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Veritas NetBackup PureDisk™

Best Practices Guide

Windows, Linux, and UNIX

Release 6.5
Publication release 6.5, revision 1
Veritas NetBackup PureDisk Best Practices Guide
Copyright © 2008 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved.

PureDisk 6.5.0

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Contents

Chapter 1 Overview
About this manual ................................................................................................. 7

Chapter 2 Planning data selections and backups


Perform initial backups manually or with the wizard ..................................... 9
Policy tuning .........................................................................................................10
Make specific data selections when using snapshot support .......................10
Excluding files from a data selection ................................................................10
Simulating a traditional backup plan ...............................................................10
Creating data selection templates for daily, weekly, and monthly
backups ..................................................................................................11
Applying data selection templates to the clients ....................................12
Creating policies for daily, weekly, and monthly backups ....................13
Creating data removal policies for daily, weekly, and monthly
backups ..................................................................................................15
Creating policy escalation actions .............................................................18
Configuring users to run under the Backup Operator ...................................19

Chapter 3 Creating data removal policies for specific files


Creating data removal policies for specific types of files ..............................21

Chapter 4 Comprehensive policy scheduling


Scheduling backup, replication, and maintenance policies ..........................23

Chapter 5 Tuning PureDisk


Configuration parameters ..................................................................................27
FingerprintType ...................................................................................27
Port .........................................................................................................27
TCPKeepAlive .......................................................................................27
TCPSendBufferSize ..............................................................................28
TCPReceiveBufferSize .........................................................................28
MaxTransferRate .................................................................................28
ReadBufferSize .....................................................................................29
WriteBufferSize ....................................................................................29
6 Contents
Chapter 1
Overview
This chapter contains the following topics:
■ “About this manual” on page 7

About this manual


The PureDisk Best Practices Guide includes information about how to employ
PureDisk’s features so they interoperate effectively. This manual expands on
the information that is included in the other PureDisk manuals. The complete
PureDisk documentation set is as follows:
■ PureDisk Administrator's Guide
■ PureDisk Backup Operator's Guide
■ PureDisk Best Practices Guide
■ PureDisk Client Installation Guide
■ PureDisk Getting Started Guide
■ PureDisk Deduplication Option Guide
■ PureDisk Storage Pool Installation Guide
8 Overview
About this manual
Chapter 2
Planning data selections
and backups
This chapter includes the following topics:
■ “Perform initial backups manually or with the wizard” on page 9
■ “Policy tuning” on page 10
■ “Make specific data selections when using snapshot support” on page 10
■ “Excluding files from a data selection” on page 10
■ “Simulating a traditional backup plan” on page 10
■ “Configuring users to run under the Backup Operator” on page 19

Perform initial backups manually or with the wizard


PureDisk terminates a backup job if it does not complete in a reasonable amount
of time, as follows:
■ For a manual backup job or restore job, PureDisk has a limit of seven days. If
the job does not complete by then, PureDisk generates an error message.
PureDisk terminates the job if it does not complete in 14 days.
■ For a restore job or a backup job that is run from a policy, PureDisk has a
limit of six hours. If the job does not complete by then, PureDisk generates
an error message. PureDisk terminates the job if it does not complete in five
days.
For an initial backup, Symantec recommends that you run the job manually or
from the backup wizard. For information on backups, timeouts, and how to
enable timeout notifications, see the PureDisk Administrator’s Guide.
10 Planning data selections and backups
Policy tuning

Policy tuning
If you have more than 200 clients, make sure that there are no more than 200
data selections included in one backup policy.

Make specific data selections when using snapshot


support
Snapshot support enables PureDisk to back up those files that are open at the
time the backup is performed. If you use snapshot support, make sure that your
data selections are very specific. Preferably, specify your data selections on a
per-drive basis.
For more information about how PureDisk uses snapshot support, see the
PureDisk Backup Operator’s Guide.

Excluding files from a data selection


When you define a data selection, you can specify that the data selection back up
entire directories but exclude certain types of files. When the backup runs,
PureDisk performance for data selections with excluded files is the same as for
data selections without excluded files.
However, you may perform a backup and later edit the data selection to exclude
certain files. In that case, PureDisk processes the excluded files as if they had
been deleted all at one time. This action slows down some of backup process and
creates work for the next data removal policy. If you want to exclude files from a
data selection that you backed up, perform the following procedure.

