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97 Setting Up the Dell™ DR Series System on Symantec™ Backup Exec™ | April 2015
C VTL configuration guidelines
C.1 Installing latest Backup Exec service packs for the DR Series
system iSCSI VTL capability
The following Service Pack 2 from Symantec is required on the Backup Exec 2014 Server for smooth
integration between Dell DR’s iSCSI-VTL and the BE server: Backup Exec 2014 revision 1786 Service Pack 2
Backup Exec 2015 server by default supports the Dell DR Series system iSCSI-VTL capability.
C.2 Managing VTL media and space use
C.2.1 General performance guidelines for DMA configuration
• The DR Series system (version 3.2 and later) provides inline VTL deduplication, compression, and
encryption at rest functionality. Backup applications (such as Dell NetVault, Symantec BackupExec,
Symantec NetBackup, and so on) should be configured so that any multiplexing, pre-compression,
software-side deduplication, or encryption is disabled. Enabling any of these features may
adversely affect the space savings and ingest performance of the DR Series system VTL feature.
• Slots and media should be configured so as to accommodate the environment backup
requirements. Initially, the logical capacity of a VTL should be no more than twice the physical size
of the DR Series system. If the initial VTL setup is over-subscribed at higher than a 2-1 ratio without
proper planning the DR Series system could fill up prematurely and cause unexpected system
outage. It is highly advisable to configure the DR Series system VTL feature such that the media
count be made to accommodate your initial data protection requirements. and then media be
added as the deduplication statistics become available to ascertain growth, media, and space
requirements.
• Media Type selection will depend on a number of factors including the DMA used, the backup
cycles, data sources, and more. As a general rule, using smaller tapes is better than using larger
tapes so as to allow for a higher level of control over space usage by backup operations. This also
allows for easier handling in the event of a system running out of physical space as well as the
normal data cleanup procedures.
• Adding media to an existing DR Series system VTL is painless and should be leveraged to
incrementally add media as needed. Although this may require a higher level of involvement in
managing the media usage, it will result in better performance and avoid unplanned outages.
C.2.2 Physical DR space sizing and planning