * (Number of backups) *
(Retention period)
NetBackup catalog size = 120 * (number of files)
Note: If you select NetBackup’s True Image Restore option, your catalog will be
twice as large as a catalog without this option selected. True Image Restore
collects the information required to restore directories to their contents at the
time of any selected full or incremental backup. Because the additional
information that NetBackup collects for incremental backups is the same as that
of a full backup, incremental backups take much more disk space when you
collect True Image Restore information.
Example: Calculating the size of your NetBackup catalog

Assumptions:
Incremental backups = 20% of all data
Full backups per month = 4
Retention period for full backups = 6 months
Incremental backups per month = 30
Retention period for incremental backups = 1 month
Solution:
Size of full backups = 100 gigabytes * 4 * 6 months = 2.4 terabytes
Size of incremental backups = (20% of 100 gigabytes) * 30 * 1 month = 600
gigabytes
Total data tracked = 2.4 terabytes + 600 gigabytes = 3 terabytes
NetBackup catalog size = 2% of 3 terabytes= 60 gigabytes
Based on the previous assumptions, it will take 60 gigabytes of disk space to hold
the catalog. Compression can reduce the size of your catalog to one-sixth or less
of its uncompressed size. When the catalog is decompressed, this is only done
for the images and time period of the particular system that you need to restore.
Calculate the size of the EMM server

By default, the EMM server resides on the NetBackup master server. The
amount of space needed for the EMM server is determined by the size of the
NetBackup database (NBDB), as explained below.
Note: This space must be included when determining size requirements for a
master or media server, depending on where the EMM server is installed.
Space for the NBDB on the EMM server is required in the following two
locations:
UNIX
/usr/openv/db/data
/usr/openv/db/staging
Windows
install_path\NetBackupDB\data
install_path\NetBackupDB\staging
Calculate the required space for the NBDB in each of the two directories, as
follows:
60 MB + (2 KB * number of volumes configured for EMM)
where EMM is the Enterprise Media Manager, and volumes are NetBackup
(EMM) media volumes. Note that 60 MB is the default amount of space needed
for the NBDB database used by the EMM server. It includes pre-allocated space
for configuration information for devices and storage units.
Note: During NetBackup installation, the install script looks for 60 MB of free
space in the above /data directory; if there is insufficient space, the installation
fails. The space in /staging is only required when a hot catalog backup is run.
Example: Calculating the space needed for the EMM server

Assuming there are 1000 EMM volumes to back up, the total space needed for
the EMM server in /usr/openv/db/data is:
60 MB + (2 KB * 1000 volumes) = 62 MB
The same amount of space is required in /usr/openv/db/staging. The
amount of space required may grow over time as the NBDB database increases in
size.
Note: The above 60 MB of space is pre-allocated, and is derived from the

following separate databases that are consolidated into the EMM database in
NetBackup 6.0: globDB, ltidevs, robotic_def, namespace.chksum, ruleDB,
poolDB, volDB, mediaDB, storage_units, stunit_groups, SSOhosts, and media
errors database. See the NetBackup Release Notes, in the section titled
“Enterprise Media Manager Databases,” for additional details on files and
database information included in the EMM database.
Calculate media needed for full and incremental backups

As part of planning your backup strategy, calculate how many tapes will be
needed to store and retrieve your backups. The number of tapes that you will
need depends on:
■ The amount of data that you are backing up
■ The frequency of your backups
■ The planned retention periods
■ The capacity of the media used to store your backups.
If you expect your site's workload to increase over time, you can ease the pain of
future upgrades by planning for expansion. Design your initial backup
architecture so it can evolve to support more clients and servers. Invest in the
faster, higher-capacity components that will serve your needs beyond the
present.
A simple formula for calculating your tape needs is shown here:
Number of tapes = (Amount of data to back up) / (Tape capacity)
To calculate how many tapes will be needed based on all your requirements, the
above formula can be expanded to
Number of tapes = ((Amount of data to back up) * (Frequency of backups) *
(Retention period)) / (Tape capacity)
Table 1-4 Tape capacities
Drive Theoretical gigabytes Theoretical gigabytes

(no compression) (2:1 compression)
LTO gen 1 100 200
LTO gen 2 200 400
LTO gen 3 400 800
SDLT 320 160 320
SDLT 600 300 600
STK 9940B 200 400
Example: Calculating how many tapes are needed to store all your
backups
Preliminary calculations:
Size of full backups = 500 gigabytes * 4 (per month) * 6 months = 12
terabytes
Size of incremental backups = (20% of 500 gigabytes) * 30 * 1 month = 3
terabytes
Total data tracked = 12 terabytes + 3 terabytes = 15 terabytes
Solution 1:
Tape drive type = LTO gen 1
Tape capacity without compression = 100 gigabytes
Tape capacity with compression = 200 gigabytes
Without compression:
Tapes needed for full backups = 12 terabytes/100 gigabytes = 120
Tapes needed for incremental backups = 3 terabytes/100 gigabytes = 30
Total tapes needed = 120 + 30 = 150 tapes
With 2:1 compression:
Tapes needed for incremental backups = 3 terabytes/200 gigabytes = 15
Solution 2:
Tape drive type = LTO gen 3
Tape capacity without compression = 400 gigabytes
Tape capacity with compression = 800 gigabytes
Without compression:
Tapes needed for incremental backups = 3 terabytes/400 gigabytes = 7.5 ~=
8
With 2:1 compression:
Tapes needed for incremental backups = 3 terabytes/800 gigabytes = 3.75
~= 4
Calculate the size of the tape library needed to store your backups
To calculate how many robotic library tape slots are needed to store all your
backups, take the number of tapes for backup calculated in “Calculate media
needed for full and incremental backups” on page 25 and add tapes for catalog
backup and cleaning:
Tape slots needed = (Number of tapes needed for backups) + (Number of
tapes needed for catalog backups) + 1 (for a cleaning tape)
A typical example of tapes needed for catalog backup is 2.
Additional tapes may be needed for the following:
■ If you plan to duplicate tapes or to reserve some media for special
(non-backup) use, add those tapes to the above formula.
■ Add tapes needed for future data growth. Make sure your system has a
viable upgrade path as new tape drives become available.
Design your master backup server based on your previous findings

To design and configure a master backup server, you must:
■ Perform an initial backup requirements analysis, as outlined in the section
“Analyzing your backup requirements” on page 14.
■ Perform the calculations outlined in the previous steps of the current
section.
Designing a backup server becomes a simple task once the basic design
constraints are known:
■ Amount of data to back up
■ Size of the NetBackup catalog
■ Number of tape drives needed
■ Number of networks needed
Given the above, a simple approach to designing your backup server can be
outlined as follows:
■ Acquire a dedicated server
■ Add tape drives and controllers (for saving your backups)
■ Add disk drives and controllers (for OS and NetBackup catalog)
■ Add network cards
■ Add memory
■ Add CPU’s
Figure 1-2 Backup server hardware component
In some cases, it may not be practical to design a generic server to back up all of
your systems. You might have one or several large servers that cannot be backed
up over a network within your backup window. In such cases, it is best to back up
those servers using their own locally-attached tape drives. Although this section
discusses how to design a master backup server, you can still use its information
to properly add the necessary tape drives and components to your other servers.
The next example shows how to configure a master server using the design
elements gathered from the previous sections.
Example: Designing your master backup server

Assumptions:
Amount of data to back up during full backups = 500 gigabytes
Amount of data to back up during incremental backups = 100 gigabytes
Tape drives needed = 1
Network technology = 100BaseT
Network cards needed = 1
Size of NetBackup catalog after 6 months = 60 gigabytes (from “Example:
Calculating the size of your NetBackup catalog” on page 23)
Solution (the following values are based on Table 1-6 “CPUs needed per
master/media server component” and Table 1-7 “Memory needed per
master/media server component”):
CPUs needed for network cards = 1
CPUs needed for tape drives = 1
CPUs needed for OS = 1

Total CPUs needed = 1 + 1 + 1 = 3
Memory needed for network cards = 16 megabytes
Memory needed for tape drives = 128 megabytes
Memory needed for OS and NetBackup = 1 gigabyte
Total memory needed = 16 + 128 + 1000 = 1.144 gigabytes
Based on the above, your master server needs 3 CPUs and 1.144 gigabytes of
memory. In addition, you need 60 gigabytes of disk space to store your
NetBackup catalog, along with the necessary disks and drive controllers to
install your operating system and NetBackup (2 gigabytes should be ample for
most installations). This server also requires one SCSI card, or another, faster,
adapter for use with the tape drive (and robot arm) and a single 100BaseT card
for network backups.
When designing your backup server solution, begin with a dedicated server for
optimum performance. In addition, consult with your server’s hardware
manufacturer to ensure that the server can handle your other components. In
most cases, servers have specific restrictions on the number and mixture of
hardware components that can be supported concurrently. Overlooking this last
detail can cripple even the best of plans.
Estimate the number of master servers needed

One of the key elements in designing your backup solution is estimating how
many master servers are needed. As a rule, the number of master servers is
proportional to the number of media servers. To determine how many master
servers are required, consider the following:
■ The master server must be able to periodically communicate with all its
media servers. If there are too many media servers, master server
processing may be overloaded.
■ Consider business-related requirements. For example, if an installation has
different applications which require different backup windows, a single
master may have to run backups continually, leaving no spare time for
catalog cleaning, catalog backup, or maintenance.
■ If at all possible, design your configuration with one master server per
firewall domain. In addition, do not share robotic tape libraries between
firewall domains.
■ As a rule, the number of clients (separate physical hosts) per master server
is not a critical factor for NetBackup. Ordinary backup processing
performed by each client has little or no impact on the NetBackup server,
unless, for instance, the clients all have database extensions or are trying to
run ALL_LOCAL_DRIVES at the same time.
■ Plan your configuration so that it contains no single point of failure.

Provide sufficient redundancy to ensure high availability of the backup
process. Having more tape drives or media may reduce the number of media
servers needed per master server.
■ Consider limiting the number of media servers handled by a master to the
lower end of the estimates in Table 1-5.
Although a well-managed NetBackup environment can handle more media
servers than the numbers listed in this table, you may find your backup
operations more efficient and manageable with fewer but larger media
servers. The variation in the number of media servers per master server for
each scenario in the table depends on the number of jobs submitted,
multiplexing, multi-streaming, and network capacity.
For information on designing a master server, refer to “Design your master
backup server based on your previous findings” on page 27.
Note: This table provides a rough estimate only, as a guideline for initial
planning. Note also that the RAM amounts shown below are for a base
NetBackup installation; RAM requirements vary depending on the NetBackup
features, options, and agents being used.
Table 1-5 Number of media servers supported by a master server
Master RAM Number of Master Media Server Media Number of

Server Type Processors Backups Backups Configuration Media
Servers Per
Master
Server
Solaris 2 gigabytes 4 Not backing Media server 10 - 20 tape 25 - 40

up clients backing up drives in not
itself only more than 2
libraries
Solaris 4 gigabytes 4 Not backing Media server 10 - 20 tape 35 - 50

libraries
Solaris 8+ gigabytes 4 Not backing Media server 20 - 40 tape 50 -70

network more than 2
clients libraries
Table 1-5 Number of media servers supported by a master server
Master RAM Number of Master Media Server Media Number of

Server Type Processors Backups Backups Configuration Media
Servers Per
Master
Server
Windows 2 gigabytes 4 Not backing Media server 15 - 30 tape 10+

libraries
Windows 4 gigabytes 4 Not backing Media server 20 - 40 tape 20+

libraries
Windows 8+ gigabytes 4 Not backing Media server 40 - 128 tape 50+

network more than 2
clients libraries
Design your media server

You can use a media server not only to back up itself, but also to back up other
systems and reduce or balance the load on your master server. With NetBackup,
the robotic control of a library can be on either the master server or the media
server.
Table 1-6 CPUs needed per master/media server component
Component How many and what kind of component Number of CPU’s per
component
Network cards 2-3 100BaseT cards 1
5-7 10BaseT cards 1
1 ATM card 1
1-2 Gigabit Ethernet cards with coprocessor 1
Tape drives 2 LTO gen 3 drives 1
2-3 SDLT 600 drives 1
2-3 LTO gen 2 drives 1
3-4 LTO gen 1 drives 1

Table 1-6 CPUs needed per master/media server component
Component How many and what kind of component Number of CPU’s per
component
OS and NetBackup 1
Table 1-7 Memory needed per master/media server component
Component Type of component Memory per component
Network cards 16 megabytes
Tape drives LTO gen 3 drive 256 megabytes
SDLT 600 drive 128 megabytes
LTO gen 2 drive 128 megabytes
LTO gen 1 drive 64 megabytes
OS and NetBackup 1 gigabyte
OS, NetBackup, and NOM 1 or more gigabytes
NetBackup multiplexing 8 megabytes * (# streams) * (# drives)
The information in the above tables is a rough estimate only, intended as a

guideline for initial planning.
In addition to the above media server components, you must also add the
necessary disk drives to store the NetBackup catalog and your operating system.
The size of the disks needed to store your catalog depends on the calculations
explained earlier under “Calculate the size of your NetBackup catalog” on
page 22.
Estimate the number of media servers needed

Here are some guidelines for estimating the number of media servers needed:
■ I/O performance is generally more important than CPU performance.
■ Consider CPU, I/O, and memory expandability when choosing a server.
■ Consider how many CPUs are needed (see “CPUs needed per master/media
server component” on page 31). Here are some general guidelines:
Experiments (with Sun Microsystems) have shown that a useful,
conservative estimate is 5MHz of CPU capacity per 1MB/second of data
movement in and out of the NetBackup media server. Keep in mind that the
operating system and other applications also use the CPU. This estimate is
for the power available to NetBackup itself.
Example:
A system backing up clients over the network to a local tape drive at the
rate of 10MB/second would need 100MHz of available CPU power:
50MHz to move data from the network to the NetBackup server
50MHz to move data from the NetBackup server to tape.
■ Consider how much memory is needed (see “Memory needed per
master/media server component” on page 32).
At least 512 megabytes of RAM is recommended if the server is running a
Java GUI. NetBackup uses shared memory for local backups. NetBackup
buffer usage will affect how much memory is needed. See the “Tuning the
NetBackup data transfer path” chapter for more information on NetBackup
buffers.
Keep in mind that non-NetBackup processes need memory in addition to
what NetBackup needs.
A media server moves data from disk (on relevant clients) to storage
(usually disk or tape). The server must be carefully sized to maximize
throughput. Maximum throughput is attained when the server keeps its
tape devices streaming. (For an explanation of streaming, see “Tape
streaming” on page 126.)
Media server factors to consider for sizing include:
■ Disk storage access time
■ Adapter (for example, SCSI) speed
■ Bus (for example, PCI) speed
■ Tape device speed
■ Network interface (for example, 100BaseT) speed
■ Amount of system RAM
■ Other applications, if the host is non-dedicated
The platform chosen must be able to drive all network interfaces and keep all
tape devices streaming.
Design your NOM server

Before setting up a NetBackup Operations Manager (NOM) server, review the
recommendations and requirements listed in the installation chapter of the
NetBackup Operations Manager Getting Started Guide. Note, for example:
■ Symantec recommends that you not install NOM server software on the
same server as NetBackup master or media server software. Since the NOM
server is also a web server, installing NOM on a master server may impact
security and performance.
■ Symantec recommends that you not install NOM software on a clustered

NetBackup master server.
Sizing considerations
The size of your NOM server depends largely on the number of NetBackup
objects that NOM manages. See the following table.
Factors in determining NOM server size
Number of master servers to manage

(the number of media servers is irrelevant)
Number of policies
Number of jobs run per day
Number of media
Number of catalog images
Based on the above factors, the following NOM server components should be
sized accordingly.
NOM server components
Disk space (for installed NOM binary + NOM database, described below)
Type and number of CPUs
RAM
The next section describes the NOM database and how it affects disk space
requirements, followed by a description of sizing guidelines for NOM.
NOM database
The Sybase database used by NOM is similar to that used by NetBackup and is
installed as part of the NOM server installation.
■ The disk space needed for the initial installation of NOM depends on the
volume of data initially loaded onto the server, based on the following:
number of policy data records, number of job data records, number of media
data records, and number of catalog image records.
■ The rate of NOM database growth depends on the quantity of data being
managed: policy data, job data, media data, and catalog data.
Sizing guidelines
The following guidelines are presented in groups based on the number of objects
that your NOM server manages. The guidelines are intended for basic planning
purposes, and do not represent fixed recommendations or restrictions.
It is assumed that your NOM server is a standalone host (the host is not acting as
a NetBackup master server).
Note: Installation of NOM server software on the NetBackup master server is not
recommended.
In Table 1-8, find the installation category that matches your site, based on
number of master servers that your NOM server manages, number of jobs per
day across all master servers, and so forth.
Table 1-8 NetBackup installation categories (these are maximums for all
master servers combined)
NetBackup Maximum Maximum jobs Maximum Maximum Maximum

installation master per day policies alerts per media
category servers day
A 3 1000 5000 10000 10000
B 5 3000 10000 10000 50000
C 10 8000 20000 10000 100000
Note: If your NetBackup installation is larger than those listed here (as to
number of NetBackup master servers, number of jobs per day, and so forth), the
behavior of NOM is unpredictable. In this case, Symantec recommends using
multiple NOM servers.
Using the NetBackup installation category from above (A, B, or C), read across in
Table 1-9 to the minimum requirements for NOM hardware.
Table 1-9 NOM minimum hardware requirements
NetBackup OS CPU type Number RAM Disk

installation of CPUs space
category
A Windows Pentium III or Xeon 1 1 GB 80 GB

2003 SP1/
2000 SP4
Table 1-9 NOM minimum hardware requirements
NetBackup OS CPU type Number RAM Disk

installation of CPUs space
category
Solaris 8 or 9 Sun SPARC III 1 1 GB 80 GB
B Windows Pentium III or Xeon 2 2 GB 80 GB

2003 SP1/
2000 SP4
C Windows Pentium III or Xeon 2 4 GB 80 GB

2003 SP1/
2000 SP4
Summary
Using the guidelines provided in this chapter, design a solution that can do a full
backup and incremental backups of your largest system within your time
window. The remainder of the backups can happen over successive days.
Eventually, your site may outgrow its initial backup solution. By following these
guidelines, you can add more capacity at a future date without having to
redesign your basic strategy. With proper design and planning, you can create a
backup strategy that will grow with your environment.
As outlined in the previous sections, the number and location of the backup
devices are dependent on a number of factors.
■ The amount of data on the target systems,
■ The available backup and restore windows,
■ The available network bandwidth, and
■ The speed of the backup devices.
If one drive causes backup window time conflicts, another can be added,
providing an aggregate rate of two drives. The trade-off is that the second drive
imposes extra CPU, memory, and I/O loads on the media server.
If you find that you cannot complete backups in the allocated window, one
approach is to either increase your backup window or decrease the frequency of
your full and incremental backups.
Another approach is to reconfigure your site to speed up overall backup
performance. Before you make any such change, you should understand what
determines your current backup performance. List or diagram your site network
Questionnaire for capacity planning
and systems configuration. Note the maximum data transfer rates for all the
components of your backup configuration and compare these against the rate
you must meet for your backup window. This will identify the slowest
components and, consequently, the cause of your bottlenecks. Some likely areas
for bottlenecks include the networks, tape drives, client OS load, and filesystem
fragmentation.

Use the following questionnaire to fill in information about the characteristics
of your systems and how they will be used. This data can help determine your
NetBackup client configurations and backup requirements.
Table 1-10 Backup questionnaire
Question Explanation
System name Any unique name to identify the machine. Hostname or any unique name for each
system.
Vendor The hardware vendor who made the system (for example, Sun, HP, IBM, generic PC)
Model For example: Sun E450, HP K580, Pentium II 300MHZ, HP Proliant 8500
OS version For example: Solaris 9, HP-UX 11i, Windows 2000 DataCenter
Building / location Identify physical location by room, building, and/or campus.
Total storage Total available internal and external storage capacity.
Used storage Total used internal and external storage capacity - if the amount of data to be backed up
is substantially different from the amount used, please note that.
Type of external array For example: Hitachi, EMC, EMC CLARiiON, STK.
Network connection For example, 10/100MB, Gigabit, T1. It is important to know if the LAN is a switched
network or not.
Database (DB) For example, Oracle 8.1.6, SQLServer 7.
Hot backup required? If so, this requires the optional database agent if backing up a database.
Key application For example: Exchange server, accounting system, software developer's code repository,
NetBackup critical policies.
Backup window For example: incrementals run M-F from 11PM to 6AM, Fulls are all day Sunday. This
information helps determine where potential bottlenecks will be and how to configure a
solution.
Retention policy For example: incrementals for 2 weeks, full backups for 13 weeks. This information will
help determine how to size the number of slots needed in a library.
Table 1-10 Backup questionnaire (continued)
Question Explanation
Existing backup media Type of media currently used for backups.
Comments? Any special situations to be aware of? Any significant patches on the operating system?
Will the backups be over a WAN? Do the backups need to go through a firewall?
Chapter 2
Master server
configuration guidelines
This chapter provides guidelines and recommendations for better performance
on the NetBackup master server.
■ “Managing NetBackup job scheduling” on page 40
■ “Miscellaneous considerations” on page 44
■ “Merging/splitting/moving servers” on page 48
■ “Guidelines for policies” on page 49
■ “Managing logs” on page 50
40 Master server configuration guidelines
Managing NetBackup job scheduling

This section discusses issues related to NetBackup job scheduling.
Delays in starting jobs

The NetBackup Policy Execution Manager (nbpem) may not begin a backup at
exactly the time a backup policy's schedule window opens. This can happen
when you define a schedule or modify an existing schedule with a window start
time close to the current time.
For instance, suppose you create a schedule at 5:50 PM, specifying that backups
should start at 6:00 PM. You complete the policy definition at 5:55 PM. At 6:00
PM, you expect to see a backup job for the policy start, but it does not. Instead,
the job takes another several minutes to start.
The explanation is that NetBackup receives and queues policy change events as
they happen, but processes them periodically as configured in the Policy Update
Interval setting under Host Properties > Master Server > Properties > Global
Settings (the default is 10 minutes). The backup does not start until the first
time NetBackup processes policy changes after the policy definition is
completed at 5:55 PM. NetBackup may not process the changes until 6:05 PM.
For each policy change, NetBackup determines what needs to be done and
updates its work list accordingly.
Delays in running queued jobs

If jobs remain in the queue and only one job runs at a time, make sure the
following attributes are set to allow jobs to run simultaneously:
■ Host Properties > Master Server > Properties > Global Attributes >
Maximum jobs per client (should be greater than 1).
■ Host Properties > Master Server > Properties > Client Attributes setting
for Maximum data streams (should be greater than 1).
■ Policy attribute Limit jobs per policy (should be greater than 1).
■ Policy schedule attribute Media multiplexing (should be greater than 1).
■ Check the storage unit properties:
■ Is the storage unit enabled to use multiple drives (Maximum concurrent
write drives)? If you want to increase this value, remember to set it to
fewer than the number of drives available to this storage unit.
Otherwise, restores and other non-backup activities will not be able to
run while backups to the storage unit are running.
Master server configuration guidelines 41
■ Is the storage unit enabled for multiplexing (Maximum streams per

drive)? You can write a maximum of 32 jobs to one tape at the same
time.
Job delays caused by unavailable media

If the media in a storage unit are not configured or are unusable (such as being
expired, or the maximum mounts setting was exceeded, or the wrong pool was
selected), the job will fail if no other storage units are usable. If media are
unavailable, new media will have to be added, or the media configuration will
have to be changed to make media available (such as changing the volume pool
or the maximum mounts).
If the media in a storage unit are usable but are currently busy, the job will be
queued. The NetBackup Activity Monitor should display the reason for the job
queuing, such as “media are in use.” If the media are in use, the media will
eventually stop being used and the job will run.
Delays after removing a media server

A job may be queued by the NetBackup Job Manager (nbjm) if the media server is
not available. This is not because of communication time-outs, but because EMM
knows the media server is down and the NetBackup Resource Broker (nbrb)
queues the request to be retried later.
If a media server is configured in EMM but has been physically removed,
powered off, or disconnected from the network, or if the network is down for any
reason, the media and device selection logic of EMM will queue the job if no
other media servers are available. The Activity Monitor should display the
reason for the job queuing, such as “media server is offline.” Once the media
server is online again in EMM, the job will start. In the meantime, if other media
servers are available, the job will run on another media server.
If a media server is not configured in EMM (removed from the configuration),
regardless of the physical state of the media server, EMM will not select that
media server for use. If no other media servers are available, the job will fail.
Limiting factors for job scheduling

For every backup submitted, there may be one bprd process for the duration of
the job. When many requests are submitted to NetBackup simultaneously,
NetBackup will increase its use of memory and may eventually impact the
overall performance of the system. This type of performance degradation is
associated with the way a given operating system handles memory requests. It
may affect the functioning of all applications running on the system in question,
not just NetBackup.
Note: The Activity Monitor may not update if there are thousands of jobs to
view. If this happens, you may need to change the memory setting using the
NetBackup Java command jnbSA with the -mx option. Refer to the
“INITIAL_MEMORY, MAX_MEMORY” subsection in the NetBackup System
Administrator’s Guide for UNIX and Linux, Volume I. Note that this situation
does not affect NetBackup's ability to continue running jobs.
Adjusting the server’s network connection options

When running many simultaneous jobs, the CPU utilization of the master server
may become very high. To reduce utilization and improve performance, adjust
the network connection options for the local machine on the Host Properties >
Master Server > Master Server Properties > Firewall display in the NetBackup
Administration Console (shown below), or you can add the following bp.conf
entry to the UNIX master server.
CONNECT_OPTIONS = localhost 1 0 2
For an explanation of the CONNECT_OPTIONS values, refer to the NetBackup
System Administrator’s Guide for UNIX and Linux, Volume II.
The NetBackup Troubleshooting Guide also provides information on network

connectivity issues.
Using NOM to monitor jobs

The NetBackup Operations Manager (NOM) can be used to monitor the
performance of NetBackup jobs. NOM can also manage and monitor dozens
of NetBackup installations spread across multiple locations. Some of the
features provided by NOM are the following:
■ Web-based interface for efficient, remote administration across multiple
NetBackup servers from a single, centralized console.
■ Policy-based alert notification, using predefined alert conditions to specify
typical issues or thresholds within NetBackup.
■ Flexible reporting, on issues such as backup performance, media utilization,
and rates of job success.
■ Consolidated job and job policy views per server (or group of servers), for
filtering and sorting job activity.
For more information on the capabilities of NOM, refer to the NOM online help
in the Administration console, or see the NetBackup Operations Manager Getting
Started Guide.
Disaster recovery testing and job scheduling

The following techniques may help in your disaster recovery testing.
■ Prevent the expiration of empty media.
a Go to the following directory:
UNIX
cd /usr/openv/netbackup/bin
Windows
install_path\NetBackup\bin
b Enter the following:
mkdir bpsched.d
cd bpsched.d
echo 0 > CHECK_EXPIRED_MEDIA_INTERVAL
■ Prevent the expiration of images
a Go to the following directory:
UNIX
cd /usr/openv/netbackup
Windows
cd install_path\NetBackup
b Enter the following:
UNIX
touch NOexpire
Miscellaneous considerations
Windows
echo 0 > NOexpire
■ Prevent backups from starting by shutting down bprd (NetBackup Request
Manager). This will suspend scheduling of new jobs by nbpem. To shut
down bprd, you can use the Activity Monitor in the NetBackup
Administration Console.
Restart bprd to resume scheduling.
Miscellaneous considerations
Consider the following issues when planning for or troubleshooting NetBackup.
Processing of storage units

NetBackup storage units are processed in alphabetical order. You can affect how
storage units are selected and therefore when media servers are used by being
aware of the alphabetical order of the name of each storage unit. You can also
have some control over load balancing by using storage unit groups.
Storage unit groups contain a list of storage units that are available for that
policy to use. A storage unit group can be configured to use storage units in any
of three ways, in the New Storage Unit Group dialog of the NetBackup
Administration Console.
■ Use storage units in the order in which they are listed in the group.
■ Choose the least recently selected storage unit in the group.
■ Configure the storage unit group as a failover group. This means the first
storage unit in the group will be the only storage unit used. If the storage
unit is busy, then backups will queue. The second storage unit will only be
used if the first storage unit is down.
Disk staging
With disk staging, images can be created on disk initially, then copied later to
another media type (as determined in the disk staging schedule). The media type
for the final destination is typically tape, but could be disk. This two-stage
process leverages the advantages of disk-based backups in the near term, while
preserving the advantages of tape-based backups for long term.
Note that disk staging can be used to increase backup speed. For more
information, refer to the NetBackup System Administrator’s Guide, Volume I.
NetBackup catalog strategies
File system capacity

There must be ample file system space for NetBackup to record its logging
and/or catalog entries on each master server, media server, and client. If logging
or catalog entries should exhaust available file system space, NetBackup will
cease to function. Having the ability to increase the size of the file system via
volume management is recommended. The disk containing the NetBackup
master catalog should be protected with mirroring or RAID hardware or
software technology.

