TSM with NETAPP filer - Backup & Restore is too slow

[babu.c]

Hi,

Hope some one can help us.

We have configured NAS (NETAPP filer) to backup on TSM 6.3 using NDMP. The schedule runs from TSM admin schedule everyday. The backups goes to IBM VTL device & the backup size is around 2 TB.

The problem is, the backup process runs for minimum 16-18 hours everyday & restore process takes hours to load the view. Sometimes we have to kill the NAS backup process to reduce the TSM load.

CMD ->
ba n <filername > <volumename> mg=<mgclassname> toc=preferred wait=no mode=diff type=backupi

Is there any best method that we can use to improve the performance? Pls. suggest. Really appreciate your help.

Regards,

 

[Harry_Redl]

Hello,

well - there is no simple way out. NDMP has its limitations. What do you want to achieve?
If it is a NAS device (CIFS or NFS protocol), then I recommend backing it up on the file level (via CIFS or NFS using "proxy" node - ideal candidate is the TSM server itself)
What you get is "incremental forever", easy single file restore - everything TSM is good in.
For disaster recovery you have two possible ways
a) NDMP without TOC (full backups only on weekly basis?)
b) NDMP with SnapMirrorToTape options

In both cases, you cannot restore the single file - but it is what you have the file level backup for.
The SnapMirror variant can only do full backups (today - ONTAP supports forever incremental SnapMirror to Tape since 8.1.1, so backup vendors have to implement it in following versions ...) but it has few advantages
1) it is purely block-level - fast backups AND fast restores - regardless of file count (which is the pain with the IMAGE level NDMP)
2) it backs up/restores ALL THE SNAPSHOTS


Hope it helps

Harry

 

[babu.c]

Hi Harry,

Thanks for you reply. We would like to have the incremental backups to reduce the backup window. Will try to mount on TSM server and see how it goes.

Regards,

 

[Harry_Redl]

Hi,

that is the thing - while building the TOC you have to go through the filesystem anyway - running full (snapmirror) backup can take fraction of time needed for DIFF NDMP backup.
One thing I forgot to mention - for the file level backup you can use SNAPDIFF option (getting the list of changed files by comparing the snapshots - special feature for NetApp filers). It is good to run the "full level incremental" - without the SNAPDIFF - once a time (weekly), but for daily backup this can help a lot.

Harry