I am a "newb" to the list. I have some experience with
NetBackup 5.1 MP4.

Anyways, I have an interesting problem. I have a
NetApp GX system that needs to be protected. It looks
like the best method would be to backup the unit using
NDMP. The problem we are running into, theoretically
at this moment as we design the backup system, is the
limitation of the cluster interconnect and the ability
to move up to 30TB, and in time 60TB of data across a
2GB FC link to a tape storage library. Doing the math,
we would never be able to use the netapp for what it
was designed for as the cluster-interconnects would be
continuously saturated. The reason for this (and this
is something I inherited) is that even though there
are 4 Heads, 1 Head is the owner of a metadata volume
that pretty much encompasses the entire unit, so 75%
of the data has to come across the cluster
interconnect (this is limited to 2Gb). 

We could re-arch the FS to balance across all 4 Head
nodes, but we still have a 2Gb limitation per node as
that is the fastest FC card available for these guys.

My idea is to implement some kind of synthetic full
strategy. That is, move as much data as possible for
an initial full to tape (we have a two week outage
coming up in a couple months), then create a disk
stage where we can store incrementals. As long as the
daily change rate allows us to move the incrementals
in say 8hrs or so (across Gbe or FC), I think we would
be fine. The question I have for everyone is, how long
should I expect it to take for 4 LTO4 drives in
combination with incrementals on say a thumper, to
generate a weekly full to tape (lets be harsh and say
we have a 10% change rate throughout the week). I want
to start at 30TB today and scale to 60TB over the next
18-24mos. 

Anyone have similar experiences?

What I am looking at is possibly using a x4500 as a
combined media server and disk storage unit.

Thanks,

Jim


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