To exclude files from data selections after they have been backed up
1 Recreate the data selection.
2 Disable the schedules on the old data selection.
3 Delete the old data selection after the retention period that you defined in
the data selection removal policy.

Simulating a traditional backup plan


Typical backup plans usually include daily, weekly, and monthly backups. Such
plans usually include a policy for each backup interval. That policy specifies the
data to back up, the system affected, and how long to retain the data. Because
Planning data selections and backups 11
Simulating a traditional backup plan

these traditional plans write both the file content and the metadata to backup
media, they usually consume large amounts of tape or disk media.
If you have several similar clients, you can create a traditional backup plan for
these clients that employs PureDisk and its data deduplication technology.
Unlike typical backup methods that consume large amounts of backup media,
PureDisk uses its data deduplication technology to store file content only one
time. When you run PureDisk backups at daily, weekly, and monthly intervals,
you ensure that you have a record of the metadata at these intervals. In addition,
PureDisk also backs up any file content that is new or changed since a previous
backup was performed.
To implement this plan, create data selections for each of these intervals, apply
them to clients, and create backup policies. To ensure that these backups are
removed from the system after a suitable retention period, also create three data
removal policies.
The procedures in the following sections describe how to create the policies that
simulate this traditional approach to backing up clients:
■ “Creating data selection templates for daily, weekly, and monthly backups”
on page 11
■ “Applying data selection templates to the clients” on page 12
■ “Creating policies for daily, weekly, and monthly backups” on page 13
■ “Creating data removal policies for daily, weekly, and monthly backups” on
page 15
■ “Creating policy escalation actions” on page 18

Creating data selection templates for daily, weekly, and monthly


backups
The following procedures explain how to create a template for daily backups and
how to copy that template for weekly and monthly use.

To create a template for daily backups


1 Click the Data Selection Templates tab.
2 In the left pane, click Add Template.
3 Complete the dialog box to specify the files you want to back up.
For example, specify the following:
■ The name of the template. For example, specify Daily - My Documents
backup or Daily - data backup.
■ The directories to include in the data selection and the directories to
exclude from the data selection.
12 Planning data selections and backups
Simulating a traditional backup plan

■ The operating system.


For more information about how to complete this dialog box, see the
PureDisk Backup Operator’s Guide.
4 Click Save.

To copy a daily-use template and modify it for weekly and monthly use
1 Click the Data Selection Templates tab.
2 In the middle pane, select the daily template that you created in the
previous procedure.
3 In the left pane, click Copy Templates.
4 In the middle pane, click the name of the new copy.
5 In the left pane, click Edit Templates.
6 In the dialog box, change the name of the template.
For example, change the template name to Weekly - My Documents backup
or Weekly - data backup.
Do not change either the inclusion rules or the exclusion rules.
7 Click Save.
8 Perform the preceding steps again to create a monthly template.
For example, change the template name to Monthly - My Documents
backup.

Applying data selection templates to the clients


Use the following procedure to apply the daily, weekly, and monthly data
selection templates. Apply all three templates to each client.
See “Creating data selection templates for daily, weekly, and monthly backups”
on page 11.

To apply a template
1 Click the Data Management tab.
2 Expand the storage pool in the middle pane.
Expand the tree until you see the client or the group of clients to which you
want to apply the template. For example, you can apply the template to all
the clients in a department or to all the clients in a storage pool.
3 Click the client name, the department name, or the storage pool name.
If you want to apply the template to more than one client, click a
department name or the storage pool name.
Planning data selections and backups 13
Simulating a traditional backup plan

Tip: You may have several clients in a department, and you may have
applied this template to some of the clients in a previous session. If you
apply the template on the department level, it is faster than to apply the
template on each client individually. PureDisk does not reapply the
template on the older clients. However, when you apply the template on the
department level, you do not need to select each new client individually and
apply the template.

