hpux 11i experiencing slow backup speed using netbackup

[Ricky_4]

Hi All,

Doing ftp and backup using netbackup on HPUX 11i is experiencing very slow backup speed. While on HPUX 11 backup and ftp is very much faster. HPUX 11i uses 100 Full Duplex and HPUX 11 is only 10 half duplex. The other actions were taken just to eliminate network issue: - replace lan cable, transfer to other switch's port, ensure the priority naming resolution is using host file and assure the lan statistics have no in/out errors and collisions. Please advise us how are we going to resolve this issue.

Thanks in advance.

[Ricky_4]

Is there patch do we need to apply on HPUX 11i?

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

Run lanadmin and look at the LAN statistics. Make sure lanadmin shows 100Mbit speed and full-duplex rather than auto-negotiate. Also change your LAN switch to lock the port setting to 100Mbit full-duplex (not auto-negotiate). When there is a protocol mismatch, there will be a number of errors reported in lanadmin including collisions (not possible with proper full-duplex operation), FCS errors, frame errors, etc. A mismatch will take 100Mbit down to as little as 1-5Mbit peformance.

Use ftp of a large file (several hundred megs) to verify the LAN speed. For network backups, many commercial programs request a DNS lookup for every file. This may overload the DNS server so it may be useful to put a small /etc/hosts file in the machine with the machine's name/IP plus the backup server's name/IP and change /etc/nsswitch.conf to look at hosts first:

hosts: files [NOTFOUND=continue UNAVAIL=continue TRYAGAIN=continue] dns

This will reduce DNS traffic significantly during backups.