Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Guide to Proxy Sizing

Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments V6.3 Step by Step Guide To vStorage Backup Server (Proxy) Sizing 22 August 2012 1.0

Author: Dan Wolfe, Tivoli Software Advanced Technology

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Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Guide to Proxy Sizing

Revision History
Revision Number 1.0 Revision Date 08/22/12 Summary of Changes Final version Changes marked

Disclaimer
The information contained in this document is distributed on an "as is" basis without any warranty either expressed or implied. This document has been made available as part of IBM developerWorks WIKI, and is hereby governed by the terms of use of the WIKI as defined at the following location: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/tivoli/community/disclaimer.html Throughput numbers contained in this document are intended to be used for estimation of proxy host sizing. Actual results are environment and configuration dependent and may vary significantly. Users of this document should verify the applicable data for their specific environment.

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Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Guide to Proxy Sizing

Contents
Contents .......................................................................................................................... 3 1.
1.1

Introduction ............................................................................................................. 4
Overview ................................................................................................................................. 5 Performance ............................................................................................................. 5 Periodic Full Backup ................................................................................................. 6 1.1.1 1.1.2

1.2 1.3

A Few Definitions .................................................................................................................... 7 Scope of this document .......................................................................................................... 7 External Dependencies and Assumptions ................................................................ 7 Performance optimization and bottleneck analysis .................................................. 7 Proxy Hardware Configuration .................................................................................. 7

1.3.1 1.3.2 1.3.3

2.
2.1 2.2 2.3

Step by Step Proxy Sizing ...................................................................................... 9

Assumptions ............................................................................................................................ 9 Example environment ............................................................................................................. 9 Perform the Estimate .............................................................................................................. 9 Determine daily backup workload ........................................................................... 10 Calculate Aggregate Throughput Requirement ...................................................... 10 Calculate the number of concurrent datamovers (backup processes) ................... 10 Determine the number of proxy hosts required ...................................................... 11 Summary................................................................................................................. 11

2.3.1 2.3.2 2.3.3 2.3.4 2.3.5 2.4

Architectural Considerations ................................................................................................. 12 Additional capacity requirements ............................................................................ 12 Physical or virtual proxy? ........................................................................................ 12 Rotating Fulls backups by ESX Host ................................................................... 14 Alternate Scheduling Methods ................................................................................ 14

2.4.1 2.4.2 2.5

Scheduling of Backups ......................................................................................................... 14

2.5.1 2.5.2

3. 4.
4.1

Your Estimate ....................................................................................................... 16 Proxy Host Resource Requirements .................................................................... 17

Determining proxy resource requirements ............................................................................ 17 Determining I/O resource requirements ................................................................. 17 Determining CPU requirements .............................................................................. 17 Memory estimation ................................................................................................. 17 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.1.3

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Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Guide to Proxy Sizing

1. Introduction
Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments (TSM-VE) is a feature of the Tivoli Storage Manager product family for backing up virtual machines in a VSphere (VMWare) environment. Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments uses the latest backup technology provided by VMWare, called VStorage API (also known as VADP or VStorage API for Data Protection). An essential component of Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments is the VStorage Backup Server which performs the data transfer from the data stores that contain the virtual machine data to the Tivoli Storage Manager server. The VStorage Backup Server offloads the backup workload from the ESX server and acts as a proxy for a backup. Throughout this document, the VStorage Backup Server will be referred to as the "proxy ". A proxy that is configured on a virtual machine is referred to as a virtual proxy, and if configured on a physical machine is referred to as a physical proxy. When you consider a backup solution using Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments, one of the frequently asked questions is how to estimate the number of proxies required for a specific environment. This paper guides through the estimation process. The following diagram provides a simplified, high level overview of the components involved with TSM-VE image backup and restore:

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Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Guide to Proxy Sizing

1.1

Overview

The proxy estimation is intended to help you plan a deployment of Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments. A recommended approach is described. However, there are many variations depending upon customer preferences, infrastructure capabilities, and other factors. Different vendors use various approaches to determine the number of proxies required, and may be constrained by product design. Tivoli Storage Manager provides flexibility for deploying the proxies and selecting virtual, physical, or a combination of both proxies. The intent is to provide a starting point for initial estimation and solution architecture. The proxy estimation process comprises the following steps: Define how the backups are scheduled. Estimate the number of proxies required. Decide whether to use virtual machine proxies, physical proxies, or a combination of both.

