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I have Bacula 5.2.3 compiled on a RHEL 6 Server. I have IBM TS3200 Tape Library with two tape drives: LTO5 FH. I looking to see how I can get the best performance and speed up my backups

I checked with IBM and was told that my tape drives support a maximum block size of 256k.

My understanding is the default block size in Bacula is 64k

When I do :

# tapeinfo -f /dev/sg0
Product Type: Tape Drive
Vendor ID: 'IBM '
Product ID: 'ULT3580-TD5 '
Revision: 'B5BF'
Attached Changer API: No
SerialNumber: '1068007095'
MinBlock: 1
MaxBlock: 16777215
SCSI ID: 0
SCSI LUN: 0
Ready: yes
BufferedMode: yes
Medium Type: 0x58
Density Code: 0x58
BlockSize: 0
DataCompEnabled: yes
DataCompCapable: yes
DataDeCompEnabled: yes
CompType: 0x1
DeCompType: 0x1
BOP: yes
Block Position: 0
Partition 0 Remaining Kbytes: -1
Partition 0 Size in Kbytes: -1
ActivePartition: 0
EarlyWarningSize: 0
NumPartitions: 0
MaxPartitions: 1

I added the min/max block size in the Bacula-sd.conf “Device” section:
Minimum Block Size = 262144
Maximum Block Size = 262144

This really did not make any difference the “tapeinfo -f /dev/sg0” still shows the BlockSize:0 and MinBlock: 1/ MaxBlock: 16777215.

Has any ne out there done some Bacula tuning with the block size? I would really appreciate some help on this.

Thank you.

On Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:41:27 -0600
"Rao, Uthra R. (GSFC-672.0)[ADNET SYSTEMS INC]" <uthra.r.rao < at > nasa.gov>
wrote:

I have Bacula 5.2.3 compiled on a RHEL 6 Server. I have IBM TS3200
Tape Library with two tape drives: LTO5 FH. I looking to see how I
can get the best performance and speed up my backups
[...]
I added the min/max block size in the Bacula-sd.conf "Device" section:
Minimum Block Size = 262144
Maximum Block Size = 262144

This really did not make any difference the "tapeinfo -f /dev/sg0"
still shows the BlockSize:0 and MinBlock: 1/ MaxBlock: 16777215.

Has any ne out there done some Bacula tuning with the block size? I
would really appreciate some help on this.
I'd say you're supposed to run `btape` [1] before and after tweaking
this option, and then compare the results.

1.
http://www.bacula.org/5.0.x-manuals/en/problems/problems/Testing_Your_Tape_Drive.html

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2012/1/31 Rao, Uthra R. (GSFC-672.0)[ADNET SYSTEMS INC] <uthra.r.rao < at > nasa.gov>:
I have Bacula 5.2.3 compiled on a RHEL 6 Server. I have IBM TS3200 Tape
Library with two tape drives: LTO5 FH. I looking to see how I can get the
best performance and speed up my backups



I checked with IBM and was told that my tape drives support a maximum block
size of 256k.



My understanding is the default block size in Bacula is 64k



When I do :



# tapeinfo -f /dev/sg0

Product Type: Tape Drive

Vendor ID: 'IBM     '

Product ID: 'ULT3580-TD5     '

Revision: 'B5BF'

Attached Changer API: No

SerialNumber: '1068007095'

MinBlock: 1

MaxBlock: 16777215

SCSI ID: 0

SCSI LUN: 0

Ready: yes

BufferedMode: yes

Medium Type: 0x58

Density Code: 0x58

BlockSize: 0

DataCompEnabled: yes

DataCompCapable: yes

DataDeCompEnabled: yes

CompType: 0x1

DeCompType: 0x1

BOP: yes

Block Position: 0

Partition 0 Remaining Kbytes: -1

Partition 0 Size in Kbytes: -1

ActivePartition: 0

EarlyWarningSize: 0

NumPartitions: 0

MaxPartitions: 1



I added the min/max block size in the Bacula-sd.conf “Device” section:

  Minimum Block Size = 262144

  Maximum Block Size = 262144



This really did not make any difference the “tapeinfo -f /dev/sg0” still
shows the BlockSize:0 and MinBlock: 1/ MaxBlock: 16777215.



Has any ne out there done some Bacula tuning with the block size? I would
really appreciate some help on this.


Did you erase the tape after the change?

John

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On Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 11:56 AM, Rao, Uthra R. (GSFC-672.0)[ADNET
SYSTEMS INC] <uthra.r.rao < at > nasa.gov> wrote:
John,

Did you erase the tape after the change?
No, I have not erased the tape after I updated the /Bacula-sd.conf with the.

