Veritas NetBackup™ Appliance Capacity Planning and Performance Tuning Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): Appliances (3.0)
Platform: NetBackup Appliance OS
  1. About this Guide
    1.  
      About this guide
    2.  
      About the intended audience
    3.  
      About the NetBackup appliance documentation
  2. Section I. Capacity planning
    1. Analyzing your backup requirements
      1. Analyzing your backup requirements
        1.  
          What do you want to backup?
        2.  
          How much data do you want to back up?
        3.  
          When should the backup take place?
        4.  
          What is the retention period?
        5. Record your backup requirements
          1.  
            Template to record computer system information
          2.  
            Template to record database information
          3.  
            Template to record application server information
    2. Designing your backup system
      1.  
        Addressing use cases of backup systems for enterprises
      2.  
        Addressing use cases of backup systems for remote or branch offices
      3. About NetBackup appliances
        1.  
          About the Master Server role
        2.  
          About the Media Server role
      4. Selecting new appliances
        1.  
          Selecting a media server
        2.  
          Selecting a master server
  3. Section II. Best Practices
    1. About the best practices section
      1.  
        About best practices
      2.  
        References to maintenance sites
    2. About implementing deduplication solutions
      1.  
        About implementing deduplication solutions
      2.  
        General recommendations
      3.  
        Oracle
      4.  
        Microsoft SQL
      5.  
        DB2
      6.  
        Sybase
      7.  
        Lotus Notes
    3. Network consideration
      1.  
        About network considerations
      2.  
        About Fibre Channel connectivity
      3. About SAN zone configurations
        1.  
          About zoning the SAN for NetBackup appliances
      4.  
        Validating network bandwidth
    4. Storage configuration
      1.  
        About storage configuration
      2. About configuring a shared storage pool
        1.  
          Calculating the basic stream count for backups
      3. About moving a storage partition for better performance
        1. Moving a partition
          1.  
            Move <partition> dialog
        2.  
          Moving a partition using the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu
        3.  
          Moving the MSDP partition from a base disk to an expansion disk for optimum performance
    5. Generic best practices
      1.  
        Generic best practices
      2.  
        About Notification settings
      3.  
        About IPMI configuration
      4.  
        Disaster recovery best practices
      5.  
        Job performance
      6.  
        Architecture
      7.  
        NetBackup Catalog Backup
      8.  
        Patching with the SLP (storage lifecycle policies)
      9.  
        VMware backups using appliances
      10.  
        Improving NetBackup Appliance restore performance
  4. Section III. Performance tuning
    1. Role-based Performance Monitoring
      1.  
        Role-based configuration as a factor affecting performance
      2.  
        What affects the performance of a Master Server?
      3.  
        What affects the performance of a media server (MSDP)?
    2. Optimize network settings and improve performance
      1.  
        Optimize network settings and improve performance
      2.  
        SAN Fiber Channel setup
      3.  
        Network bonding
      4.  
        VMware VADP
      5.  
        Jumbo frame implementation for increased MTU
    3. Storage configurations
      1.  
        Storage configurations
      2.  
        Deduplication disk I/O and RAID level settings
      3. RAID Controller operations
        1.  
          RAID Controller commands
      4.  
        Deduplication load balancing
      5.  
        Storage Lifecycle Policies
      6.  
        Auto Image Replication (AIR)
      7.  
        AdvancedDisk settings
      8.  
        Tape Out operations
    4. NetBackup Appliance tuning procedures and performance monitoring
      1. About diagnosing performance issues
        1.  
          About CPU monitoring and tuning
        2.  
          About memory monitoring and tuning
        3.  
          About network monitoring and tuning
        4.  
          About I/O monitoring and tuning
        5.  
          General guidelines to spot a resource bottleneck
      2. About performance tuning practices
        1.  
          About I/O performance tuning
        2.  
          About Oracle backup and restore performance tuning
        3.  
          Setting NET_BUFFER_SZ to 0 on the NetBackup client for better WAN Optimization performance
      3. About tuning procedures and performance monitoring
        1. NetBackup Client performance
          1.  
            Using nbperfchk to validate disk performance on NetBackup Appliances
        2.  
          Other Performance Monitoring commands
  5. Section IV. Quick reference to Capacity planning and Performance tuning
    1. Capacity Planning checklist
      1.  
        Checklist for Capacity planning
      2.  
        Capacity measuring worksheet
    2. Best practices checklist
      1.  
        Best practices checklist
    3. How to monitor the performance of your appliance
      1.  
        About monitoring the performance of your appliance
      2.  
        Performance Monitoring matrix