4 In the left tasks pane, click Apply Data Selection Template.


5 Select the template you want to apply.
6 Select Yes to use a global template, which is the default. If you use a global
template, PureDisk propagates any data selection template changes that you
may make to all clients that use the template.
7 Click Continue.
Wait until PureDisk applies the template before you move to the next step.
8 Click Close window.

Creating policies for daily, weekly, and monthly backups


The following procedures show how to create a policy for daily backups and how
to copy that policy for weekly and monthly use.

To create a policy for daily backups


1 Click the Workflows tab.
2 In the tree pane, click Backup Policies and select a policy type.
3 In the left tasks pane, click Create Policy.
4 Complete all the tabs in the policy creation dialog box.
For example, perform the following steps:
■ On the General tab, perform the following steps:
■ Type a name for the policy. For example, Daily backup.
■ Select Enabled.
■ On the Data Selections tab, perform the following steps:
■ Expand the tree until you see the client or the group of clients to
which you want to apply the policy.
■ Select the client or the client group. For example, you can apply
the policy to all the clients in a department or to all clients in a
storage pool.
14 Planning data selections and backups
Simulating a traditional backup plan

■ Use the Data selections based on template drop-down list to


specify the name of the daily backup data selection.
See “Creating data selection templates for daily, weekly, and
monthly backups” on page 11.
■ On the Scheduling tab, select the following:
■ In the upper part of the tab, select Weekly schedule and specify a
start time.
■ In the lower part of the tab, click in the boxes to select Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
■ On the Parameters tab, select parameters that are appropriate to this
data selection for your site.
5 Click Save.

To copy a daily use backup policy and modify it for weekly use
1 Click the Workflows tab.
2 In the middle pane, click the daily policy that you created in the previous
procedure.
3 In the left pane, click Copy Policy.
4 In the middle pane, click the name of the new copy.
5 In the left pane, click Edit Policy.
6 Edit the tabs in the dialog box.
Perform the following steps:
■ On the General tab, change the policy name. For example, change the
policy name to Weekly backup.
■ On the Data Selections tab, use the Data selections based on template
drop-down list to specify the name of the weekly backup data selection.
See “Creating data selection templates for daily, weekly, and monthly
backups” on page 11.
■ On the Scheduling tab, perform the following steps:
■ In the upper part of the tab, specify a start time and select Weekly
schedule.
■ In the lower part of the tab, click in the boxes to select Saturday.
■ On the Parameters tab, select parameters that are appropriate to this
data selection for your site.
7 Click Save.
Planning data selections and backups 15
Simulating a traditional backup plan

To copy a weekly use backup policy and modify it for monthly use
1 Click the Workflows tab.
2 In the middle pane, click the weekly policy that you created in the previous
procedure.
3 In the left pane, click Copy Policy.
4 In the middle pane, click the name of the new copy.
5 In the left pane, click Edit Policy.
6 Edit the tabs in the dialog box.
Perform the following steps:
■ On the General tab, change the policy name. For example, change the
policy name to Monthly backup.
■ On the Data Selections tab, use the Data selections based on template
drop-down list to specify the name of the weekly backup data selection.
See “Creating data selection templates for daily, weekly, and monthly
backups” on page 11.
■ On the Scheduling tab, perform the following steps:
■ In the upper part of the tab, specify a start time and select Monthly
schedule.
■ In the lower part of the tab, click in all boxes to select all months in
the year.
■ On the Parameters tab, select parameters that are appropriate to this
data selection for your site.
7 Click Save.

Creating data removal policies for daily, weekly, and monthly


backups
A data removal policy removes data from PureDisk storage if the data is no
longer needed. The following procedures show how to create a removal policy to
remove any unneeded data that was backed up in daily, weekly, and monthly
backups.
■ On the Data Selections tab, you can specify to remove files in a particular
data selection.
■ On the Metadata tab, you can specify to remove only specific files. PureDisk
displays this tab only for Files and Folders or UNC Path backups.

