I think NDMP performance is an oxymoron. ;)

 

Seriously, though, the issue with NDMP is that you get what you get.
None of the usual things you do with NBU apply (e.g. multistreaming,
multiplexing, buffer settings).  You get what your NAS vendor gives you.

 

Here are some of the things you can do to speed up NDMP backups:

1.      More RAM/CPU on the filer can sometimes help.
2.      Limit NFS/CIFS activity during the backup (good luck with that
one).
3.      One way to do the above is the mirror your filesystems to a
filer that JUST does backups.
4.      Spread your volume out across more spindles.
5.      Limit the number of files in a filesystem (good luck with that
one).

 

Having said that, most of those are out of the hands of the backup
person.  So the answer to your original question (are you chasing an
impossible dream) may be yes in your environment.  One thing I advise
people to do is to not back up to real tape with NDMP; use VTL instead.
Then you should be able to use NBU to dupe those VTL tapes to real tapes
at real tape speeds.

 

---

W. Curtis Preston

Author of O'Reilly's Backup & Recovery and Using SANs and NAS

VP Data Protection

GlassHouse Technologies

 

________________________________

From: veritas-bu-bounces at mailman.eng.auburn.edu
[mailto:veritas-bu-bounces at mailman.eng.auburn.edu] On Behalf Of Adams,
Dwayne
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 8:24 AM
To: veritas-bu at mailman.eng.auburn.edu
Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] NDMP performance

 

Hello,

 

What type of performance are you seeing in your environment using NDMP
direct attached backups with LTO3 drives?  I would like to get close
native speed of 80MB/sec.  Am I chasing something that I will never
achieve?  Have you modified your block size on your filer to match your
drive buffer size?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Dwayne Adams

 

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