Paul Bijnens wrote:

> Patrick M. Hausen wrote:
> > 
> > Seems like Oracle likes to create a lot of small ".trc" files over
> > time. The filesystem in question is littered with thousands of them.
> > 
> > Once we archived and deleted them, backup performance was back to normal.
> > 
> > Would separate holding disk (we don't use one at all at the moment)
> > help in a configuration like this? Additionally I'd suggest deleting
> 
> Probably, then your tapedrive can keep streaming (could half your
> backuptime!), and amanda can do much more parallel then it can do 
> without holdingdisk (another doubling or more if you have many
> clients).

Precisely. In all multi-client installations I run in my own network
I have holding-disks, so dumps can be run in parallel and output
buffered. But the machine in question is a one-server-client
installation that only backs up itself. And in addition it mainly backs
up one single file system.

So my question is: does a holding-disk speed up this process? I mean,
Amanda will start a dumper on the filesystem that starts filling
the holding-disk. At the same time (?) a taper will start wrtiting
the holding-disk's contents to tape. Now imagine the dumper getting
to slow for the tape ... the holding-disk won't be filled quick
enough either. Then there's a lot of seeks on the holding-disk
itself, if it's read and written at the same time.

Or is the mental picture I have about Amanda's operation incorrect?


Thanks,

Patrick M. Hausen
Technical Director
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