Backup Central

Hello,

We have more and more prob with the backup : it takes more then 14 h.

It's not amanda fault just the amount of data. :-)

For now we have a backup server with a amanda partition with 18 GB
connected to a IBM LTO Ultrium 3581 tape Charger (7 tapes). The Hardware
compression is off (sofware compression is used).

Now we have GB network and faster server with losts of RAM and HD spaces
and I want to install Amanda on our prod server which have the largest
amount of data.

so is-ti better (faster backup) to have :
hardware or software compression ?
A larger amanda partition ?


is there another amanda tweaks to speed up the backup process ?


Thanks a lot !!!!


--
Frederic Medery
System Administrator

LexUM, University of Montreal

On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 at 9:27am, Frederic Medery wrote

We have more and more prob with the backup : it takes more then 14 h.

It's not amanda fault just the amount of data. :-)

How much per night?

For now we have a backup server with a amanda partition with 18 GB
connected to a IBM LTO Ultrium 3581 tape Charger (7 tapes). The Hardware
compression is off (sofware compression is used).

Now we have GB network and faster server with losts of RAM and HD spaces
and I want to install Amanda on our prod server which have the largest
amount of data.

so is-ti better (faster backup) to have :
hardware or software compression ?
A larger amanda partition ?

More holding space is going to give you the biggest boost. Software vs.
hardware compression with regards to speed depends on your hardware -- if
the CPUs can compress the data as fast as the disk/network can take it,
then it isn't going to slow you down.

Also note that, with your LTO drive, you can turn on hardware compression
*and* use software compression on selected DLEs if you so choose.

--
Joshua Baker-LePain
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Duke University

Frederic,

What are the tuning parameters ?

Are you bumping into an amanda imposed bandwidth limit ?
What are the settings for max dumpers and number of jobs
you can run at one time for each client ?
What level of SW compression are you using ?


On Fri, Jul 09, 2004 at 10:22:46AM -0400, Joshua Baker-LePain wrote:
On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 at 9:27am, Frederic Medery wrote

We have more and more prob with the backup : it takes more then 14 h.

It's not amanda fault just the amount of data. :-)

How much per night?

For now we have a backup server with a amanda partition with 18 GB
connected to a IBM LTO Ultrium 3581 tape Charger (7 tapes). The Hardware
compression is off (sofware compression is used).

Now we have GB network and faster server with losts of RAM and HD spaces
and I want to install Amanda on our prod server which have the largest
amount of data.

so is-ti better (faster backup) to have :
hardware or software compression ?
A larger amanda partition ?

More holding space is going to give you the biggest boost. Software vs.
hardware compression with regards to speed depends on your hardware -- if
the CPUs can compress the data as fast as the disk/network can take it,
then it isn't going to slow you down.

Also note that, with your LTO drive, you can turn on hardware compression
*and* use software compression on selected DLEs if you so choose.

--
Joshua Baker-LePain
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Duke University
---
Brian R Cuttler brian.cuttler < at > wadsworth.org
Computer Systems Support (v) 518 486-1697
Wadsworth Center (f) 518 473-6384
NYS Department of Health Help Desk 518 473-0773

More holding space is going to give you the biggest boost.

And be sure to have fast holding disks. LTO drives eat data at
20-30MB/s if your disk can send it that fast; in my setup (currently
400GB/night, and struggling to finish in 24h!), I've only two IDE
holding disks, and the combined accesses of a few dumpers and the taper
makes my writing speed drop to around 4MB/s.

Alex

--
Alexander Jolk / BUF Compagnie
tel +33-1 42 68 18 28 / fax +33-1 42 68 18 29

Frederic Medery wrote:

is there another amanda tweaks to speed up the backup process ?

Careful study of amplot graphs helps you point out bottlenecks quickly.



--
Paul Bijnens, Xplanation Tel +32 16 397.511
Technologielaan 21 bus 2, B-3001 Leuven, BELGIUM Fax +32 16 397.512
http://www.xplanation.com/ email: Paul.Bijnens < at > xplanation.com
***********************************************************************
* I think I've got the hang of it now: exit, ^D, ^C, ^\, ^Z, ^Q, F6, *
* quit, ZZ, :q, :q!, M-Z, ^X^C, logoff, logout, close, bye, /bye, *
* stop, end, F3, ~., ^]c, +++ ATH, disconnect, halt, abort, hangup, *
* PF4, F20, ^X^X, :, KJOB, F14-f-e, F8-e, kill -1 $$, shutdown, *
* kill -9 1, Alt-F4, Ctrl-Alt-Del, AltGr-NumLock, Stop-A, ... *
* ... "Are you sure?" ... YES ... Phew ... I'm out *
***********************************************************************

thanks for the replies !!


There's no bandwidth limit.
where can I find the dumpers and number of jobs info ?
For the SW compression in vary depending of the server/parition.

reg,

Frederic Medery
System Administrator

LexUM, University of Montreal



Brian Cuttler wrote:

Frederic,

What are the tuning parameters ?

Are you bumping into an amanda imposed bandwidth limit ?
What are the settings for max dumpers and number of jobs
you can run at one time for each client ?
What level of SW compression are you using ?


On Fri, Jul 09, 2004 at 10:22:46AM -0400, Joshua Baker-LePain wrote:


On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 at 9:27am, Frederic Medery wrote



We have more and more prob with the backup : it takes more then 14 h.

It's not amanda fault just the amount of data. :-)


How much per night?



For now we have a backup server with a amanda partition with 18 GB
connected to a IBM LTO Ultrium 3581 tape Charger (7 tapes). The Hardware
compression is off (sofware compression is used).

Now we have GB network and faster server with losts of RAM and HD spaces
and I want to install Amanda on our prod server which have the largest
amount of data.

so is-ti better (faster backup) to have :
hardware or software compression ?
A larger amanda partition ?



More holding space is going to give you the biggest boost. Software vs.
hardware compression with regards to speed depends on your hardware -- if
the CPUs can compress the data as fast as the disk/network can take it,
then it isn't going to slow you down.

Also note that, with your LTO drive, you can turn on hardware compression
*and* use software compression on selected DLEs if you so choose.

--
Joshua Baker-LePain
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Duke University


---
Brian R Cuttler brian.cuttler < at > wadsworth.org
Computer Systems Support (v) 518 486-1697
Wadsworth Center (f) 518 473-6384
NYS Department of Health Help Desk 518 473-0773

Frederic Medery wrote:
thanks for the replies !!


There's no bandwidth limit.

Maybe not by the physical network, but maybe you have
weird parameters in amanda.conf.

where can I find the dumpers and number of jobs info ?

A nice overview of all this in generated by "amplot":

$ cd ~amanda/config
$ amplot -e amdump.1
$ amplot -e amdump.*


--
Paul