On Tue, 26 Nov 2002 12:30:42 -0800 (PST) Kevin Watson <kevin_j_watson AT yahoo 
DOT com> wrote:
>   I am wondering if any of you have seen the following when trying to do 
> multiplexed backups:
> system call failed (next line)
> could not allocate enough memory for backup buffers (next line)
> system call failed - Invalid argument (at mpx.c 881).
> 
>   Environment - 
> Server V880 - Solaris 8 current patch level - 32GB RAM
> NetBackup 4.5 GA server
> /usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS:32
> /usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS:98304
> /etc/system - set shmsys:shminfo_shmmax=9437184
> Client Dell 4x550MHz - Win2k SP3,  4GB RAM
> NetBackup 4.5 GA client with admin tool also installed
> OTM is off
>   I can't seem to find anything about this on veritas' site or in google. Any 
> ideas?

Kevin,
why have you set the SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS to 98304? That's a rather strange
value. The variable is supposed to match your tape drive's block size, and
these are usually a multiple of 32k - 64k for dlt7k, 128k for dlt8k or lto.

Also, your shmsys:shminfo_shmmax setting is waaaaaaay too small for anything
useful. Netbackup needs a fair chunk of shm to run. You might want to refer
to my article at http://www.samag.com/documents/s=7667/sam0213b/0213b.htm on
Solaris 8 performance tuning. I strongly recommend that you set 
shmsys:shminfo_shmmax to 4Gb -- remember that this variable sets the upper 
limit on what the largest request for shm can be, _not_ the size of each
segment requested. I'd also recommend that you apply 112407-02 - the Sun
re-spin of the Veritas 4.5mp2 patch (if you've installed nbu from Sun
media rather than Veritas media) - because there are a number of important
fixes contained in it.

best regards,
James C. McPherson
--
Pacrim PTS Engineer            828 Pacific Highway
                               Gordon NSW 
Sun Microsystems Australia     2072