To create a data removal policy for the daily backups


1 Click the Workflows tab.
16 Planning data selections and backups
Simulating a traditional backup plan

2 In the middle pane, click Data Management Polices > Data Removal.
3 In the tasks pane, click Create Policy.
4 Complete all the tabs in the policy creation dialog box.
Perform the following steps:
■ On the General tab, perform the following steps:
■ Specify a name for the policy. For example, Daily backup - removal
policy.
■ Select Enabled.
■ On the Data Selections tab, perform the following steps:
■ Expand the tree until you see the client or the group of clients to
which you want to apply the policy.
■ Select the client or the client group. For example, you can apply
the policy to all the clients in a department or to all clients in a
storage pool.
■ On the Data Selections tab, use the Data selections based on
template drop-down list to specify the name of the weekly backup
data selection.
See “Creating data selection templates for daily, weekly, and
monthly backups” on page 11.
■ On the Scheduling tab, perform the following steps:
■ In the upper part of the tab, specify a start time and select Weekly
schedule.
■ In the lower part of the tab, click in the boxes to select Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
■ (Conditional) On the Metadata tab, you can specify to remove only
specific files.
■ On the Parameters tab, select parameters that are appropriate to this
data selection for your site.
In Remove versions backed up, select Older than (in days) and specify
14 days.
5 Click Save.

To copy a daily data removal policy and modify it for weekly use
1 Click the Workflows tab.
2 In the middle pane, click the daily data removal policy that you created in
the previous procedure.
3 In the tasks pane, click Copy Policy.
Planning data selections and backups 17
Simulating a traditional backup plan

4 In the middle pane, click the name of the new copy.


5 In the left pane, click Edit Policy.
6 Complete all the tabs in the dialog box.
Perform the following steps:
■ On the General tab, perform the following steps:
■ Specify a name for the policy. For example, Weekly backup -
removal policy.
■ Select Enabled.
■ On the Data Selections tab, perform the following steps:
■ Expand the tree.
■ Select the clients to which you want to apply this policy.
■ On the Data Selections tab, use the Data selections based on
template drop-down list to specify the name of the weekly backup
data selection.
See “Creating data selection templates for daily, weekly, and
monthly backups” on page 11.
■ On the Scheduling tab, perform the following steps:
■ In the upper part of the tab, specify both a start time and the
schedule. Specify a start time that is an hour or two later than the
start time that you specified for the daily data removal policy. For
the schedule, select Weekly schedule.
■ In the lower part of the tab, click in the box to select Saturday.
■ On the Parameters tab, select parameters that are appropriate to this
data selection for your site.
In Remove versions backed up, select Older than (in days) and specify
35 days.
7 Click Save.

To copy a weekly data removal policy and modify it for monthly use
1 Click the Workflows tab.
2 In the middle pane, click the weekly data removal policy that you created in
the previous procedure.
3 In the left pane, click Copy Policy.
4 In the tree pane, click the name of the new copy.
5 In the left pane, click Edit Policy.
6 Complete all the tabs in the dialog box.
Perform the following steps:
18 Planning data selections and backups
Simulating a traditional backup plan

■ On the General tab, perform the following steps:


■ Specify a name for the policy. For example, Monthly backup -
removal policy.
■ Select Enabled.
■ On the Data Selections tab, perform the following steps:
■ Expand the tree.
■ Select the clients to which you want to apply this policy.
■ On the Data Selections tab, use the Data selections based on
template drop-down list to specify the name of the weekly backup
data selection.
See “Creating data selection templates for daily, weekly, and
monthly backups” on page 11.
■ On the Scheduling tab, perform the following steps:
■ In the upper part of the tab, specify both a start time and the
schedule. Specify a start time that is an hour or two later than the
start time you specified for the weekly data removal policy. For the
schedule, select Monthly schedule.
■ In the lower part of the tab, click in all boxes to select all months in
the year.
■ (Conditional) On the Metadata tab, you can specify to remove only
specific files.
■ On the Parameters tab, select parameters that are appropriate to this
data selection for your site.
In Remove versions backed up, select Older than (in days) and specify
365 days.
7 Click Save.

Creating policy escalation actions


You can request that PureDisk notify you when a policy fails to run by creating a
policy escalation action for each policy.

