Hi Anissa,

I currently use ARCServe 6.5 for backing up a F230,256MB RAM, 4MB NVRAM on 100BaseT full duplex, Extreme S48 switch, running OnTap 5.2.1 Issues that have bitten us in the past are:

a) It's slow. Backing up 24GB from the F230 using ARCServe 6.5 build 622 on a DELL PowerEdge 1300 PIII 450 with 256MB Ram and 15 slot Compaq DLT70 library (which is actually has a HP C5173-7000) I got 92.43 MB/min last night which is about average. Note that we have lots of small files (source code) The 24GB is made up of 315,913 files and 29,525 directories on a single volume so you may see better performance or worse depending on your mix.

b) careful of share permissions. Make sure when setting up the Job that the username and password entered in the security dialog can connect to the filer. We use the pre & post script option in ARCServe to create and share a snapshot (& turn oplocks off, see below), backup from the share and then unshare the snapshot.

c) oplocks. This has caused us numerous problems. We now run the backups with oplocks turned off, as there some sort of interaction between ARCServe and the oplock code (we tried a few D releases but never got around it) which means that things run very, very slowly. Like, 2 days to run the backup!

d) watch your network infrastructure. If you are dropping packets then you will see a major performance hit. Of course, the usual thing of ensuring that your duplex setting match on both filer and switch need to be taken care of.

Note that the performance figures given at http://www.netapp.com/technology/level3/3052.html are for ARCServe IT 6.6, but I haven't heard of any other performance figures for 6.6 from filer users. Anyone out there using ARCServe IT 6.6 to backup a filer?

Regards, GB

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From: Mohler, Anissa[SMTP:amohler@mail.bokf.com] Sent: 29 July 1999 18:28 To: 'toasters@mathworks.com' Subject: CIFS Remote Backup Options

I am working on design of a backup system for our F740 filer (100G usable) in a CIFS environment. At this time we have no plans on directly attaching a tape backup device to the filer. Our current enterprise backup solution is ARCserve 6.5 (on NT).

I have the White Paper on NT Backups and am wondering what is actually in use in the field. Are there any gotcha's I need to watch out for? Any best practices out there?

Thanks!

Anissa Mohler amohler@mail.bokf.com BOKf Network Services Group