How to achieve over 2 TB/hr network backup with Integrity entry-class servers running HP-UX 11i v3

Additional test environment configuration details

Additional components used in the test configuration shown in Figure 1 are:

• HP StorageWorks Enterprise Systems Library (ESL) 712 E-series tape library

• HP StorageWorks LTO-4 Ultrium 1840 FC tape devices (installed in the ESL 712e tape library)

• HP StorageWorks 6000 Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA6000) Storage Subsystem

• HP StorageWorks 4/256 Director FC Switch

• HP StorageWorks 8/20q FC Switch

• HP ProCurve Switch 3400cl with 10/100/1000-T port modules

• HP-UX 11i v3 Update 4 (0903 Fusion) Data Center Operating Environment (DC-OE)

• HP Data Protector version 6.1

• Online JFS is available as an add-on license for the Base Operating Environment (BOE) and is

bundled with all the other HP-UX Operating Environments

Identifying solution limits, stress points, and optimal tuning

One of the first steps of performance characterization is to identify the limits and stress points of the

environment. Characterization of the backup server requires knowledge of the maximum throughput

achievable at the 1GbE NIC ports, the 4Gb FC HBA ports, and the LTO-4 tape drives during a

backup. Knowledge of these throughput limits helps enable optimal configuration of the overall

backup operation.

Optimal configuration also depends on optimal settings for the backup utility tunables. The HP Data

Protector backup utility supports numerous tuning features, including adjustment of I/O block size and

the number of buffers to use for writing to backup devices. Data Protector, as with other backup

utilities, uses default settings of 8 I/O buffers and 64KB I/O blocks. While running tests to identify

the bandwidth limits of the network 1GbE ports, the 4Gb FC ports, and the I/O throughput of the

LTO-4 tape devices, the following combinations of backup utility tuning parameters were used:

• 8 buffers and 64KB I/O blocks

• 16 buffers and 128KB I/O blocks

• 16 buffers and 256KB I/O blocks

• 32 buffers and 128KB I/O blocks

• 32 buffers and 256KB I/O blocks

Note

The backup and restore tests performed for this performance characterization were run at full

speed. The tests did not employ network throttling nor other means of limiting the backup/restore

data traffic on the network or the throughput performance on the backup server or client systems.

Use of network bandwidth capping features available with Data Protector and most major backup

utilities may be desirable in data centers that cannot deploy a separate backup network and so

must transmit backup/restore data over a primary, shared network.

Backup utility tuning testing

To identify the optimal combination of backup utility tuning parameters for the number of I/O buffers

and the size of I/O blocks, HP used two data streams from an increasing number of clients. The

backup data streams were distributed equally across two tape devices. HP used only two data

streams per client so that the 1GbE port limit for each client would not affect the results. HP used two

tape devices so as to assess the scale-out factor of the backup utility for this tuning analysis.