Backup Exec 21 Administrator's Guide
- Introducing Backup Exec
- Installation
- Methods for installing the Agent for Windows
- Using a command prompt to install the Agent for Windows on a remote computer
- Using a command script to install the Agent for Windows
- Installing the Remote Administrator
- Installing Backup Exec using the command line (silent mode)
- Updating Backup Exec with Veritas Update
- Backup Exec license contract information
- About upgrading to Backup Exec
- Getting Started
- Backups
- Backing up data
- Restores
- How Backup Exec catalogs work
- Job management and monitoring
- About the Job Monitor
- About the Job History
- Viewing the job log
- Error-handling rules for failed or canceled jobs
- Alerts and notifications
- Enabling active alerts and alert history to display on the Home tab
- Adding a recipient group for alert notifications
- Sending a notification when a job completes
- SNMP traps for Backup Exec alerts
- Disk-based and network-based storage
- Configuring disk storage
- Configuring disk cartridge storage
- Backup sets
- Cloud-based storage devices
- Amazon S3 cloud-based storage
- Google cloud-based storage
- Microsoft Azure cloud-based storage
- Private cloud-based storage
- About S3-Compatible Cloud Storage
- About the Backup Exec™ CloudConnect Optimizer
- Legacy backup-to-disk folders
- Legacy backup-to-disk folders
- Legacy backup-to-disk folders
- Tape storage
- Robotic libraries in Backup Exec
- Creating robotic library partitions
- Managing tapes
- Creating media sets for tapes
- Labeling tape media
- Default media vaults
- Storage device pools
- Storage operations
- Conversion to virtual machines
- Configuration and settings
- Changing network and security options for Backup Exec
- Using Backup Exec with firewalls
- Deleting DBA-initiated job templates
- Backup Exec logon accounts
- Reports
- Creating a custom report
- List of Backup Exec standard reports
- Instant Cloud Recovery
- Preconfigurations to be completed in the Azure portal
- GDPR Guard
- Troubleshooting Backup Exec
- Troubleshooting failed components in the SAN
- Generating a diagnostic file for troubleshooting Backup Exec
- Using Backup Exec in cluster environments
- Configurations for Backup Exec and Microsoft Cluster Servers
- Disaster recovery of a cluster
- Simplified Disaster Recovery
- Setting or changing the alternate location for the disaster recovery information file
- Creating a Simplified Disaster Recovery disk image
- Preparing to recover from a disaster by using Simplified Disaster Recovery
- Recovering a computer with Simplified Disaster Recovery
- Performing manual disaster recovery
- Integration with Veritas™ Information Map
- Integration with Veritas SaaS Backup
- Forever Incremental Backup
- Appendix A. Backup Exec Agent for Windows
- About the Backup Exec Agent Utility for Windows
- Appendix B. Backup Exec Deduplication Feature
- Creating or importing deduplication disk storage
- Selecting storage devices for direct access sharing
- Appendix C. Backup Exec Agent for VMware
- About establishing trust for a vCenter/ESX(i) server
- Backing up VMware virtual machines
- About instant recovery of a VMware virtual machine
- About Recovery Ready for VMware virtual machines
- Appendix D. Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V
- Backing up Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines
- About instant recovery of a Hyper-V virtual machine
- About Recovery Ready for Hyper-V virtual machines
- Appendix E. Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft SQL Server
- Backing up SQL databases and transaction logs
- Restoring SQL databases and transaction logs
- Disaster recovery of a SQL Server
- Appendix F. Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Exchange Server
- Backing up Exchange data
- Appendix G. Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft SharePoint
- Backing up Microsoft SharePoint data
- Appendix H. Backup Exec Agent for Oracle on Windows or Linux Servers
- Configuring the Oracle Agent on Windows computers and Linux servers
- Configuring an Oracle instance on Windows computers
- Viewing an Oracle instance on Windows computers
- About authentication credentials on the Backup Exec server
- About backing up Oracle databases
- About restoring Oracle resources
- Appendix I. Backup Exec Agent for Enterprise Vault
- About backup methods for Enterprise Vault backup jobs
- Restoring Enterprise Vault
- About the Backup Exec Migrator for Enterprise Vault
- Configuring the Backup Exec Migrator
- About retrieving migrated Enterprise Vault data
- About the Partition Recovery Utility
- Appendix J. Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Active Directory
- Appendix K. Backup Exec Central Admin Server Feature
- About installing the Central Admin Server feature
- What happens when CAS communication thresholds are reached
- About job delegation in CAS
- How to use Backup Exec server pools in CAS
- How centralized restore works in CAS
- Appendix L. Backup Exec Advanced Disk-based Backup Feature
- Appendix M. Backup Exec NDMP Feature
- About restoring and redirecting restore data for NDMP servers
- Viewing the properties of an NDMP server
- Viewing storage properties for an NDMP server
- Appendix N. Backup Exec Agent for Linux
- About installing the Agent for Linux
- About establishing trust for a remote Linux computer in the Backup Exec list of servers