1.1.1 Performance
Estimating the number of proxies requires some assumptions about the performance characteristics of individual backup processes. Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments uses efficient disk block-level I/O for the backup process, and the backup process itself adds minimal overhead. Backup performance is determined the following system characteristics:

I/O capabilities of the data store storage arrays Back-end storage device used by the Tivoli Storage Manager server, for example, Virtual Tape Library (VTL) or disk Infrastructure connectivity, for example, Storage Area Network (SAN) or Local Area Network (LAN) bandwidth

It is recommended that you use benchmarking to refine the estimate of backup throughput specific to your environment. The throughput capabilities can range significantly depending upon the environment. Observed throughputs have ranged from 40GB/Hour to well over 200GB/hour for a single, individual backup processes.

1.1.1.1 Deduplication
Tivoli Storage Manager client side (inline) deduplication is highly effective with Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments and can substantially reduce back-end storage requirements as well as the proxy to Tivoli Storage Manager server bandwidth requirements. Client side deduplication requires additional processing (by the proxy host) that will slow the backup throughput. For a specific amount of data to backup, you may require more proxies to meet a given backup window when using deduplication as compared with not using deduplication. Generally the benefits of storage and bandwidth reduction will outweigh the cost of additional instances of proxies. For estimation purposes, you can assume that backup throughput when you use client deduplication is approximately 50% of the throughput without deduplication. As an alternative to using client side (inline) deduplication, TSM server-side (post-process) deduplication may be used if backup throughput requirements are the highest priority, and proxy to TSM server bandwidth is not constrained.

1.1.1.2 Data transfer/transport methods

The methods used for data transfer from data store to proxy and from proxy to the Tivoli Storage Manager server can have an impact on the per-process performance of Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual

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Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Guide to Proxy Sizing

Environments backups and restores. The following information on the methods available are listed here for reference. TSM user documentation should be referenced for more details on the methods available and how to configure. Data I/O from ESX data store to Proxy Transport Method NBD NBDSSL SAN Available to Virtual Proxy? Yes Yes No Available to Physical Proxy? Yes Yes Yes Comments Uses LAN connection Uses LAN connection Uses direct SAN connection to data store (for SAN-attached data stores only). Uses SAN connection (via ESX host) for SAN-attached volumes which is nearly as efficient as the SAN transport. For NFS data stores, provides more efficient transport than NBD.

HOTADD

Yes

No

Data I/O from Proxy to Tivoli Storage Manager server Communication Method LAN LAN-free Available to Virtual Proxy? Yes No Available to Physical Proxy? Yes Yes Comments Data transfers over LAN to Tivoli Storage Manager server Data transfers over SAN to Tivoli Storage Manager server storage pool devices (Tape or Virtual Tape) Note: LAN-free with disk is possible using SANergy or GFPFS.

1.1.1.3 Estimated ranges for performance

The throughput capabilities can range significantly depending on the environment, transport/data transfer methods, and whether client side deduplication is used. For the purpose of estimation, the following values are used in this document:

100GB/hour without deduplication 50GB/Hour with deduplication

1.1.2 Periodic Full Backup

As a best practice for Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments V6.3, you should perform a periodic full backup every 7-14 days, and regular daily incremental backups. (Incremental backups use VMWares Change Block Tracking feature.) Full backups can be scheduled less frequently however restore performance may increase with less frequent full backups.

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1.2
Term Proxy

A Few Definitions
Definition The host that performs the offloaded backup. This host can be a virtual or physical machine. Also called VStor Backup Server (VBS), Backup Server (BUS). The Tivoli Storage Manager Backup/Archive Client is installed on this host and provides the VMWare backup function. An individual backup process that performs the VMWare guest backups. Each datamover is associated with one or more Tivoli Storage Manager backup schedules. Typically there will be multiple datamovers per proxy to fully utilize the proxy host resources. Also called backup process.

Datamover

1.3

Scope of this document

This document is intended to provide a first order estimation of proxy hosts required for a specific Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments backup environment. Using these guidelines can help to provide a successful deployment by establishing a quantitative basis for determining the quantity, placement, and sizing of the proxy hosts. There are many assumptions made within this document and actual results can vary significantly depending upon the environment and infrastructure characteristics. Careful evaluation of the environment is necessary and benchmarking during the planning phase is strongly encouraged to characterize the capabilities of the environment.