Best practices checklist

Table: Implementing deduplication solutions

Oracle

SQL

DB2

Sybase

Lotus notes

Agent

  • NetBackup for Oracle agent with RMAN (Stream-based backups)

  • NetBackup for Oracle Agent without snapshots (Proxy based backups)

  • NetBackup for Oracle Agent (Proxy based backups with Snapshot Client)

  • No NetBackup for Oracle Agent (Oracle Dump backups)

NetBackup for SQL Agent

NetBackup for DB2 agent

NetBackup for Sybase agent

NetBackup for Lotus Notes agent

pd.conf settings for the media server

 

COMPRESSION = 1

COMPRESSION = 1

COMPRESSION = 1

COMPRESSION = 1

MATCH_PDRO = 0

MATCH_PDRO = 0

SEGKSIZE = 128

SEGKSIZE =128

SEGKSIZE = 128

LOCAL_SETTINGS = 0

Compression

Turn off Oracle compression for the following agent:

  • NetBackup for Oracle Agent with RMAN

  • NetBackup for Oracle Agent without snapshots

COMPRESSION turned off

COMPRESSION turned off

Disable:

  • LZ1 compression

  • Domino Attachment and Object Service

  • Compress database design

  • Compress document data

Defragmentation

Avoid frequent defragmentation. To be performed only when certain thresholds are reached.

Avoid frequent defragmentation.

STRIPES

Not applicable

Use multiple stripes.

Not applicable

Number of stripes has no impact on deduplication.

Not applicable

Other parameters

  • For stream-based backups FILESPERSET = 1 in RMAN backup script for ASM-based backups

  • For Oracle Dump backups leverage IMAGE MODE while dumping to local disk

  • For stream-based backups and proxy based backups, increase number of channels.

  • BLOCKSIZE = default

  • BUFFERCOUNT = 2 buffers per stripe

  • Leverage MAXTRANSFERSIZE

  • Enable NO_COMPRESSION for SQL Server 2008 and higher

  • Enable DEDUP_DEVICE parameter

  • Data change rates

    • Minimal data change rate, parallel streams = 1

    • High data change rate requiring high backup speeds - Align number of containers in a DB2 database with the number of open sessions in the db2 database backup script

Compaction - Run compaction at a scheduled interval weekly instead of user initiated compaction.

Table: Networking best practices

Consideration

Description

Generic best practices

  • Use Resilient Network feature of NetBackup to overcome remote office backup bandwidth issues related to latency and connection intermittence.

  • Use 10GbE network infrastructure end-to-end wherever possible for maximum performance.

Fibre Channel implementations

  • Enable SAN Client - For high-speed backups and restores of NetBackup clients over Fibre Channel. Multipathing can provide SAN I/O high-availability and higher backup throughput.

  • Enable Optimized Duplication to a NetBackup 5230 - To copy the backup images from a NetBackup 52xx appliance (source) to a NetBackup 5020 or 5030 appliance (destination).

  • Enable NetBackup for VMware to backup and restore of the VMware virtual machines that run on VMware ESX servers.

  • Implement Fibre Channel connection from NetBackup 52xx appliances to TLD tape storage devices allowing for backup data to be written to tape.

SAN zone configurations - FT Backup Zone

  • Only include the Fibre Transport traffic between the SAN clients and the appliance.

  • Target port of the HBA - connect this port to a Fibre Channel switch port.

  • In case of two target ports, define the appliance target port by physical port ID or World Wide Port Name (WWPN).

  • Connect each SAN client HBA port to ports on the same Fibre Channel switch.

  • Define the zones on the switch so that the client ports and the HBA target ports are in the same zone.