- Editing configuration options for Linux computers
- About backing up a Linux computer by using the Agent for Linux
- About restoring data to Linux computers
- Editing the default backup job options for Linux computers
- Uninstalling the Agent for Linux
- Appendix O. Backup Exec Remote Media Agent for Linux
- About installing the Remote Media Agent for Linux
- About establishing trust for a Remote Media Agent for Linux computer in the Backup Exec list of servers
- About the Backup Exec operators (beoper) group for the Remote Media Agent for Linux
- About adding a Linux server as a Remote Media Agent for Linux
- Editing properties for the Remote Media Agent for Linux
- Creating a simulated tape library
- Viewing simulated tape libraries properties
- Appendix P. Accessibility and Backup Exec
- About keyboard shortcuts in Backup Exec
- Backup and Restore tab keyboard shortcuts
- Storage tab keyboard shortcuts
Troubleshooting backup performance
You can perform several steps to identify the causes of any Backup Exec job performance issues that you encounter. This section examines performance troubleshooting for the following job types:
Local backup to disk
Remote Backup to disk
Local backup to tape
Remote Backup to tape
Local backup to disk
Get a baseline. Review previous jobs in the Job History window of the Job Monitor tab. Note both the speed of previous jobs and the overall duration of these backups. Observe the total time that jobs take to complete, rather than the actual byte count rates. If current jobs take longer to complete than previous jobs, or do not meet speed expectations, continue troubleshooting.
Narrow down the problem. If the backup job includes multiple drives or agents, split the job up into separate jobs for each of those drives and agents. You can then review the performance of each drive or agent separately. To split up a backup job, click on the Backup Exec button, select the
drive, schedule the job, and click . If performance is slow only for a particular job, continue troubleshooting that job.If a particular job still shows slow performance, split the job again to further determine which part of the data most affects the job's performance.
A section of data with many small files and directories will negatively impact performance. This performance impact is normal behavior.
Check whether the data is redirected somewhere else. Some file systems allow a directory to remotely mount data. The files in these directories can be located on remote servers, which may degrade performance for the entire backup.
Test backup-to-disk (B2D) throughput. Use Windows to copy at least 2 GB of data in the backup job to the B2D disk. Compare the performance of the Windows copy to the performance of the backup. If the performances of both are comparable, the performance bottleneck is likely in the disk subsystem in which the B2D folders reside. Move the B2D folders to a faster disk subsystem, or continue troubleshooting.
Test system throughput. If your job is file-based, instead of based on an Exchange, SQL, or other type of database backup, create a similar backup in NTBackup (Windows Backup) and perform a backup to disk. Compare the performance of the NTBackup job to the performance of the Backup Exec job.
If you need to back up an Exchange, SQL, or other database, create a backup-to-disk job in Backup Exec that backs up 2 GB of data to wherever that database agent resides. Perform the same test with NTBackup. Compare the performance of both backups. If performance rates are similar, then Backup Exec is performing at the capacity of the system.
Remote backup to disk
Get a baseline. Review previous jobs in the Job History window of the Job Monitor tab. Note both the speed of previous jobs and the overall time that is required for these backups. Observe the total time that jobs take to complete, rather than the actual byte count rates. If current jobs take longer to complete than previous jobs, or do not meet speed expectations, continue troubleshooting.
Narrow down the problem. If your job includes multiple drives or agents, split the job up into separate jobs for each of those drives and agents. You can then review the performance of each drive or agent separately. To split up a backup job, click on the Backup Exec button, select the
drive, schedule the job, and click . If performance is slow only for a particular job, continue troubleshooting that job.If a particular job still shows slow performance, split the job again to further determine if any particular part of the data affects performance. A section of data with many small files and directories negatively affects performance. This performance impact is normal behavior.
Check whether the data is redirected somewhere else. Some file systems allow a directory to remotely mount data. The files in these directories can be located on remote servers, which may degrade performance for the entire backup.
Test network throughput. Copy between 500 MB and 1 GB of data from the backup server to the remote server. Note how long the copy operation takes to complete. You can perform this copy by creating a path to another server. In the Windows command line, type <\\remote servername\c$>. When the drive is displayed, copy the data.
Follow this same procedure to copy data from the remote server to the backup server, and note how long the operation takes to complete.