To create policy escalation actions


◆ Create policy escalation actions for the three backup policies and the three
data removal policies that you created.
For information about how to create policy escalation actions, see the
PureDisk Backup Operator’s Guide.
Planning data selections and backups 19
Configuring users to run under the Backup Operator

Configuring users to run under the Backup Operator


By default, on Windows platforms, the PureDisk agent runs under
LocalSystem. Configuring users to run under Backup Operator allows read
permissions and permits PureDisk to read all of the ACL settings. The change
also limits the user permissions that PureDisk allows for security purposes.
You are required to configure users and the PureDisk agent to run under
Backup Operator when you back up mapped drives. You may also want to
configure users and the agent to run under Backup Operator as part of your
normal site procedures. For more information about how to configure users to
run under the Backup Operator, see the PureDisk Backup Operator’s Guide.
20 Planning data selections and backups
Configuring users to run under the Backup Operator
Chapter 3
Creating data removal
policies for specific files
This chapter includes the following topics:
■ “Creating data removal policies for specific types of files” on page 21

Creating data removal policies for specific types of


files
You may have your data selections that do not exclude certain types of files from
backups, but which you later determine that you want to exclude. You can create
one or more data removal policies to remove these files from PureDisk storage
later. For example, if you want to remove all files that end in .mp3 from your
PureDisk storage, you can create a data removal policy to remove them.
■ On the Data Selections tab, you can specify to remove files in a particular
data selection.
■ On the Metadata tab, you can specify to remove only specific files. PureDisk
displays this tab only for Files and Folders or UNC Path backups.

To create a data removal policy for a specific type of file


1 Click the Workflows tab.
2 In the tree pane, select Data Management Policies > Data Removal.
3 In the left pane, click Create Policy.
4 Complete all the tabs in the policy creation dialog box.
Perform the following steps:
■ On the General tab, perform the following steps:
■ Specify a name for the policy. For example, Removing MP3 files.
22 Creating data removal policies for specific files
Creating data removal policies for specific types of files

■ Select Enabled.
■ On the Data Selections tab, select Include all data selections selected
above.
■ On the Scheduling tab, specify a schedule.
■ (Conditional) On the Metadata tab, click Add. Fill in the following fields
in the dialog box to describe the files you want to remove:
■ For Rule name, specify a name for this filter. For example,
MP3 Files.
■ For Folder name, specify an asterisk (*).
■ For File name, specify *.mp3.
5 Click OK.
6 Click Save.
Chapter 4
Comprehensive policy
scheduling
This chapter includes the following topics:
■ “Scheduling backup, replication, and maintenance policies” on page 23

Scheduling backup, replication, and maintenance


policies
PureDisk enables you to create several policies for backups, replication, and
other activities. For example, you can create your own policies for backups,
garbage collection, and other tasks.
If you have more than 200 clients, make sure that no more than 200 jobs start at
the same time. More than one job can run at the same time, but schedule a
10-minute interval between the start times of each job.
PureDisk includes some system policies and some default policies, many of
which are for maintenance.
Table 4-1 on page 23 explains how to use and run various PureDisk policies.

Table 4-1 PureDisk recommended practices for policies and scripts

Policy Default Recommended frequency Notes

Backup policies No default Run backup policies on work days Schedule the backup policies to run when
when system activity is high. system activity is low, for example, at
night between 8pm and 8am.
For example, configure the backup
window in the Parameters tab for 8pm
through 8am.
24 Comprehensive policy scheduling
Scheduling backup, replication, and maintenance policies

Table 4-1 PureDisk recommended practices for policies and scripts (Continued)

Policy Default Recommended frequency Notes

Data Removal No default Run a removal policy one, two, or Configure this policy right after you
policy three times a week and when few deploy a storage pool. Do not wait for
backup policies run. content routers to fill with unneeded
backups.
The more frequently you run a data
removal policy, the less time each run
takes because less data is removed in each
run.
If you cannot schedule frequent data
removal policy runs, run the data
removal policy one time a week, on the
weekend. If you schedule this policy to
run less frequently, you risk overloading
the system when it runs.

Replication No default Daily. Schedule replication policies to run right


policy after your backups complete.
You can implement replication as
additional disaster recovery support.