The NetBackup catalog resides on the disk of the NetBackup master server. The
catalog consists of the following parts:
■ Image database: The image database contains information about what has
been backed up. It is by far the largest part of the catalog.
■ NetBackup data stored in relational databases: This includes the media and
volume data describing media usage and volume information which is used
during the backups.
■ NetBackup configuration files: Policy, schedule and other flat files used by
NetBackup.
For more information on the catalog, refer to “Catalog Maintenance and
Performance Optimization” in the NetBackup Administrator's Guide Volume 1.
The NetBackup catalogs on the master server tend to grow large over time and
eventually fail to fit on a single tape. Here is the layout of the first few directory
levels of the NetBackup catalogs on the master server:
Figure 2-3 Directory layout on master Server
/usr/openv/
/db/data /Netbackup/db /var /Netbackup/vault /var/global

License key and authentication
information
NBDB.db server.conf
EMM_DATA.db databases.conf
EMM_INDEX.db
NBDB.log
/class /error /images /vault
BMRDB.db
/class_template /config /jobs
BMRDB.log
/failure_history
BMR_DATA.db
/client /media
BMR_INDEX.db
vxdbms.conf
/client_1 /Master
/Media_server /client_n
Relational database Image database Configuration files

files
Catalog backup types

In addition to the existing cold catalog backups (which require that no jobs be
running), NetBackup 6.0 introduces online “hot” catalog backups. These hot
catalog backups can be performed while other jobs are running.
Note: For NetBackup release 6.0 and beyond, it is recommended that you use
schedule-based, incremental hot catalog backups with periodic full backups as
your preferred catalog backup method.
Guidelines for managing the catalog

■ NetBackup catalog pathnames (cold catalog backups)
When defining the file list, use absolute pathnames for the locations of the
NetBackup and Media Manager catalog paths and include the server name
in the path. This is in case the media server performing the backup is
changed.
■ Back up the catalog using online, hot catalog backup
This type of catalog backup is for highly active NetBackup environments in
which continual backup activity is occurring. It is considered an online, hot
method because it can be performed while regular backup activity is taking
place. This type of catalog is policy-based and can span more than one tape.
It also allows for incremental backups, which can significantly reduce
catalog backup times for large catalogs.
■ Store the catalog on a separate file system
The NetBackup catalog can grow quickly depending on backup frequency,
retention periods, and the number of files being backed up. If you store the
NetBackup catalog data on its own file system, this ensures that other disk
resources, root file systems, and the operating system are not impacted by
the catalog growth. For information on how to move the catalog, refer to
“Catalog compression” on page 48.
■ Change the location of the NetBackup relational database files
The location of the NetBackup relational database files can be changed
and/or split into multiple directories for better performance. For example,
by placing the transaction log file, NBDB.log, on a physically separate drive,
you gain better protection against disk failure and increased efficiency in
writing to the log file. Refer to the procedure in the section “Moving NBDB
Database Files After Installation” in the “NetBackup Relational Database”
appendix of the NetBackup System Administrator’s Guide, Volume I.
■ Delay to compress catalog
The default value for this parameter is 0, which means that NetBackup does
not compress the catalog. As your catalog increases in size, you may want to
use a value between 10 and 30 days for this parameter. When you restore
old backups, which requires looking at catalog files that have been
compressed, NetBackup automatically uncompresses the files as needed,
with minimal performance impact. For information on how to compress the
catalog, refer to “Catalog compression” on page 48.
Catalog backup not finishing in the available window

If your cold catalog backups are not finishing in the backup window, or hot
catalog backups are running a long time, here are some possible solutions:
■ Use catalog archiving. Catalog archiving reduces the size of online catalog
data by relocating the large catalog .f files to secondary storage. NetBackup
Merging/splitting/moving servers
administration will continue to require regularly scheduled catalog

backups, but without the large amount of online catalog data, the backups
will be faster.
■ Off load some policies, clients, and backup images from the current master
server to a new, additional master, so that each master has a window large
enough to allow its catalog backup to finish. Since a media server can be
connected to one master server only, additional media servers may be
needed. For assistance in adding another master server to lighten the
workload of the existing master, contact Symantec Consulting.
■ Determine whether most of the catalog backup time is being used in
expiring backup images. If this is the case, make sure the master's primary
DNS server is available by running nslookup. The command should respond
quickly. Also, investigate whether there are any media servers which no
longer exist. The image cleaning operation will time out on these
repeatedly, trying to expire fragments, if the media servers were not
removed from the NetBackup configuration correctly.
Catalog compression
When the NetBackup image catalog becomes too large for the available disk
space, there are two ways to manage this situation:
■ Compress the image catalog
■ Move the image catalog.
For details, refer to “Moving the Image Catalog” and “Compressing and
Uncompressing the Image Catalog” in the NetBackup System Administrator’s
Guide, Volume I.
Note that NetBackup compresses images after each backup session, regardless
of whether or not any backups were successful. This happens right before the
execution of the session_notify script and the backup of the catalog. The actual
backup session is extended until compression is complete.
Merging/splitting/moving servers
A master server schedules and maintains backup information for a given set of
systems. The Enterprise Media Manager (EMM) server and its database maintain
centralized device and media related information used on all servers that are
part of the configuration. By default, the EMM server and the NetBackup
Relational Database (NBDB) that contains the EMM data are located on the
master server. A large and dynamic data center can expect to periodically
reconfigure the number and organization of its backup servers.
Guidelines for policies
Centralized management, reporting, and maintenance are the benefits of

working in a centralized NetBackup environment. Once a master server has
been established, it is possible to merge its databases with another master
server, giving control over its set of server backups to the new master server.
Conversely, if the backup load on a master server has grown to the point where
backups are not finishing in the backup window, it may be desirable to split that
master server into two master servers.
It is possible to merge or split NetBackup master servers or EMM servers. It is
also possible to convert a media server to a master server or a master server to a
media server. However, the procedures to accomplish this are complex and
require a detailed knowledge of NetBackup database interactions. Merging or
splitting NetBackup, Media Manager and EMM databases to another server is
not recommended without involving a Symantec consultant to determine the
changes needed, based on your specific configuration and requirements.
Moving the EMM server

The EMM server can be moved from the master server to another server, to
create a “remote” EMM server. In some cases, moving the EMM server off the
master may improve capacity and performance for the NetBackup master server
and for the EMM server. For assistance, refer to “Moving the NetBackup
Database from One Host to Another” in Appendix A of the NetBackup System
Administrator's Guide, Volume I.
Guidelines for policies

The following items may have performance implications.
Include and exclude lists

■ Do not use excessive wild cards in file lists.
When wildcards are used, NetBackup compares every filename against the
wild cards. This decreases NetBackup performance. Instead of placing
/tmp/* (UNIX) or C:\Temp\* (Windows) in an include or exclude list, use
/tmp/ or C:\Temp.
■ Use exclude files to exclude large useless files.
Reduce the size of your backups by using exclude lists for the files your
installation does not need to preserve. For instance, you may decide to
exclude temporary files. Use absolute paths for your exclude list entries, so
that valuable files are not inadvertently excluded. Before adding files to the
exclude list, confirm with the affected users that their files can be safely
Managing logs
excluded. Should disaster (or user error) strike, not being able to recover
files costs much more than backing up extra data.
When a policy specifies that all local drives be backed up
(ALL_LOCAL_DRIVES), nbpem initiates a parent job (nbgenjob) that
connects to the client and runs bpmount -i to get a list of mount points.
Then nbpem initiates a job with its own unique job identification number
for each mount point. Next the client bpbkar starts a stream for each job.
Then, and only then, the exclude list is read by NetBackup. When the entire
job is excluded, bpbkar exits with a status 0, stating that it sent 0 of 0 files
to backup. The resulting image files are treated just as any other successful
backup's image files. They expire in the normal fashion when the expiration
date in the image header files specifies they are to expire.
Critical policies
For online, hot catalog backups (a new feature in NetBackup 6.0), make sure to
identify those policies that are crucial to recovering your site in the event of a
disaster. For more information on hot catalog backup and critical policies, refer
to the NetBackup System Administrator’s Guide, Volume I.
Schedule frequency
To minimize the number of times you back up files that have not changed, and
to minimize your consumption of bandwidth, media, and other resources,
consider limiting the frequency of your full backups to monthly or even
quarterly, followed by weekly cumulative incremental backups and daily
Managing logs
Optimizing the performance of vxlogview
As explained in the NetBackup Troubleshooting Guide, the vxlogview command
is used for viewing logs created by unified logging (VxUL). The vxlogview
command will deliver optimum performance when a file ID is specified in the
query.
For example: when viewing messages logged by the NetBackup Resource Broker
(nbrb) for a given day, you can filter out the library messages while viewing the
nbrb logs. To achieve this, run vxlogview as follows:
vxlogview –o nbrb –i nbrb –n 0
Note that -i nbrb specifies the file ID for nbrb. Specifying the file ID improves
the performance, because the search is confined to a smaller set of files.
Managing logs
Interpreting legacy error logs

This section describes the fields in the legacy log files written to the
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/error directory on UNIX (the
install_path\NetBackup\db\error folder on Windows). On UNIX, there is
a link to the most current file in the error directory; the link is called
daily_messages.log. Note that the information in these logs provides the
basis for the NetBackup ALL LOG ENTRIES report. For more information on
legacy logging and unified logging (VxUL), refer to the NetBackup
Troubleshooting Guide.
Here is a sample message from an error log:
1021419793 1 2 4 nabob 0 0 0 *NULL* bpjobd TERMINATED bpjobd
The meaning of the various fields in this message (the fields are delimited by
blanks) is defined in Table 2-11. Table 2-12 lists the values for the message type,
which is the third field in the log message.
Table 2-11 Meaning of daily_messages log fields
Field Definition Value
1 Time this event occurred (ctime) 1021419793 (= number of seconds since

1970)
2 Error database entry version 1
3 Type of message 2
4 Severity of error: 4
1: Unknown
2: Debug
4: Informational
8: Warning
16: Error
32: Critical
5 Server on which error was reported nabob
6 Job ID (included if pertinent to the log entry) 0
7 (optional entry) 0
8 (optional entry) 0
9 Client on which error occurred, if applicable, *NULL*

otherwise *NULL*
10 Process which generated the error message bpjobd

Managing logs
Table 2-11 Meaning of daily_messages log fields (continued)
Field Definition Value
11 Text of error message TERMINATED bpjobd
Table 2-12 Message types
Type Value Definition of this Message Type
1 Unknown
2 General
4 Backup
8 Archive
16 Retrieve
32 Security
64 Backup status
128 Media device

Chapter 3
Media server configuration
guidelines
This chapter provides configuration guidelines for the media server along with
related background information.
■ “Network and SCSI/FC bus bandwidth” on page 54
■ “How to change the threshold for media errors” on page 54
■ “How to reload the st driver without rebooting Solaris” on page 57
■ “How to reload the st driver without rebooting Solaris” on page 57
■ “Media Manager drive selection” on page 58
■ “Robot types and NetBackup port configuration” on page 58
54 Media server configuration guidelines
Network and SCSI/FC bus bandwidth
Network and SCSI/FC bus bandwidth

Configure no more than two high-performance tape drives per
SCSI/fibre-channel connection. A SCSI/fibre-channel configuration should be
able to handle both drives at maximum rated compression. Tape drive wear and
tear is much reduced and efficiency increased if the data stream matches the
tape drive capacity and is sustained.
Note: Make sure that both your inbound network connection and your SCSI/FC
bus have enough bandwidth to feed all of your tape drives.
Example:
iSCSI (360 GB/hour)
Two LTO gen 3 drives, each rated at approximately 300 GB/hour (2:1
compression)
In this example, the tape drives require more speed than provided by the iSCSI
bus. Only one tape drive will stream given this configuration. The solution is to
add a second iSCSI bus, or to move to a connection that is fast enough to
efficiently feed data to the tape drives.
How to change the threshold for media errors

Some backup failures can occur because there is no media available. If you see
this kind of error, you can execute the following script and then run the
NetBackup Media List report to check the status of media:
UNIX
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/goodies/available_media
Windows
install_path\NetBackup\bin\goodies\available_media
The NetBackup Media List report may show that some media is frozen and
therefore cannot be used for backups.
One of the reasons NetBackup freezes media is because of recurring I/O errors.
The NetBackup Troubleshooting Guide describes the recommended approaches
for dealing with this issue, for example, under NetBackup error code 96. It is also
possible to configure the NetBackup error threshold value. The method for
doing this is described in this section.
Each time a read, write, or position error occurs, NetBackup records the time,
media ID, type of error, and drive index in the EMM database. Then NetBackup
scans to see whether that media has had “m” of the same errors within the past
“n” hours. The variable “m” is a tunable parameter known as
media_error_threshold. The default value of media_error_threshold is 2 errors.
Media server configuration guidelines 55
The variable “n” is known as time_window. The default value of time_window is

12 hours. If a tape volume has more than media_error_threshold errors,
NetBackup will take the appropriate action:
■ If the volume has not been previously assigned for backups, then
NetBackup will:
■ set the volume status to FROZEN
■ select a different volume
■ log an error
■ If the volume is in the NetBackup media catalog and has been previously
selected for backups, then NetBackup will:
■ set the volume to SUSPENDED
■ abort the current backup
■ log an error
Adjusting media_error_threshold
To configure the NetBackup media error thresholds, use the nbemmcmd
command on the media server as follows. NetBackup freezes a tape volume or
downs a drive for which these values are exceeded. For more detail on the
nbemmcmd command, refer to the man page or to the NetBackup Commands
Guide.
UNIX
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/nbemmcmd -changesetting
-time_window unsigned integer -machinename string
-media_error_threshold unsigned integer -drive_error_threshold
unsigned integer
Windows
<install_path>\NetBackup\bin\admincmd\nbemmcmd.exe
-changesetting -time_window unsigned integer -machinename string
-media_error_threshold unsigned integer -drive_error_threshold
unsigned integer
For example, if the -drive_error_threshold is set to the default value of 2,
the drive is downed after 3 errors in 12 hours. If the
-drive_error_threshold is set to a value of 6, it would take 7 errors in the
same 12 hour period before the drive would be downed.
Note: The following description has nothing to do with the number of times
NetBackup retries a backup/restore that fails. That situation is controlled by the
global configuration parameter “Backup Tries” for backups and the bp.conf
entry RESTORE_RETRIES for restores. This algorithm merely deals with
whether I/O errors on tape should cause media to be frozen or drives to be
downed.
When a read/write/position error occurs on tape, the error returned by the

operating system does not distinguish between whether the error is caused by
the tape or the drive. To prevent the failure of all backups in a given timeframe,
bptm tries to identify a bad tape volume or drive based on past history, using the
following logic:
■ Each time an I/O error occurs on a read/write/position, bptm logs the error
in the file /usr/openv/netbackup/db/media/errors (UNIX) or
install_path\NetBackup\db\media\errors (Windows). The error
message includes the time of the error, media ID, drive index and type of
error.
Examples of the entries in this file are these:
07/21/96 04:15:17 A00167 4 WRITE_ERROR
07/26/96 12:37:47 A00168 4 READ_ERROR
■ Each time an entry is made, the past entries are scanned to determine if the
same media ID and/or drive has had this type of error in the past “n” hours.
“n” is known as the time_window. The default time window is 12 hours.
When performing the history search for the time_window entries, EMM
notes past errors that match the media ID, the drive, or both the drive and
the media ID. The purpose of this is to determine the cause of the error. For
example, if a given media ID gets write errors on more than one drive, it is
assumed that the tape volume is bad and NetBackup freezes the volume. If
more than one media ID gets a particular error on the same drive, it is
assumed the drive is bad and the drive goes to a “down” state. If only past
errors are found on the same drive with the same media ID, then EMM
assumes that the volume is bad and freezes it.
■ Freezing or downing does not occur on the first error. There are two other
parameters, media_error_threshold and drive_error_threshold. The default
value of both of these parameters is 2. For a “freeze” or “down” to happen,
more than the threshold number of errors must occur (by default, at least
three errors must occur) in the time window for the same drive/media ID.
Media server configuration guidelines 57
How to reload the st driver without rebooting Solaris
Note: If either media_error_threshold or drive_error_threshold is 0, freezing or

downing occurs the first time any I/O error occurs. media_error_threshold is
looked at first, so if both values are 0, freezing will override downing. It is not
recommended that these values be set to 0.
Changing the default values is not recommended, unless there is a good

reason to do so. One obvious change would be to put very large numbers in
the THRESHOLD files, thus basically disabling the mechanism such that to
“freeze” a tape or “down” a drive should never occur.
Freezing and downing is primarily intended to benefit backups. If read
errors occur on a restore, freezing media has little effect. NetBackup still
accesses the tape to perform the restore. In the restore case, downing a bad
drive may help.
How to reload the st driver without rebooting

Solaris
The devfsadmd daemon enhances device management in Solaris. This daemon
is capable of dynamically reconfiguring devices during the boot process and in
response to kernel event notification.
The devfsadm located in /usr/sbin is the command form of devfsadmd.
devfsadm replaces drvconfig (for management of physical device tree
/devices) and devlinks (for management of logical devices in /dev). devfsadm
also replaces the commands for specific device class types, such as
/usr/sbin/tapes.
Thus, in order to recreate tape devices for NetBackup after changing the
/kernel/drv/st.conf file without rebooting the server, perform the
following steps:
To reload the st driver without rebooting

1 Shutdown the NetBackup and Media Manager daemons.
2 Obtain the module id for the st driver in kernel:
/usr/sbin/modinfo | grep SCSI
The module id is the first field in the line corresponding to the SCSI tape
driver.
3 Unload the st driver from the kernel:
/usr/sbin/modunload -i "module id"
Media Manager drive selection
4 Use devfsadm to recreate the device nodes in /devices and the device
links in /dev for tape devices by running any one (not all) of the following
commands:
/usr/sbin/devfsadm -i st
/usr/sbin/devfsadm -c tape
/usr/sbin/devfsadm -C -c tape (Use this command to enforce cleanup if
dangling logical links are present in /dev.)
5 Reload the st driver:
/usr/sbin/modload st
6 Restart the NetBackup and Media Manager daemons.
Media Manager drive selection

Once the media and device selection logic (MDS) in the EMM service determines
which storage unit to use, MDS attempts to select a drive that matches the
storage unit selection criterion, such as media server, robot number, robot type,
and density. MDS prefers loaded drives over unloaded drives (a loaded drive
removes the overhead of loading a media in a drive). If no loaded drives are
available, MDS attempts to select the best usable drive suited for the job. In
general, MDS prefers non-shared drives over shared drives, and it attempts to
select the least recently used drive.
Robot types and NetBackup port configuration

There is no facility in NetBackup to route ACSLS communications through any
server other than the one where the backup or restore is taking place. Unlike the
tldd/tldcd design for TLD robotic control which requires one point of robotic
control, acsd is a single robotic daemon that runs on each server with ACS
drives attached. The same is true for TLM (ADIC SDLC and ADIC DAS controlled
libraries) where tlmd runs on each server with TLM drives. Such robot types,
which have no single point of robotic control, provide resiliency in case of a
NetBackup server failure. However, extra planning may be required to
accommodate them given your firewall requirements.
ACS has been enhanced to be more firewall friendly. For more information, refer
to the “STK Automated Cartridge System (ACS)” appendix of the NetBackup
Media Manager System Administrator’s Guide.
Chapter 4
Media configuration
guidelines
This chapter provides guidelines and recommendations for better performance
with NetBackup media.
■ “Dedicated or shared backup environment” on page 60
■ “Pooling” on page 60
■ “Disk versus tape” on page 60
60 Media configuration guidelines
Dedicated or shared backup environment
Dedicated or shared backup environment

One design decision is whether to make your backup environment dedicated or
shared. Dedicated SANs are secure but expensive. Shared environments cost
less, but require more work to make them secure. A SAN installation with a
database may require the performance of a RAID 1 array. An installation
backing up a basic file structure may satisfy its needs with RAID 5 or NAS.
Pooling
Here are some useful conventions for media pools (formerly known as volume
pools):
■ Configure a scratch pool for management of scratch tapes. If a scratch pool
exists, EMM can move volumes from that pool to other pools that do not
have volumes available.
■ Use the available_media script in the goodies directory. You can put the
available_media report into a script which redirects the report output to a
file and emails the file to the administrators daily or weekly. This helps
track which tapes are full, frozen, suspended, and so on. By means of a
script, you can also filter the output of the available_media report to
generate custom reports.
To monitor media, you can also use the NetBackup Operations Manager
(NOM). For instance, NOM can be configured to issue an alert if there are
fewer than X number of media available, or if more than X% of the media is
frozen or suspended.
■ Use the none pool for cleaning tapes.
■ Do not create too many pools. The existence of too many pools causes the
library capacity to become fragmented across the pools. Consequently, the
library becomes filled with many partially-full tapes.
Disk versus tape

Disk is becoming more common as a backup medium. Storing backup data on
disk generally provides faster restore.
Tuning disk-based storage for performance is similar to tuning tape-based
storage. The optimal buffer settings for a site can vary according to its
configuration. It takes thorough testing to determine these settings.
Disk-based backup storage can be useful if you have a lot of incremental backups
and the percentage of data change is small. If the volume of data in incremental
Media configuration guidelines 61
Disk versus tape
copies is insufficient to ensure streaming to tape drives, writing to disk can

speed the backup process and alleviate wear and tear on your tape drives.
Here are some factors to consider when choosing to back up a given dataset to
disk or tape:
■ Short or long retention period
■ Incremental or full backup
■ Intermediate (staging) or long-term storage
■ Delay in recovery time
Here are some benefits of backing up to disk rather than tape:
■ No need to multiplex
Writing to disk does not need to be streamed. This means that
multiplexing is not necessary.
Multiplexing is only necessary with tape because the tape must be
streamed. Multiplexing allows multiple clients and multiple file
systems to be backed up to the same tape simultaneously, thus
streaming the drive. However, this functionality slows down the
restore. (See “Tape streaming” on page 126 for an explanation of
streaming.)
■ Instant access to data
Most tape drives on the market have a “time to data” of close to two
minutes. This time includes the amount of time to move the tape from
its slot, load it into the drive and seek an appropriate place on tape.
Disk has an effective time to data of zero seconds. To understand the
significance of eliminating this delay, consider that restoring a large
file system whose backups reside on 30 different tapes means that a
two-minute delay per tape adds almost two hours to the restore. This
includes the time it takes to eject and unload the 30 tapes.
■ Fewer full backups.
With tape-based systems, full backups must be done regularly because
of the instant access to data issue described above. Otherwise, the
number of tapes required for a restore significantly increases both the
time to restore and the chance that a single tape will cause the restore
to fail. Since disk arrays are protected by RAID software, they do not
have this problem.
62 Media configuration guidelines
Disk versus tape
Chapter 5
Database backup
guidelines
This chapter gives planning guidelines for database backup.
■ “Introduction” on page 64
■ “Considerations for database backups” on page 64
64 Database backup guidelines
Introduction
Introduction
Before you create a database, decide how to protect the database against
potential failures. Answer the following questions before developing your
backup strategy.
■ Is it acceptable to lose any data if a hardware failure damages some of the
files that constitute a database?
■ Will you ever need to recover to past points-in-time?
■ Does the database need to be available at all times (24x7)?
For specific information on backing up and restoring your database, refer to the
NetBackup administrator’s guide for your database product. In addition, the
manufacturer of your database product may provide publications that document
backup recommendations and methods.
Considerations for database backups

