Networker

Re: [Networker] Sizing a Linux x86 server for Networker

2006-06-01 20:43:16
Subject: Re: [Networker] Sizing a Linux x86 server for Networker
From: Siobhán Ellis <siobhanellis AT HOTMAIL DOT COM>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 10:40:33 +1000
Tim is correct.

NetWorker is memory and I/O hungry, not really CPU hungry.

So, bags of memory and as many discreet IO buses as possible.

I will you you an example of a customer I worked with recently. They do backup to disk on Apple XRAID, and then stage to 4 tapes (LTO-2) this was on Dell 2850's. The maximum throughput I could get was 90MBs-1, and I could achieve 75 MBs-1 with 2 tape drives. They had a spare system, so we set up a storage node and re-distributed the xraids to effectively double their bus speed.

Siobhan

P.S> initially we had 80MBs-1. Upgrading from Windows to Linux gave us an extra 10MBs-1

From: Tim Mooney <mooney AT DOGBERT.CC.NDSU.NODAK DOT EDU>
Reply-To: Legato NetWorker discussion <NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU>, Tim Mooney <mooney AT DOGBERT.CC.NDSU.NODAK DOT EDU>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [Networker] Sizing a Linux x86 server for Networker
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 18:40:08 -0500

In regard to: [Networker] Sizing a Linux x86 server for Networker, Varaldi,...:

The actual server performs poorly mainly because of the slow performance of
de SBUS architecture and CPUs.

We will add 4 LTO3 drives (FChannel 4Gb) to 2 StorageTek L700 libraries. The
server will have 2 Gbit Nics with trunking to maximize throughput for LAN
backups.

This probably sounds like a silly question, but are you planning on
utilizing all four LTO3 drives at once?

Does anyone know if Networker uses threads under Linux? If so, it would be
beneficial to have multicore CPU's?

It's beneficial to have (true) multicore CPUs for other reasons, but
before the Linux 2.6 kernel, thread support was fairly rudimentary.  I
would question whether it would make much difference (to the OS or
NetWorker) whether you had 2N real processors or N dual-core processors.

Frankly, I would be more worried about I/O constraints than I would about
CPU.  You're going to want to have as many separate, high-speed busses as
possible.  Getting a PC architecture system (either AMD or Intel CPUs)
with multiple distinct busses is sometimes fairly challenging.

I would look for a system that has multiple PCI-X 2.0 busses and also
hopefully PCI Express (PCI-E), as several I/O cards (like FC HBAs from
QLogic) are now available for PCI-E.

Tim
--
Tim Mooney                              mooney AT dogbert.cc.ndsu.NoDak DOT edu
Information Technology Services         (701) 231-1076 (Voice)
Room 242-J6, IACC Building              (701) 231-8541 (Fax)
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-5164

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