, Cisco UCS, vSphere Joint Backup - Symanteceval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/white_papers/b-nbu_cisco... · 1 Symantec NetBackup™, Cisco® UCS, and VMware® vSphere™ Joint

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Symantec NetBackup™, Cisco® UCS, and VMware® vSphere™ Joint Backup Performance BenchmarkGeorge Winter, Symantec Corporation Roger Andersson, Cisco Systems, Inc.

Paul Vasquez, VMware October 2010

Symantec NetBackup™, Cisco® UCS, and VMware® vSphere™ Joint Backup Performance Benchmark

Contents

1.0 executiveoverview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2.0 technologyoverview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2.1 NetBackup7forVMware.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2.2CiscoSystemsUnifiedComputingSystemplatform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2.3NetBackup7MediaServerDeduplicationPool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2.4VMware’svStorageAPIsforDataProtection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3.0Benchmarkconfiguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3.1NetBackup7forVMware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3.2VMwarebackuphost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3.3VMwareconfiguration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

4.0Performancebaselinetesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

4.1Baselinetestingoverview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

5.0Benchmarkresults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

5.1Additionalperformancetopics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

6.0Protectingmuti-terabytevirtualmachineenvironments.. . . . . . . . . . 14

7.0netBackupforVMwareperformanceadvantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

7.1Backupperformanceimpactcomparison–ESXserver . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

8.0netBackup7forVMwareConfigurationtips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Additionalresources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

AppendixA:HD_speedUtility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

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1.0executiveoverview

Sincethe6.5release,SymantecNetBackup™softwarehasfeaturedanaward-winningbackuptechnologydesigned

specificallyforVMware®virtualmachineprotection.Inadditiontoprovidingintegratedsupportforvirtualmachinebackups,

NetBackupengineeringalsocreatedauniquesinglefilerestoresolution.NetBackupGranularFileRestoreprovidestheunique

abilitytoindex,searchforandrestoreanythingincludingasinglefile(Windows®)oranentirevirtualmachinefromasingle

backuppass.Andthisisaccomplishedwithnomodificationstotheexistingbackupenvironment.

WiththereleaseofVMwarevSphere™4,VMwarehascreatedsignificantimprovementsintheareaofvirtualmachinedata

protectionthroughthevStorageAPIsforDataProtection(VADP).TheNetBackup7releasenativelysupportsallofthenew

featuresprovidedbythisAPIandprovidesadditionalpatent-pendingenhancementsthatnootherbackupvendorprovides.

Wesuggestthatyouusethisbenchmarkasaguidelineforconfiguringyourvirtualmachinebackupstrategy.Wehighly

recommendthatyouutilizethetechnologiesthathavebeendescribedinthisbenchmark,butwhatevercomponentsyou

deploy,theinformationandmethodologiesdescribedinthisdocumentcanbeofhelpasyoumakedesigndecisionsrelatedto

protectingyourvaluablevirtualmachineenvironment.

2.0technologyoverview

Obtainingthebestpossiblebackupperformanceisalwaysateameffortinthesensethatmultipletechnologiesarebrought

togethertoprovideoptimaldataprotectionperformance.Forthisbenchmark,Cisco,VMware,andSymantecbringtogether

auniquegroupofproductofferingsthattogetherprovidesuperiorbackupcapabilitiesandperformanceforVMwarevirtual

machineprotection.

Thesetechnologiesaredescribedindetailasfollows:

2.1netBackup7forVMware

SincetheNetBackup6.5.1release,NetBackuphasprovidedtechnicalinnovationsthatsimplifytasksforbackupandvirtual

machineadministrators.TheNetBackup7.0releaseusesfeaturesfoundinthe6.5.xreleaseandbuildsuponthem.Backupand

virtualmachineadministratorsarelookingforrelieffromslowbackups,longbackupwindows,andclumsyrestoreprocesses.

NetBackup7.0canprovidethatrelief.

Nohardwarerequirement.ThevSphere4vStorageAPIsforDataProtectionhavebeendesignedsothatnoadditionalholding

tankorstagingisrequired.Thisalsomeansthattheconceptofabackupproxynolongerapplies.Virtualmachinebackupscan

beconfiguredusingstandardNetBackupmasterserver,mediaserver,orclients.SpecialpurposeBackupProxysystemsdesigned

specificallyforvirtualmachinebackupsandadditionalstagingareastoragenolongerneedtobepurchased.