When planning your database backups, consider the following.
■ Fragmentation and databases
Using a smaller fragment size in a backup of a database such as Oracle will
not improve backup performance, and may hinder restore performance.
Database backups (when not using Advanced Client) are unaffected by
fragmentation since there is only one “file” per backup image. There is no
advantage in tape positioning with or without fast-locate blocks.
■ Using Advanced Client
NetBackup Advanced Client provides snapshot backup technology
combined with off-host data movement for local networks and SAN
environments. A data snapshot can be created on disk in seconds and then
backed up directly to tape. Users can significantly reduce CPU and I/O
overhead from application or database servers while eliminating the backup
window altogether.
Advanced Client helps reduce the impact on applications that require
24x7xforever availability. Advanced Client is available on UNIX and
Windows systems, and supports all NetBackup libraries and drives. It can be
used with multi-streaming and multiplexing, and with a variety of disk
arrays.
Chapter 6
Best practices
This chapter describes an assortment of best practices, and includes the
following sections:
■ “Best practices: new tape drive technologies” on page 66
■ “Best practices: tape drive cleaning” on page 66
■ “Best practices: storing tape cartridges” on page 68
■ “Best practices: recoverability” on page 68
■ “Best practices: naming conventions” on page 71
66 Best practices
Best practices: new tape drive technologies
Best practices: new tape drive technologies

Symantec provides a white paper on best practices for migrating your
NetBackup installation to new tape technologies:
“Best Practices: Migrating to or Integrating New Tape Drive Technologies in
Existing Libraries,” available at www.support.veritas.com.
Recent tape drives offer noticeably higher capacity than the previous generation
of tape drives targeted at the open-systems market. Administrators may want to
take advantage of these higher-capacity, higher performance tape drives, but
are concerned about integrating these into an existing tape library. The white
paper discusses different methods for doing so and the pros and cons of each.
Best practices: tape drive cleaning

This section discusses several ways to clean tape drives. Refer to the NetBackup
Media Manager System Administrator’s Guide for details on how to use the
methods discussed here.
Note: The TapeAlert feature is discussed in detail later in this section.
Here are the tape drive cleaning methods that can be used in a NetBackup
installation:
■ Frequency-based cleaning
■ On-demand cleaning
■ TapeAlert
■ Robotic cleaning
Frequency-based cleaning
NetBackup does frequency-based cleaning by tracking the number of hours a
drive has been in use. When this time reaches a configurable parameter,
NetBackup creates a job that mounts and exercises a cleaning tape. This cleans
the drive in a preventive fashion. The advantage of this method is that typically
there are no drives unavailable awaiting cleaning. There is also no limitation on
platform or robot type. On the downside, cleaning is done more often than
necessary. This adds system wear and consumes time that could be used to write
to the drive. Another limitation is that this method is hard to tune. When new
tapes are used, drive cleaning is needed less frequently; the need for cleaning
increases as the tape inventory ages. This increases the amount of tuning
administration needed and, consequently, the margin of error.
Best practices 67
Best practices: tape drive cleaning
On-demand cleaning
Refer to the NetBackup Media Manager System Administrator’s Guide for more
information on this topic.
TapeAlert
TapeAlert allows reactive cleaning for most drive types. TapeAlert allows a tape
drive to notify EMM when it needs to be cleaned. EMM then performs the
cleaning. You must have a cleaning tape configured in at least one library slot in
order to utilize this feature. TapeAlert is the recommended cleaning solution if
it can be implemented.
Not all drives, at all firmware levels, support this type of reactive cleaning. In
the case where reactive cleaning is not supported on a particular drive,
frequency-based cleaning may be substituted. This solution is not vendor or
platform specific. The specific firmware levels have not been tested by
Symantec, however the vendor should be able to confirm that the TapeAlert
feature is supported.
■ How TapeAlert works
To understand NetBackup's behavior with drive-cleaning TapeAlerts, it is
important to understand the TapeAlert interface to a drive. The TapeAlert
interface to a tape drive is via the SCSI bus, based on a Log Sense page,
which contains 64 alert flags. The conditions that cause a flag to be set and
cleared are device-specific and are determined by the device vendor.
The configuration of the Log Sense page is via a Mode Select page. The
Mode Sense/Select configuration of the TapeAlert interface is compatible
with the SMART diagnostic standard for disk drives.
NetBackup reads the TapeAlert Log Sense page at the beginning and end of
a write/read job. TapeAlert flags 20 to 25 are used for cleaning management
although some drive vendors’ implementations may vary from this.
NetBackup uses TapeAlert flag 20 (Clean Now) and TapeAlert flag 21 (Clean
Periodic) to determine when it needs to clean a drive.
When a drive is selected by NetBackup for a backup, the Log Sense page is
reviewed by bptm for status. If one of the clean flags is set, the drive will be
cleaned before the job starts.
If a backup is in progress and one of the clean flags is set, the flag is not read
until a tape is dismounted from the drive.
If a job spans media and, during the first tape, one of the clean flags is set,
the cleaning light comes on and the drive will be cleaned before the second
piece of media is mounted in the drive.
The implication is that the present job will conclude its ongoing write
despite a TapeAlert Clean Now or Clean Periodic message. That is, the
TapeAlert will not require the loss of what has been written to tape so far.
68 Best practices
Best practices: storing tape cartridges
This is true regardless of the number of NetBackup jobs involved in writing

out the rest of the media.
Note that the behavior described here may change in the future.
If a large number of media become FROZEN as a result of having
implemented TapeAlert, there is a strong likelihood of underlying media
and/or tape drive issues.
■ Disabling TapeAlert
To disable TapeAlert, create a touch file called NO_TAPEALERT:
UNIX:
/usr/openv/volmgr/database/NO_TAPEALERT
Windows:
install_path\volmgr\database\NO_TAPEALERT
Robotic cleaning
Robotic cleaning is not proactive, and is not subject to the limitations detailed
above. By being reactive, unnecessary cleanings are eliminated, frequency
tuning is not an issue, and the drive can spend more time moving data, rather
than in maintenance operations.
Library-based cleaning is not supported by EMM for most robots, since robotic
library and operating systems vendors have implemented this type of cleaning
in many different ways.
Best practices: storing tape cartridges

A couple of issues with tape management are how long and where to store the
tapes that you need to keep on site. Typically, a DLT tape can be stored for up to
three years. The storage location should be climate-controlled and away from
sunlight. In addition, the tapes should always be stored in their plastic boxes.
Best practices: recoverability

Recovering from data loss involves both planning and technology to support
your recovery objectives and time frames. Table 6-13, describes how you can use
NetBackup and other tools to recover from various mishaps or disaster. The
methods and procedures you adopt for your installation should be documented
and tested regularly to ensure that your installation can recover from disaster.
Table 6-13 Methods and procedures for recoverability
Operational Risk Recovery Possible? Methods and Procedures
File deleted before backup No None

Best practices 69
Table 6-13 Methods and procedures for recoverability (continued)
Operational Risk Recovery Possible? Methods and Procedures
File deleted after backup Yes Standard NetBackup restore procedures
Backup client failure Yes Data recovery using NetBackup
Media failure Yes Backup image duplication
Master/media server failure Yes Manual failover to alternate server
Loss of backup database Yes NetBackup database recovery
No NetBackup software Yes If multiplexing was not used, recovery of

media without NetBackup, using GNU tar
Complete site disaster Yes Vaulting and off site media storage
Additional material may be found in the following books:

■ The Resilient Enterprise, Recovering Information Services from Disasters, by
Symantec and industry authors, published by Symantec Software
Corporation.
■ Blueprints for HIGH Availability, Designing Resilient Distributed Systems, by
Even Marcus and Hal Stern, published by John Wiley and Sons.
■ Implementing Backup and Recovery: The Readiness Guide for the Enterprise,
by David B. Little and David A. Chapa, published by Wiley Technology
Publishing.
Suggestions for data recovery planning

It is important to have a well-documented and tested plan to recover from a
logical error, an operator error, or a site disaster. The following practices have
been found effective for recoverability in production environments. Refer also
to the NetBackup Troubleshooting Guide and the NetBackup System
Administrator's Guide for further information on disaster recovery.
■ Always use a regularly scheduled hot catalog backup
Refer to “Catalog Recovery from an Online Backup” in the NetBackup
Troubleshooting Guide.
■ Review the disaster recovery plan often
Review your site-specific recovery procedures and verify that they are
accurate and up-to-date. Also, verify that the more complex systems, such
as the NetBackup master and media servers, have current procedures for
rebuilding the machines with the latest software.
70 Best practices
■ Perform test recoveries on a regular basis

Implement a plan to perform restores of various systems to alternate
locations. This plan should include selecting random production backups
and restoring the data to a non-production system. A checksum can then be
performed on one or many of the restored files and compared to the actual
production data. Be sure to include offsite storage as part of this testing.
The end-user or application administrator can also be involved in
determining the integrity of the restored data.
■ Support NetBackup recoverability:
■ Back up the NetBackup catalog to two tapes.
The catalog contains information vital for NetBackup recovery. Its loss
could result in hours or days of recovery time through manual
processes. The cost of a single tape is a small price to pay for the added
insurance of rapid recovery in the event of an emergency.
■ Back up the catalog after each backup.
If a hot catalog backup is used, an incremental catalog backup can be
done after each backup session. Extremely busy backup environments
should also use a scheduled hot catalog backup, since their backup
sessions end infrequently.
In the event of a catastrophic failure, the recovery of images is slowed
by not having all images available. If a manual backup occurs just
before the master server or the drive that contains the backed-up files
crashes, the manual backup must be imported to recover the most
recent version of the files.
■ Record the IDs of catalog backup tapes.
Record the catalog tapes in the site run book or another public location
to ensure rapid identification in the event of an emergency. If the
catalog tapes are not identified ahead of time, a significant amount of
time may be lost by scanning every tape in a library to find them.
The utility vmphyinv can be used to mount all tapes in a robotic library
and identify the catalog tape(s). The vmphyinv utility will identify cold
catalog tapes.
■ Designate label prefixes for catalog backups.
Make it easy to identify the NetBackup catalog data in times of
emergency. Label the catalog tapes with a unique prefix such as “DB”
on the tape barcodes, so your operators can find the catalog tapes
without delay.
■ Place NetBackup catalogs in specific robot slots.
Place a catalog backup tape in the first or last slot of a robot to more
easily identify the tape in an emergency. This also allows for easy tape
movement if manual tape handling is necessary.
Best practices 71
Best practices: naming conventions
■ Put the NetBackup catalog on different online storage than the data
being backed up.
In the case of a site storage disaster, the catalogs of the backed-up data
should not reside on the same disks as production data. The reason
behind this is straightforward: you want to avoid the case where, if a
disk drive loses production data, it also loses the catalog of the
production data, resulting in increased downtime.
■ Regularly confirm the integrity of the NetBackup catalog.
On a regular basis, such as quarterly or after major operations or
personnel changes, walk through the process of recovering a catalog
from tape. This essential part of NetBackup administration can save
hours in the event of a catastrophe.

Use a consistent naming convention on all NetBackup master servers. Examples
are provided below. Use lower case for all names. In most cases, the case will not
cause issues, but some issues can occur when the installation comprises UNIX
and Windows master and media servers.
Policy names
One good naming convention for policies is platform_datatype_server(s).
Example 1: w2k_filesystems_trundle
This policy name designates a policy for a single Windows server doing file
system backups.
Example 2: w2k_sql_servers
This policy name designates a policy for backing up a set of Windows 2000 SQL
servers. Several servers may be backed up by this policy. Servers that are
candidates for being included in a single policy are those running the same
operating system and with the same backup requirements. Grouping servers
within a single policy reduces the number of policies and eases the management
of NetBackup.
Schedule names
Create a generic scheme for schedule naming. One recommended set of schedule
names is daily, weekly, and monthly. Another recommended set of names is
incremental, cumulative, and full. This convention keeps the management of
NetBackup at a minimum. It also helps with the implementation of Vault, if your
site uses Vault.
72 Best practices
Storage unit/storage group names

A good naming convention for storage units is to name the storage unit after the
media server and the type of data being backed up.
Two examples: mercury_filesystems and mercury_databases
where “mercury” is the name of the media server and “filesystems” and
“databases” identify the type of data being backed up.
Section II
Performance tuning
Section II explains how to measure your current NetBackup performance, and

gives general recommendations and examples for tuning NetBackup.
Section II includes these chapters:
■ Measuring performance
■ Tuning the NetBackup data transfer path
■ Tuning other NetBackup components
■ Tuning disk I/O performance
■ OS-related tuning factors
■ Additional resources
74
Chapter 7
Measuring performance
This chapter provides suggestions for measuring NetBackup performance.
■ “Overview” on page 76
■ “Controlling system variables for consistent testing conditions” on page 76
■ “Evaluating performance” on page 79
■ “Evaluating UNIX system components” on page 84
■ “Evaluating Windows system components” on page 85
76 Measuring performance
Overview
Overview
The final measure of NetBackup performance is the length of time required for
backup operations to complete (usually known as the backup window), or the
length of time required for a critical restore operation to complete. However, to
measure existing performance and improve future performance by means of
those measurements calls for performance metrics more reliable and
reproducible than simple wall clock time. This chapter will discuss these metrics
in more detail.
After establishing accurate metrics as described here, you can measure the
current performance of NetBackup and your system components to compile a
baseline performance benchmark. With a baseline, you can apply changes in a
controlled way. By measuring performance after each change, you can
accurately measure the effect of each change on NetBackup performance.
Controlling system variables for consistent testing

conditions
For reliable performance evaluation, eliminate as many unpredictable variables
as possible in order to create a consistent backup environment. Only a
consistent environment will produce reliable and reproducible performance
measurements. Some of the variables to consider are described below as they
relate to the NetBackup server, the network, the NetBackup client, or the data
itself.
Server variables
It is important to eliminate all other NetBackup activity from your environment
when you are measuring the performance of a particular NetBackup operation.
One area to consider is the automatic scheduling of backup jobs by the
NetBackup scheduler.
When policies are created, they are usually set up to allow the NetBackup
scheduler to initiate the backups. The NetBackup scheduler will initiate backups
based on the traditional NetBackup frequency-based scheduling or on certain
days of the week, month, or other time interval. This process is called
calendar-based scheduling. As part of the backup policy definition, the Start
Window is used to indicate when the NetBackup scheduler can start backups
using either frequency-based or calendar-based scheduling. When you perform
backups for the purpose of performance testing, this setup might interfere since
the NetBackup scheduler may initiate backups unexpectedly, especially if the
operations you intend to measure run for an extended period of time.
Measuring performance 77
Controlling system variables for consistent testing conditions
The simplest way to prevent the NetBackup scheduler from running backup jobs
during your performance testing is to create a new policy specifically for use in
performance testing and to leave the Start Window field blank in the schedule
definition for that policy. This prevents the NetBackup scheduler from initiating
any backups automatically for that policy. After creating the policy, you can run
the backup on demand by using the Manual Backup command from the
NetBackup Administration Console.
To prevent the NetBackup scheduler from running backup jobs unrelated to the
performance test, you may want to set all other backup policies to inactive by
using the Deactivate command from the NetBackup Administration Console. Of
course, you must reactivate the policies to start running backups again.
You can use a user-directed backup to run the performance test as well.
However, using the Manual Backup option for a policy is preferred. With a
manual backup, the policy contains the entire definition of the backup job,
including the clients and files that are part of the performance test. Running the
backup manually, straight from the policy, means there is no doubt which policy
will be used for the backup, and makes it easier to change and test individual
backup settings: from the policy dialog.
Before you start the performance test, check the Activity Monitor to make sure
there is no NetBackup processing currently in progress. Similarly, check the
Activity Monitor after the performance test for unexpected activity (such as an
unanticipated restore job) that may have occurred during the test.
Additionally, check for non-NetBackup activity on the server during the
performance test and try to reduce or eliminate it.
Note: By default, NetBackup logging is set to a minimum level. To gather more

logging information, set the legacy and unified logging levels higher and create
the appropriate legacy logging directories. For details on how to use NetBackup
logging, refer to the logging chapter of the NetBackup Troublshooting Guide.
Keep in mind that higher logging levels will consume more disk space.
Network variables
Network performance is key to achieving optimum performance with
NetBackup. Ideally, you would use a completely separate network for
performance testing to avoid the possibility of skewing the results by
encountering unrelated network activity during the course of the test.
In many cases, a separate network is not available. Ensure that non-NetBackup
activity is kept to an absolute minimum during the time you are evaluating
performance. If possible, schedule testing for times when backups are not
active. Even occasional short bursts of network activity may be enough to skew
Controlling system variables for consistent testing conditions
the results during portions of the performance test. If you are sharing the
network with production backups occurring for other systems, you must
account for this activity during the performance test.
Another network variable you must consider is host name resolution.
NetBackup depends heavily upon a timely resolution of host names to operate
correctly. If you have any delays in host name resolution, including reverse
name lookup to identify a server name from an incoming connection from a
certain IP address, you may want to eliminate that delay by using the HOSTS
(Windows) or /etc/hosts (UNIX) file for host name resolution on systems
involved in your performance test environment.
Client variables
Make sure the client system is in a relatively quiescent state during
performance testing. A lot of activity, especially disk-intensive activity such as
virus scanning on Windows, will limit the data transfer rate and skew the results
of your tests.
One possible mistake is to allow another NetBackup server, such as a production
backup server, to have access to the client during the course of the test. This
may result in NetBackup attempting to back up the same client to two different
servers at the same time, which would severely impact the results of a
performance test in progress at that time.
Different file systems have different performance characteristics. For example,
comparing data throughput results from operations on a UNIX VxFS or
Windows FAT file system to those from operations on a UNIX NFS or Windows
NTFS system may not be valid, even if the systems are otherwise identical. If you
do need to make such a comparison, factor the difference between the file
systems into your performance evaluation testing, and into any conclusions you
may draw from that testing.
Data variables
Monitoring the data you are backing up improves the repeatability of
performance testing. If possible, move the data you will use for testing backups
to its own drive or logical partition (not a mirrored drive), and defragment the
drive before you begin performance testing. For testing restores, start with an
empty disk drive or a recently defragmented disk drive with ample empty space.
This will reduce the impact of disk fragmentation on the NetBackup
performance test and yield more consistent results between tests.
Similarly, for testing backups to tape, always start each test run with an empty
piece of media. You can do this by expiring existing images for that piece of
media through the Catalog node of the NetBackup Administration Console, or by
Evaluating performance
running the bpexpdate command. Another approach is to use the bpmedia

command to freeze any media containing existing backup images so that
NetBackup selects a new piece of media for the backup operation. This step will
help reduce the impact of tape positioning on the NetBackup performance test
and will yield more consistent results between tests. It will also reduce the
impact of tape mounting and unmounting of media that has NetBackup catalog
images and that cannot be used for normal backups.
When you test restores from tape, always restore from the same backup image
on the tape to achieve consistent results between tests.
In general, using a large data set will generate a more reliable and reproducible
performance test than a small data set. A performance test using a small data
set would probably be skewed by startup and shutdown overhead within the
NetBackup operation. These variables are difficult to keep consistent between
test runs and are therefore likely to produce inconsistent test results. Using a
large data set will minimize the effect of start up and shutdown times.
Design the makeup of the dataset to represent the makeup of the data in the
intended production environment. For example, if the data set in the production
environment contains many small files on file servers, then the data set for the
performance testing should also contain many small files. A representative test
data set will more accurately predict the NetBackup performance that you can
reasonably expect in a production environment.
The type of data can help reveal bottlenecks in the system. Files consisting of
non-compressible (random) data cause the tape drive to run at its lower rated
speed. As long as the other components of the data transfer path are keeping up,
you may identify the tape drive as the bottleneck. On the other hand, files
consisting of highly-compressible data can be processed at higher rates by the
tape drive when hardware compression is enabled. This may result in a higher
overall throughput and possibly expose the network as the bottleneck.
Many values in NetBackup provide data amounts in kilobytes and rates in
kilobytes per second. For greater accuracy, divide by 1024 rather than rounding
off to 1000 when you convert from kilobytes to megabytes or from kilobytes per
second to megabytes per second.
There are two primary locations from which to obtain NetBackup data
throughput statistics: the NetBackup Activity Monitor and the NetBackup All
Log Entries report. The choice of which location to use is determined by the type
of NetBackup operation you are measuring: non-multiplexed backup, restore, or
multiplexed backup.
You can obtain statistics for all three types of operations from the NetBackup All
Log Entries report. You can obtain statistics for non-multiplexed backup or
restore operations from the NetBackup Activity Monitor. For multiplexed
backup operations, you can obtain the overall statistics from the All Log Entries
report after all the individual backup operations which are part of the
multiplexed backup are complete. In this case, the statistics available in the
Activity Monitors for each of the individual backup operations are relative only
to that operation, and do not reflect the actual total data throughput to the tape
drive.
There may be small differences between the statistics available from these two
locations due to slight differences in rounding techniques between the entries in
the Activity Monitor and the entries in the All Logs report. For a given type of
operation, choose either the Activity Monitor or the All Log Entries report and
consistently record your statistics only from that location. In both the Activity
Monitor and the All Logs report, the data-streaming speed is reported in
kilobytes per second. If a backup or restore is repeated, the reported speed can
vary between repetitions depending on many factors, including the availability
of system resources and system utilization, but the reported speed can be used
to assess the performance of the data-streaming process.
The statistics from the NetBackup error logs show the actual amount of time
spent reading and writing data to and from tape. This does not include time
spent mounting and positioning the tape. Cross-referencing the information
from the error logs with data from the bpbkar log on the NetBackup client
(showing the end-to-end elapsed time of the entire process) indicates how much
time was spent on operations unrelated to reading and writing to and from the
tape.
To evaluate performance through the NetBackup activity monitor

1 Run the backup or restore job.
2 Open the NetBackup Activity Monitor.
3 Verify that the backup or restore job completed successfully.
The Status column should contain a zero (0).
4 View the log details for the job by selecting the Actions > Details menu
option, or by double-clicking on the entry for the job. Select the Detailed
Status tab.
5 Obtain the NetBackup performance statistics from the following fields in
the Activity Monitor:
■ Start Time/EndTime: These fields show the time window during which
the backup or restore job took place.
■ Elapsed Time: This field shows the total elapsed time from when the job
was initiated to job completion and can be used as in indication of total
wall clock time for the operation.
■ KB per Second: This is the data throughput rate.
■ Kilobytes: Compare this value to the amount of data. Although it
should be comparable, the NetBackup data amount will be slightly
higher because of administrative information, known as metadata,
saved for the backed up data.
For example, if you display properties for a directory containing 500
files, each 1 megabyte in size, the directory shows a size of 500
megabytes, or 524,288,000 bytes, which is equal to 512,000 kilobytes.
The NetBackup report may show 513,255 kilobytes written, reporting
1255 kilobytes more than the file size of the directory. This is true for a
flat directory. Subdirectory structures may diverge due to the way the
operating system tracks used and available space on the disk. Also, be
aware that the operating system may be reporting how much space was
allocated for the files in question, not just how much data is actually
there. For example, if the allocation block size is 1 kilobyte, 1000 1-byte
files will report a total size of 1 megabyte, even though 1 kilobyte of
data is all that exists. The greater the number of files, the larger this
discrepancy may become.
To evaluate performance using the all log entries report

1 Run the backup or restore job.
2 Run the All Log Entries report from the NetBackup reports node in the
NetBackup Administrative Console. Be sure that the Date/Time Range that
you select covers the time period during which the job was run.
3 Verify that the job completed successfully by searching for an entry such as
“the requested operation was successfully completed” for a backup, or
“successfully read (restore) backup id...” for a restore.
4 Obtain the NetBackup performance statistics from the following entries in
the report.
Note: The messages shown here will vary according to the locale setting of
the master server.
Entry Statistic
started backup job for client <name>, The Date and Time fields for this entry show the time at
policy <name>, schedule <name> on storage which the backup job started.
unit <name>
Entry Statistic
successfully wrote backup id <name>, copy For a multiplexed backup, this entry shows the size of
<number>, <number> Kbytes the individual backup job and the Date and Time fields
show the time at which the job finished writing to the
storage device. The overall statistics for the multiplexed
backup group, including the data throughput rate to the
storage device, are found in a subsequent entry below.
successfully wrote <number> of <number> For multiplexed backups, this entry shows the overall
multiplexed backups, total Kbytes <number> statistics for the multiplexed backup group including
at Kbytes/sec the data throughput rate.
successfully wrote backup id <name>, copy For non-multiplexed backups, this entry essentially
<number>, fragment <number>, <number> Kbytes combines the information in the previous two entries
at <number> Kbytes/sec for multiplexed backups into one entry showing the size
of the backup job, the data throughput rate, and the
time, in the Date and Time fields, at which the job
finished writing to the storage device.
the requested operation was successfully The Date and Time fields for this entry show the time at
completed which the backup job completed. This value is later than
the “successfully wrote” entry above because it includes
extra processing time at the end of the job for tasks such
as NetBackup image validation.
begin reading backup id <name>, (restore), The Date and Time fields for this entry show the time at
copy <number>, fragment <number> from media which the restore job started reading from the storage
id <name> on drive index <number> device. (Note that the latter part of the entry is not
shown for restores from disk, as it does not apply.)
successfully restored from backup id <name>, copy For a multiplexed restore (generally speaking, all
<number>, <number> Kbytes restores from tape are multiplexed restores as
non-multiplexed restores require additional action from
the user), this entry shows the size of the individual
restore job and the Date and Time fields show the time
at which the job finished reading from the storage
device. The overall statistics for the multiplexed restore
group, including the data throughput rate, are found in
a subsequent entry below.
successfully restored <number> of <number> For multiplexed restores, this entry shows the overall
requests <name>, read total of <number> statistics for the multiplexed restore group, including
Kbytes at <number> Kbytes/sec the data throughput rate.
Entry Statistic
successfully read (restore) backup id media For non-multiplexed restores (generally speaking, only
<number>, copy <number>, fragment <number>, restores from disk are treated as non-multiplexed
<number> Kbytes at <number> Kbytes/sec restores), this entry essentially combines the
information from the previous two entries for
multiplexed restores into one entry showing the size of
the restore job, the data throughput rate, and the time,
in the Date and Time fields, at which the job finished
reading from the storage device.
Additional information
The NetBackup All Log Entries report will also have entries similar to those
described above for other NetBackup operations such as image duplication
operations used to create additional copies of a backup image. Those entries
have a very similar format and may be useful for analyzing the performance of
NetBackup for those operations.
The bptm debug log file for tape backups (or bpdm log file for disk backups) will
contain the entries that are in the All Log Entries report, as well as additional
detail about the operation that may be useful for performance analysis. One
example of this additional detail is the intermediate data throughput rate
message for multiplexed backups, as shown below:
... intermediate after <number> successful, <number> Kbytes at
<number> Kbytes/sec
This message is generated whenever an individual backup job completes that is
part of a multiplexed backup group. In the debug log file for a multiplexed
backup group consisting of three individual backup jobs, for example, there
could be two intermediate status lines, then the final (overall) throughput rate.
For a backup operation, the bpbkar debug log file will also contain additional
detail about the operation that may be useful for performance analysis.
Keep in mind, however, that writing the debug log files during the NetBackup
operation introduces some overhead that would not normally be present in a
production environment. Factor that additional overhead into any calculations
done on data captures while debug log files are in use.
The information in the All Logs report is also found in
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/error (UNIX) or
install_path\NetBackup\db\error (Windows).
See the NetBackup Troubleshooting Guide to learn how to set up NetBackup to
write these debug log files.
Evaluating UNIX system components
Evaluating UNIX system components