Compare the speed of both of these network tests with Backup Exec's performance. If Backup Exec performance is slower than the file copy tests, the network is likely not the bottleneck.
If the network is not the bottleneck, consider performing the same test to a different remote server, or between two different servers. This can help determine if the performance issue is associated with the network in general, or a particular server on the network. If you do not find any network performance issues, continue to the next step.
Test system throughput. Try to back up the remote server with NTBackup (Windows backup). If the remote server is not visible in NTBackup, create a mapped drive to the server's drive and try to back up at least 2 GB of data. Compare the NTBackup logs to the Backup Exec logs and identify any performance differences.
Local backup to tape
Get a baseline. Review previous jobs in the Job History window of the Job Monitor tab. Note both the speed of previous jobs and the overall duration of these backups. Observe the total time that jobs take to complete, rather than the actual byte count rates. If current jobs take longer to complete than previous jobs, or do not meet speed expectations, continue troubleshooting.
Clear any temporary hardware glitches. Turn off the power to the server, tape drive, or tape library, then turn it on again. Turn off the backup server first, then the tape drive or library. Wait a few seconds, then turn on the tape drive or tape library. When the tape drive or tape library is ready, turn on the server. Run the backup job again and examine its performance. If the performance issue persists, continue troubleshooting.
Check the SCSI subsystem. Slow performance can be caused by the disk drive, the tape drive, the disk controller, the SCSI bus, or improper cabling or termination. Ensure that the following are true:
The controller is rated for the tape backup hardware.
The SCSI BIOS Settings are set properly.
Initiate Wide Negotiation is set to when the tape device is connected to a 68-pin-wide SCSI Cable Connector.
Tape drives are not connected to a SCSI Raid Controller.
The performance of the verify operation shows the health of the SCSI subsystem. Because the verify operation only reads data and performs in-memory operations on the media server, the speed of the SCSI subsystem limits the verify operation's performance. You can examine the performance of the verify operation by examining the job logs of any jobs which include a verify operation. If the verify speeds are slow, the SCSI subsystem is likely the performance bottleneck.
Split the job up into smaller jobs to identify which agents or features might affect performance. If any of the smaller jobs show performance issues, continue troubleshooting that job.
If a particular job still shows slow performance, split the job again to further determine if any particular part of the data negatively affects performance. A section of data with many small files and directories negatively affects performance. This performance impact is normal behavior.
Determine whether the data is redirected somewhere else. Some file systems allow a directory to remotely mount data. The files in these directories can be located on remote servers, which may degrade performance for the entire backup.
Test system throughput. Try to back up the remote server with NTBackup (Windows backup). If the remote server is not visible in NTBackup, create a mapped drive to the server's drive and try to back up at least 2 GB of data. Compare the NTBackup logs to the Backup Exec logs and identify any performance differences.
Successful compression can increase the tape drive's data transfer rate to twice the native rate. Compression performance can be highly variable depending on the input data. Image files can compress at a ratio of 4.5:1 or more. Binary files may compress at only a 1.5:1 ratio. Data that has already been compressed or encrypted may expand by about five percent if you attempt to compress it further. This expansion can reduce drive throughput.
If hardware or software compression does not perform as expected, switch to the other type of compression. You can switch compression types by editing the backup job properties, clicking on Settings, then selecting a different type of compression under the Compression Type menu.
under
Remote backup to tape
Perform any of the troubleshooting steps for
given above. You can also perform the following steps.Test network throughput. Copy between 500 MB and 1 GB of data from the backup server to the remote server and note the duration of the copy operation. To do this, create a path to another server. In the Windows command line, type <\\remote servername\c$>. When the drive is displayed, copy the data.
Follow this same procedure to copy data from the remote server to the backup server, and note how long the operation takes to complete.
Compare the speed of both of these network tests with Backup Exec's performance. If Backup Exec performance is slower than the file copy tests, the network is likely not the bottleneck.
If the network is not the bottleneck, you can perform the same test to a different remote server, or between two different servers. This may help you determine if the performance issue is associated with the network in general, or with a particular server on the network. If you do not find any network performance issues, continue to the next step.
Test system throughput. Try to back up the remote server with NTBackup (Windows backup). If the remote server is not visible in NTBackup, create a mapped drive to the server's drive and try to back up at least 2 GB of data. Compare the NTBackup logs to the Backup Exec logs and identify any performance differences.
Note:
If remote backups are not possible with NTBackup, open NTBackup locally on the remote server and run a local backup job there. Use Backup Exec to back up the same data to disk, and compare the performance of both backups. In most cases, Backup Exec jobs which back up to disk run faster than those that back up to tape.