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Veritas NetBackup™ Appliance Capacity Planning and Performance Tuning Guide

Last Published: 2019-06-24

Product(s): Appliances (3.0)

Platform: NetBackup Appliance OS

Best practices checklist

Table: Implementing deduplication solutions

Oracle	SQL	DB2	Sybase	Lotus notes
Agent
NetBackup for Oracle agent with RMAN (Stream-based backups) NetBackup for Oracle Agent without snapshots (Proxy based backups) NetBackup for Oracle Agent (Proxy based backups with Snapshot Client) No NetBackup for Oracle Agent (Oracle Dump backups)	NetBackup for SQL Agent	NetBackup for DB2 agent	NetBackup for Sybase agent	NetBackup for Lotus Notes agent
pd.conf settings for the media server
	COMPRESSION = 1	COMPRESSION = 1	COMPRESSION = 1	COMPRESSION = 1
	MATCH_PDRO = 0			MATCH_PDRO = 0
		SEGKSIZE = 128	SEGKSIZE =128	SEGKSIZE = 128
				LOCAL_SETTINGS = 0
Compression
Turn off Oracle compression for the following agent: NetBackup for Oracle Agent with RMAN NetBackup for Oracle Agent without snapshots		COMPRESSION turned off	COMPRESSION turned off	Disable: LZ1 compression Domino Attachment and Object Service Compress database design Compress document data
Defragmentation
	Avoid frequent defragmentation. To be performed only when certain thresholds are reached.	Avoid frequent defragmentation.
STRIPES
Not applicable	Use multiple stripes.	Not applicable	Number of stripes has no impact on deduplication.	Not applicable
Other parameters
For stream-based backups FILESPERSET = 1 in RMAN backup script for ASM-based backups For Oracle Dump backups leverage IMAGE MODE while dumping to local disk For stream-based backups and proxy based backups, increase number of channels.	BLOCKSIZE = default BUFFERCOUNT = 2 buffers per stripe Leverage MAXTRANSFERSIZE Enable NO_COMPRESSION for SQL Server 2008 and higher	Enable DEDUP_DEVICE parameter Data change rates Minimal data change rate, parallel streams = 1 High data change rate requiring high backup speeds - Align number of containers in a DB2 database with the number of open sessions in the db2 database backup script		Compaction - Run compaction at a scheduled interval weekly instead of user initiated compaction.

Table: Networking best practices

Consideration	Description
Generic best practices	Use Resilient Network feature of NetBackup to overcome remote office backup bandwidth issues related to latency and connection intermittence. Use 10GbE network infrastructure end-to-end wherever possible for maximum performance.
Fibre Channel implementations	Enable SAN Client - For high-speed backups and restores of NetBackup clients over Fibre Channel. Multipathing can provide SAN I/O high-availability and higher backup throughput. Enable Optimized Duplication to a NetBackup 5230 - To copy the backup images from a NetBackup 52xx appliance (source) to a NetBackup 5020 or 5030 appliance (destination). Enable NetBackup for VMware to backup and restore of the VMware virtual machines that run on VMware ESX servers. Implement Fibre Channel connection from NetBackup 52xx appliances to TLD tape storage devices allowing for backup data to be written to tape.
SAN zone configurations - FT Backup Zone	Only include the Fibre Transport traffic between the SAN clients and the appliance. Target port of the HBA - connect this port to a Fibre Channel switch port. In case of two target ports, define the appliance target port by physical port ID or World Wide Port Name (WWPN). Connect each SAN client HBA port to ports on the same Fibre Channel switch. Define the zones on the switch so that the client ports and the HBA target ports are in the same zone.
SAN zone configurations - FT Storage Zone	Carries the Fibre Transport traffic from a 52xx appliance to a 5020 deduplication appliance. initiator port of the HBA in the 5220 appliance - connect this port to a Fibre Channel switch port. Define the zones on the switch so that the 52xx appliance initiator port Only one initiator port and one target port can be configured for the same zone. Multiple initiator ports and target ports in the same zone are not supported.
SAN zone configurations - External tape storage zone	For a tape library as storage, create a separate zone for that traffic. The tape storage zone should include a port or ports on the FC HBA in slot 3 of a 52xx appliance.
Network bonding	Use network bonding for improved throughput and backup performance. It is a useful network feature that significantly increases network scalability allowing multiple TCP streams to be balanced across a number of network ports. The commonly used network bonding modes with NetBackup Appliances are: 802.3ad bonding mode - This mode works by balancing the TCP frames across switch ports. balance-alb bonding mode - This mode works by balancing the TCP frames across ports by using the operating system itself for frame balancing.
Network architecture	Comprehensively gather the data protection requirements. Classify and segregate the data by type. Ensure that 52xx Appliances do not exceed 85% capacity within the disk pool

Table: Working with storage partitions

Partition Name	Minimum supported size	Maximum supported size	Supported Platforms
AdvancedDisk	1 GB	Maximum available capacity	52xx 53xx
NetBackup Catalog	250 GB (Master server)	4 TB (Master server)	52xx (master server only)
Configuration	100 GB	500 GB	52xx 53xx
MSDP	5 GB	Maximum available capacity	52xx
MSDP	5 GB	960 TB	53xx
MSDP Catalog	5 GB	25 TB	52xx, 53xx
Standard Share (Copilot)	5 GB	Maximum available capacity The limit for each individual share is 250 TB	5230, 5240, 53xx
Optimized Share (Copilot)	5 GB	114 TB or 228 TB	53xx

Note:

To view the exact numbers for supported sizes, see the NetBackup Appliance Product Description Guide for the appropriate model.

Table: Generic best practices

Best practice	Description
Locate the NetBackup Appliance serial number	Note and refer to the NetBackup Appliance serial number when you report an issue to support. You can use either of the following options to locate the NetBackup Appliance serial number. Monitor > Hardware > Health details from the NetBackup Appliance Web Console. Monitor > Hardware ShowHealth Appliance [Item] Command from the shell menu.
Enable Call Home and AutoSupport	Use the Settings > Notification > Alert Configuration from the NetBackup Appliance Web Console to apply the Call Home settings. AutoSupport in appliance uses the data that is gathered by Call Home to provide proactive monitoring for the appliance.
Ensure that the IPMI sub-system is configured for your appliances	The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) sub-system is beneficial when an unexpected power outage shuts down the connected system.
Enable Bare Metal Restore (BMR)	Use the Manage > Host > Advanced to enable BMR from NetBackup Appliance Web Console. BMR is the server recovery option of NetBackup that automates and streamlines the server recovery process. Thus making it unnecessary to manually reinstall the operating systems or configure hardware.
Perform Single domain disaster recovery configurations	Create the appliance Master as a virtual machine, using Site Recovery Manager to replicate data from the protected site to the recovery site. Store catalog backups at an off-site location in case a recovery is necessary. Configure a setup using VCS Global Cluster Option for complete service level protection against an entire site failure by providing applications failover to the remote site
Perform Multi-domain disaster recovery configurations	Configure Auto Image Replication to replicate backups that are generated in one NetBackup domain to storage in another NetBackup domain.
Improve Job performance	Distribute backup and deduplication jobs evenly across the available backup window. Limit the number of jobs and I/O at disk pool level for better performance. Monitor job activity and note any abnormal buffer times or delay. Evaluate the Disk Polling Service (DPS) Proxy settings - DPS_PROXYNOEXPIRE and DPS_PROXY (default SEND/RECV timeouts)