ADSM-L

Re: Large Linux clients

2005-03-28 17:53:20
Subject: Re: Large Linux clients
From: Richard Sims <rbs AT BU DOT EDU>
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 17:52:56 -0500
Some things to consider with large file systems, and Unix ones in
particular:

1. Use CLI type backups rather than GUI type, for speed.
2. "Divide and conquer": Very large file systems are conspicuous
candidates for Virtualmountpoint TSM subdivision, which will greatly
improve things overall. For that matter, oversized file systems are
conspicuous candidates for splitting into multiple physical file
systems.

In suspect areas of Unix file systems I would interactively run a
'find' command with the -ls option to test the speed with which
sub-trees of the file system can be traversed, to point out ringers. A
single directory with a huge number of files can induce a lot of
overhead, and is ripe for re-architecting.

The big problem in all file systems is that they are simply created and
then ignored, and the users of those file systems fill them with
whatever they want, organized at whim in most cases. The architecting
of file systems for performance and organizational sanity is a greatly
overlooked subject area.

   Richard Sims

On Mar 28, 2005, at 5:22 PM, Zoltan Forray/AC/VCU wrote:

I am having issues backing up a large Linux server (client=5.2.3.0).

The TSM server is also on a RH Linux box (5.2.2.5).

This system has over 4.6M objects.

A standard incremental WILL NOT complete successfully. It usually
hangs/times-out/etc.

The troubles seem to be related to one particular directory with
40-subdirs, comprising 1.4M objects (from the box owner).

If I point to this directory as a whole (via the web ba-client), and
try
to back it up in one shot, it displays the "inspecting objects" message
and then never comes back.

If I drill down further and select the subdirs in groups of 10, it
seems
to back them up, with no problem.

So, one question I have is, anyone out there backing up large Linux
systems, similar to this ?

Any suggestions on what the problem could be.

Currently, I do not have access to the error-log files since this is a
protected/firewalled system and I don't have the id/pw.

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>