In addition to evaluating NetBackup’s performance, you should also verify that
common system resources are in adequate supply.
Monitoring CPU load

Use the vmstat utility to monitor memory use. Add up the “us” and “sy” CPU
columns to get the total CPU load on the system (refer to the vmstat man page
for details). The vmstat scan rate indicates the amount of swapping activity
taking place.
The sar command also provides insight into UNIX memory usage.
Measuring performance independent of tape or disk output

It is possible to measure the disk (read) component of NetBackup’s speed
independent of the network and tape components. There are two different
techniques, described below. The first, using bpbkar, is easier. The second may
be helpful in more limited circumstances.
In these procedures, the master server is the client.
To measure disk I/O using bpbkar

1 Turn on the legacy bpbkar log by ensuring that the bpbkar directory exists.
UNIX: /usr/openv/netbackup/logs/bpbkar
Windows: install_path\NetBackup\logs\bpbkar
2 Set logging level to 1.
3 Enter the following:
UNIX
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpbkar -nocont -dt 0 -nofileinfo
-nokeepalives filesystem > /dev/null
Where filesystem is the path being backed up.
Windows
install_path\NetBackup\bin\bpbkar32 -nocont X:\ > NUL
Where X:\ is the path being backed up.
4 Check the time it took NetBackup to move the data from the client disk:
UNIX: The start time is the first PrintFile entry in the bpbkar log, the end
time is the entry “Client completed sending data for backup,” and the
amount of data is given in the entry Total Size.
Windows: Check the bpbkar log for the entry Elapsed time.
Evaluating Windows system components
To measure disk I/O using the bpdm_dev_null touch file (UNIX only)
For UNIX systems, the procedure below can be useful as a follow-on to the
bpbkar procedure (above). If the bpbkar procedure shows that the disk read
performance is not the bottleneck and does not help isolate the problem, then
the bpdm_dev_null procedure described below may be helpful. If the
bpdm_dev_null procedure shows poor performance, the bottleneck is
somewhere in the data transfer between the bpbkar process on the client and
the bpdm process on the server. The problem may involve the network, or shared
memory (such as not enough buffers, or buffers that are too small). To change
shared memory settings, see “Shared memory (number and size of data buffers)”
on page 102.
Caution: If not used correctly, the following procedure can lead to data loss.
Touching the bpdm_dev_null file redirects all disk backups to /dev/null, not
just those backups using the storage unit created by this procedure. You should
disable active production policies for the duration of this test and remove
/dev/null as soon as this test is complete.
1 Enter the following:

touch /usr/openv/netbackup/bpdm_dev_null
Note: The bpdm_dev_null file re-directs any backup that uses a disk
storage unit to /dev/null.
2 Create a new disk storage unit, using /tmp or some other directory as the
image directory path.
3 Create a policy that uses the new disk storage unit.
4 Run a backup using this policy. NetBackup will create a file in the storage
unit directory as if this were a real backup to disk. This degenerate image
file will be zero bytes long.
5 To remove the zero-length file and clear the NetBackup catalog of a backup
that cannot be restored, run this command:
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/bpexpdate -backupid backupid
-d 0
where backupid is the name of the file residing in the storage unit directory.

In addition to evaluating NetBackup’s performance, you should also verify that
common system resources are in adequate supply. You may want to use the
Windows Performance Monitor utility included with Windows. For information

about using the Performance Monitor, refer to your Microsoft documentation.
The Performance Monitor organizes information by object, counter, and
instance.
An object is a system resource category, such as a processor or physical disk.
Properties of an object are counters. Counters for the Processor object include
%Processor Time, which is the default counter, and Interrupts/sec. Duplicate
counters are handled via instances. For example, to monitor the %Processor
Time of a specific CPU on a multiple CPU system, the Processor object is
selected, then the %Processor Time counter for that object is selected, followed
by the specific CPU instance for the counter.
When you use the Performance Monitor, you can view data in real time format
or collect the data in a log for future analysis. Specific components to evaluate
include CPU load, memory use, and disk load.
Note: It is recommended that a remote host be used for monitoring of the test
host, to reduce load that might otherwise skew results.
Monitoring CPU load

To determine if the system has enough power to accomplish the requested tasks,
monitor the % Processor Time counter for the Processor object to determine
how hard the CPU is working, and monitor the Process Queue Length counter
for the System object to determine how many processes are actively waiting for
the processor.
For % Processor Time, values of 0 to 80 percent are generally considered safe.
Values from 80 percent to 90 percent indicate that the system is being pushed
hard, while consistent values above 90 percent indicate that the CPU is a
bottleneck.
Spikes approaching 100 percent are normal and do not necessarily indicate a
bottleneck. However, if sustained loads approaching 100 percent are observed,
efforts to tune the system to decrease process load or an upgrade to a faster
processor should be considered.
Sustained Processor Queue Lengths greater than two indicate too many threads
are waiting to be executed. To correctly monitor the Processor Queue Length
counter, the Performance Monitor must be tracking a thread-related counter. If
you consistently see a queue length of 0, verify that a non-zero value can be
displayed.
Note: The default scale for the Processor Queue Length may not be equal to 1. Be
sure to read the data correctly. For example, if the default scale is 10x, then a
reading of 40 actually means that only 4 processes are waiting.
Monitoring memory use

Memory is a critical resource for increasing the performance of backup
operations. When you examine memory usage, view information on:
■ Committed Bytes. Committed Bytes displays the size of virtual memory that
has been committed, as opposed to reserved. Committed memory must have
disk storage available or must not require the disk storage because the main
memory is large enough. If the number of Committed Bytes approaches or
exceeds the amount of physical memory, you may encounter issues with
page swapping.
■ Page Faults/sec. Page Faults/sec is a count of the page faults in the
processor. A page fault occurs when a process refers to a virtual memory
page that is not in its Working Set in main memory. A high Page Fault rate
may indicate insufficient memory.
Monitoring disk load

To use disk performance counters to monitor the disk performance in
Performance Monitor, you may need to enable those counters. Windows may
not have enabled the disk performance counters by default for your system.
For more information about disk performance counters, from a command
prompt, type:
diskperf -help
To enable these counters and allow disk monitoring:
Note: On a Windows 2000 system, this is set by default.
1 From a command prompt, type:

diskperf -y
2 Reboot the system.
To disable these counters and cancel disk monitoring:

1 From a command prompt, type:
diskperf -n
2 Reboot the system.

When you monitor disk performance, use the %Disk Time counter for the
PhysicalDisk object to track the percentage of elapsed time that the selected disk
drive is busy servicing read or write requests.
Also monitor the Avg. Disk Queue Length counter and watch for values greater
than 1 that last for more than one second. Values greater than 1 for more than a
second indicate that multiple processes are waiting for the disk to service their
requests.
Several techniques may be used to increase disk performance, including:
■ Check the fragmentation level of the data. A highly fragmented disk limits
throughput levels. Use a disk maintenance utility to defragment the disk.
■ Consider adding additional disks to the system to increase performance. If
multiple processes are attempting to log data simultaneously, dividing the
data among multiple physical disks may help.
■ Determine if the data transfer involves a compressed disk. The use of
Windows compression to automatically compress the data on the drive adds
additional overhead to disk read or write operations, adversely affecting the
performance of NetBackup. Use Windows compression only if it is needed
to avoid a disk full condition.
■ Consider converting to a system based on a Redundant Array of Inexpensive
Disks (RAID). Though more expensive, RAID devices generally offer greater
throughput, and, (depending on the RAID level employed), improved
reliability.
■ Determine what type of controller technology is being used to drive the disk.
Consider if a different system would yield better results. See Table 1-2
“Drive controller data transfer rates” on page 21 for throughput rates for
common controllers.
Chapter 8
Tuning the NetBackup
data transfer path
This chapter provides guidelines and recommendations for improving
performance in the data transfer path of NetBackup.
■ “Overview” on page 90
■ “The data transfer path” on page 90
■ “Basic tuning suggestions for the data path” on page 91
■ “NetBackup client performance” on page 95
■ “NetBackup network performance” on page 96
■ “NetBackup server performance” on page 102
■ “NetBackup storage device performance” on page 126
90 Tuning the NetBackup data transfer path
Overview
Overview
This chapter contains information on ways to optimize NetBackup. This chapter
is not intended to provide tuning advice for particular systems. If you would like
help fine-tuning your NetBackup installation, please contact Symantec
Consulting Services.
Before examining the factors that affect backup performance, please note that
an important first step is to ensure that your system meets NetBackup’s
recommended minimum requirements. Refer to the NetBackup Installation
Guide and NetBackup Release Notes for information about these requirements.
Additionally, Symantec recommends that you have the most recent NetBackup
software patch installed.
Many performance issues can be traced to hardware or other environmental
issues. A basic understanding of the entire data transfer path is essential in
determining the maximum obtainable performance in your environment. Poor
performance is often the result of poor planning, which can be based on
unrealistic expectations of any particular component of the data transfer path.
The data transfer path

The component that limits the overall performance of NetBackup is of course
the slowest component in the backup system. For example, a fast tape drive
combined with an overloaded server yields poor performance. Similarly, a fast
tape drive on a slow network also yields poor performance.
The backup system is referred to as the data transfer path. The path usually
starts at the data on the disk and ends with a backup copy on tape or disk.
This chapter subdivides the standard NetBackup data transfer path into four
basic components: the NetBackup client, the network, the NetBackup server, and
the storage device.
Note: This chapter discusses NetBackup performance evaluation and

improvement from a testing perspective. It describes ways to isolate
performance variables in order to get a sense of the effect each variable has on
overall system performance, and to optimize NetBackup performance with
regard to that variable. It may not be possible to optimize every variable on your
production system.
The requirements for database backups may not be the same as for file system
backups. This information applies to file system backups unless otherwise
noted.
Tuning the NetBackup data transfer path 91
Basic tuning suggestions for the data path

In every backup system there is always room for improvement. Obtaining the
best performance from a backup infrastructure is not complex, but it requires
careful review of the many factors that can affect processing. The first step is to
gain an accurate assessment of each hardware, software, and networking
component in the backup data path. Many performance problems are resolved
before attempting to change NetBackup parameters.
NetBackup software offers plenty of resources to help isolate performance
problems and assess the impact of configuration changes. However, it is
essential to thoroughly test both backup and restore processes after making any
changes to the NetBackup configuration parameters.
This section provides practical ideas to improve your backup system
performance and avoid bottlenecks. You can find more details on several of the
topics and solutions described here in the following NetBackup manuals:
Veritas NetBackup System Administrator’s Guide for UNIX, Volumes I & II
Veritas NetBackup System Administrator’s Guide for Windows, Volumes I &
II
Veritas NetBackup Troubleshooting Guide (for UNIX and Windows)
Tuning suggestions:
■ Use multiplexing.
Multiplexing is a NetBackup option that lets you write multiple data
streams from several clients at once to a single tape drive or several tape
drives. Multiplexing can be used to improve the backup performance of
slow clients, multiple slow networks, and many small backups (such as
incremental backups). Multiplexing reduces the time each job spends
waiting for a device to become available, thereby making the best use of the
transfer rate of your storage devices.
Multiplexing is not recommended when restore speed is of paramount
interest or when your tape drives are slow. To reduce the impact of
multiplexing on restore times, you can improve your restore performance
by reducing the maximum fragment size for the storage units. If the
fragment size is small, so that the backup image is contained in several
fragments, a NetBackup restore can quickly skip to the specific fragment
containing the file to be restored. In contrast, if the fragment size is large
enough to contain the entire image, the NetBackup restore starts at the very
beginning of the image and reads through the image until it finds the
desired file.
Multiplexed backups can be de-multiplexed to improve restore performance
by using bpduplicate to move fragmented images to a sequential image
on a new tape.
Refer to the Veritas NetBackup System Administrator’s Guide for more

information about using multiplexing.
■ Consider striping a disk volume across drives.
A striped set of disks will pull data from all disk drives concurrently,
allowing faster data transfers between disk drives and tape drives.
■ Maximize the use of your backup windows.
You can configure all your incremental backups to happen at the same time
every day and stagger the execution of your full backups across multiple
days. Large systems could be backed up over the weekend while smaller
systems are spread over the week. You can even start full backups earlier
than the incremental backups. They might finish before the incremental
backups and give you back all or most of your backup window to finish the
■ Convert large clients into media servers to decrease backup times and
reduce network traffic.
Any machine with locally-attached drives can be used as a media server to
back up itself or other systems. By converting large client systems into
media servers, your backup data no longer travels over the network (except
for catalog data), and you get the fastest transfer speeds afforded by
locally-attached devices. Another benefit of media servers is that you can
use them to balance the load of backing up other clients for your NetBackup
master. A media server can back up clients on a network where it has a local
connection, thus saving network traffic for a master that might have to go
over routers to communicate with those clients. A special case of a media
server is a SAN Media Server, which is a NetBackup media server that backs
up itself only and comes at a lower cost than a regular media server.
■ Use dedicated private networks to decrease backup times and network
traffic.
If you configure one or more networks dedicated to backups, you can reduce
the time it takes to back up the systems on those networks and reduce or
eliminate network traffic on your enterprise networks. In addition, you can
convert to faster technologies and even backup your systems at any time
without affecting the enterprise network’s performance (assuming that
users do not mind the system loads while backups take place).
■ Avoid a concentration of servers on one network.
If you have a concentration of large servers that you back up over the same
general network, you might want to convert some of these into media
servers or attach them to private backup networks. Doing either will
decrease backup times and reduce network traffic for your other backups.
■ Use dedicated backup servers to perform your backups.
When selecting a server for performing your backups, use a dedicated

system just for performing backups. A server that shares the load of
running several applications unrelated to backups can severely affect your
performance and maintenance windows.
■ Use drives from tape libraries attached to other systems.
You can use tape drives from a tape library attached to your master server
or another media server, or you can dedicate a library to your large servers.
Systems using these drives become media servers that can back up
themselves and others through locally-attached drives. The robotic control
arm of the library can be connected to either the master server or the media
server.
■ Consider the requirements of backing up your catalog.
Remember that the NetBackup catalog needs to be backed up. To facilitate
NetBackup catalog recovery, it is highly recommended that the master
server have access to a dedicated tape drive, either standalone or within a
robotic library.
■ Try to level the backup load.
You can use multiple drives to reduce backup times; however, since you may
not be able to split data streams evenly, you may need to experiment with
the configuration of the streams or the configuration of the NetBackup
policies to spread the load across multiple drives.
■ Bandwidth limiting
The bandwidth limiting feature lets you restrict the network bandwidth
consumed by one or more NetBackup clients on a network. The bandwidth
setting appears under Host Properties > Master Servers, Properties. The
actual limiting occurs on the client side of the backup connection. This
feature only restricts bandwidth during backups. Restores are unaffected.
When a backup starts, NetBackup reads the bandwidth limit configuration
and then determines the appropriate bandwidth value and passes it to the
client. As the number of active backups increases or decreases on a subnet,
NetBackup dynamically adjusts the bandwidth limiting on that subnet. If
additional backups are started, the NetBackup server instructs the other
NetBackup clients running on that subnet to decrease their bandwidth
setting. Similarly, bandwidth per client is increased if the number of clients
decreases. Changes to the bandwidth value occur on a periodic basis rather
than as backups stop and start. This characteristic can reduce the number
of bandwidth value changes.
■ Load balancing
NetBackup provides ways to balance loads between servers, clients, policies,
and devices. Note that these settings may interact with each other:
compensating for one issue can cause another. The best approach is to use
the defaults unless you anticipate or encounter an issue.
■ Adjust the backup load on the server.
Change the Limit jobs per policy attribute for one or more of the
policies that the server is backing up. For example, decreasing Limit
jobs per policy reduces the load on a server on a specific subnetwork.
Reconfiguring policies or schedules to use storage units on other
servers also reduces the load. Another possibility is to use bandwidth
limiting on one or more clients.
■ Adjust the backup load on the server during specific time periods only.
Reconfigure schedules that execute during the time periods of interest,
so they use storage units on servers that can handle the load (assuming
you are using media servers).
■ Adjust the backup load on the clients.
Change the Maximum jobs per client global attribute. For example,
increasing Maximum jobs per client increases the number of
concurrent jobs that any one client can process and therefore increases
the load.
■ Reduce the time to back up clients.
Increase the number of jobs that clients can perform concurrently, or
use multiplexing. Another possibility is to increase the number of jobs
that the server can perform concurrently for the policy or policies that
are backing up the clients.
■ Give preference to a policy.
Increase the Limit jobs per policy attribute value for the preferred
policy relative to other policies. Alternatively, increase the priority for
the policy.
■ Adjust the load between fast and slow networks.
Increase the values of Limit jobs per policy and Maximum jobs per
client for the policies and clients on a faster network. Decrease these
values for slower networks. Another solution is to use bandwidth
limiting.
■ Limit the backup load produced by one or more clients.
Use bandwidth limiting to reduce the bandwidth used by the clients.
■ Maximize the use of devices
Use multiplexing. Also, allow as many concurrent jobs per storage unit,
policy, and client as possible without causing server, client, or network
performance issues.
■ Prevent backups from monopolizing devices.
NetBackup client performance
Limit the number of devices that NetBackup can use concurrently for
each policy or limit the number of drives per storage unit. Another
approach is to exclude some of your devices from Media Manager
control.
NetBackup client performance

This section lists some factors to consider when evaluating the NetBackup client
component of the NetBackup data transfer path. Examine these conditions to
identify possible changes that may improve the overall performance of
NetBackup.
■ Disk fragmentation. Fragmentation is a condition where data is scattered
around the disk in non-contiguous blocks. This condition severely impacts
the data transfer rate from the disk. Fragmentation can be repaired using
hard disk management utility software offered by a variety of vendors.
■ Number of disks. Consider adding additional disks to the system to increase
performance. If multiple processes are attempting to log data
simultaneously, dividing the data among multiple physical disks may help.
■ Disk arrays. Consider converting to a system based on a Redundant Array of
Inexpensive Disks (RAID). Though more expensive, RAID devices generally
offer greater throughput, and, (depending on the RAID level employed),
improved reliability.
■ The type of controller technology being used to drive the disk. Consider if a
different system would yield better results.
■ Virus scanning. If virus scanning is turned on for the system, it may
severely impact the performance of the NetBackup client during a backup
or restore operation. This may be especially true for systems such as large
Windows file servers. You may wish to disable virus scanning during
backup or restore operations to avoid the impact on performance.
■ NetBackup notify scripts. The bpstart_notify.bat and
bpend_notify.bat scripts are very useful in certain situations, such as
shutting down a running application to back up its data. However, these
scripts must be written with care to avoid any unnecessary lengthy delays
at the start or end of the backup job. If the scripts are not performing tasks
essential to the backup operation, you may want to remove them.
■ NetBackup software location. If the data being backed up is located on the
same physical disk drive as the NetBackup installation, performance may be
adversely affected, especially if NetBackup debug log files are being used. If
they are being used, the extent of the degradation will be greatly influenced
by the NetBackup verbose setting for the debug logs. If possible, install
NetBackup network performance
NetBackup on a separate physical disk drive to avoid this disk drive

contention.
■ Snapshots (hardware or software). If snapshots need to be taken before the
actual backup of data, the time needed to take the snapshot will affect the
overall performance.
■ Job tracker. If the NetBackup Client Job Tracker is running on the client,
then NetBackup will gather an estimate of the data to be backed up prior to
the start of a backup job. Gathering this estimate will affect the startup
time, and therefore the data throughput rate, because no data is being
written to the NetBackup server during this estimation phase. You may
wish to avoid running the NetBackup Client Job Tracker to avoid this delay.
■ Client location. You may wish to consider adding a locally attached tape
device to the client and changing the client to a NetBackup media server if
you have a substantial amount of data on the client. For example, backing
up 100 gigabytes of data to a locally attached tape drive will generally be
more efficient than backing up the same amount of data across a network
connection to a NetBackup server. Of course, there are many variables to
consider, such as the bandwidth available on the network, that will affect
the decision to back up the data to a locally attached tape drive as opposed
to moving the data across the network.
■ Determining the theoretical performance of the NetBackup client software.
You can use the NetBackup client command bpbkar (UNIX) or bpbkar32
(Windows) to determine the speed at which the NetBackup client can read
the data to be backed up from the disk drive. This may eliminate data read
speed as a possible performance bottleneck. For the procedure, see
“Measuring performance independent of tape or disk output” on page 84.

To improve the overall performance of NetBackup, consider the following
network components and factors.
Network interface settings

Make sure your network connections are properly installed and configured.
Note the following:
■ Network interface cards (NICs) for NetBackup servers and clients must be
set to full-duplex.
■ Both ends of each network cable (the NIC card and the switch) must be set
identically as to speed and mode (both NIC and switch must be at full
duplex). Otherwise, link down, excessive/late collisions, and errors will

result.
■ If auto-negotiate is being used, make sure that both ends of the connection
are set at the same mode and speed. The higher the speed, the better.
■ In addition to NICs and switches, all routers must be set to full duplex.
Consult the operating system documentation for instructions on how to
determine and change the NIC settings.
Note: Using AUTOSENSE may cause network problems and performance issues.
Network load
There are two key considerations to monitor when you evaluate remote backup
performance:
■ The amount of network traffic
■ The amount of time that network traffic is high
Small bursts of high network traffic for short durations will have some negative
impact on the data throughput rate. However, if the network traffic remains
consistently high for a significant amount of time during the operation, the
network component of the NetBackup data transfer path will very likely be the
bottleneck. Always try to schedule backups during times when network traffic is
low. If your network is heavily loaded, you may wish to implement a secondary
network which can be dedicated to backup and restore traffic.
NetBackup media server network buffer size

The NetBackup media server has a tunable parameter that you can use to adjust
the size of the network communications buffer used to receive data from the
network (a backup) or write data to the network (a restore). This parameter
specifies the value that is used to set the network buffer size for backups and
restores.
UNIX
The default value for this parameter is 32032.
Windows
The default value for this parameter is derived from the NetBackup data buffer
size (see below for more information about the data buffer size) using the
following formula:
For backup jobs: (<data_buffer_size> * 4) + 1024
For restore jobs: (<data_buffer_size> * 2) + 1024
For tape: because the default value for the NetBackup data buffer size is 65536
bytes, this formula results in a default NetBackup network buffer size of 263168
bytes for backups and 132096 bytes for restores.
For disk: because the default value for the NetBackup data buffer size is 262144
bytes, this formula results in a default NetBackup network buffer size of
1049600 bytes for backups and 525312 bytes for restores.
To set this parameter, create the following files:
UNIX
/usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ
/usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ_REST
Windows
install_path\NetBackup\NET_BUFFER_SZ
install_path\NetBackup\NET_BUFFER_SZ_REST
These files contain a single integer specifying the network buffer size in bytes.
For example, to use a network buffer size of 64 Kilobytes, the file would contain
65536. If the files contain the integer 0 (zero), the default value for the network
buffer size is used.
If the NET_BUFFER_SZ file exists, and the NET_BUFFER_SZ_REST file does not
exist, the contents of NET_BUFFER_SZ will specify the network buffer size for
both backup and restores.
If the NET_BUFFER_SZ_REST file exists, its contents will specify the network
buffer size for restores.
If both files exist, the NET_BUFFER_SZ file will specify the network buffer size
for backups, and the NET_BUFFER_SZ_REST file will specify the network buffer
size for restores.
Because local backup or restore jobs on the media server do not send data over
the network, this parameter has no effect on those operations. It is used only by
the NetBackup media server processes which read from or write to the network,
specifically, the bptm or bpdm processes. It is not used by any other NetBackup
processes on a master server, media server, or client.
This parameter is the counterpart on the media server to the Communications
Buffer Size parameter on the client, which is described below. The network
buffer sizes are not required to be the same on all of your NetBackup systems for
NetBackup to function properly; however, setting the Network Buffer Size
parameter on the media server and the Communications Buffer Size parameter
on the client (see below) to the same value has significantly improved the
throughput of the network component of the NetBackup data transfer path in
some installations.
Similarly, the network buffer size does not have a direct relationship with the
NetBackup data buffer size (described under “Shared memory (number and size
of data buffers)” on page 102). They are separately tunable parameters.

