VMware cpu utilization with tsm backup

[dlemieux33]

I am in need of recommendations related to setting up VMware host and client backup.
The sysadmin responsible for vmware is concerned :
1.) about the affects on the CPU that parallel backups of multiple guests on a host can cause

2.) That if he moves guests around, potentially increasing the number of guests to a particular that he will further exacerbate any resource issues caused by backup.


I am the tsm admin and am new to vmware. My recommendation to him is that we have tsm client installed on each guest. we should have each backup scheduled at different times(a very small 6 hour window to get these backups done) using an outside scheduler(control-m is our standard). There is a parameter - memoryefficientbackup - I think we should set this to yes on each client.

Does anyone have any experience with this? thanks

 

[blagrange]

I do host based backups with VMWare and do not have any issues. I adjust start times to spread the backups out and keep an eye on what the nightly incremental data amount is.

 

[moon-buddy]

My current understanding with VMWare and any virtual environment is that the memory allocation for each guest environment impacts any underlining guest operation more than CPU loads - and should be explained as it applies to TSM.

In establishing a baseline for any virtual environment, two main things - well, aside from disk space, obviously - comes to play: 1) memory size 2) CPU speed.

The amount of memory determines how many simultaneous process can a guest operating system run at any given point in time. The general rule: the more memory, the better (well, at least for the OS that has well designed kernels ). Remember that TSM is more of an I/O intensive operation than anything else. This obviously spells out that your backup will run faster with more memory and swap/pagefile space. This also leads to the fact that the host OS should have a reasonable good amount of memory for the management of the native programs as well as for hosting chores. Some people leave 1/3 of the total memory allocated for the host. I like to leave 1/2 of the total memory for the host system.

CPU load does not play a direct role in TSM backup operations aside from being able to execute the commands faster. Again, the faster the CPU, the better, and the more CPU - multicore, etc. - the better.

If guest OS are introduced every now and then, the only thing to watch for is the allocation of memory and available disk space. There must be a set rule - created when the host OS was setup - on how many guest systems the host can accommodate given memory sizes and available disk space.

I would suggest staggering backups in order to eliminate potential high network traffic.

 

[tarangdce]

I am in need of recommendations related to setting up VMware host and client backup.
The sysadmin responsible for vmware is concerned :
1.) about the affects on the CPU that parallel backups of multiple guests on a host can cause

2.) That if he moves guests around, potentially increasing the number of guests to a particular that he will further exacerbate any resource issues caused by backup.


I am the tsm admin and am new to vmware. My recommendation to him is that we have tsm client installed on each guest. we should have each backup scheduled at different times(a very small 6 hour window to get these backups done) using an outside scheduler(control-m is our standard). There is a parameter - memoryefficientbackup - I think we should set this to yes on each client.

Does anyone have any experience with this? thanks

Hi,
I am having more than 100 VMWare boxex backing up weekly. The data for some 30+ VM is more than 100GB. I would like to suggest you to set IDLETIMEOUT value to atleast 120 (minute), so due to large single file backup wont failed.

I am not facing any problem while this backup. So cheers and implement.



regards,
Tarang Purohit
TATA Consultancy Service.

 

[n9hmg]

tarang: Are your backups VCB? I've written a script called "vm2vcb2tsm". whose function is obvious. It works great, but when I go to do backups on production hosts, any exchange servers on the host go to hell. Any tricks to back off that contention?

 

[msright1981]

New IBM Tivoli Storage Manager VCB Integration

I am updating this post just for new people who hit it through google get updated that the new TSM does not require scripting to integrate with VCB. It actually built in into the solution. If you want to find more details on how to do that you might want to check the post at: IBM Tivoli Storage Manager VCB Integration

I believe the new VM Backup command added to TSM is a great addition & will save a lot of us tons of time when it come to backing up VMware. I hope this help.

Enjoy,
Erick
Tivoli Storage Manager Guru Blog