CR Garbage Monthly Monthly. Run the policy at least one time a month.
Collection
policy

Data Selection No default Run as needed. Run the policy when you delete a whole
Removal policy data selection on a client.

Disaster No default Daily. This policy consumes a lot of system


Recovery resources, and Web UI performance can
Backup policy be slower.
Run the policy when no backups run and
when you do not perform system
maintenance tasks.
Comprehensive policy scheduling 25
Scheduling backup, replication, and maintenance policies

Table 4-1 PureDisk recommended practices for policies and scripts (Continued)

Policy Default Recommended frequency Notes

MB Garbage Monthly One to three times each week. Check Log deleted records if you want to
Collection create a log of deleted records in the job
policy log of the metabase garbage collection
policy.
If you check Enable extensive cleanup, be
aware that this method consumes many
system resources. Enable this option on
an infrequent basis, for example one time
every three months. You can copy the
default policy and enable this capability
only in a policy that runs every three
months.

Maintenance Saturday Weekly. Performs agent maintenance. Cleans up


policy morning log files and temporary files on the client
and cleans up events from agents in the
storage pool authority database.
By default, the Parameters tab specifies
to remove jobs and events that are older
than 14 days. In addition, it removes
temporary files that are older than 7 days.
If you want to keep this information for
longer, change this parameter.
Do not disable this policy. Make sure this
policy runs regularly.

Content router No default Four times each day. Performs content router queue
queue maintenance.
Schedule this policy to run outside
processing your file backup and disaster Do not disable this policy. Make sure this
policy
recovery backup windows. policy runs regularly.
26 Comprehensive policy scheduling
Scheduling backup, replication, and maintenance policies

Table 4-1 PureDisk recommended practices for policies and scripts (Continued)

Policy Default Recommended frequency Notes

Server Daily Daily. Performs server agent maintenance on


Maintenance the PureDisk nodes. It removes
policy unreferenced (unneeded) data from the
databases.
PureDisk has a default server
maintenance policy, and you can add
additional server maintenance policies.
For example, you can create the following
policies:
■ Create a server maintenance policy
to clean up only the content router
database. Run this policy one time
every two weeks.
■ Create a second server maintenance
policy to clean up only the metabase
engine database. Run this policy
every week.
■ Create a third server maintenance
policy to clean up the storage pool
authority database. Run this policy
one time a month.
You can delete this policy, but Symantec
does not recommend deletion.
Chapter 5
Tuning PureDisk
This chapter describes some PureDisk configuration parameters that you can
modify.
Be sure to review the chapter in the PureDisk Administrator’s Guide on how to
reconfigure your environment before you make changes. It has procedures for
editing and pushing configuration changes.

Configuration parameters
FingerprintType
This parameter determines the fingerprinting algorithm to be used. Type 0 is
the old algorithm without fingerprint collision detection and type 1 is for
PureDisk release 6.5 with fingerprint collision detection. This value is set during
agent installation and should not be changed.

Port
This parameter determines the port on which the content routers listen for
incoming connections. If you change this parameter, you must enter the same
number in the configuration file of all content routers and all agents. Symantec
recommends that you leave this parameter unchanged.

TCPKeepAlive
This parameter determines whether or not TCP keep-alive probes are to be sent
during connection idle time. It allows an agent to detect if an existing
connection with a content router is still valid.
For more information regarding this topic, search Google on the Web for
SO_KEEPALIVE and TCP_KEEPALIVE or visit the Web pages listed in the
TCPSendBufferSize parameter.
28 Tuning PureDisk
Configuration parameters

TCPSendBufferSize
This parameter sets the maximum socket send buffer size in bytes. If you
increase this value, the agent can transmit more data before the backup blocks.
The backup blocks while it waits for more buffer space to become available,
which happens after PureDisk sends the currently buffered data to the content
router. The default value is operating-system dependent and for UNIX, usually
depends on other kernel configuration settings. Search Google for SO_SNDBUF
for more information on this subject.
On high-latency lines (or high bandwidth lines), it is definitely worthwhile to
experiment with various values for the send buffer size. For optimal behavior,
the TCPReceiveBufferSize buffer size should be adjusted as well.
A general formula for establishing an initial value for this parameter in
kilobytes is as follows:
size = b * d * 10^3 / 8
The formula assumes a delay d in microseconds and a bandwidth b in
Kbytes/sec. You can measure the delay in microseconds by using the ping
command)
If you have a 45M-bit line and a 30-ms delay, the optimal send buffer size would
be 165Kbytes.
http://dast.nlanr.net/Guides/GettingStarted/TCP_window_size.
html has additional information on this subject, and
http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man7/tcp.7.html describes the
various kernel configuration parameters in detail.
If you specify a value of 0, it enables the operating system default.