1.3.1 External Dependencies and Assumptions

The estimation process in this document is based on the assumption that no constraints exist in the environment, and that storage capacity per VM, ESX host, and cluster are consistent across the environment. If there are large disparities in storage capacity for individual VMs, for example, a separate sizing may need to be done for the largest VMs. The assumptions made include (but are not necessarily limited to): 1. data store I/O capacity is sufficient to sustain the backup workloads. 2. LAN or SAN connectivity is sufficient to sustain the backup workloads. 3. Tivoli Storage Manager server and storage device capacity and the number of instances are designed and configured to sustain the backup workload provided by the proxies.

1.3.2 Performance optimization and bottleneck analysis

This document does not address design for performance or bottleneck analysis techniques for a Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments environment.

1.3.3 Proxy Hardware Configuration

Although some guidelines are provided for proxy host resource requirements, it is not the intent of this document to provide specific guidance on hardware or system configurations of physical or virtual proxy hosts. Hardware configuration (or in the case of a virtual machine, resource allocation) should be defined by

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a qualified system engineer that is familiar with hardware capabilities, I/O throughput, and other system requirements. IBM Techline provides a service for pre-sales configuration of Tivoli Storage Manager hardware including Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments proxy sizing. Consult your IBM Tivoli sales representative for more information.

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Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Guide to Proxy Sizing

2.

Step by Step Proxy Sizing

This section provides the steps for sizing a proxy for a specific deployment scenario across an entire data center. This is a generalized approach, and the same method may be applied to individual environments that differ significantly from one another.

2.1

Assumptions
Reasonably equal distribution (within 20%) of utilized virtual machine storage capacity (data stores) across all ESX hosts. Backups are scheduled on a per ESX host basis. See scheduling section for more information. Schedule a full backup weekly and an incremental backup 6 days a week. This means that on any th th day, 1/7 of the ESX hosts will have a full backup, and 6/7 of the ESX hosts will have an incremental backup. Since we assume an even distribution of storage and VMs across all ESX th hosts, this means that 1/7 of the total amount of data is backed up daily (via the full backups) and the remainder of the data is backed up incrementally. Example environment: o o o Total number of virtual machines: 5000 Average used storage per virtual machine: 50GB Total

2.2

Example environment
Environment Description

The following example environment is used to illustrate the estimation process:

Total Number of virtual machines Average Utilized Storage per VM Total Utilized Storage Number of ESX Hosts Number of DRS Clusters Backup Window Assumed daily change rate 5000 * 50GB

5000 50GB 250,000 GB 250 50 10 Hours 2%

2.3

Perform the Estimate

The following sections demonstrate the estimation process.

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Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Guide to Proxy Sizing

2.3.1 Determine daily backup workload

You must determine how much data is backed up daily. Based on the previously stated assumptions, we will th th perform a full backup on 1/7 of the hosts and an incremental backup on the remaining 6/7 of the hosts. Since we assume a relatively even distribution of data across hosts, we can apply these proportions to the aggregate amount of data to backup.

Determine Daily Backup Workload

Daily backup workload from full backups 250,000GB 7 NOTE: periodic full every 7 days (6 7) * 250,000 * 0.02 Daily backup workload from incremental backups Total Daily Backup Workload NOTE: 6/7 of total data multiplied by incremental change rate of 2% 35,700 + 4,400 GB
th

35,700GB

4,300GB

40,100GB

2.3.2 Calculate Aggregate Throughput Requirement

The aggregate throughput requirement is determined by the total amount of data that is backed up daily that was computed in the previous section. We assume a 10 hour daily backup window. Remember, the goal is to meet the overall backup window, and we can adjust the number of datamovers appropriately to achieve this.

Calculate aggregate throughput requirement

Total daily backup workload Backup window Aggregate throughput required 40,100GB 10 hours 35,700 + 4,400 GB 40,100GB 10 hours 4010 GB/Hour

2.3.3 Calculate the number of concurrent datamovers (backup processes)

The number of datamovers required is simply the aggregate throughput requirement divided by the estimated per-process (per datamover) throughput. Assume the per-process throughput is 100GB/hour.

