> I have a potential customer running a 2.8 TB SQL Server database on an
> 8-way NT server.  What can I realistically expect to achieve in maximum
> backup throughput using TDP for SQL Server?
>
> Assume the 4-way Solaris TSM server has 8 AIT-2 tape drives dedicated to
> getting this backup performed without any competing resource
> constraints.  FYI AIT-2 run at 6 MBps native and the cartridges are 50
> GB each.

Joshua,

Some of my thoughts on the subject...

In some performance tests that were run, TDP for SQL achieved
over 50MB/sec with 4 stripes...with plenty of CPU capacity still
left on the SQL server. We believe we were being limited by the
I/O subsystem on Windows.

In any case, if the tape drives in this case have a throughput rate
of only 6MB/sec, I think it possible that we can drive all 8 at
that rate for an aggregate throughput of 48MB/sec (using 8 stripes).
This would translate to approx 172 GB/hr which would require
16.3 hrs to complete a full backup of a 2.8TB database.
If these drives have good hardware compression, then perhaps
the overall throughput can be improved...but it seems that
in our scenario, the I/O subsystem on Windows was the
limiting factor.

*** Disclaimer: I am not guaranteeing anything with these numbers...
They are simply a statement of what we saw during performance testing.

I hope they help.

Thanks,

Del

----------------------------------------------------
Del Hoobler
Del Hoobler
IBM Corporation
hoobler AT us.ibm DOT com

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