Hello C
We replicate this server (the one the stats have been drawn on) with a
backup server every 60 minutes. We run Notes 4.5.3a on our mail servers
with NT 4.0 !!!
From my understanding of the function of the ADSMconnect agent. The agent
will function similiar to replication in that it will back up all
new/changed documents since the last backup time/date. If this
changed/added document amount is small, the backup will be small. If the
amount is very large, the backup will be larger. Our ADSMconnect agent is
operating on a 'Mail' only server. Thus it is only backing up new or
changed documents from each mail file. This company is
VERY mail centric and it still results in the impressive numbers you have
seen in the comparisons.
If you wish to discuss one-on-one, please email me directly at
Rob_Middleton AT cpr DOT ca and we can proceed from there.
I hope this answers your question.....Rob
Rob:
I've just read with interest your results of the "before" and "after"
installing the Notes Connect Agent below. How often does replication occur
on the machines you've described? The reason I ask: the ADSM environment
here has 3 NT servers running the Connect Agent and Notes 4.5.2 (only a
partial implementation at this time), but I've found that the same one of
the three machines consistently requires a great deal of time to backup via
the Agent. This, I was finally told by the Notes admin folks, is one that
receives replicated data every hour on the hour (and this is not an unusual
situation for a large and growing Notes environment). It appears as though
the replication *tricks* the Connect Agent into thinking that all of the
replicated data are Notes items which have changed, and thus a longer
backup is required. Right now the average is about 7 hours and about 5.5 GB
via a non-switched token ring environment through a Cisco 7 series router.
(The only *good* thing about this is the fact that the OLD manner of
backing up the Notes machines ran about 18 to 25 daily to DLT - a vast
improvement.)
I've requested that we discontinue the Connect Agent save on that machine
(since ADSM is already getting the data from the other machines, and I have
another schedule running for the Backup/Archive client), but the admin
folks are not yet comfortable with that scenario.
If you're seeing the significant changes as you've documented below, here
we're either (1) doing something wrong on the primary Notes side; (2) doing
something wrong in the server replication of Notes; (3) doing something
wrong in the Connect Agent configuration (but I don't know what that might
be at this time); or (4) doing something wrong in all venues combined with
a tragically slow network...
Thanks much.
C.L.Cannam
Storage Management
GENAM/St. Louis, MO/USA
Rob Middleton <Rob_Middleton AT CPR DOT CA> on 02/19/98 12:42:57 PM
Please respond to "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU>
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
cc: (bcc: Cindy Cannam)
Subject: ADSMconnect for Lotus Notes Results
Hello Folks
Here are some of the results we have encountered since migrating one of our
notes servers to the ADSMconnect agent. The first half of the table
(02/03/98 - 02/14/98) is stats from the Backup/Archive Client, and the
second half (02/15/98 - 02/98) are using the ADSM connect Client. We have
seen the backups go from about 4 hrs in duration to about 45 minutes. Also
the data backed up has reduced from 6-9Gig to a much more managable
125-200Meg range. We also have two other servers (at present) which backup
via the Backup Archive agent which backup up 40Gig and 27Gig respectively.
I will be migrating them to the ADSMconnect agent in 1 week and 3 weeks
respectively. So far we have been very impressed.
We also use the Scheduler service to initiate the backups on a nightly
basis by using a 'Command' format schedule. The command is to start a
batch file which issues the command:
cd \win32app\ibm\adsm\agentln
dsmnotes incr * -subdir=yes -adsmpw=oursecretpassword
EXIT
This scheduling service has worked error free for the last 3 days. Not a
lot of history, but good indications so far.
So far we do not have much experience with the restore scenarios with the
ADSMconnect agent, but from the testing, this does not seen to be a big
issue. Just some more steps involved. First restore the mail file from
the most recent Backup Archive (full file) backup and then restore the
incremental changes from the ADSMconnect backups. With the ability to put
in date ranges with the restores using the ADSMconnect agent, this works
fine. One key point to mention is that I restore via the command line
because if you use the GUI (on the server) is ties up the client until the
restore completes. This can be an extended time depending on size of data
being restored, as well as the availability of the tapes required.....
(Embedded image moved to file: PIC21139.PCX)
If you have any other questions, let me know.....
Rob Middleton
IBM I/T Specialist
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