Calculate number of concurrent datamovers

Aggregate throughput required Per process throughput estimate 40,100GB 10 hours 4010 GB/Hour 100GB/Hour

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Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Guide to Proxy Sizing

Number of datamovers (backup processes) 4010GB/Hour 100GB/Hour 40

2.3.4 Determine the number of proxy hosts required

To determine the number of proxy hosts required, we need to know how many concurrent datamovers (backup processes) can run on a single proxy host. For estimation purposes, we will assume ten datamovers. We will discuss resource requirements later in this document, and you may decide to run more or less concurrent processes per proxy, but this will provide us a reasonable estimate to start with.

Determine the number of proxy hosts required

Number of datamovers (backup processes) Number of concurrent datamovers per proxy Number or proxy hosts required 40 10 4010GB/Hour 100GB/Hour 40 10 4

2.3.5 Summary
We have finished crunching through the numbers to estimate the number of proxies required for a TSM-VE deployment. This gives us a good starting point, but now we need to think more about the architecture of the overall solution to determine if any adjustments are necessary. We will cover this in the next section. Here is a table that summarizes all of the steps up to this point:

Environment Description
Total Number of virtual machines Average Utilized Storage per VM Total Utilized Storage Number of ESX Hosts Number of DRS Clusters Backup Window Assumed daily change rate 5000 * 50GB 5000 50GB 250,000 GB 250 50 10 Hours 2%

Determine Daily Backup Workload

Daily Backup Workload from Full Backups 250,000GB 7 NOTE: periodic full every 7 days (6 7) * 250,000 * 0.02 Daily Backup Workload from Incremental Backups NOTE: 6/7 of total data multiplied by incremental change rate of 2%
th

35,700GB

4,300GB

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Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Guide to Proxy Sizing

Total Daily Backup Workload 35,700 + 4,400 GB 40,100GB

Calculate Aggregate Throughput Requirement

Total Daily Backup Workload Backup Window Aggregate throughput Required 40,100GB 10 hours 35,700 + 4,400 GB 40,100GB 10 hours 4010 GB/Hour

Calculate Number of Concurrent Datamovers

Aggregate throughput Required Per Process Throughput Estimate Number of datamovers (backup processes) 4010GB/Hour 100GB/Hour 40,100GB 10 hours 4010 GB/Hour 100GB/Hour 40

Determine Number of Proxy Hosts Required

Number of datamovers (backup processes) Number of concurrent datamovers per proxy Number or proxy hosts required 40 10 4010GB/Hour 100GB/Hour 40 10 4

2.4

Architectural Considerations

Now that we have an estimate of the number of proxies required to achieve the daily backup workload, we must now consider whether this makes sense in practical terms. TSM-VE provides a great deal of flexibility in deployment options, so we need to determine which options makes the most sense. We will consider other factors and determine if adjustments are required.

2.4.1 Additional capacity requirements

We have estimated the number of proxies based only on the backup requirement during the backup window (in our case 10 hours). However, full image restores of virtual machines require the use of a proxy as well. The proxy can be located anywhere within the datacenter and could be a separate, dedicated proxy used only for restore purposes. If you intend to use the same backup proxies for image restores during the backup window, you will need to add this to your workload estimate which may increase the number of proxies required. You may also want to consider a spare proxy in the event of a failed proxy host

2.4.2 Physical or virtual proxy?

The first consideration is to determine whether physical or virtual proxies will be used. Note that you dont need to decide all one or the other. It is entirely possible to use virtual proxies for part of an environment, and physical proxies for another where it makes sense. For simplicity, we assume that the number of data movers will be the same whether you use a physical or virtual proxy host. This assumption is based on equivalent resources and connectivity when comparing the

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physical and virtual hosts. In practice, a virtual proxy will share resources (e.g., i/o adapters, CPU, etc.) with other VMs whereas a physical proxy will have dedicated, static resources.