However, setting the network buffer size to a substantially larger value than the
data buffer has achieved the best performance in many NetBackup installations.
Synthetic full backups on AIX NetBackup servers

If synthetic full backups on AIX NetBackup servers are running slowly, increase
the NET_BUFFER_SZ network buffer to 262144 (256KB). To do this, create a file
called /usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ and change the default
setting (32032) to 262144. This file is unformatted, and should contain only the
size in bytes:
$ cat /usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ
262144
$
Changing this value can affect backup and restore operations on the media
servers. Test backups and restores to ensure that the change you make does not
negatively impact performance.
NetBackup client communications buffer size

The NetBackup client has a tunable parameter that you can use to adjust the size
of the network communications buffer used to write data to the network for
backups.
This client parameter is the counterpart on the client to the Network Buffer Size
parameter on the media server, described above. As mentioned, the network
buffer sizes are not required to be the same on all of your NetBackup systems for
NetBackup to function properly. However, setting the Network Buffer Size
parameter on the media server (see above) and the Communications Buffer Size
parameter on the client to the same value achieves the best performance in
some NetBackup installations.
To set the communications buffer size parameter on UNIX clients

Create the /usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ file.
As with the media server, it should contain a single integer specifying the
communications buffer size. Generally, performance is better when the value in
the NET_BUFFER_SZ file on the client matches the value in the
NET_BUFFER_SZ file on the media server.
Note: The NET_BUFFER_SZ_REST file is not used on the client. The value in the
NET_BUFFER_SZ file is used for both backups and restores.
To set the communications buffer size parameter on Windows clients

1 From Host Properties in the NetBackup Administration Console, expand
Clients and open the Client Properties > Windows Client > Client Settings
dialog for the Windows client on which the parameter is to be changed.
2 Enter the desired value in the Communications buffer field.
This parameter is specified in the number of kilobytes. The default value is
32. An extra kilobyte is added internally for backup operations. Therefore,
the default network buffer size for backups is 33792 bytes. In some
NetBackup installations, this default value is too small. Increasing the value
to 128 improves performance in these installations.
Because local backup jobs on the media server do not send data over the
network, this parameter has no effect on these local operations. This
parameter is used by only the NetBackup client processes which write to the
network, specifically, the bpbkar32 process. It is not used by any other
NetBackup for Windows processes on a master server, media server, or
client.
3 If you modify the NetBackup buffer settings, test the performance of
restores with the new settings.
The NOSHM file

When a master or media server backs itself up, NetBackup uses shared memory
to speed up the backup. In this case, NetBackup uses shared memory rather than
socket communications to transport the data between processes. However,
sometimes situations may arise where it is not possible or desirable to use
shared memory during a backup. Touching the file NOSHM in the
/usr/openv/netbackup (UNIX) directory or the install_path\NetBackup
(Windows) directory causes the client and server to use socket communications
rather than shared memory to interchange the backup data. (Touching a file
means changing the file’s modification and access times.)
The file name is NOSHM and should not contain any extension.
Each time a backup runs, NetBackup checks for the existence of this file, so no
services need to be stopped and started for it to take effect. One example of
when it might be necessary to use NOSHM is when the master or media server
hosts another application that uses a large amount of shared memory, for
instance, Oracle.
NOSHM is also useful for testing, both as a workaround while solving a shared
memory issue and to verify that an issue is caused by shared memory.
Note: NOSHM only affects backups when it is applied to a system with a

directly-attached storage unit.
NOSHM forces a local backup to run as though it were a remote backup. A local
backup is a backup of a client that has a directly-attached storage unit, such as a
client that happens to be a master or media server. A remote backup is a backup
that passes the data across a network connection from the client to a master or
media server’s storage unit.
A local backup normally has one or more bpbkar processes that read from the
disk and write into shared memory, and a bptm process that reads from shared
memory and writes to the tape. A remote backup has one or more bptm (child)
processes that read from a socket connection to bpbkar and write into shared
memory, and a bptm (parent) process that reads from shared memory and
writes to the tape. NOSHM forces the remote backup model even when the client
and the media server are the same system.
For a local backup without NOSHM, shared memory is used between bptm and
bpbkar. Whether the backup is remote or local, and whether NOSHM exists or
not, shared memory is always used between bptm (parent) and bptm (child).
Note: NOSHM does not affect the shared memory used by the bptm process to
buffer data being written to tape. bptm uses shared memory for any backup,
local or otherwise.
Using multiple interfaces

For a master or media server configured with more than one network interface,
distributing NetBackup traffic over all available network interfaces can improve
performance. This can be achieved by configuring a unique hostname for the
server for each network interface and setting up bp.conf entries for these
hostnames.
For example, suppose the server is configured with three network interfaces.
Each of the network interfaces connects to one or more NetBackup clients. The
following configuration allows NetBackup to use all three network interfaces:
■ In the server’s bp.conf file, add one entry for each network interface:
SERVER=server-neta
SERVER=server-netb
SERVER=server-netc
■ In each client’s bp.conf, make the following entries:
SERVER=server-neta
SERVER=server-netb
SERVER=server-netc
NetBackup server performance
It is okay for a client to have an entry for a server that is not currently on
the same network.

To improve NetBackup server performance, consider the following factors
regarding the data transfer path.
■ Shared memory (number and size of data buffers)
■ Parent/child delay values
■ Using NetBackup wait and delay counters
■ Fragment size and NetBackup restores
■ Other restore performance issues
Shared memory (number and size of data buffers)

The NetBackup media server uses shared memory to buffer data between the
network and the tape or disk drive (or between the disk and the tape drive if the
NetBackup media server and client are the same system). The number and size
of these shared data buffers can be configured on the NetBackup media server.
The size and number of the tape and disk buffers may be changed so that
NetBackup optimizes its use of shared memory. Changing the default buffer size
may result in better throughput for high-performance tape drives. These
changes may also improve throughput for other types of drives.
Buffer settings are for media servers only and should not be used on a pure
master server or client.
Note: Restores use the same buffer size that was used to back up the images
being restored.
Default number of shared data buffers

The default number of shared data buffers for various NetBackup operations is
shown in Table 8-14.
Table 8-14 Default number of shared data buffers
NetBackup Operation Number of Shared Data Buffers
UNIX Windows
Non-multiplexed backup 8 16
Table 8-14 Default number of shared data buffers
NetBackup Operation Number of Shared Data Buffers
Multiplexed backup 4 8
Restore of non-multiplexed backup 8 16
Restore of multiplexed backup 12 12
Verify 8 16
Import 8 16
Duplicate 8 16
Default size of shared data buffers

The default size of shared data buffers for various NetBackup operations is
shown in Table 8-15.
Table 8-15 Default size of shared data buffers
NetBackup Operation Size of Shared Data Buffers
UNIX Windows
Non-multiplexed backup 64K (tape), 256K (disk) 64K (tape), 256K (disk)
Multiplexed backup 64K (tape), 256K (disk) 64K (tape), 256K (disk)
Restore, verify, or import same size as used for the same size as used for the
backup backup
Duplicate read side: same size as read side: same size as used for
used for the backup; the backup;
write side: 64K (tape), write side: 64K (tape), 256K
256K (disk) (disk)
On Windows, a single tape I/O operation is performed for each shared data
buffer. Therefore, this size must not exceed the maximum block size for the tape
device or operating system. For Windows systems, the maximum block size is
generally 64K, although in some cases customers are using a larger value
successfully. For this reason, the terms “tape block size” and “shared data buffer
size” are synonymous in this context.
Amount of shared memory required by NetBackup

Use this formula to calculate the amount of shared memory required by
NetBackup:
(number_data_buffers * size_data_buffers) * number_tape_drives *

max_multiplexing_setting
For example, assume that the number of shared data buffers is 16, the size of the
shared data buffers is 64 Kilobytes, there are two tape drives, and the maximum
multiplexing setting is four. Following the formula above, the amount of shared
memory required by NetBackup is:
(16 * 65536) * 2 * 4 = 8 MB
Be careful when changing these settings (see the next caution).
Changing the number of shared data buffers

To change the number of shared data buffers, create the following file(s) on the
media server (note that the NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_RESTORE file is only
needed for restore from tape, not from disk):
UNIX
For tape
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_RESTORE
For disk
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK
Windows
For tape
<install_path>\NetBackup\db\config\NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS
<install_path>\NetBackup\db\config\NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_RESTORE
For disk
<install_path>\NetBackup\db\config\NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK
These files contain a single integer specifying the number of shared data buffers
NetBackup will use. The integer represents the number of data buffers. For
backups (in the NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS and
NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK files), the integer’s value must be a power of
2.
If the NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS file exists, its contents will be used to
determine the number of shared data buffers to be used for multiplexed and
non-multiplexed backups.
NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK allows for a different value when doing
backup to disk instead of tape. If NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS exists but
NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK does not, NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS applies
to all backups. If both files exist, NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS applies to tape
backups and NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK applies to disk backups. If only
NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK is present, it applies to disk backups only.
If the NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_RESTORE file exists, its contents will be used
to determine the number of shared data buffers to be used for multiplexed
restores from tape.
The NetBackup daemons do not have to be restarted for the new values to be
used. Each time a new job starts, bptm checks the configuration file and adjusts
its behavior.
Changing the size of shared data buffers
Caution: It is critical to perform both backup and restore testing if the shared
data buffer size is changed. If all NetBackup media servers are not running in
the same operating system environment, it is critical to test restores on each of
the NetBackup media servers that may be involved in a restore operation. For
example, if a UNIX NetBackup media server is used to write a backup to tape
with a shared data buffer (block size) of 256 Kilobytes, then it is possible that a
Windows NetBackup media server will not be able to read that tape. In general, it
is strongly recommended you test restore as well as backup operations, to avoid
the potential for data loss. See “Testing changes made to shared memory” on
page 107.
To change the size of the shared data buffers, create the following file on the
media server:
UNIX
For tape
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS
For disk
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK
Windows
For tape
install_path\NetBackup\db\config\SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS
For disk
install_path\NetBackup\db\config\SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK
This file contains a single integer specifying the size of each shared data buffer
in bytes. The integer must be a multiple of 32 kilobytes (a multiple of 1024 is
recommended); see Table 8-16 for valid values. The integer represents the size
of one tape or disk buffer in bytes. For example, to use a shared data buffer size
of 64 Kilobytes, the file would contain the integer 65536.
The NetBackup daemons do not have to be restarted for the parameter values to
be used. Each time a new job starts, bptm checks the configuration file and
adjusts its behavior.
Analyze the buffer usage by checking the bptm debug log before and after
altering the size of buffer parameters.
Table 8-16 Absolute byte value to be entered in SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS
Kilobytes per Data Buffer SIZE_DATA_BUFFER Value
32 32768
64 65536
96 98304
128 131072
160 163840
192 196608
224 229376
256 262144
IMPORTANT: Because the data buffer size equals the tape I/O size, the value
specified in SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS must not exceed the maximum tape I/O size
supported by the tape drive or operating system. This is usually 256 or 128
Kilobytes. Check your operating system and hardware documentation for the
maximum values. Take into consideration the total system resources and the
entire network. The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) for the LAN network
may also have to be changed. NetBackup expects the value for NET_BUFFER_SZ
and SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS to be in bytes, so in order to use 32k, use 32768 (32 x
1024).
Note: Some Windows tape devices are not able to write with block sizes higher
than 65536 (64 Kilobytes). Backups created on a UNIX media server with
SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS set to more than 65536 cannot be read by some Windows
media servers. This means that the Windows media server would not be able to
import or restore any images from media that were written with
SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS greater than 65536.
Note: The size of the shared data buffers used for a restore operation is
determined by the size of the shared data buffers in use at the time the backup
was written. This file is not used by restores.
Recommended shared memory settings

The SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS setting is typically increased to 256 KB and
NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS to 16. To configure NetBackup to use 16 x 256 KB
data buffers, specify 262144 (256 x 1024) in SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS and 16 in
NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS.
Note that increasing the size and number of the data buffers will use up more
shared memory, which is a limited system resource. The total amount of shared
memory used for each tape drive is:
(buffer_size * num_buffers) * drives * MPX
where MPX is the multiplexing factor. For two tape drives, each with an MPX of
4 and with 16 buffers of 256k, the total shared memory usage would be:
(16 * 262144) * 2 * 4 = 32768 K (32 MB)
If large amounts of memory are to be allocated, the kernel may require
additional tuning to allow enough shared memory to be available for
NetBackup's requirements. For more information, see “Kernel tuning (UNIX)”
on page 152.
Note: Note that AIX media servers do not need to tune shared memory because
AIX uses dynamic memory allocation.
Be cautious if you change these parameters. Make your changes carefully,

monitoring for performance changes with each modification. For example,
increasing the tape buffer size can cause some backups to run slower. Also,
there have been cases with restore issues. After any changes, be sure to include
restores as part of your validation testing.
Testing changes made to shared memory

After making changes, it is vitally important to verify that the following tests
complete successfully:
1 Run a backup.
2 Restore the data from the backup.
3 Restore data from a backup created prior to the changes to
SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS and NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS.
Before and after altering the size or number of data buffers, examine the
buffer usage information in the bptm debug log file. The values in the log
should match your buffer settings. The relevant bptm log entries are similar
to the following:
12:02:55 [28551] <2> io_init: using 65536 data buffer size
12:02:55 [28551] <2> io_init: CINDEX 0, sched bytes for
monitoring = 200
12:02:55 [28551] <2> io_init: using 8 data buffers
or
15:26:01 [21544] <2> mpx_setup_restore_shm: using 12 data
buffers, buffer size is 65536
When you change these settings, take into consideration the total system
resources and the entire network. The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU)
for the local area network (LAN) may also have to be changed.
Parent/child delay values

Although rarely changed, it is possible to modify the parent and child delay
values for a process. To change these values, create the following files:
UNIX
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/PARENT_DELAY
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/CHILD_DELAY
Windows
<install_path>\NetBackup\db\config\PARENT_DELAY
<install_path>\NetBackup\db\config\CHILD_DELAY
These files contain a single integer specifying the value in milliseconds to be
used for the delay corresponding to the name of the file. For example, to use a
parent delay of 50 milliseconds, the PARENT_DELAY file would contain the
integer 50.
See “Using NetBackup wait and delay counters” below for more information
about how to determine if you should change these values.
Note: The following section refers to the bptm process on the media server
during back up and restore operations from a tape storage device. If you are
backing up to or restoring from a disk storage device, substitute bpdm for bptm
throughout the section. For example, to activate debug logging for a disk storage
device, the following directory must be created:
/usr/openv/netbackup/logs/bpdm (UNIX) or
install_path\NetBackup\logs\bpdm (Windows).
Using NetBackup wait and delay counters

During a backup or restore operation the NetBackup media server uses a set of
shared data buffers to isolate the process of communicating with the tape from
the process of interacting with the disk or network. Through the use of Wait and
Delay counters, you can determine which process on the NetBackup media
server has to wait more often: the data producer or the data consumer.
Achieving a good balance between the data producer and the data consumer
processes is an important factor in achieving optimal performance from the
NetBackup server component of the NetBackup data transfer path.
Producer - consumer relationship during a backup
NetBackup
Client Network
Consumer
BPTM BPTM
(Child Process) Shared Buffers (Parent Process)
Producer
Tape
Understanding the two-part communication process

The two-part communication process differs depending on whether the
operation is a backup or restore and whether the operation involves a local
client or a remote client.
Local clients
When the NetBackup media server and the NetBackup client are part of the
same system, the NetBackup client is referred to as a local client.
■ Backup of local client
For a local client, the bpbkar (UNIX) or bpbkar32 (Windows) process reads
data from the disk during a backup and places it in the shared buffers. The
bptm process reads the data from the shared buffer and writes it to tape.
■ Restore of local client
During a restore of a local client, the bptm process reads data from the tape
and places it in the shared buffers. The tar (UNIX) or tar32 (Windows)
process reads the data from the shared buffers and writes it to disk.
Remote clients
When the NetBackup media server and the NetBackup client are part of two
different systems, the NetBackup client is referred to as a remote client.
■ Backup of remote client
The bpbkar (UNIX) or bpbkar32 (Windows) process on the remote client
reads data from the disk and writes it to the network. Then a child bptm
process on the media server receives data from the network and places it in
the shared buffers. The parent bptm process on the media server reads the
data from the shared buffers and writes it to tape.
■ Restore of remote client
During the restore of the remote client, the parent bptm process reads data
from the tape and places it into the shared buffers. The child bptm process
reads the data from the shared buffers and writes it to the network. The tar
(UNIX) or tar32 (Windows) process on the remote client receives the data
from the network and writes it to disk.
Roles of processes during backup and restore operations

When a process attempts to use a shared data buffer, it first verifies that the
next buffer in order is in a correct state. A data producer needs an empty buffer,
while a data consumer needs a full buffer. The following chart provides a
mapping of processes and their roles during backup and restore operations:
Operation Data Producer Data Consumer
Local Backup bpbkar (UNIX) or bpbkar32 bptm

(Windows)
Remote Backup bptm (child) bptm (parent)
Local Restore bptm tar (UNIX) or

tar32 (Windows)
Remote Restore bptm (parent) bptm (child)
If a full buffer is needed by the data consumer but is not available, the data
consumer increments the Wait and Delay counters to indicate that it had to wait
for a full buffer. After a delay, the data consumer will check again for a full
buffer. If a full buffer is still not available, the data consumer increments the
Delay counter to indicate that it had to delay again while waiting for a full
buffer. The data consumer will repeat the delay and full buffer check steps until
a full buffer is available.
This sequence is summarized in the following algorithm:

while (Buffer_Is_Not_Full) {
++Wait_Counter;
while (Buffer_Is_Not_Full) {
++Delay_Counter;
delay (DELAY_DURATION);
}
}
If an empty buffer is needed by the data producer but is not available, the data
producer increments the Wait and Delay counter to indicate that it had to wait
for an empty buffer. After a delay, the data producer will check again for an
empty buffer. If an empty buffer is still not available, the data producer
increments the Delay counter to indicate that it had to delay again while waiting
for an empty buffer. The data producer will relate the delay and empty buffer
check steps until an empty buffer is available.
The algorithm for a data producer has a similar structure:
while (Buffer_Is_Not_Empty) {
++Wait_Counter;
while (Buffer_Is_Not_Empty) {
++Delay_Counter;
delay (DELAY_DURATION);
}
}
Analysis of the Wait and Delay counter values indicates which process, producer
or consumer, has had to wait most often and for how long.
There are four basic Wait and Delay Counter relationships:
■ Data Producer >> Data Consumer. The data producer has substantially
larger Wait and Delay counter values than the data consumer.
The data consumer is unable to receive data fast enough to keep the data
producer busy. Investigate means to improve the performance of the data
consumer. For a back up operation, check if the data buffer size is
appropriate for the tape drive being used (see below).
If data consumer still has a substantially large value in this case, try
increasing the number of shared data buffers to improve performance (see
below).
■ Data Producer = Data Consumer (large value). The data producer and the
data consumer have very similar Wait and Delay counter values, but those
values are relatively large.
This may indicate that the data producer and data consumer are regularly
attempting to used the same shared data buffer. Try increasing the number
of shared data buffers to improve performance (see below).
■ Data Producer = Data Consumer (small value). The data producer and the
data consumer have very similar Wait and Delay counter values, but those
values are relatively small.
This indicates that there is a good balance between the data producer and
data consumer, which should yield good performance from the NetBackup
server component of the NetBackup data transfer path.
■ Data Producer << Data Consumer. The data producer has substantially
smaller Wait and Delay counter values than the data consumer.
The data producer is unable to deliver data fast enough to keep the data
consumer busy. Investigate ways to improve the performance of the data
producer. For a restore operation, check if the data buffer size (see below) is
appropriate for the tape drive being used.
If the data producer still has a relatively large value in this case, try
increasing the number of shared data buffers to improve performance (see
below).
The bullets above describe the four basic relationships possible. Of primary
concern is the relationship and the size of the values. Information on
determining substantial versus trivial values appears on the following pages.
The relationship of these values only provides a starting point in the analysis.
Additional investigative work may be needed to positively identify the cause of a
bottleneck within the NetBackup data transfer path.
Determining wait and delay counter values

Wait and Delay counter values can be found by creating and reading debug log
files on the NetBackup media server.
Note: Writing the debug log files introduces some additional overhead and will
have a small impact on the overall performance of NetBackup. This impact will
be more noticeable for a high verbose level setting. Normally, you should not
need to run with debug logging enabled on a production system.
To determine wait and delay counter values for a local client backup:
1 Activate debug logging by creating these two directories on the media
server:
UNIX
/usr/openv/netbackup/logs/bpbkar
/usr/openv/netbackup/logs/bptm
Windows
install_path\NetBackup\logs\bpbkar
install_path\NetBackup\logs\bptm
2 Execute your backup.
Look at the log for the data producer (bpbkar on UNIX or bpbkar32 on
Windows) process in:
UNIX
/usr/openv/netbackup/logs/bpbkar
Windows
install_path\NetBackup\logs\bpbkar
The line you are looking for should be similar to the following, and will have
a timestamp corresponding to the completion time of the backup:
... waited 224 times for empty buffer, delayed 254 times
In this example the Wait counter value is 224 and the Delay counter value is
254.
3 Look at the log for the data consumer (bptm) process in:
UNIX
Windows
a timestamp corresponding to the completion time of the backup:
... waited for full buffer 1 times, delayed 22 times
In this example, the Wait counter value is 1 and the Delay counter value is
22.
To determine wait and delay counter values for a remote client backup:
1 Activate debug logging by creating this directory on the media server:
UNIX
Windows
2 Execute your backup.
3 Look at the log for the bptm process in:
UNIX
Windows
install_path\NetBackup\Logs\bptm
4 Delays associated with the data producer (bptm child) process will appear as
follows:
... waited for empty buffer 22 times, delayed 151 times, ...
151.
5 Delays associated with the data consumer (bptm parent) process will appear
as:
In this example the Wait counter value is 12, and the Delay counter value is
69.
To determine wait and delay counter values for a local client restore:
1 Activate logging by creating the two directories on the NetBackup media
server:
UNIX
/usr/openv/netbackup/logs/tar
Windows
install_path\NetBackup\logs\tar
2 Execute your restore.
Look at the log for the data consumer (tar or tar32) process in the tar log
directory created above.
a timestamp corresponding to the completion time of the restore:
In this example, the Wait counter value is 27, and the Delay counter value is
79.
3 Look at the log for the data producer (bptm) process in the bptm log
directory created above.
a timestamp corresponding to the completion time of the restore:
... waited for empty buffer 1 times, delayed 68 times
In this example, the Wait counter value is 1 and the delay counter value is
68.
To determine wait and delay counter values for a remote client restore:
1 Activate debug logging by creating the following directory on the media
server:
UNIX
Windows
2 Execute your restore.
3 Look at the log for bptm in the bptm log directory created above.
4 Delays associated with the data consumer (bptm child) process will appear
as follows:
139.
5 Delays associated with the data producer (bptm parent) process will appear
as follows:
... waited for empty buffer 95 times, delayed 513 times
In this example the Wait counter value is 95 and the Delay counter value is
513.
Note: When you run multiple tests, you can rename the current log file.
NetBackup will automatically create a new log file, which prevents you from
erroneously reading the wrong set of values.
Deleting the debug log file will not stop NetBackup from generating the debug
logs. You must delete the entire directory. For example, to stop bptm logging,
you must delete the bptm subdirectory. NetBackup will automatically generate
debug logs at the specified verbose setting whenever the directory is detected.
Using wait and delay counter values to analyze issues

You can use the bptm debug log file to verify that the following tunable
parameters have successfully been set to the desired values. You can use these
parameters and the Wait and Delay counter values to analyze issues. These
additional values include:
■ Data buffer size. The size of each shared data buffer can be found on a line
similar to:
... io_init: using 65536 data buffer size
■ Number of data buffers. The number of shared data buffers may be found on
a line similar to:
... io_init: using 16 data buffers
■ Parent/child delay values. The values in use for the duration of the parent
and child delays can be found on a line similar to:
... io_init: child delay = 20, parent delay = 30 (milliseconds)
■ NetBackup Media Server Network Buffer Size. The values in use for the
Network Buffer Size parameter on the media server can be found on lines
similar to these in debug log files:
The receive network buffer is used by the bptm child process to read from
the network during a remote backup.
...setting receive network buffer to 263168 bytes
The send network buffer is used by the bptm child process to write to the
network during a remote restore.
...setting send network buffer to 131072 bytes
See “NetBackup media server network buffer size” on page 97 for more
information about the Network Buffer Size parameter on the media server.
Suppose you wanted to analyze a local backup in which there was a 30-minute
data transfer duration baselined at 5 Megabytes/second with a total data
transfer of 9,000 Megabytes. Because a local backup is involved, if you refer to
“Roles of processes during backup and restore operations” on page 110, you can
determine that bpbkar (UNIX) or bpbkar32 (Windows) is the data producer
and bptm is the data consumer.
You would next want to determine the Wait and Delay values for bpbkar (or
bpbkar32) and bptm by following the procedures described in “Determining
wait and delay counter values” on page 112. For this example, suppose those
values were:
Process Wait Delay
bpbkar (UNIX) 29364 58033

bpbkar32 (Windows)
bptm 95 105
Using these values, you can determine that the bpbkar (or bpbkar32) process
is being forced to wait by a bptm process which cannot move data out of the
shared buffer fast enough.
Next, you can determine time lost due to delays by multiplying the Delay
counter value by the parent or child delay value, whichever applies.
In this example, the bpbkar (or bpbkar32) process uses the child delay value,
while the bptm process uses the parent delay value. (The defaults for these
values are 20 for child delay and 30 for parent delay.) The values are specified in
milliseconds. See “Parent/child delay values” on page 108 for more information
on how to modify these values.
Use the following equations to determine the amount of time lost due to these
delays:
bpbkar (UNIX) = 58033 delays X 0.020 seconds

bpbkar32 (Windows) =1160 seconds
=19 minutes 20 seconds
bptm =105 X 0.030 seconds

=3 seconds
This is useful in determining that the delay duration for the bpbkar (or
bpbkar32) process is significant. If this delay were entirely removed, the
resulting transfer time of 10:40 (total transfer time of 30 minutes minus delay of
19 minutes and 20 seconds) would indicate a throughput value of 14
Megabytes/sec, nearly a threefold increase. This type of performance increase
would warrant expending effort to investigate how the tape drive performance
can be improved.
The number of delays should be interpreted within the context of how much
data was moved. As the amount of data moved increases, the significance
threshold for counter values increases as well.
Again, using the example of a total of 9,000 Megabytes of data being transferred,
assume a 64-Kilobytes buffer size. You can determine the total number of
buffers to be transferred using the following equation:
Number_Kbytes = 9,000 X 1024

