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Re: Hp Autoloader 1/8 920 slow backup

 
Jose Nuno Martins
Occasional Contributor

Hp Autoloader 1/8 920 slow backup

I have problems with Data Protector Express 4.00-sp1 installed on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 r2 with HP 1/8 G2 tape autoloader.
The server is a HP ML storage server with scsi LSI Adapter, Ultra320 SCSI 200 Series.
The problem is the following; I just installed data protector in windows 2003 r2 server, when I go to Data Protector devices the software detects the following device HP Ultrium 3-SCSI.
I create the backup job, but the backup is very slow, for example to backup 400Gb of data, It took 10 hours.
I appreciate any help, to solve this problem
7 REPLIES 7
TapeDrive Killer 1 2
Trusted Contributor

Re: Hp Autoloader 1/8 920 slow backup

download LTT and attact a support ticket

Pablo Alvarado Siles
Pablo Alv Siles
Jose Nuno Martins
Occasional Contributor

Re: Hp Autoloader 1/8 920 slow backup

I send you the autoloader controller support ticket.
I don't know if the next information helps to discard some problems , but I would like to inform you that i made a test backup using data protector to a virtual library located in my local server and the result was the same, the backup was very slow ( my server is an ML 110 G5 Storage Server).
In the next reply I will send the drive support ticket
Jose Nuno Martins
Occasional Contributor

Re: Hp Autoloader 1/8 920 slow backup

where it is the drive support ticket.
Thanks
TapeDrive Killer 1 2
Trusted Contributor

Re: Hp Autoloader 1/8 920 slow backup

Highlight the autoloader then click support extract and save support ticket.
Pablo Alv Siles
thomasr
Respected Contributor

Re: Hp Autoloader 1/8 920 slow backup

Also -- use Library and Tape Tools to run performance tests on your disk. It may be -- due to small files, fragmentation, deeply nested directories, contention, etc -- that your disks are only capable of streaming at 11MB/second. Run the system test before you spend a lot of time on the drive.
--
Liberty breeds responsibility; Government breeds dependence
Jose Nuno Martins
Occasional Contributor

Re: Hp Autoloader 1/8 920 slow backup

Hi all, I tested my system performance using, hp storage works library and tape tools as suggested before, and the result is:
Scanning
Scanning
C:\ - Files Read: 28908
6343 MB read (28908 files) in 1765 seconds with rate 3 MB/sec
E:\ - Files Read: 1838357
397063 MB read (1838357 files) in 24899 seconds with rate 15 MB/sec
TOTAL: 403407 MB read (1867265 files) in 24899 seconds with rate 16 MB/sec

I am thinking in rebuilding my raid system to raid 10, since the system is now in raid 5, could this measure increase the disk performance, and the autoloader performance?
Thank you for the help,
thomasr
Respected Contributor

Re: Hp Autoloader 1/8 920 slow backup

RAID 10 may help a little (I would suggest using it for your operating system partition, if not your secondary disk), but it's more likely that the problem is because of small files, fragmentation, deeply nested directories, and contention for the disk from other processes.

The only one of the above that you can do anything about easily is fragmentation -- have you run a complete defrag on your disks at all recently?

Also note: at the speeds you're seeing, you're putting a lot of stress on your tape drive and the tape itself, with stop, rewind, restart very frequently as the data buffer empties over and over again... so you do need to find a way to fix this.

The problem of slow reads is one reason people use backup to disk and then copy the first backup to tape (D2D2T)-- the reads from the file system may be slow, but it gives you a huge file that is contiguous and at (or near) the top of the file system so it can be copied to tape quickly.

Data Protector Express supports backup to disk, and then copying those job(s) to tape. Products like HP's D2D Backup System also work well for this -- and can directly copy the backup from itself to physical tape without using any resources on the backup server ( http://www.hp.com/go/d2d )
--
Liberty breeds responsibility; Government breeds dependence