2.4.2.1 Questions to ask when you decide between a physical and a virtual proxy
Following is a list of questions you should consider when deciding between physical and virtual machines showing which type of proxy would be preferred in each case depending upon a yes or no answer:

Question Do you require backup traffic to flow over the SAN as much as possible? *Note: Virtual machine proxies can take advantage of Hotadd data transfers from a SAN data store to the proxy which primarily uses SAN I/O via the ESX host HBA. However, a virtual machine proxy cannot take advantage of LAN-free data transfers from the proxy to the Tivoli Storage Manager server. Does your LAN (IP Network) have sufficient bandwidth to accommodate the backup traffic. Do you want to use LAN-free data transfers from the proxy to the Tivoli Storage Manager server? Note: LAN-free is usually only used with Tape or Virtual Tape backup storage devices. Do you prefer or require that all new hosts are virtual and not physical machines? Do you want to minimize the number of proxy hosts? Note: The preference is based on the assumption that you will dedicate more resources to a physical proxy than a virtual proxy. Do you use NFS attached data stores? Is 10GB Ethernet connectivity available to the Tivoli Storage Manager server?

Yes Physical*

No Virtual

Virtual Physical

Physical Virtual

Virtual Physical

Either Virtual

Virtual Virtual

Either Either

2.4.2.2 ESX Clusters and distribution of virtual proxies

It is important to consider the distribution of virtual proxy hosts within the infrastructure. In the example, there are 4 proxies that backup 50 ESX hosts each, or 10 ESX clusters. Although you can do the job with 4 proxies, you may want to consider using at least one virtual proxy per ESX cluster. This is because a virtual proxy within an ESX cluster can access datastore storage via Hotadd. Hotadd provides an efficient (and low overhead) data transfer method. For SAN attached storage, the proxy transfers data directly through the ESX hosts fibrechannel adapter. Using the example, you can use 10 proxies to cover all 10 ESX clusters. You can reduce the number of data movers per proxy to distribute the workload over a greater number of proxies and reduce the resource requirements for each proxy. Using 10 virtual proxies will also provide additional reserve capacity for restores which occur during the backup window.

2.4.2.3 Deduplication choices

Although the choice of deduplication methods does not relate directly to the decision regarding physical vs. virtual proxies, it should be considered in the context of LAN-free. Although the two deduplication methods are not mutually exclusive, normally a choice is made between Tivoli Storage Manager deduplication and a

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deduplicating appliance (such as a Protectier Virtual Tape Library). If you use a deduplicating VTL device and Tivoli Storage Manager data is backed up directly to VTL, LAN-free can be considered, but only for a physical proxy.

2.4.2.4 Proxy CPU requirement with deduplication

If you use client-side deduplication, you must ensure sufficient CPU resources are allocated (whether physical or virtual). As an estimate, allocate 1.5 2.2ghz processors (virtual or physical) or equivalent per datamover process when using Tivoli Storage Manager client-side deduplication.

2.5

Scheduling of Backups

The estimation technique described in this document is based on distributing the periodic full backup throughout the backup cycle. For example, with a seven day backup schedule, on any day in the week 1/7th of the VMs will have a full backup scheduled and the remaining 6/7th will have an incremental backup. This distribution can be accomplished through various methods, two of which are described below (Rotating Fulls by ESX Host and Rotating Fulls by VM). Regardless of scheduling method, the estimation technique described in this document can still be applied, by adjusting the daily backup workload appropriately. As with any backup technique, backup results should be monitored regularly to ensure that all VMs are backed up according to business requirements.

2.5.1 Rotating Fulls backups by ESX Host

All the VMs on each ESX host are backed up once a week (full), and an incremental backup is scheduled daily for six days. For more information, see https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/tivolistoragemanager/Recommendations+for+Scheduling+ with+TSM+for+Virtual+Environments. When you schedule backups on a per-ESX host basis, the VMs on each ESX host are backed up serially. A proxy may not bet able to back itself up, so if you use a VM proxy, exclude the VM proxy from its own backup schedules.

2.5.2 Alternate Scheduling Methods

You can use other backup scheduling methods, based on business requirements or other characteristics of the environment.

2.5.2.1 Batched Fulls

Full backups for all ESX host/VMs are scheduled during an extended backup window (e.g., on the weekend). The remainder of the week, all VMs are backed up using incremental. This is usually suitable for smaller environments in which a full backup for all VMs can be architected within a 20-40 hour window. Typically, the full batch backup window requires a larger number of proxies than the incremental backups, so the proxies are sized for the full backup window. The estimation technique and calculation method is the same as described for Rotating Fulls except that the backup workload consists of 100% of all the VMs data.

