Tuning TSM Client v7.1 on Windows 2012 R2 Data Center for large backups

[itdrew]

Hello everyone!

We are seeing slow backups on our MSSQL servers running Windows 2012 R2. We don’t use a TDP or a storage agent. Instead, we dump the files to disk, then back them up over the network. The backups are going to a disk pool on the TSM server.

During the backup, we see messages like this in the dsmerror.log :

08/19/2014 21:02:51 ANS1809W A session with the TSM server has been disconnected. An attempt will be made to reestablish the connection.
08/19/2014 21:02:51 ANS1809W A session with the TSM server has been disconnected. An attempt will be made to reestablish the connection.
08/20/2014 00:20:01 ANS1809W A session with the TSM server has been disconnected. An attempt will be made to reestablish the connection.

In dsmsched.log, we see messages like this:

08/21/2014 03:52:48 Normal File--> 2,777,600 \\SQL2012R2\k$\Backups\CustomerDB_backup_2014_08_21_000002_0198124.bak [Sent]
08/21/2014 03:52:48 Expiring--> 2,843,136 \\SQL2012R2\k$\Backups\CustomerDB_backup_2014_08_20_000002_5998162.bak [Sent]
08/21/2014 03:52:50 Normal File--> 2,843,136 \\SQL2012R2\k$\Backups\CustomerV2_2014_08_21_000001_9908113.bak [Sent]
08/21/2014 03:52:50 Expiring--> 3,105,280 \\SQL2012R2\k$\Backups\CustomerV2_backup_2014_08_20_000002_6168209.bak [Sent]
08/21/2014 03:52:52 Normal File--> 3,105,280 \\SQL2012R2\k$\Backups\CustomerV3_backup_2014_08_21_000002_0058134.bak [Sent]
08/21/2014 03:52:52 Expiring--> 152,393,216 \\SQL2012R2\k$\Backups\CustomerV4_2014_08_20_000002_5588156.bak [Sent]
08/21/2014 03:52:53 ANS1898I ***** Processed 80,500 files *****
08/21/2014 03:54:27 Normal File--> 152,393,216 \\SQL2012R2\k$\Backups\Customer-EDIT_2014_08_21_000001_9418073.bak [Sent]
08/21/2014 03:54:27 Expiring--> 63,492,815,360 \\SQL2012R2\k$\Backups\ Customer-EDIT _2014_08_20_000002_6498184.bak [Sent]
08/21/2014 03:54:34 ANS1898I ***** Processed 82,000 files *****
08/21/2014 03:54:35 ANS1898I ***** Processed 84,000 files *****
08/21/2014 03:54:36 ANS1898I ***** Processed 85,500 files *****
08/21/2014 03:54:37 ANS1898I ***** Processed 87,000 files *****

Then the backup seems to hang. This appears to be more common when it hits a large file (40+ GB), but we can’t be sure if it is only happening with large files. It may complete after about 10-14 hrs of “hanging”.

Can anyone provide any insight as to how best tune TSM client v7.1 with Windows 2012 R2 when backing up large files?

Are there any "gotchyas" when trying to tune this environment?

======================================================================
TSM Client OS: Windows 2012 R2 Data Center
TSM client version: 7.1
TSM Server version: 6.3.4.0
TSM Server OS version: AIX 7.1 TL3

Thank you very much,

Drew

 

[moon-buddy]

Increase communication and idle timeout values.

 

[BrianV]

I had a similar issue happen on a Windows 2008 R2 file server running TSM client 6.3.1. Granted, you're at a different level and OS, but this might be worth a shot:

I added MEMORYEFFICIENTBAKCUP diskcachemethod and RESOURCEUTILIZATION 3 to the dsm.opt and also increased the number of mount points to 6 on the node. Rebooted the server (to be safe) and never had the issue again.

 

[itdrew]

Thank you both for your replies. Last night we disabled the AntiVirus on the TSM client and Wallah!! It backed up like a champ!

We are going to give it antoher shot tonight, and then work with our A/V guy to tune the A/V software. If anyone has any adidtional advice on how best to tune the A/V software to work best with the TSM client, that would be a bonus.

Thanks again to moon-buddy abs BrianV for your replies.

 

[marclant]

Depending on your AV software, you have the option to scan files or not when they are being backed up. I have Symantec and it shows up in the Advanced settings.