SAN zone configurations - FT Storage Zone

  • Carries the Fibre Transport traffic from a 52xx appliance to a 5020 deduplication appliance.

  • initiator port of the HBA in the 5220 appliance - connect this port to a Fibre Channel switch port.

  • Define the zones on the switch so that the 52xx appliance initiator port

  • Only one initiator port and one target port can be configured for the same zone. Multiple initiator ports and target ports in the same zone are not supported.

SAN zone configurations - External tape storage zone

For a tape library as storage, create a separate zone for that traffic. The tape storage zone should include a port or ports on the FC HBA in slot 3 of a 52xx appliance.

Network bonding

  • Use network bonding for improved throughput and backup performance.

  • It is a useful network feature that significantly increases network scalability allowing multiple TCP streams to be balanced across a number of network ports.

  • The commonly used network bonding modes with NetBackup Appliances are:

    • 802.3ad bonding mode - This mode works by balancing the TCP frames across switch ports.

    • balance-alb bonding mode - This mode works by balancing the TCP frames across ports by using the operating system itself for frame balancing.

Network architecture

  • Comprehensively gather the data protection requirements.

  • Classify and segregate the data by type.

  • Ensure that 52xx Appliances do not exceed 85% capacity within the disk pool

Table: Working with storage partitions

Partition Name

Minimum supported size

Maximum supported size

Supported Platforms

AdvancedDisk

1 GB

Maximum available capacity

52xx

53xx

NetBackup Catalog

250 GB (Master server)

4 TB (Master server)

52xx

(master server only)

Configuration

100 GB

500 GB

52xx

53xx

MSDP

5 GB

Maximum available capacity

52xx

5 GB

960 TB

53xx

MSDP Catalog

5 GB

25 TB

52xx, 53xx

Standard Share (Copilot)

5 GB

Maximum available capacity

The limit for each individual share is 250 TB

5230, 5240, 53xx

Optimized Share (Copilot)

5 GB

114 TB or 228 TB

53xx

    

Note:

To view the exact numbers for supported sizes, see the NetBackup Appliance Product Description Guide for the appropriate model.

Table: Generic best practices

Best practice

Description

Locate the NetBackup Appliance serial number

Note and refer to the NetBackup Appliance serial number when you report an issue to support. You can use either of the following options to locate the NetBackup Appliance serial number.

  • Monitor > Hardware > Health details from the NetBackup Appliance Web Console.

  • Monitor > Hardware ShowHealth Appliance [Item] Command from the shell menu.

Enable Call Home and AutoSupport

Use the Settings > Notification > Alert Configuration from the NetBackup Appliance Web Console to apply the Call Home settings. AutoSupport in appliance uses the data that is gathered by Call Home to provide proactive monitoring for the appliance.

Ensure that the IPMI sub-system is configured for your appliances

The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) sub-system is beneficial when an unexpected power outage shuts down the connected system.

Enable Bare Metal Restore (BMR)

Use the Manage > Host > Advanced to enable BMR from NetBackup Appliance Web Console. BMR is the server recovery option of NetBackup that automates and streamlines the server recovery process. Thus making it unnecessary to manually reinstall the operating systems or configure hardware.

Perform Single domain disaster recovery configurations

Create the appliance Master as a virtual machine, using Site Recovery Manager to replicate data from the protected site to the recovery site.

Store catalog backups at an off-site location in case a recovery is necessary.

Configure a setup using VCS Global Cluster Option for complete service level protection against an entire site failure by providing applications failover to the remote site

Perform Multi-domain disaster recovery configurations

Configure Auto Image Replication to replicate backups that are generated in one NetBackup domain to storage in another NetBackup domain.

Improve Job performance

  • Distribute backup and deduplication jobs evenly across the available backup window.

  • Limit the number of jobs and I/O at disk pool level for better performance.

  • Monitor job activity and note any abnormal buffer times or delay.

  • Evaluate the Disk Polling Service (DPS) Proxy settings - DPS_PROXYNOEXPIRE and DPS_PROXY (default SEND/RECV timeouts)