Minimum Block Size = 262144
Maximum Block Size = 262144

So, should I erase the tape and then re-label them and then do the tapeinfo -f /dev/sg0. Is that correct?


I believe changing the fixed block size requires this. Also remember
that after this change you will not be able to read any tapes that had
the default block size. This is why I still use the default at work.

John

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On Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 1:04 PM, Rao, Uthra R. (GSFC-672.0)[ADNET
SYSTEMS INC] <uthra.r.rao < at > nasa.gov> wrote:
John,

My backup server is still in the testing phase so I can erase the tape or relabel them and then run the tapeinfo command to see if the block size has changed. If I decide to go back to the default block size, I still can but will have to erase the tapes and start using them like new tapes right? Please correct me if I am wrong.


I would try erasing a single tape and relabeling it.

John

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On 31/01/12 17:54, John Drescher wrote:

I believe changing the fixed block size requires this. Also remember
that after this change you will not be able to read any tapes that had
the default block size. This is why I still use the default at work.

Double check this.

I increased block sizes here but am still able to read older tapes.

It seems the only caveat for LTO is that any tapes currently in use must
be marked USED before changing max block size - ie, the maximum block
size must not change in the middle of an open tape.





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This is what I have done so far:

Added the Minimum Block Size = 262144/Maximum Block Size = 262144 in the Bacula-sd.conf

Erased the tape in the tape drive which was in the Append status and re-labeled it.

Now if I run tapeinfo:

# tapeinfo -f /dev/sg0
Product Type: Tape Drive
Vendor ID: 'IBM '
Product ID: 'ULT3580-TD5 '
Revision: 'B5BF'
Attached Changer API: No
SerialNumber: '1068007095'
MinBlock: 1
MaxBlock: 16777215
SCSI ID: 0
SCSI LUN: 0
Ready: yes
BufferedMode: yes
Medium Type: 0x58
Density Code: 0x58
BlockSize: 0
DataCompEnabled: yes
DataCompCapable: yes
DataDeCompEnabled: yes
CompType: 0x1
DeCompType: 0x1
Block Position: 2
Partition 0 Remaining Kbytes: -1
Partition 0 Size in Kbytes: -1
ActivePartition: 0
EarlyWarningSize: 0
NumPartitions: 0
MaxPartitions: 1

I don't know why the min/max block size still remains the same and has not changed to the new value?

Uthra



-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Brown [mailto:ajb2 < at > mssl.ucl.ac.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 1:34 PM
To: John Drescher
Cc: Rao, Uthra R. (GSFC-672.0)[ADNET SYSTEMS INC]; bacula-users
Subject: Re: [Bacula-users] bacula block size

On 31/01/12 17:54, John Drescher wrote:

I believe changing the fixed block size requires this. Also remember
that after this change you will not be able to read any tapes that had
the default block size. This is why I still use the default at work.

Double check this.

I increased block sizes here but am still able to read older tapes.

It seems the only caveat for LTO is that any tapes currently in use must be marked USED before changing max block size - ie, the maximum block size must not change in the middle of an open tape.





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On Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 1:41 PM, Rao, Uthra R. (GSFC-672.0)[ADNET
SYSTEMS INC] <uthra.r.rao < at > nasa.gov> wrote:
This is what I have done so far:

Added the Minimum Block Size = 262144/Maximum Block Size = 262144 in the Bacula-sd.conf

Erased the tape in the tape drive which was in the Append status and re-labeled it.

Now if I run tapeinfo:

# tapeinfo -f /dev/sg0
Product Type: Tape Drive
Vendor ID: 'IBM     '
Product ID: 'ULT3580-TD5     '
Revision: 'B5BF'
Attached Changer API: No
SerialNumber: '1068007095'
MinBlock: 1
MaxBlock: 16777215
SCSI ID: 0
SCSI LUN: 0
Ready: yes
BufferedMode: yes
Medium Type: 0x58
Density Code: 0x58
BlockSize: 0
DataCompEnabled: yes
DataCompCapable: yes
DataDeCompEnabled: yes
CompType: 0x1
DeCompType: 0x1
Block Position: 2
Partition 0 Remaining Kbytes: -1
Partition 0 Size in Kbytes: -1
ActivePartition: 0
EarlyWarningSize: 0
NumPartitions: 0
MaxPartitions: 1

I don't know why the min/max block size still remains the same and has not changed to the new value?


This means you are running in variable block mode. I think that is
fine. I believe when I created my tapes they were in fixed block size.
Hmm was there a change in the handling that I do not know of? I will
try to check my tapes later today. I am working on 3 different medical
imaging programming projects today so I can not look now.

John

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