In regard to: [Networker] 45M iNode FS backup?, Albert, Eddie - JACKSONVIL...:

What are your thoughts/concerns for performing a 45M iNode FS backup?

Variables
Of course it is critical data
Networker v734
OS: Solaris 5.9
4G network
Each server has 3x 1 GigE interface trunked
Backup media options
LTO3
EDL

Desired backup
PF           Monthly
PD          Weekly
PI            Daily

Since it's Solaris 9, the filesystem is probably either UFS or VXFS.  Both
support snapshots, which you may want to consider.

Whether you do snapshots or not, though, the filesystem walk is going
to take the lion's share of the time.  The only ways to speed that that
I'm aware of are

- don't back up through the filesystem, snapshot and back up the raw
  device.  You lose the ability to do file-level restores, so you'll need
  to have enough space available to recover the entire raw volume.  Not
  very appealing.

- Have multiple savefs/save processes walking the filesystem at once.
  This requires that you use the "split client" config, with multiple
  client definitions.  Having multiple save processes walking the volume
  at once can drive up the I/O load, which may cause other issues.

As you're aware, 7.3.4 is pretty out of date.  That's not going to make
this any easier or more reliable.

Tim
--
Tim Mooney                                             Tim.Mooney AT ndsu DOT 
edu
Enterprise Computing & Infrastructure                  701-231-1076 (Voice)
Room 242-J6, IACC Building                             701-231-8541 (Fax)
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-5164

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