= 9,216,000 Kilobytes
Number_Slots =9,216,000 / 64
=144,000
The Wait counter value can now be expressed as a percentage of the total
divided by the number of buffers transferred:
bpbkar (UNIX) = 29364 / 144,000

bpbkar32 (Windows) = 20.39%
bptm = 95 / 144,000
= 0.07%
In this example, in the 20 percent of cases where the bpbkar (or bpbkar32)
process needed an empty shared data buffer, that shared data buffer has not yet
been emptied by the bptm process. A value this large indicates a serious issue,
and additional investigation would be warranted to determine why the data

consumer (bptm) is having issues keeping up.
In contrast, the delays experienced by bptm are insignificant for the amount of
data transferred.
You can also view the Delay and Wait counters as a ratio:
bpbkar (UNIX) = 58033/29364

bpbkar32 (Windows) = 1.98
In this example, on average the bpbkar (or bpbkar32) process had to delay
twice for each wait condition that was encountered. If this ratio is substantially
large, you may wish to consider increasing the parent or child delay value,
whichever one applies, to avoid the unnecessary overhead of checking for a
shared data buffer in the correct state too often. Conversely, if this ratio is close
to 1, you may wish to consider reducing the applicable delay value to check more
often and see if that increases your data throughput performance. Keep in mind
that the parent and child delay values are rarely changed in most NetBackup
installations.
The preceding information explains how to determine if the values for Wait and
Delay counters are substantial enough for concern. The Wait and Delay counters
are related to the size of data transfer. A value of 1,000 may be extreme when
only 1 Megabyte of data is being moved. The same value may indicate a
well-tuned system when gigabytes of data are being moved. The final analysis
must determine how these counters affect performance by considering such
factors as how much time is being lost and what percentage of time a process is
being forced to delay.
Correcting issues uncovered by wait and delay counter

values
The following lists identify ways to correct issues that are uncovered by the
Wait and Delay counter values.
■ bptm read waits
The bptm debug log contains messages such as,
...waited for full buffer 1681 times, delayed 12296 times
The first number in the message is the number of times bptm waited for a
full buffer, which is the number of times bptm write operations waited for
data from the source. If, using the technique described in the section
“Determining wait and delay counter values” on page 112, you determine
that the Wait counter indicates a performance issue, then changing the
number of buffers will not help, but adding multiplexing may help.
■ bptm write waits

...waited for empty buffer 1883 times, delayed 14645 times
The first number in the message is the number of times bptm waited for an
empty buffer, which is the number of times bptm experienced data arriving
from the source faster than the data could be written to tape. If, using the
technique described in the section “Determining wait and delay counter
values” on page 112, you determine that the Wait counter indicates a
performance issue, then reduce the multiplexing factor if you are using
multiplexing. Also, adding more buffers may help.
■ bptm delays
...waited for empty buffer 1883 times, delayed 14645 times
The second number in the message is the number of times bptm waited for
an available buffer. If, using the technique described in the section
“Determining wait and delay counter values” on page 112, you determine
that the Delay counter indicates a performance issue, this will need
investigation. Each delay interval is 30 ms.
Fragment size and NetBackup restores

Below is a summary of how fragment size affects NetBackup restores for
non-multiplexed and multiplexed images, followed by a more in-depth
discussion.
The fragment size affects where tape markers are placed and how many tape
markers are used. (The default fragment size is 1 terabyte for tape storage units
and 512 GB for disk.) As a rule, a larger fragment size results in faster backups,
but may result in slower restores when recovering a small number of individual
files.
The Reduce fragment size to setting on the Storage Unit dialog limits the
largest fragment size of the image. By limiting the size of the fragment, the size
of the largest read during restore is minimized, reducing restore time. This is
especially important when restoring a small number of individual files rather
than entire directories or file systems.
For many sites, a fragment size of approximately 10 gigabytes will result in good
performance for both backup and restore.
When choosing a fragment size, consider the following:
■ Larger fragment sizes usually favor backup performance, especially when
backing up large amounts of data. Creating smaller fragments will slow
down large backups: each time a new fragment is created, the backup
stream is interrupted.
■ Larger fragment sizes do not hinder performance when restoring large

amounts of data. But when restoring a few individual files, larger fragments
may slow down the restore.
■ Larger fragment sizes do not hinder performance when restoring from
non-multiplexed backups. For multiplexed backups, larger fragments may
slow down the restore. In multiplexed backups, blocks from several images
can be mixed together within a single fragment. During restore, NetBackup
positions to the nearest fragment and starts reading the data from there,
until it comes to the desired file. Splitting multiplexed backups into smaller
fragments can improve restore performance.
■ During restores, newer, faster devices can handle large fragments well.
Slower devices, especially if they do not use fast locate block positioning,
will restore individual files faster if fragment size is smaller. (In some cases,
SCSI fast tape positioning can improve restore performance.)
Note: Unless you have particular reasons for creating smaller fragments (such
as when restoring a few individual files, restoring from multiplexed backups, or
restoring from older equipment), larger fragment sizes are likely to yield better
overall performance.
Restore of a non-multiplexed image

bptm positions to the media fragment and the actual tape block containing the
first file to be restored. If fast-locate is available, bptm uses that for the
positioning. If fast-locate is not available, bptm uses MTFSF/MTFSR (forward
space filemark/forward space record) to do the positioning.
The first file is then restored.
After that, for every subsequent file to be restored, bptm determines where that
file is, relative to the current position. If it is faster for bptm to position to that
spot rather than to read all the data in between (and if fast locate is available),
bptm uses positioning to get to the next file instead of reading all the data in
between.
If fast-locate is not available, bptm can read the data as quickly as it can position
with MTFSR (forward space record).
Therefore, fragment sizes for non-multiplexed restores matter if fast-locate is
NOT available. In general, given smaller fragments, a restore reads less
extraneous data. You can set the maximum fragment size for the storage unit on
the Storage Unit dialog in the NetBackup Administration Console (Reduce
fragment size to).
Restore of a multiplexed image

bptm positions to the media fragment containing the first file to be restored. If
fast-locate is available, bptm uses that for the positioning. If fast_locate is not
available, bptm uses MTFSF (forward space filemark) for the positioning. The
restore cannot “fine-tune” positioning to get to the block containing the first
file, because of the randomness of how multiplexed images are written. So, the
restore starts reading, throwing away all the data (for this client and other
clients) until it reaches the block that contains the first file.
The first file is then restored.
After that, the logic is the same as that for non-multiplexed restores with one
exception: if the current position and the next file position are in the same
fragment, the restore cannot use positioning, for the same reason that it cannot
use “fine-tune” positioning to get to the first file.
However, if the next file position is in a subsequent fragment further down the
media (or even on a different media), then the restore uses positioning methods
to get to that fragment instead of reading all the data in between.
So, there is an advantage to keeping multiplexed fragments to a smaller size.
The optimal fragment size depends on the site's data and situation. For multi-
gigabyte images, it is probably desirable to keep fragments to 1 gigabyte or less.
Remember that the storage unit attribute to limit fragment size is based on the
total amount of data in the fragment (not the total amount of data for any one
client).
Note that when multiplexed images are being written, each time a client backup
stream starts or ends, by definition, that is a new fragment. A new fragment is
also created when a checkpoint occurs for a backup that has checkpoint restart
enabled. So not all fragments are of the maximum fragment size. Of course,
end-of-media (EOM) also causes new fragment(s).
Some examples may help illustrate when smaller fragments do and do not help
restores.
Example 1:
Assume you are backing up four streams to a multiplexed tape, and each stream
is a single, 1 gigabyte file and a default maximum fragment size of 1 TB has been
specified. The resultant backup image logically looks like the following. ‘TM’
denotes a tape mark, or file mark, that indicates the start of a fragment.
TM <4 gigabytes data> TM
When restoring any one of the 1 gigabyte files, the restore positions to the TM
and then has to read all 4 gigabytes to get the 1 gigabyte file.
If you set the maximum fragment size to 1 gigabyte:
TM <1 gigabyte data> TM <1 gigabyte data> TM <1 gigabyte data> TM <1
gigabyte data> TM
this does not help, since the restore still has to read all four fragments to pull
out the 1 gigabyte of the file being restored.
Example 2:
This is the same as Example 1, but assume four streams are backing up 1
gigabyte worth of /home or C:\. With the maximum fragment size (Reduce
fragment size) set to a default of 1 TB (and assuming all streams are relatively
the same performance), you again end up with:
TM <4 gigabytes data> TM
Restoring /home/file1 or C:\file1 and/home/file2 or C:\file2 from one of the
streams will have to read as much of the 4 gigabytes as necessary to restore all
the data. But, if you set Reduce fragment size to 1 gigabyte, the image looks like
this:
TM <1 gigabyte data> TM <1 gigabyte data> TM <1 gigabyte data> TM <1
gigabyte data> TM
In this case, home/file1 or C:\file1 starts in the second fragment, and bptm
positions to the second fragment to start the restore of home/file1 or C:\file1
(this has saved reading 1 gigabyte so far). After /home/file1 is done, if
/home/file2 or C:\file2 is in the third or forth fragment, the restore can position
to the beginning of that fragment before it starts reading as it looks for the data.
These examples illustrate that whether fragmentation benefits a restore
depends on what the data is, what is being restored, and where in the image the
data is. In Example 2, reducing the fragment size from 1 gigabyte to half a
gigabyte (512 Megabytes) increases the chance the restore can locate by
skipping instead of reading when restoring relatively small amounts of an
image.
Fragmentation and checkpoint restart

If the policy’s Checkpoint Restart feature is enabled, NetBackup creates a new
fragment at each checkpoint, based on the Take checkpoints every setting. For
more information on Checkpoint Restart, refer to the NetBackup System
Administrator’s Guide, Volume I.
Other restore performance issues

Common reasons for restore performance issues are described in the following
subsections.
NetBackup catalog performance

The disk subsystem where the NetBackup catalog resides has a large impact on
the overall performance of NetBackup. To improve restore performance,
configure this subsystem for fast reads. NetBackup binary catalog format
provides scalable and fast catalog access.
NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_RESTORE setting
This parameter can help keep other NetBackup processes busy while a
multiplexed tape is positioned during a restore. Increasing this value causes
NetBackup buffers to occupy more physical RAM. This parameter only applies
to multiplexed restores. For more information on this parameter, see “Shared
memory (number and size of data buffers)” on page 102.
Index performance issues

For information, refer to “Indexing the Catalog for Faster Access to Backups” in
the NetBackup 6.0 System Administrator’s Guide, Volume I.
Search performance with many small backups

To improve search performance when you have many small backup images, run
the following command as root on the master server:
UNIX
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/bpimage -create_image_list
-client client_name
Windows
install_directory\bin\admincmd\bpimage -create_image_list -client
client_name
where client_name is the name of the client with many small backup images.
In the directory:
UNIX
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/images/client_name
Windows
install_path\NetBackup\db\images\client_name
the bpimage command creates the following files:
IMAGE_LIST List of images for this client
IMAGE_INFO Information about the images for this client
IMAGE_FILES The file information for small images

Do not edit these files, because they contain offsets and byte counts that are
used for seeking to and reading the image information.
Note: These files increase the size of the client directory.
Restore performance in a mixed environment

If you encounter restore performance issues in a mixed environment (UNIX and
Windows), consider reducing the tcp wait interval parameter,
tcp_deferred_ack_interval. Under Solaris 8, the default value of this
parameter is 100ms. (Root privileges are required to change this parameter.)
The current value of tcp_deferred_ack_interval can be obtained by
executing the following command (this example is for Solaris):
/usr/sbin/ndd -get /dev/tcp tcp_deferred_ack_interval
The value of tcp_deferred_ack_interval can be changed by executing the
command:
/usr/sbin/ndd -set /dev/tcp tcp_deferred_ack_interval value
where value is the number which provides the best performance for the system.
This may have to be tried and tested as it may vary from system to system. A
suggested starting value is 20. In any case, the value must not exceed 500ms as
this may break TCP/IP.
Once the optimum value for the system is found, the command for setting the
value can be permanently set in a script under the directory /etc/rc2.d so
that it can be executed at boot time.
Multiplexing set too high

If multiplexing is too high, needless tape searching may occur. The ideal setting
is the minimum needed to stream the drives.
Restores from multiplexed database backups

NetBackup can run several restores at the same time from a single multiplexed
tape. This is done by means of the MPX_RESTORE_DELAY option, which
specifies how long, in seconds, the server waits for additional restore requests of
files or raw partitions that are in a set of multiplexed images on the same tape.
The restore requests received within this period are executed simultaneously.
By default, the delay is 30 seconds.
This may be a useful parameter to change if multiple stripes from a large
database backup are multiplexed together on the same tape. If the
MPX_RESTORE_DELAY option is changed, you do not need to stop and restart
the NetBackup processes for the change to take effect.
When bprd, the request daemon on the master server, receives the first stream
of a multiplexed restore request, it triggers the MPX_RESTORE_DELAY timer to
start counting the configured amount of time. At this point, bprd watches and
waits for related multiplexed jobs from the same client before starting the
overall job. If another associated stream is received within the timeout period, it
is added to the total job, and the timer is reset to the MPX_RESTORE_DELAY
period. Once the timeout has been reached without an additional stream being
received by bprd, the timeout window closes, all associated restore requests are
sent to bptm, and a tape is mounted. If any associated restore requests are
received after this event, they are queued to wait until the tape that is now “In
Use” is returned to an idle state.
If MPX_RESTORE_DELAY is not set high enough, NetBackup may need to mount
and read the same tape multiple times to collect all of the necessary header
information necessary for the restore. Ideally, NetBackup would read a
multiplexed tape, collecting all of the header information it needs, with a single
pass of the tape, thus minimizing the amount of time to restore.
Example (Oracle):
Suppose that MPX_RESTORE_DELAY is not set in the bp.conf file, so its value is
the default of 30 seconds. Suppose also that you initiate a restore from an Oracle
RMAN backup that was backed up using 4 channels or 4 streams, and you use
the same number of channels to restore.
RMAN passes NetBackup a specific data request, telling NetBackup what
information it needs to start and complete the restore. The first request is
passed and received by NetBackup in 29 seconds, causing the
MPX_RESTORE_DELAY timer to be reset. The next request is passed and
received by NetBackup in 22 seconds, so again the timer is reset. The third
request is received 25 seconds later, resetting the timer a third time, but the
fourth request is received 31 seconds after the third. Since the fourth request
was not received within the restore delay interval, NetBackup only starts three
of the four restores. Instead of reading from the tape once, NetBackup queues
the fourth restore request until the previous three requests are completed. Since
all of the multiplexed images are on the same tape, NetBackup mounts, rewinds,
and reads the entire tape again to collect the multiplexed images for the fourth
restore request.
Note that in addition to NetBackup's reading the tape twice, RMAN waits to
receive all the necessary header information before it begins the restore.
If MPX_RESTORE_DELAY had been larger than 30 seconds, NetBackup would
have received all four restore requests within the restore delay windows and
collected all the necessary header information with one pass of the tape. Oracle
would have started the restore after this one tape pass, improving the restore
performance significantly.
NetBackup storage device performance
MPX_RESTORE_DELAY needs to be set with caution, because it can decrease

performance if its value is set too high. Suppose, for instance, that the
MPX_RESTORE_DELAY is set to 1800 seconds. When the final associated
restore request arrives, NetBackup resets the request delay timer as it did with
the previous requests. NetBackup then must wait for the entire 1800-second
interval before it can start the restore.
Therefore, try to set the value of MPX_RESTORE_DELAY so it is neither too high
or too low.

This section looks at storage device functionality in the NetBackup data transfer
path. Changes in these areas may improve NetBackup performance.
Tape drive wear and tear is much less, and efficiency is greater, if the data
stream matches the tape drive capacity and is sustained. Generally speaking,
most tape drives have much slower throughput than disk drives. Match the
number of drives and the throughput per drive to the speed of the SCSI/FC
connection, and/or follow the hardware vendors’ recommendations.
These are some of the factors which affect tape drives:
Media positioning
When a backup or restore is performed, the storage device must position the
tape so that the data is over the read/write head. Depending on the location of
the data and the overall performance of the media device, this can take a
significant amount of time. When you conduct performance analysis with media
containing multiple images, it is important to account for the time lag that
occurs before the data transfer starts.
Tape streaming
If a tape device is being used at its most efficient speed, it is said to be streaming
the data onto the tape. Generally speaking, if a tape device is streaming, there
will be little physical stopping and starting of the media. Instead the media will
be constantly spinning within the tape drive. If the tape device is not being used
at its most efficient speed, it may continually start and stop the media from
spinning. This behavior is the opposite of tape streaming and usually results in a
poor data throughput rate.
Data compression
Most tape devices support some form of data compression within the tape
device itself. Compressible data (such as text files) yields a higher data
throughput rate than non-compressible data, if the tape device supports
hardware data compression.
Tape devices typically come with two performance rates: maximum throughput
and nominal throughput. Maximum throughput is based on how fast
compressible data can be written to the tape drive when hardware compression
is enabled in the drive. Nominal throughput refers to rates achievable with
non-compressible data.
Note: Tape drive data compression cannot be set by NetBackup. Follow the
instructions provided with your OS and tape drive to be sure data compression is
set correctly.
In general, tape drive data compression is preferable to client (software)

compression such as that available in NetBackup. Client compression may be
desirable in some cases, such as for reducing the amount of data transmitted
across the network for a remote client backup. See “Tape versus client
compression” on page 133 for more information.
Chapter 9
Tuning other NetBackup
components
This chapter provides guidelines and recommendations for improving
performance in certain features or components of NetBackup.
■ “Multiplexing and multi-streaming” on page 130
■ “Encryption” on page 133
■ “Compression” on page 133
■ “Using both encryption and compression” on page 134
■ “NetBackup Java” on page 134
■ “Vault” on page 134
■ “Fast recovery with bare metal restore” on page 135
■ “Backing up many small files” on page 135
■ “NetBackup Operations Manager (NOM)” on page 137
130 Tuning other NetBackup components
Multiplexing and multi-streaming

Consider the following factors regarding multiplexing and multi-streaming.
When to use multiplexing and multi-streaming

Multiple data streams can reduce the time for large backups. The reduction is
achieved by splitting the data to be backed up into multiple streams and then
using multiplexing, multiple drives, or a combination of the two for processing
the streams concurrently. In addition, configuring the backup so each physical
device on the client is backed up by a separate data stream that runs
concurrently with streams from other devices can significantly reduce backup
times.
Note: For best performance, use only one data stream to back up each physical
device on the client. Running multiple concurrent streams from a single
physical device can adversely affect the time to back up that device because the
drive heads must move back and forth between tracks containing the files for
the respective streams.
Multiplexing is not recommended for database backups, when restore speed is of

paramount interest, or when your tape drives are slow.
Backing up across a network, unless the network bandwidth is very broad, can
nullify the ability to stream. Typically, a single client can send enough data to
saturate a single 100BaseT network connection. A gigabit network has the
capacity to support network streaming for some clients. Keep in mind that
multiple streams use more of the client’s resources than a single stream. We
recommend testing to make sure that the client can handle the multiple data
streams and that the users are not affected by the high rate of data transfer.
Multiplexing and multi-streaming can be powerful tools to ensure that all tape
drives are streaming. With NetBackup, both can be used at the same time. It is
important to distinguish between the two concepts:
■ Multiplexing writes multiple data streams to a single tape drive.
Tuning other NetBackup components 131
Figure 9-4 Multiplexing diagram
server
clients
backup to tape
■ Multi-streaming writes multiple data streams, each to its own tape drive,
unless multiplexing is used.
Figure 9-5 Multistreaming diagram
server
backup to tape
Here are some things to consider with regard to multiplexing:

Experiment with different multiplexing factors to find one where the tape drive
is just streaming, that is, where the writes just fill the maximum bandwidth of
your drive. This is the optimal multiplexing factor. For instance, if you
determine that you can get 5 Megabytes/sec from each of multiple concurrent
read streams, then you would use a multiplexing factor of two to get the
maximum throughput to a DLT7000 (that is, 10 Megabytes/sec).
■ Use a higher multiplexing factor for incremental backups.
■ Use a lower multiplexing factor for local backups.
■ Expect the duplication of a multiplexed tape to take a longer period of time
if it is demultiplexed, because multiple read passes of the source tape must
be made.
■ When you duplicate a multiplexed backup, demultiplex it.

By demultiplexing the backups when they are duplicated, the time for
recovery is significantly reduced.
Do not use multi-streaming on single mount points. Multi-streaming takes
advantage of the ability to stream data from several devices at once. This
permits backups to take advantage of Read Ahead on a spindle or set of spindles
in RAID environments. Multi-streaming from a single mount point encourages
head thrashing and may result in degraded performance. Only conduct
multistreamed backups against single mount points if they are mirrored (RAID
0). However, this also is likely to result in degraded performance.
Effects of multiple data streams on backup/restore

■ Multiplexing
To use multiplexing effectively, you must understand the implications of
multiplexing on restore times. Multiplexing may decrease overall backup
time when you are backing up large numbers of clients over slow networks,
but it does so at the cost of recovery time. Restores from multiplexed tapes
must pass over all nonapplicable data. This action increases restore times.
When recovery is required, demultiplexing causes delays in the restore
process. This is because NetBackup must do more tape searching to
accomplish the restore.
Restores should be tested, before the need to do a restore arises, to
determine the impact of multiplexing on restore performance.
When you initially set up a new environment, keep the multiplexing factor
low. Typically, a multiplexing factor of four or less does not highly impact
the speed of restores, depending on the type of drive and the type of system.
If the backups do not finish within their assigned window, multiplexing can
be increased to meet the window. However, increasing the multiplexing
factor provides diminishing returns as the number of multiplexing clients
increases. The optimum multiplexing factor is the number of clients needed
to keep the buffers full for a single tape drive.
Set the multiplexing factor to four and do not multistream. Run
benchmarks in this environment. Then, if needed, you can begin to change
the values involved until both the backup and restore window parameters
are met.
■ Multi-streaming
The NEW_STREAM directive is useful for fine-tuning streams so that no
disk subsystem is under-utilized or over-utilized.
Encryption
Encryption
When the NetBackup encryption option is enabled, your backups may run
slower. How much slower depends on the throttle point in your backup path. If
the network is the issue, encryption should not hinder performance. If the
network is not the issue, then encryption may slow down the backup.
Note that some local backups actually ran faster with encryption than without
it. In some field test cases, memory utilization has been found to be roughly the
same with and without encryption.
Compression
Two types of compression can be used with NetBackup, client compression
(configured in the NetBackup policy) and tape drive compression (handled by
the device hardware). Some or all of the files may also have been compressed by
other means prior to the backup.
How to enable compression

NetBackup client compression can be enabled by selecting the compression
option in the NetBackup Policy Attributes window.
How tape drive compression is enabled depends on your operating system and
the type of tape drive. Check with the operating system and drive vendors, or
read their documentation to find out how to enable tape compression.
With UNIX device addressing, these options are frequently part of the device
name. A single tape drive has multiple names, each with a different
functionality built into the name. (This is really done with major and minor
device numbers.) So, for instance, on Solaris, if you address /dev/rmt/2cbn, you
get drive 2, hardware-compressed, with no-rewind option. If you address
/dev/rmt/2n, its function should be uncompressed with the no-rewind option.
The choice of device names determines device behavior.
If the media server is UNIX, there is no compression when the backup is to a disk
storage unit. The compression options in this case are limited to client
compression. If the media server with the disk storage unit is Windows, and the
directory used by the disk storage unit is compressed, then there will be
compression on the disk write just as there would be for any file writes to that
directory by any application.
Tape versus client compression

■ Tape drive compression is almost always preferable to client compression.
■ Tape compression offloads the compression task from the client and server.
Using both encryption and compression
■ Avoid using both tape compression and client compression, as this can
actually increase the amount of backed-up data.
■ Only in rare cases is it beneficial to use client (software) compression. For
very dense data, compression algorithms take a long time and often
increase the overall size of the images when compressing an already
compressed image. In cases where the files are already compressed, devices
should be pointed to native device drivers. In other cases, NetBackup client
compression should be turned off, and the hardware should handle the
compression.
■ On UNIX: client compression reduces the amount of data sent over the
network, but impacts the client. The NetBackup client configuration setting
MEGABYTES_OF_MEMORY may help client performance. It is undesirable
to compress files which are already compressed. If you find that this is
happening with your backups, refer to the NetBackup configuration option
COMPRESS_SUFFIX. Edit this setting through bpsetconfig.
Using both encryption and compression

If a policy is enabled for both encryption and compression, the client first
compresses the backup data and then encrypts it.
Client data compression (configured in the policy) is generally not needed,
because data compression is handled internally by tape drives. When data is
encrypted, it becomes randomized, and is no longer compressible. Therefore,
data compression must be performed prior to any data encryption. In
considering whether or not to use NetBackup client compression, see
“Compression” on page 133.
NetBackup Java
For performance improvement, refer to the following sections in the NetBackup
System Administrator’s Guide for UNIX and Linux, Volume I: “Configuring the
NetBackup-Java Administration Console,” and the subsection “NetBackup-Java
Performance Improvement Hints.” In addition, the NetBackup Release Notes
may contain information about NetBackup Java performance.
Vault
Refer to the “Best Practices” chapter of the NetBackup Vault System
Administrator’s Guide.
Fast recovery with bare metal restore
Fast recovery with bare metal restore

Veritas Bare Metal Restore (BMR) provides a simplified, automated method by
which to recover an entire system (including the operating system and
applications). BMR automates the restore process to ensure rapid, error-free
recovery. This process requires one Bare Metal Restore command and then a
system boot. BMR guarantees integrity and consistency and is supported for
both UNIX and Windows systems.
Note: BMR requires the True image restore option. This option has implications
on the size of the NetBackup catalog. Refer to “Calculate the size of your
NetBackup catalog” on page 22 for more details.
Backing up many small files

NetBackup will take longer to back up multiple small files of the same total size
as a single large file. The following may improve performance when backing up
many small files.
■ Use the FlashBackup (or FlashBackup-Windows) policy type. This is a
feature of NetBackup Advanced Client. FlashBackup is described in the
NetBackup Advanced Client System Administrator’s Guide.
See “FlashBackup” on page 136 of this Tuning guide for a related tuning
issue.
■ On Windows, make sure virus scans are turned off (this may double
performance).
■ Snap a mirror (such as with the FlashSnap method in Advanced Client) and
back that up as a raw partition. This does not allow individual file restore
from tape.
Some specific things to try to improve performance include:
■ Turn off or reduce logging.
The NetBackup logging facility has the potential to impact the performance
of backup and recovery processing. Logging is usually enabled only to
troubleshoot a NetBackup problem, to ensure that any performance impact
is short in term. The performance impact can be determined by the amount
of logging used and the verbosity level set.
■ Make sure the NetBackup buffer size is the same size on both the servers
and clients.
■ Consider upgrading NIC drivers as new releases appear.
Backing up many small files
■ Run the following bpbkar throughput test on the client with Windows:
C:\Veritas\Netbackup\bin\bpbkar32 -nocont > NUL 2>
(for example, C:\Veritas\Netbackup\bin\bpbkar32 -nocont c:\
> NUL 2> temp.f)
■ When initially configuring the Windows server, optimize TCP/IP
throughput as opposed to shared file access.
■ Always select the choice of boosting background performance on Windows
versus foreground performance.
■ Turn off NetBackup Client Job Tracker if the client is a system server.
■ Regularly review the patch announcements for every server OS. Install
patches that affect TCP/IP functions, such as correcting out-of-sequence
delivery of packets.
FlashBackup
If using Advanced Client FlashBackup with a copy-on-write snapshot
method
If you are using the FlashBackup feature of Advanced Client with a
copy-on-write method such as nbu_snap, assign the snapshot cache device to a
separate hard drive. This will improve performance by reducing disk contention
and potential head thrashing due to the writing of data to maintain the
snapshot.
Tunable read buffer for Solaris (with nbu_snap method)

If the storage unit write speed (either tape or disk) is relatively fast, reading the
client disk may become a bottleneck during a FlashBackup raw partition backup.
By default, FlashBackup reads the raw partition using fixed 128 KB buffers for
full backups and 32 KB buffers for incrementals.
In most cases, the default read buffer size will allow FlashBackup to stay ahead
of the storage unit write speed. To further minimize the number of iowaits when
reading client data, however, you can tune the FlashBackup read buffer size,
allowing the nbu_snap driver to read continuous device blocks up to 1 MB per
iowait, depending on the disk driver support. The read buffer size can be
adjusted separately for both full backup and incremental backup.
In general, a larger buffer yields faster raw partition backup (but see the
following note). In the case of VxVM striped volumes, if the read buffer is
configured as a multiple of the striping block size, data can be read in parallel
from the disks, significantly speeding up raw partition backup.
NetBackup Operations Manager (NOM)
How to adjust the FlashBackup read buffer for Solaris clients

1 Create the following touch file on each Solaris client:
/usr/openv/netbackup/FBU_READBLKS
2 Enter the desired values in the FBU_READBLKS file, as follows.
On the first line of the file, enter an integer value for the read buffer size in
bytes for full backups and/or enter the read buffer size in bytes for
incremental backups. The default is to read the raw partition in 131072
bytes (128 KB) during full backups and in 32768 bytes (32 KB) for
incremental backups. If changing both values, separate them with a space.
For example, to set the full backup read buffer to 256 KB and the
incremental read buffer to 64 KB, enter the following on the first line of the
file:
262144 65536
You can use the second line of the file to set the tape record write size, also
in bytes. The default is the same size as the read buffer. The first entry on
the second line sets the full backup write buffer size, the second value sets
the incremental backup write buffer size.
Note: Resizing the read buffer for incremental backups can result in a faster
backup in some cases, and a slower backup in others. The result depends on such
factors as the location of the data to be read, the size of the data to be read
relative to the size of the read buffer, and the read characteristics of the storage
device and the I/O stack. Experimentation may be necessary to achieve the best
setting.