TCPReceiveBufferSize
This parameter sets the maximum socket receive buffer size, in bytes. If you
increase this value, it may reduce the number of disk writes that the agent must
perform during a restore. Using a small value has a negative impact on
performance. The default value is operating-system dependent and for UNIX,
usually depends on other kernel configuration settings. Search Google for
SO_RCVBUF for more information on this subject.
If you specify a value of 0, it enables the operating system default.

MaxTransferRate
This parameter specifies, in Kbytes/sec, the maximum throughput on a
connection with a content router (with a variance of about 10%). A value of 0
means no bandwidth limit is applied.
Tuning PureDisk 29
Configuration parameters

You may want to specify a bandwidth limit in the following situations:


■ Slow connections (T1 or so)
■ Connections that are shared by other services
■ If backups take place during the day
If you specify a bandwidth limit, it increases the backup and restore duration.

ReadBufferSize
This parameter specifies, in bytes, the maximum amount of data that can be
read from disk in a single read operation. The default value is 64kbytes, which
corresponds to the default TCPSendBufferSize on most operating systems.
If a backup consists mainly of large files a higher value could improve
performance slightly. If you specify a lower value, it has a negative impact on
performance because PureDisk requires more read operations to process a file.
An optimal value is not easy to establish; it requires experimentation with
different values. If you specify large values, it may have an adverse effect on
performance because it may defeat the read-ahead capabilities of the operating
system or underlying hardware.
Initially, the following values may be used:
For an average file size < 128KB use the default setting
For an average file size < 64MB use 128kb
For an average file size < 128MB use 256kb
For an average file size> 128MB use 512kb
No direct link exists between this configuration parameter and the
TCPSendBufferSize parameter. However, there is an indirect connection
between the two parameters. The TCP buffer configuration directives let you
specify settings to result in optimal network throughput. The Read (and Write)
buffer directives let you specify settings to achieve optimal disk throughput.
There also exists an indirect link with the specified segment size: the agent
needs to buffer data until it has a full segment available so that it can compute
the segment fingerprint. To some degree, the rules that are given here use this
link.

Note: If you specify a higher value, more memory is used during backup.

WriteBufferSize
This parameter specifies, in bytes, the maximum amount of the data the agent
may buffer during a restore before writing it to disk. The default value is 32k
30 Tuning PureDisk
Configuration parameters

bytes, which corresponds to the default TCPReceiveBufferSize setting on


most operating systems.
If you specify a higher value, it may increase the number of disk writes.
However, a higher value might increase the I/O wait time (that is, the time the
application is blocked while waiting for the I/O to complete). If you specify a low
value, it has a negative impact on performance.
An optimal value is not easy to establish; it requires experimentation with
different values. The following information may be helpful:
During restore, the content router streams the segment data to the agent. While
the agent receives the data, it passes it through the decryption/decompression
layer, which places the result in the write buffer. After this buffer is full, it is
written to disk.
The value for WriteBufferSize may be set equal to the
TCPReceiveBufferSize but it should never be set to a value larger than the
segment size.
Index

B
backup
implementing a traditional backup plan 10
initial 9
policy recommendations 23
PureDisk timeouts 9
snapshot support 10
best practices 9, 21, 23, 27

C
content router queue processing
recommendations 25

D
data deduplication 11
data reduction factor, see data deduplication
data removal policy
for specific file types 21
recommendations 24
data selection
excluding files after a backup 10
removal policy recommendations 24
disaster recovery
policy recommendations 24

G
garbage collection
policy recommendations 25

M
maintenance
policy recommendations 25

R
replication
policy recommendations 24
Index 32

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