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Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Guide to Proxy Sizing 2.5.2.2 Rotating Fulls by VM
This method will require backup scheduling by individual VM and can include concurrent backup of multiple VMs on the same ESX host. Although it is possible to do this with the TSM scheduler, it is usually not practical for large environments. Custom scripting methods can be used, via VMWares PowerCLI to obtain VM lists and drive TSM backup commands (dsmc backup vm) via a command line. IBM Tivoli Lab Services provides an offering for custom backup scheduling based on specific customer criteria (such as balancing load within clusters, between data stores, etc.). The same proxy sizing method described in this document can be used for the Rotating Fulls by VM.

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3.

Your Estimate
Environment Description

You can use this table to provide your proxy sizing estimate, using the example as a guideline:

Total Number of virtual machines Average Utilized Storage per VM Total Utilized Storage Number of ESX Hosts Number of DRS Clusters Backup Window Assumed daily change rate _____ * ___ GB # of VMs * Avg. Storage Per VM

___________ ________GB _______ GB _____ ___ ___ Hours __%

Determine Daily Backup Workload

Daily Backup Workload from Full Backups ______GB 7 NOTE: periodic full every 7 days (6 7) * ______ * 0.0_ Daily Backup Workload from Incremental Backups Total Daily Backup Workload NOTE: 6/7 of total data multiplied by incremental change rate of 2% _______ + ______ GB
th

_______GB

_________GB

______GB

Calculate Aggregate Throughput Requirement

Total Daily Backup Workload Backup Window Aggregate throughput Required ______ GB ___ hours ______ + ______ GB ______ GB ______ hours ______ GB/Hour

Calculate Number of Concurrent Datamovers

Aggregate throughput Required Per Process Throughput Estimate Number of datamovers (backup processes) ______ GB/Hour 100GB/Hour ______ GB ___ hours ______ GB/Hour 100GB/Hour ______

Determine Number of Proxy Hosts Required

Number of datamovers (backup processes) Number of concurrent datamovers per proxy Number or proxy hosts required ______ 10 ______ GB/Hour 100GB/Hour ______ 10 ______

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4.

Proxy Host Resource Requirements

I/O data transfer capacity CPU capacity

Resource requirements for a proxy are driven by the following key factors:

Of the two factors, I/O capacity is the most important factor because the proxys main role is to move data. When you use client deduplication, the CPU resources may become the constraint for throughput.

4.1

Determining proxy resource requirements

4.1.1 Determining I/O resource requirements

In the case of LAN data transfers the I/O resources for the proxy are the network adapter cards (NICs). In the case of SAN data transfers (which includes SAN transport from the datastore to the proxy anad LAN-free from the proxy to the TSM server), the FC adapters (HBAs) are the critical I/O resource. When both LAN and SAN transfers are used, then both NICs and HBAs are critical to support the required data transfer rates. An example of this is when LAN transport is used between the datastore and proxy, and LAN-free is used between the proxy and the TSM server. For virtual proxies, the resource requirements apply to virtual adapters and the requirements (number and speed of adapters) will remain the same as a physical proxy. However, dedicating shared resources across an ESX hypervisor may require additional planning and configuration for a virtual machine. The NIC and HBA adapters should be sized to ensure adequate capacity to handle the expected i/o data rates through the IP network and SAN, respectively. Machine backplane i/o capacity must also be considered, but generally is not an issue for a properly configured system.

4.1.2 Determining CPU requirements

For estimation purposes, use of a 2.2Ghz physical or virtual processor cores (or equivalent) per individual backup process. Thus, a proxy that runs 8 concurrent backup processes would require 4 processor cores. Note: Processor core refers to a processing unit. A quad-core socket has 4 processor cores. When you plan for deduplication, 1.5 processor cores should be configured per backup process. A 16 core proxy host should have no more than 10 concurrent backup processes. An advantage of considering virtual proxies is that you can distribute a larger number of proxies with smaller resources to accommodate the same backup workload as fewer, physical proxies, that require more resources each.

4.1.3 Memory estimation

The memory requirements for Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments backup processes are small and generally not a constraint. The memory should be sized adequately for the proxy host operating system

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(for example, Windows 2008R2). A minimum of 4GB of RAM should be considered when running four concurrent backup processes, with an additional 1 GB for each additional backup process.

END OF DOCUMENT

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