The following settings can be modified to adjust NOM performance.
Adjusting the NOM server heap size

If the NOM server processes are consuming a lot of memory (which may happen
with large NOM configurations), it may be helpful to increase the NOM server
heap size. The NOM server heap size can be increased from 512 MB (the default)
up to 2048 MB, as follows.
■ On Solaris servers, open the /opt/VRTSnom/bin/nomsrvctl file and
change the value of the MAX_HEAP parameter. For example, to increase the
heap size to 2048 MB, edit the parameter as follows:
MAX_HEAP=-Xmx2048m
Save the nomsrvctl file. Then stop and restart the NOM processes, as
follows:
/opt/VRTSnom/bin/NOMAdmin -stop_service
/opt/VRTSnom/bin/NOMAdmin -start_service
■ On Windows servers, open the Registry Editor and go to the following
location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\
VRTSnomSrvr\Parameters
Increase the JVM Option Number 0 value. For example, enter -Xmx2048 for
the maximum heap size.
Then stop and restart the NOM services, as follows:
install_path\NetBackup Operations Manager\bin\admincmd\NOMAdmin.bat -stop_service
install_path\NetBackup Operations Manager\bin\admincmd\NOMAdmin.bat -start_service
Adjusting the NOM web server heap size

If you notice poor performance in the NOM console and restarting the NOM Web
service fixes the problem, you should increase the NOM web server heap size.
The recommended value in this case is 512 MB.
The NOM web server heap size can be increased from 256 MB (the default) up to
2048 MB, as follows.
■ On Solaris servers, run the webgui command to change the heap size. For
example, to change the heap size to 512 MB, run the following:
/opt/VRTSweb/bin/webgui maxheap 512
Then stop and restart the NOM processes, as follows:
/opt/VRTSnom/bin/NOMAdmin -stop_service
/opt/VRTSnom/bin/NOMAdmin -start_service
■ On Windows servers, run webgui.exe. For example:
install_path\VRTSweb\bin\webgui.exe maxheap 512
Then stop and restart the NOM services, as follows:
install_path\NetBackup Operations Manager\bin\admincmd\NOMAdmin.bat -stop_service
install_path\NetBackup Operations Manager\bin\admincmd\NOMAdmin.bat -start_service
Chapter 10
Tuning disk I/O
performance
This chapter describes the hardware issues affecting disk performance with
NetBackup. This information is intended to provide a general approach to disk
tuning, not specific recommendations for your environment. Based on your
hardware and other requirements unique to your site, you can use this
information to adjust your configuration for better performance.
■ “Hardware performance hierarchy” on page 140
■ “Hardware configuration examples” on page 147
■ “Tuning software for better performance” on page 148
Note: The critical factors in performance are not software-based. They are
hardware selection and configuration. Hardware has roughly four times the
weight that software has in determining performance.
140 Tuning disk I/O performance
Hardware performance hierarchy

The following diagram shows the key hardware elements, and the
interconnections (levels) between them, which affect performance. The diagram
shows two disk arrays and a single non-disk device (tape, Ethernet connections,
and so forth).
Figure 10-6 Performance hierarchy diagram
Host
Memory
Level 5
PCI bridge PCI bridge
PCI bus PCI bus
PCI bus
Level 4
PCI card PCI PCI

1 card 2 card 3
Level 3 Fibre channel Fibre channel
Array 1 Array 2
Raid controller Raid controller Tape,

Ethernet,
or
Level 2 another
non-disk
Shelf Shelf Shelf Shelf device
Shelf adaptor Shelf adaptor Shelf adaptor Shelf adaptor
Level 1
Drives Drives Drives Drives
Performance hierarchy levels are described in later sections of this chapter.

Tuning disk I/O performance 141
In general, all data going to or coming from disk must pass through host
memory. In the following diagram, a dashed line shows the path that the data
takes through a media server.
Figure 10-7 Data stream in NetBackup media server to arrays
Host
Memory
Level 5
PCI bridge
PCI bus
Level 4
PCI card
Data moving
through host
Level 3 Fibre channel memory
Array 2
Raid controller Tape,
Level 2 Ethernet
, or
Shelf another
Level 1 Shelf non-disk
Drives
The data moves up through the ethernet PCI card at the far right. The card sends
the data across the PCI bus and through the PCI bridge into host memory.
NetBackup then writes this data to the appropriate location. In a disk example,
the data passes through one or more PCI bridges, over one or more PCI buses,
through one or more PCI cards, across one or more fibre channels, and so on.
Sending data through more than one PCI card increases bandwidth by breaking
up the data into large chunks and sending a group of chunks at the same time to
multiple destinations. For example, a write of 1 MB could be split into 2 chunks
going to 2 different arrays at the same time. If the path to each array is x
bandwidth, the aggregate bandwidth will be approximately 2x.
Each level in the Performance Hierarchy diagram represents the transitions
over which data will flow. These transitions have bandwidth limits.
Between each level there are elements that can affect performance as well.
Performance hierarchy level 1

Level 1 is the interconnect within a typical disk array that attaches individual
disk drives to the adaptor on each disk shelf. A shelf is a physical entity placed
into a rack. Shelves usually contain around 15 disk drives. If you use fibre
channel drives, the Level 1 interconnect is 1 or 2 fibre channel arbitrated loop
(FC-AL). When Serial ATA (SATA) drives are used, the Level 1 interconnect is the
SATA interface.
Shelf Shelf Shelf Shelf Tape,
Shelf adaptor Shelf adaptor Shelf adaptor Shelf adaptor Ethernet,
Level 1 or
another
non-disk
device
Drives Drives Drives Drives
Level 1 bandwidth potential is determined by the technology used.

For FC-AL, the arbitrated loop could be either 1 gigabit or 2 gigabit fibre
channel. An arbitrated loop is a shared-access topology, which means that only 2
entities on the loop can be communicating at one time. For example, one disk
drive and the shelf adaptor can communicate. So even though a single disk drive
might be capable of 2 gigabit bursts of data transfers, there is no aggregation of
this bandwidth (that is, multiple drives cannot be communicating with the shelf
adaptor at the same time, resulting in multiples of the individual drive
bandwidth).

Level 2 is the interconnect external to the disk shelf. It attaches one or more
shelves to the array RAID controller. This is usually FC-AL, even if the drives in
the shelf are something other than fibre channel (SATA, for example). This
shared-access topology allows only one pair of endpoints to communicate at any
given time.
Array 1 Array 2 Tape,
Ethernet
Raid controller Raid controller , or
another
Level 2 non-disk
device
Shelf Shelf Shelf Shelf

Shelf Shelf Shelf Shelf
Larger disk arrays will have more than one internal FC-AL. Shelves may even
support 2 FC-AL so that there will be two paths between the RAID controller and
every shelf, which provides for redundancy and load balancing.

Level 3 is the interconnect external to the disk array and host.
Host
Fibre channel Fibre channel

Level 3
Array Array
While this diagram shows a single point-to-point connection between an array

and the host, a real-world use more typically includes a SAN fabric (having one
or more fibre channel switches). The logical result is the same, in that either is a
data path between the array and the host.
When these paths are not arbitrated loops (for example, if they were fabric fibre
channel), they do not have the shared-access topology limitations. That is, if two
arrays are connected to a fibre channel switch and the host has a single fibre
channel connection to the switch, the arrays can be communicating at the same
time (the switch does the coordination with the host fibre channel connection).
However, this does not aggregate bandwidth, since the host is still limited to a
single fibre channel connection.
Fibre channel is generally 1 or 2 gigabit (both arbitrated loop and fabric
topology). Faster speeds are coming on the market. A general rule-of-thumb
when considering protocol overhead is that one can divide the gigabit rate by 10
to get an approximate megabyte-per-second bandwidth. So, 1-gigabit fibre
channel can theoretically achieve approximately 100 MB/second and 2-gigabit
fibre channel can theoretically achieve approximately 200 MB/second.
Fibre channel is also similar to traditional LANs, in that a given interface can
support multiple connection rates. That is, a 2-gigabit fibre channel port will
also connect to devices that only support 1 gigabit.

Level 4 is the interconnect within a host for the attachment of PCI cards.

PCI bus PCI bus PCI bus
Level 4
PCI card
PCI PCI card
1
card 2 3
A typical host will support 2 or more PCI buses, with each bus supporting 1 or
more PCI cards. A bus has a topology similar to FC-AL in that only 2 endpoints
can be communicating at the same time. That is, if there are 4 cards plugged into
a PCI bus, only one of them can be communicating with the host at a given
instant. Multiple PCI buses are implemented to allow multiple data paths to be
communicating at the same time, resulting in aggregate bandwidth gains.
PCI buses have 2 key factors involved in bandwidth potential: the width of the
bus - 32 or 64 bits, and the clock or cycle time of the bus (in Mhz).
As a rule of thumb, a 32-bit bus can transfer 4 bytes per clock and a 64-bit bus
can transfer 8 bytes per clock. Most modern PCI buses support both 64-bit and
32-bit cards. Currently PCI buses are available in 4 clock rates:
■ 33 Mhz
■ 66 Mhz
■ 100 Mhz (sometimes referred to as PCI-X)
■ 133 Mhz (sometimes referred to as PCI-X)
PCI cards also come in different clock rate capabilities.
Backward-compatibility is very common; for example, a bus rated at 100 Mhz
will support 100, 66, and 33 Mhz cards.
Likewise, a 64-bit bus will support both 32-bit and 64-bit cards.
They can also be mixed; for example, a 100-Mhz 64-bit bus can support any mix
of clock and width that are at or below those values.
Note: In a shared-access topology, a slow card can negatively impact the

performance of other fast cards on the same bus. This is because the bus adjusts
to the right clock and width for each transfer. One moment it could be doing 100
Mhz 64 bit to card #2 and at another moment doing 33 Mhz 32 bit to card #3.
Since the transfer to card #3 will be so much slower, it takes longer to complete.
The time that is lost may otherwise have been used for moving data faster with
card #2.
You should also remember that a PCI bus is a unidirectional bus, which means
that when it is doing a transfer in one direction, it cannot move data in the other
direction, even from another card.
Real-world bandwidth is generally around 80% of the theoretical maximum

(clock * width). Following are rough estimates for bandwidths that can be
expected:
64 bit/ 33 Mhz = approximately 200 MB/second
64 bit/ 66 Mhz = approximately 400 MB/second
64 bit/100 Mhz = approximately 600 MB/second
64 bit/133 Mhz = approximately 800 MB/second

Level 5 is the interconnect within a host between PCI bridge(s) and memory.
This bandwidth is rarely a limiting factor in performance.
Host
Memory
Level 5
General notes on performance hierarchies

The hardware components between interconnect levels can also have an impact
on bandwidth.
■ A drive has sequential access bandwidth and average latency times for seek
and rotational delays.
Drives perform optimally when doing sequential I/O to disk. Non-sequential
I/O forces movement of the disk head (that is, seek and rotational latency).
This movement is a huge overhead compared to the amount of data

transferred. So the more non-sequential I/O done, the slower it will get.
Reading and/or writing more than one stream at a time will result in a mix
of short bursts of sequential I/O with seek and rotational latency in
between, which will significantly degrade overall throughput. Because
different drive types have different seek and rotational latency
specifications, the type of drive selected has a large effect on how much the
degradation will be.
From best to worst, such drives are fibre channel, SCSI, and SATA, with
SATA drives usually twice the latency of fibre channel. However, SATA
drives have about 80% the sequential performance that fibre channel drives
do.
■ A RAID controller has cache memory of varying sizes. The controller also
does the parity calculations for RAID-5. Better controllers have this
calculation (called “XOR”) in hardware which makes it faster. If there is no
hardware-assisted calculation, the controller processor must perform it,
and controller processors are not usually high performance.
■ A PCI card can be limited either by the speed supported for the port(s) or the
clock rate to the PCI bus.
■ A PCI bridge is usually not an issue because it is sized to handle whatever
PCI buses are attached to it.
Memory can be a limit if there is other intensive non-I/O activity in the system.
Note that there are no CPUs for the host processor(s) in the “Performance
hierarchy diagram” on page 140.
While CPU performance is obviously a contributor to all performance, it is
generally not the bottleneck in most modern systems for I/O intensive
workloads, because there is very little work done at that level. The CPU must
execute a read operation and a write operation, but those operations do not take
up much bandwidth. An exception is when older gigabit ethernet card(s) are
involved, because the CPU has to do more of the overhead of network transfers.
Hardware configuration examples
Hardware configuration examples

The examples below are not intended as particular recommendations for your
site. They are factors to consider when adjusting hardware for better NetBackup
performance.
Example 1
A general hardware configuration could have dual 2-gigabit fibre channel ports
on a single PCI card. In such a case, the following is true:
■ Potential bandwidth is approximately 400 MB/second.
■ For maximum performance, the card must be plugged into at least a 66 Mhz
PCI slot.
■ No other cards on that bus should need to transfer data at the same time.
That single card will saturate the PCI bus.
■ Putting 2 of these cards (4 ports total) onto the same bus and expecting
them to aggregate to 800 MB/second will never work unless the bus and
cards are 133 Mhz.
Example 2
The following more detailed example shows a pyramid of bandwidth potentials
with aggregation capabilities at some points. Suppose you have the following
hardware:
■ 1x 66 Mhz quad 1 gigabit ethernet
■ 4x 66 Mhz 2 gigabit fibre channel
■ 4x disk array with 1 gigabit fibre channel port
■ 1x Sun V880 server (2x 33 Mhz PCI buses and 1x 66 Mhz PCI bus)
In this case, for maximum backup and restore throughput with clients on the
network, the following is one way to assemble the hardware so that no
constraints limit throughput.
■ The quad 1-gigabit ethernet card can do approximately 400 MB/second
throughput at 66 Mhz.
■ It requires at least a 66 Mhz bus, because putting it in a 33 Mhz bus would
limit throughput to approximately 200 MB/second.
■ It will completely saturate the 66 Mhz bus, so do not put any other cards on
that bus that need significant I/O at the same time.
Since the disk arrays have only 1-gigabit fibre channel ports, the fibre channel
cards will degrade to 1 gigabit each.
Tuning software for better performance
■ Each card can therefore move approximately 100 MB/second. With four
cards, the total is approximately 400 MB/second.
■ However, you do not have a single PCI bus available that can support that
400MB /second, since the 66-Mhz bus is already taken by ethernet card.
■ There are two 33-Mhz buses which can each support approximately 200
MB/second. Therefore, you can put 2 of the fibre channel cards on each of
the 2 buses.
This configuration can move approximately 400 MB/second for backup or
restore. Real-world results of a configuration like this show approximately 350
MB/second.

Note: The size of individual I/O operations should be scaled such that the
overhead is relatively low compared to the amount of data moved. That means
the I/O size for a bulk transfer operation (such as a backup) should be relatively
large.
The optimum size of I/O operations is dependent on many factors and varies
greatly depending on the hardware setup.
Below is the performance hierarchy diagram, but in this version, each array only
has a single shelf.
Figure 10-8 Example hierarchy with single shelf per array
Host
Memory
Level 5
PCI bus PCI bus PCI bus

Level 4
PCI card PCI PCI

1 card 2 card 3
Level 3 Fibre channel Fibre channel
Array 1 Array 2
Raid controller Raid controller Tape,

Ethernet,
or
Level 2 another
non-disk
Shelf Shelf device
Shelf adaptor Shelf adaptor
Level 1
Drives Drives
Note the following:

■ Each shelf in the disk array has 9 drives because it uses a RAID 5 group of
8+1 (that is, 8 data disks + 1 parity disk).
The RAID controller in the array uses a stripe unit size when performing I/O
to these drives. Suppose that you know the stripe unit size to be 64KB. This
means that when writing a full stripe (8+1) it will write 64KB to each drive.
The amount of non-parity data is 8 * 64KB, or 512KB. So, internal to the
array, the optimal I/O size is 512KB. This means that crossing Level 3 to the
host PCI card should perform I/O at 512KB.
■ The diagram shows two separate RAID arrays on two separate PCI buses.
You want both to be performing I/O transfers at the same time.
If each is optimal at 512K, the two arrays together are optimal at 1MB.
You can implement software RAID-0 to make the two independent arrays
look like one logical device. RAID-0 is a plain stripe with no parity. Parity
protects against drive failure, and this configuration already has RAID-5
parity protecting the drives inside the array.
The software RAID-0 is configured for a stripe unit size of 512KB (the I/O
size of each unit) and a stripe width of 2 (1 for each of the arrays).
Since 1MB is the optimum I/O size for the volume (the RAID-0 entity on the
host), that size is used throughout the rest of the I/O stack.
■ If possible, configure the file system mounted over the volume for 1MB. The
application performing I/O to the file system also uses an I/O size of 1MB. In
NetBackup, I/O sizes are set in the configuration touch file
.../db/config/SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK. See “Changing the size of
shared data buffers” on page 105 for more information.
Chapter 11
OS-related tuning factors
This chapter provides OS-related tuning recommendations that can improve
NetBackup performance.
■ “Kernel tuning (UNIX)” on page 152
■ “Adjusting data buffer size (Windows)” on page 157
■ “Other Windows issues” on page 159
152 OS-related tuning factors
Kernel tuning (UNIX)

Several kernel tunable parameters can affect NetBackup performance on UNIX.
Note: Keep in mind that changing these parameters may affect other
applications that use the same parameters. Making sizeable changes to these
parameters may result in performance trade-offs. Usually, the best approach is
to make small changes and monitor the results.
Kernel parameters on Solaris 8 and 9

The Solaris operating system dynamically builds the operating system kernel
with each boot of the system.
The parameters below reflect minimum settings for a system dedicated to
running Veritas NetBackup software.
Note: The parameters described in this section can be used on Solaris 8, 9, and
10. However, many of the following parameters are obsolete in Solaris 10. See
“Kernel parameters in Solaris 10” on page 154 for a list of the parameters now
obsolete in Solaris 10 and for further assistance with Solaris 10 parameters.
Below are brief definitions of the message queue, semaphore, and shared
memory parameters. The parameter definitions apply to a Solaris system. The
values for these parameters can be set in the file /etc/system.
■ Message queues
set msgsys:msginfo_msgmax = maximum message size
set msgsys:msginfo_msgmnb = maximum length of a message queue in
bytes. The length of the message queue is the sum of the lengths of all the
messages in the queue.
set msgsys:msginfo_msgmni = number of message queue identifiers
set msgsys:msginfo_msgtql = maximum number of outstanding messages
system-wide that are waiting to be read across all message queues.
■ Semaphores
set semsys:seminfo_semmap = number of entries in semaphore map
set semsys:seminfo_semmni = maximum number of semaphore identifiers
system-wide
set semsys:seminfo_semmns = number of semaphores system-wide
set semsys:seminfo_semmnu = maximum number of undo structures in
system
set semsys:seminfo_semmsl = maximum number of semaphores per id
OS-related tuning factors 153
set semsys:seminfo_semopm = maximum number of operations per semop

call
set semsys:seminfo_semume = maximum number of undo entries per
process
■ Shared memory
set shmsys:shminfo_shmmin = minimum shared memory segment size
set shmsys:shminfo_shmmax = maximum shared memory segment size
set shmsys:shminfo_shmseg = maximum number of shared memory
segments that can be attached to a given process at one time
set shmsys:shminfo_shmmni = maximum number of shared memory
identifiers that the system will support
The ipcs -a command displays system resources and their allocation, and is a
useful command to use when a process is hanging or sleeping to see if there are
available resources for it to use.
Example:
This is an example of tuning the kernel parameters for NetBackup master
servers and media servers, for a Solaris 8 or 9 system. Symantec provides this
information only to assist in kernel tuning for NetBackup. See “Kernel
parameters in Solaris 10” on page 154 for Solaris 10.
These are recommended minimum values. If /etc/system already contains
any of these entries, use the larger of the existing setting and the setting
provided here. Before modifying /etc/system, use the command
/usr/sbin/sysdef -i to view the current kernel parameters.
After you have changed the settings in /etc/system, reboot the system to
allow the changed settings to take effect. After rebooting, the sysdef command
will display the new settings.
*BEGIN NetBackup with the following recommended minimum settings in a
Solaris /etc/system file
*Message queues
set msgsys:msginfo_msgmap=512
set msgsys:msginfo_msgmax=8192
set msgsys:msginfo_msgmnb=65536
set msgsys:msginfo_msgmni=256
set msgsys:msginfo_msgssz=16
set msgsys:msginfo_msgtql=512
set msgsys:msginfo_msgseg=8192
*Semaphores
set semsys:seminfo_semmap=64
set semsys:seminfo_semmni=1024
set semsys:seminfo_semmns=1024
set semsys:seminfo_semmnu=1024
set semsys:seminfo_semmsl=300
set semsys:seminfo_semopm=32
set semsys:seminfo_semume=64
*Shared memory
set shmsys:shminfo_shmmax=16777216
set shmsys:shminfo_shmmin=1
set shmsys:shminfo_shmmni=220
set shmsys:shminfo_shmseg=100
*END NetBackup recommended minimum settings
■ Socket Parameters on Solaris 8 and 9
The TCP_TIME_WAIT_INTERVAL parameter sets the amount of time to
wait after a TCP socket is closed before it can be used again. This is the time
that a TCP connection remains in the kernel's table after the connection has
been closed. The default value for most systems is 240000, which is 4
minutes (240 seconds) in milliseconds. If your server is slow because it
handles many connections, check the current value for
TCP_TIME_WAIT_INTERVAL and consider reducing it.
For Solaris or HP-UX, use the following command:
ndd -get /dev/tcp tcp_time_wait_interval
■ Force load parameters on Solaris 8 and 9
When system memory gets low, Solaris unloads unused drivers from
memory and reloads drivers as needed. Tape drivers are a frequent
candidate for unloading, since they tend to be less heavily used than disk
drivers. Depending on the timing of these unload and reload events for the
st (Sun), sg (Symantec), and Fibre Channel drivers, various issues may
result. These issues can range from devices “disappearing” from a SCSI bus
to system panics.
Symantec recommends adding the following “forceload” statements to the
/etc/system file. These statements prevent the st and sg drivers from
being unloaded from memory:
forceload: dev/st
forceload: dev/sg
Other statements may be necessary for various Fibre Channel drivers, such
as the following example for JNI:
forceload: dev/fcaw
Kernel parameters in Solaris 10

In Solaris 10, all System V IPC facilities are either automatically configured or
can be controlled by resource controls. Facilities that can be shared are memory,
message queues, and semaphores. For information on tuning these system

resources, see Chapter 6, “Resource Controls (Overview),” in the Sun System
Administration Guide: Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Solaris
Zones.”
For further assistance with Solaris parameters, refer to the Solaris Tunable
Parameters Reference Manual, available at:
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/819-2724?q=Solaris+Tunable+Parameters
The following sections of the Solaris Tunable Parameters Reference Manual may
be of particular interest:
■ What’s New in Solaris System Tuning in the Solaris 10 Release?
■ System V Message Queues
■ System V Semaphores
■ System V Shared Memory
Parameters obsolete in Solaris 10

The parameters below are obsolete in Solaris 10. Although they can be included
in the Solaris /etc/system file and are used to initialize the default resource
control values, Sun does not recommend their use in Solaris 10.
semsys:seminfo_semmns
semsys:seminfo_semvmx
semsys:seminfo_semmnu
semsys:seminfo_semaem
semsys:seminfo_semume
semsys:seminfo_semusz
semsys:seminfo_semmap
shmsys:shminfo_shmseg
shmsys:shminfo_shmmin
msgsys:msginfo_msgmap
msgsys:msginfo_msgseg
msgsys:msginfo_msgssz
msgsys:msginfo_msgmax
Message queue and shared memory parameters on HP-UX

The kernel parameters that deal with message queues and shared memory
can be mapped to work on an HP-UX system. Below is a list of HP kernel
tuning parameter settings.
Table 11-17 Kernel tuning parameters for HP-UX
Name Minimum Value
mesg 1
Table 11-17 Kernel tuning parameters for HP-UX
Name Minimum Value
msgmap 514
msgmax 8192
msgmnb 65536
msgssz 8
msgseg 8192
msgtql 512
msgmni 256
sema 1
semmap semmni+2
semmni 300
semmns 300
semmnu 300
semume 64
semvmx 32767
shmem 1
shmmni 300
shmseg 120
shmmax Calculate shmmax using the formula provided under

“Recommended shared memory settings” on page 107.*
*shmmax = NetBackup shared memory allocation =

(SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS * NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS) * number of
drives * MPX per drive
SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS and NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS are also
discussed under “Recommended shared memory settings” on page 107.
To change the above kernel parameters, use the System Administration
Manager (SAM) unless you have great familiarity with changing kernel
parameters and rebuilding the kernel from the command line.
From SAM, select Kernel Configuration > Configurable Parameters. Find
the parameter to change and select Actions > Modify Configurable
Parameter. Then key in the new value. This should be done for all the
Adjusting data buffer size (Windows)
desired parameters. Once all the values have been changed, select Actions >
Process New Kernel. This will bring up a warning to inform that a reboot
will be required to move the values into place. After the reboot, the sysdef
command can be used to confirm that the correct value is in place.
Caution: Any changes to the kernel will require a reboot in order to move the
new kernel into place. Do not make changes to the parameters unless a system
reboot can be performed, or the changes will not be saved.
Kernel parameters on Linux

To modify the Linux kernel tunable parameters, use sysctl. sysctl is used to view,
set, and automate kernel settings in the /proc/sys directory. Most of these
parameters can be changed online. To make your changes permanent, edit
/etc/sysctl.conf. The kernel must have support for the procfs file system
statically compiled in or dynamically loaded as a module.
The default buffer size for tapes is 32K on Linux. To change it, either rebuild the
kernel, making changes to st_options.h, or add a resize parameter to the
startup of Linux. An example for a grub.conf entry is:
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.18-24.7.x)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-24.7.x ro root=/dev/hda2
st=buffer_kbs:256,max_buffers:8
initrd /initrd-2.4.18-24.7.x.img
For further information on setting boot options for st, see
/usr/src/linux*/drivers/scsi/README.st, subsection BOOT TIME.

The limit on the size of the data buffers possible under Windows is 1024
Kilobytes. This is calculated as a multiple of operating system pages (1 page
= 4 Kilobytes). Therefore, the maximum is 256 OS pages counting from 0 to
255 (the hex value 0xFF). Setting anything larger will default back to 64
Kilobytes, as that is the default size for the Scatter Gather List.
The setting of the maximum usable block size is dependent on the Host Bus
Adapter (HBA) miniport driver, not the tape driver or the OS. For example,
the readme for the QLogic QLA2200 card contains the following:
* MaximumSGList
Windows includes enhanced scatter/gather list support for doing very large
SCSI I/O transfers. Windows supports up to 256 scatter/gather segments of
4096 bytes each, allowing transfers up to 1048576 bytes.
Note: The OEMSETUP.INF file has been updated to automatically update

the registry to support 65 scatter/gather segments. Normally, no additional
changes will be necessary as this typically results in the best overall
performance.
To change the data buffer size, do the following:

1 Click Start > Run and open the REGEDT32 program.
2 Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and follow the tree structure down to the
QLogic driver as follows: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM >
CurrentControlSet > Services > Ql2200 > Parameters > Device.
3 Double click MaximumSGList:REG_DWORD:0x21
4 Enter a value from 16 to 255 (0x10 hex to 0xFF). A value of 255 (0xFF)
enables the maximum 1 Megabyte transfer size. Setting a value higher than
255 reverts to the default of 64-Kilobyte transfers. The default value is 33
(0x21).
5 Click OK.
6 Exit the Registry Editor, then shut down and reboot the system.
The main definition here is the so-called SGList, that is, Scatter/Gather list.
This is the number of pages that can be either scattered or gathered (that is,
read or written) in one DMA transfer. For the QLA2200, you set the
parameter MaximumSGList to 0xFF (or just to 0x40 for 256Kb) and can then
set 256Kb buffer sizes for NetBackup. Extreme caution should be used when
attempting to modify this registry value, and the vendor of the SCSI/Fiber
card should always be contacted first to ascertain the maximum value that
particular card can support.
The same should be possible for other HBAs as well, especially fiber cards.
The default for JNI fiber cards using driver version 1.16 is actually 0x80
(512Kb or 128 pages). The default for the Emulex LP8000 is 0x81 (513Kb or
129 pages).
Note that for this approach to work, the HBA has to install its own SCSI
miniport driver. If it does not, transfers will be limited to 64 Kilobytes. This
is for legacy cards like old SCSI cards.
In conclusion, the built-in limit on Windows is 1024 Kilobytes, unless you
are using the default Microsoft miniport driver for legacy cards. The
limitations are all to do with the HBA drivers and the limits of the physical
devices attached to them.
For example, Quantum DLT7000 drives work best with 128-Kilobyte buffers
and StorageTek 9840 drives with 256-Kilobyte buffers. If these values are
Other Windows issues
increased too far, this could result in damage to either the HBA or the tape
drives or any devices in between (fiber bridges and switches, for example).

■ Troubleshooting NetBackup’s use of configuration files on Windows
systems.
If you create a configuration file on a Windows system for NetBackup’s use
(on UNIX systems, such files are called touch files), the file name must
match the file name that NetBackup is expecting. In particular, make sure
the file name does not have an extension, such as .txt.
If, for instance, you create a file called NOexpire to prevent the expiration of
backup images, this file will not produce the desired effect if the file’s name
is NOexpire.txt.
Note also: the file must use a supported type of encoding, such as ANSI.
Unicode encoding is not supported; if the file is in Unicode, it will not
produce the desired effect.
To check the encoding type, open the file using a tool that displays the
current encoding, such as Notepad. Select File > Save As and check the
options in the Encoding field. ANSI encoding will work properly.
■ Disable antivirus software when running file system backup on Windows
2000 or Windows XP. Antivirus applications scan all files backed up by
NetBackup, and load down the client’s CPU and slow its backups.
As a work around, in the Backup, Archive, and Restore interface, on the
NetBackup Client Properties dialog, General tab, clear the checkbox next to
Perform incrementals based on archive bit.
Appendix A
Additional resources
This chapter lists additional sources of information.
Performance monitoring utilities

■ Storage Mountain, previously called Backup Central, is a resource for all
backup-related issues. It is located at http://www.storagemountain.com.
■ The following article discusses how and why to design a scalable data
installation: “High-Availability SANs,” Richard Lyford, FC Focus Magazine,
April 30, 2002.
Freeware tools for bottleneck detection

■ Iperf, for measuring TCP and UDP bandwidth:
http://dast.nlanr.net/Projects/Iperf1.1.1/index.htm
■ Bonnie, for measuring the performance of UNIX file system operations:
http://www.textuality.com/bonnie
■ Bonnie++, extends the capabilities of Bonnie:
http://www.coker.com.au/bonnie++/readme.html
■ Tiobench, for testing I/O performance with multiple running threads:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/tiobench/
Mailing list resources

■ You can find Veritas NetBackup news groups at:
http://forums.veritas.com.
Search on the keyword “NetBackup” to find threads relevant to NetBackup.
■ The email list Veritas-bu discusses backup-related products such as
NetBackup. Archives for Veritas-bu are located at:
http://mailman.eng.auburn.edu/mailman/listinfo/veritas-bu
162 Additional resources
■ The Usenet news group comp.arch.storage.

Index
Symbols data buffer size (Windows) 157

error threshold 55
/dev/null 84
network communications buffer 97
/dev/rmt/2cbn 133
read buffer size 136
/dev/rmt/2n 133
Advanced Client 64, 135, 136
/etc/rc2.d 124
AIX 99
/etc/system 152
All Log Entries report 79, 81, 83
/proc/sys (Linux) 157
ALL_LOCAL_DRIVES 29, 50
/user/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BU
alphabetical order, storage units 44
FFERS 105
ANSI encoding 159
/user/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BU
antivirus software 159
FFERS_DISK 105
arbitrated loop 142
/usr/openv/netbackup 100
archive bit 159
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/bpimage 12
archiving catalog 47
3
array RAID controller 142
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/error 83
arrays 95
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/images 123
ATA 21
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/media 56
ATM card 31
/usr/openv/netbackup/logs 84
auto-negotiate 97
/usr/sbin 57
AUTOSENSE 97
/usr/sbin/devfsadm 58
available_media report 60
/usr/sbin/modinfo 57
available_media script 54, 60
/usr/sbin/modload 58
Avg. Disk Queue Length counter 88
/usr/sbin/modunload 57
/usr/sbin/ndd 124
/usr/sbin/tapes 57 B
backup
Numerics catalog 50
database 64
1000BaseT 21
disk or tape 60
100BaseT 21
environment, dedicated or shared 60
100BaseT cards 31
large catalog 47
10BaseT 21
load adjusting 94
10BaseT cards 31
load leveling 93
monopolizing devices 94
A user-directed 77
ACS 58 window 64, 92
acsd 58 Backup Central 161
ACSLS communications 58 Backup Tries parameter 56
Activity Monitor 80 balancing load 93
adjusting bandwidth 145
backup load 94 bandwidth limiting 93
164 Index
Bare Metal Restore (BMR) 135 archiving 47

best practices 66, 68, 71 backup requirements 93
Bonnie 161 backups not finishing 47
Bonnie++ 161 backups, guidelines 46
boot options (Linux) 157 calculating size of 23
bottlenecks 79, 97 compression 47, 48
freeware tools for detecting 161 large backups 47
bp.conf file 56, 101 managing 46
bpbkar 96, 109, 110, 112 Checkpoint Restart 122
bpbkar log 83, 84 child delay values 108
bpbkar32 96, 109, 110 CHILD_DELAY file 108
bpdm log 83 cleaning
bpdm_dev_null 85 robots 68
bpend_notify.bat 95 tape drives 66
bpimage 123 tapes 60
bpmount -i 50 client
bprd 41, 44 compression 133
bpsetconfig 134 convert to media server 92
bpstart_notify.bat 95 tuning performance 95
bptm 108, 109, 110, 112, 115, 118, 120 variables 78
bptm log 56, 83 Client Job Tracker 136
buffers 97, 157 clock or cycle time 144
and FlashBackup 136 Committed Bytes 87
changing 104 common system resources 85
changing Windows buffers 158 communications
default number of 102 buffer 99
default size of 103 process 109
for network communications 99 Communications Buffer Size parameter 98, 99
shared 102 comp.arch.storage 162
tape 102 COMPRESS_SUFFIX option 134
testing 107 compression 88, 133
wait and delay 108 and encryption 134
Windows 157 catalog 47, 48
bus 54 how to enable 133
tape vs client 133
configuration files (Windows) 159
C configuration guidelines 49
cache device (snapshot) 136 CONNECT_OPTIONS 42
calculate controller 88
actual data transfer rate required 19 copy-on-write snapshot 136
length of backups 18 counters 108
network transfer rate 21 algorithm 110
number of robotic tape slots needed 26 determining values of 112
number of tape drives needed 20 in Windows performance 86
number of tapes needed 25 wait and delay 108
shared memory 103 CPU 84, 86
size of catalog 23 and performance 146
space needed for NBDB database 23, 24 load, monitoring 84
cartridges, storing 68 utilization 42
catalog 123
Index 165
CPUs needed per media server component 31 reconfiguration 57

critical policies 50 devlinks 57
cumulative-incremental backup 17 disable TapeAlert 68
custom reports disaster recovery 68, 69
available media 60 testing 43
cycle time 144 disk
full 88
increase performance 88
D load, monitoring 87
daily_messages log 51 performance, issues affecting 139
data buffer speed, measuring 84
overview 102 staging 44
size 97, 157 versus tape 60
data compression 126 Disk Queue Length counter 88
Data Consumer 111 disk speed, measuring 85
data path through server 141 Disk Time counter 88
data producer 111 disk-based storage 60
data recovery, planning for 68, 69 diskperf command 87
data stream and tape efficiency 126 disks, adding 95
data throughput 78 DNS server 48
statistics 79 down drive 55, 56
data transfer path 79, 90 drive controllers 20
basic tuning 91 drive selection 58
data transfer rate drive_error_threshold 55, 56
for drive controllers 20 drives, number per network connection 54
for tape drives 18 drvconfig 57
required 19
data variables 78
database E
backups 64, 130 email list (Veritas-bu) 161
protect against failure 64 EMM 41, 48, 54, 58, 60, 67
restores 124 EMM database
databases derived from pre-6.0 databases 24
list of pre-6.0 databases 24 EMM server
DB2 restores 124 calculating space needed for 23, 24
Deactivate command 77 moving off master 49
dedicated backup servers 92 encoding, file 159
dedicated private networks 92 encryption 133
delay and compression 134
buffer 108 error logs 56, 80
in starting jobs 40 error threshold value 54
values, parent/child 108 Ethernet connection 140
de-multiplexing 91 evaluating components 84, 85
designing evaluating performance
master server 27 Activity Monitor 80
media server 31 All Log Entries report 81
Detailed Status tab 80 encryption 133
devfsadmd daemon 57 NetBackup clients 95
device NetBackup servers 102
names 133 network 77, 96
166 Index
overview 76 elements affecting performance 140

exclude lists 49 performance considerations 145
heap size, adjusting
NOM server 137
F NOM web server 138
factors hierarchy, disk 140
in choosing disk vs tape 61 host memory 141
in job scheduling 41 host name resolution 78
failover, storage unit groups 44 hot catalog backup 46, 50
fast-locate 120
FBU_READBLKS 137
FC-AL 142, 144 I
fibre channel 141, 143 I/O operations
arbitrated loop 142 scaling 148
connection 54 I/O overhead 64
file encoding 159 IMAGE_FILES 123
file ID on vxlogview 50 IMAGE_INFO 123
file system space 45 IMAGE_LIST 123
files improving performance, see tuning
backing up many small 135 include lists 49
Windows configuration 159 increase disk performance 88
firewall settings 42 incremental backups 61, 92, 131
FlashBackup 135, 136 index performance 123
force load parameters (Solaris) 154 insufficient memory 87
forward space filemark 120 interfaces, multiple 101
fragment size 119, 121 ipcs -a command 153
considerations in choosing 119 Iperf 161
fragmentation 95 iSCSI 21
databases 64 iSCSI bus 54
level 88
freeware tools 161
freeze media 54, 55, 56
J
frequency-based tape cleaning 66 Java interface 33, 134
frozen volume 55 job
full backup 61 delays 41
full duplex 96 scheduling 40, 41
scheduling, limiting factors 41
Job Tracker 96
G jobs queued 40, 41
Gigabit Ethernet cards 31 JVM Option Number 0 (NOM) 138
Gigabit Fibre Channel 21
globDB 24
goodies directory 60
K
groups of storage units 44 kernel tuning
Linux 157
Solaris 152
H
hardware
components and performance 145
L
configuration examples 147 larger buffer (FlashBackup) 136
largest fragment size 119
Index 167
latency 145 pools 60

legacy logs 51 positioning 126
leveling load among backup components 93 threshold for errors 54
library-based tape cleaning 68 media and device selection logic 58
Limit jobs per policy attribute 40, 94 media errors database 24
limiting fragment size 119 Media List report 54
link down 97 media manager
Linux, kernel tunable parameters 157 drive selection 58
load Media multiplexing setting 40
leveling 93 media server 32
monitoring 86 convert from client 92
parameters (Solaris) 154 designing 31
local backups 131 factors in sizing 33
Log Sense page 67 not available 41
logging 77 number needed 32
logs 51, 56, 80, 112, 135 number supported by a master 30
managing 50 media_error_threshold 55, 56
viewing 50 mediaDB 24
long-term storage 61 MEGABYTES_OF_MEMORY 134
ltidevs 24 memory 141, 145, 146
LTO drives 25, 31 amount required 32, 103
insufficient 87
monitoring use of 84, 87
M shared 102
mailing lists 161 merging master servers 48
managing message queue 152
logs 50 message queue parameters
the catalog 46 HP-UX 155
Manual Backup command 77 migration 66
master server Mode Select page 67
CPU utilization 42 Mode Sense 67
designing 27 modload command 58
determining number of 29 modunload command 57
splitting 48 monitoring
MAX_HEAP setting (NOM) 137 data variables 78
Maximum concurrent write drives 40 MPX_RESTORE_DELAY option 124
Maximum jobs per client 40 MTFSF/MTFSR 120
Maximum Jobs Per Client attribute 94 multiple drives, storage unit 40
Maximum streams per drive 41 multiple interfaces 101
maximum throughput rate 127 multiple small files, backing up 135
Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) 108 multiplexed backups
MaximumSGList 157, 158 and fragment size 120
MDS 58 database backups 124
measuring multiplexed image, restoring 121
disk read speed 84, 85 multiplexing 61, 91, 130
NetBackup performance 76 and memory required 32
media effects of 132
catalog 55 schedule 40
error threshold 55 set too high 124
not available 54
168 Index
when to use 130 variables 77

multi-streaming 130 Network Buffer Size parameter 99, 115
NEW_STREAM directive 132 NEW_STREAM directive 132
when to use 130 news groups 161
no media available 54
NO_TAPEALERT touch file 68
N NOexpire touch file 44, 159
namespace.chksum 24 NOM 32, 43, 60
naming conventions 71 adjusting performance 137
policies 71 database 34
storage units 72 guidelines for sizing 33
NBDB database 23, 24 server heap size, adjusting 137
NBDB.log 47 to monitor jobs 43
nbemmcmd command 55 web server heap size, adjusting 138
nbjm and job delays 41 nominal throughput rate 127
nbpem 44 nomsrvctl file (NOM) 137
nbpem and job delays 40 none pool 60
nbu_snap 136 non-multiplexed restores 120
ndd 124 no-rewind option 133
NET_BUFFER_SZ 98, 99, 106 NOSHM file 100
NET_BUFFER_SZ_REST 98 Notepad, checking file encoding 159
NetBackup notify scripts 95
capacity planning 11 nslookup 48
catalog 123 NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS 104, 107, 156
job scheduling 40 NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK 104
news groups 161 NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_RESTORE 104, 123
restores 119
scheduler 76
NetBackup Client Job Tracker 136 O
NetBackup Java console 134 OEMSETUP.INF file 158
NetBackup Operations Manager, see NOM offload work to additional master 48
NetBackup Relational Database 48 on-demand tape cleaning 67
NetBackup relational database files 47 online (hot) catalog backup 50
NetBackup Vault 134 Oracle 125
network restores 124
bandwidth limiting 93 order of using storage units 44
buffer size 97 out-of-sequence delivery of packets 136
communications buffer 99
connection options 42
connections 96
P
interface cards (NICs) 96 packets 136
load 97 Page Faults 87
multiple interfaces 101 parent/child delay values 108
performance 77 PARENT_DELAY file 108
private, dedicated 92 patches 136
tapes drives and 54 PCI bridge 141, 145, 146
traffic 97 PCI bus 141, 144, 145
transfer rate 21 PCI card 141, 146
tuning 96 performance
tuning and servers 92 and CPU 146
Index 169
and disk hardware 139 resizing read buffer (FlashBackup) 137

and hardware issues 145 restore
see also tuning and network 124
strategies and considerations 91 in mixed environment 124
performance evaluation 76 multiplexed image 121
Activity Monitor 80 of database 124
All Log Entries report 81 performance of 122
monitoring CPU 86 RESTORE_RETRIES for restores 56
monitoring disk load 87 retention period 61
monitoring memory use 84, 87 RMAN 125
system components 84, 85 robot
PhysicalDisk object 88 cleaning 68
policies types 58
critical 50 robotic_def 24
guidelines 49 routers 97
naming conventions 71 ruleDB 24
Policy Update Interval 40
poolDB 24
pooling conventions 60
S
port configuration SAN 64
for robot types 58 SAN fabric 143
position error 56 SAN Media Server 92
Process Queue Length 86 sar command 84
Processor Time 86 SATA 21
Scatter/Gather list 158
schedule naming, best practices 71
Q scheduling 40, 76
queued jobs 40, 41 delays 40
disaster recovery 43
limiting factors 41
R scratch pool 60
RAID 61, 88, 95 SCSI bus 54
controller 142, 146 SCSI connection 54
rate of data transfer 17 SCSI/FC connection 126
raw partition backup 136 SDLT drives 25, 31
read buffer size search performance 123
adjusting 136 semaphore (Solaris) 152
and FlashBackup 136 Serial ATA (SATA) 142
reconfigure devices 57 server
recovering data, planning for 68, 69 data path through 141
recovery time 61 splitting master from EMM 49
reduce CPU overhead 64 tuning 102
Reduce fragment size setting 119 variables 76
reduce I/O 64 SGList 158
REGEDT32 158 shared data buffers 102
registry 158 changing 104
reload st driver without rebooting 57 default number of 102
report 83 default size of 103
All Log Entries 81 shared memory 100, 102
media 60 amount required 103
170 Index
parameters, HP-UX 155 system resources 85

recommended settings 107 system variables, controlling 76
Solaris parameters 152
testing 107
shared-access topology 142, 145
T
shelf 142 Take checkpoints setting 122
SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS 106, 107, 156, 157 tape
SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK 105 block size 103
small files, backup of 135 buffers 102
SMART diagnostic standard 67 cartridges, storing 68
snap mirror 135 cleaning 60, 67
snapshot cache device 136 compression 133
snapshots 96 efficiency 126
and databases 64 full, frozen, suspended 60
socket number of tapes needed for backups 25
communications 100 position error 56
parameters (Solaris) 154 streaming 61, 126
software versus disk 60
compression (client) 134 tape connectivity 54
tuning 148 reload st driver 57
Solaris tape drive 126
clients and FlashBackup read buffer 137 cleaning 66
kernel tuning 152 number needed 20
splitting master server 48 number per network connection 54
SSOhosts 24 technologies 66
st driver technology needed 18
reloading 57 transfer rates 18
staging, disk 44, 61 types 31
Start Window 76 tape library
STK drives 25 number of tape slots needed 26
storage device performance 126 using drives 93
Storage Mountain 161 TapeAlert 67
storage unit 44, 95 tape-based storage 60
groups 44 tar 110
naming conventions 72 tar32 110
not available 41 TCP/IP 136
Storage Unit dialog 119 tcp_deferred_ack_interval 124
storage_units database 24 testing conditions 76
storing tape cartridges 68 threshold
streaming (tape drive) 61, 126 error, adjusting 55
striped volumes (VxVM) 136 for media errors 54
striping throughput 79
block size 136 time to data 61
volumes on disks 92 Tiobench 161
stunit_groups 24 TLD robotic control 58
suspended volume 55 TLM 58
switches 143 tlmd 58
synthetic backups 99 tools (freeware) 161
System Administration Manager (SAM) 156 topology (hardware) 144
touch files 44, 100
Index 171
encoding 159 W
traffic on network 97
wait/delay counters 108, 109, 112
transaction log file 47
analyzing problems 115
transfer rate
correcting problems 118
drive controllers 20
for local client backup 112
for backups 17
for local client restore 114
network 21
for remote client backup 113
required 19
for remote client restore 114
tape drives 18
wear of tape drives 126
True Image Restore option 23, 135
webgui command 138
tuning
Wide Ultra 2 SCSI 21
basic suggestions 91
wild cards in file lists 49
buffer sizes 97, 99
Windows Performance Monitor 86
client performance 95
Working Set, in memory 87
data transfer path, overview 90
device performance 126
FlashBackup read buffer 136
Linux kernel 157
network performance 96
restore performance 119, 124
search performance 123
server performance 102
software 148
Solaris kernel 152
U
Ultra-3 SCSI 21
Ultra320 SCSI 21
Unicode encoding 159
unified logging, viewing 50
Usenet news group 162
user-directed backup 77
V
Vault 134
verbosity level 135
Veritas-bu email list 161
viewing logs 50
virus scans 95, 135
vmstat 84
volDB 24
volume
frozen 55
pools 60
suspended 55
vxlogview 50
file ID 50
VxVM striped volumes 136
172 Index

Netbackup - Planning and Desining

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Veritas NetBackup™

Backup Planning and

UNIX, Windows, and Linux

Veritas NetBackup 6.0

THIS DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED

Printed in the United States of America.

Third-party software may be recommended, distributed, embedded, or bundled

For technical assistance, visit http://support.veritas.com and select phone or

Section I Backup planning and configuration guidelines

Chapter 2 Master server configuration guidelines

Disk staging .................................................................................................. 44

Chapter 3 Media server configuration guidelines

Chapter 4 Media configuration guidelines

Chapter 5 Database backup guidelines

Chapter 6 Best practices

Policy names .................................................................................................71

Section II Performance tuning

Chapter 8 Tuning the NetBackup data transfer path

Chapter 9 Tuning other NetBackup components

Chapter 10 Tuning disk I/O performance

Chapter 11 OS-related tuning factors

Appendix A Additional resources

Backup planning and

Note: The information in this manual is subject to change.

Figure 1-1 Dedicated NetBackup server

Analyzing your backup requirements

The frequency of your backups has a direct impact on your:

Designing your backup system

Calculate the required data transfer rate for your backups

Calculate how long it will take to back up to tape

Table 1-1 Tape drive data transfer rates

Drive Theoretical Theoretical Typical

LTO gen 1 54 108 37-65

LTO gen 2 108 216 75-130

LTO gen 3 288 576 200-345

SDLT 320 57 115 40-70

SDLT 600 129 259 90-155

STK 9940B 108 252 (2.33:1) 75-100

Example: Calculating the actual data transfer rate required

Calculate how many tape drives are needed

Example: Calculating the number of tape drives needed to perform a

Drive Controller Theoretical Theoretical

ATA-5 (ATA/ATAPI-5) 66 237.6

Wide Ultra 2 SCSI 80 288

iSCSI 100 360

1 Gigabit Fibre Channel 100 360

SATA/150 150 540

Ultra-3 SCSI 160 576

2 Gigabit Fibre Channel 200 720

SATA/300 300 1080

Ultra320 SCSI 320 1152

4 Gigabit Fibre Channel 400 1440

Calculate the required data transfer rate for your network(s)

Table 1-3 Network data transfer rates

Network Technology Theoretical gigabytes/hour Typical gigabytes/hour

10BaseT (switched) 3.6 2.7

1000BaseT (switched) 360 320

Note: For additional information on the importance of matching network

Example: Calculating network transfer rates

Calculate the size of your NetBackup catalog

Example: Calculating the size of your NetBackup catalog

Calculate the size of the EMM server