Incrementalsbytheblock.AnotherfeatureofthevStorageAPIischangedblocktracking.Thisisablock-levelincremental

backupimplementation.Aftertheinitialfullbackupisperformed,subsequentblock-levelincrementalbackupstransferto

thebackupsystemonlytheblocksthathavechangedsincethepreviousfullorincrementalbackup.Thisshortensbackup

windowswhileretainingfulldisasterrecoveryrestorefunctionality.

Singlefilerestores–nomatterwhat.Block-levelincrementalsarebestwhenrestoringtheentirevirtualmachine;however,

administratorsneedtoalsoaddresssinglefilerestorerequestsaswell.NetBackup7.0extendsitsaward-winningGranular

FileRestorecapabilitytoblock-basedincrementals(Windows).Whethertherestorerequestisbasedonafull,differentialor

cumulativeblocklevelbackup,individualfilescanbeinstantlysearchedforandrestoredfromanybackupstoragedestination

includingdisk,tape,VTLordeduplicationtarget.NetBackupneverforcesyoutousediskasaprimarybackuptargetorto

re-createorrestagethevirtualmachinetodiskbeforearestore.Noothervendorcaninstantlysearchforanindividualfile

throughfullorblock-levelincrementalbackupsandtheninstantlyrestorethatfilefromanybackupdestination(disk,tape,

VTL,deduplicationtarget,etc).

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Mostefficientbackuppossible.Whenafileismovedordeleted,onlythereferencestothatfileareremoved.Thedatainside

eachblockthatusedtobeassociatedwiththedeletedfilestillexists.NetBackupdetectsthisandcanautomaticallyskipthese

fullbutunusedblocks(Windows).Theamountofbacked-updatacanbereducedby30percentormorewhencomparedto

standardbackuptechnologies.Thiscantranslateintobackupstorage(disk,tape,etc.)reductionsexceeding100softerabytes

inmanyenvironments.Anadditionalbenefitisthatthisalsoreducesthebackupwindowbyasimilarpercentageaslessdata

isbackedup.

2.2CiscosystemsUnifiedComputingsystemplatform

TheCiscoUnifiedComputingSystem(UCS)isanext-generationdatacenterplatformthatunitescompute,network,and

storageaccess.Theplatform,optimized(butnotlimitedto)forvirtualenvironments,isdesignedwithinopenindustry

standardtechnologiesandaimstoreduceTCOandincreasebusinessagility.Thesystemintegratesalow-latency,lossless10

GigabitEthernetunifiednetworkfabricwithenterprise-class,x86-architectureservers.Thesystemisanintegrated,scalable,

multi-chassisplatforminwhichallresourcesparticipateinaunifiedmanagementdomain.

Cisco’sUCSandFibreChanneloverEthernet(FCoE)technologiesarethebackboneofthevirtualinfrastructure,providinga

datacenterarchitectureforadministratorsthatiseasytouseandmanage.

Fogire1-CiscoUnifiedComputingsystem(UCs)

ModernCPUswithbuilt-inmemorycontrollerssupportalimitednumberofmemorychannelsandslotsperCPU.Theneedfor

virtualizationsoftwaretorunmultipleOSinstancesdemandslargeamountsofmemoryandthat,combinedwiththefactthatCPU

performanceisoutstrippingmemoryperformance,canleadtomemorybottlenecks.Evensometraditionalnon-virtualizedapplications

demandlargeamountsofmainmemory.Databasemanagementsystemperformancecanbeimproveddramaticallybycaching

databasetablesinmemoryandmodelingandsimulationsoftwarecanbenefitfromcachingmoreoftheproblemstateinmemory.

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Toobtainalargermemoryfootprint,mostITorganizationsareforcedtoupgradetolarger,moreexpensivefour-socket

servers.CPUsthatcansupportfour-socketconfigurationsaretypicallymoreexpensive,requiremorepower,andentail

higherlicensingcosts.

CiscoExtendedMemoryTechnologyexpandsthecapabilitiesofCPU-basedmemorycontrollersbylogicallychangingthe

geometryofmainmemorywhilestillusingstandardDDR3memory.ThetechnologymakeseveryfourDIMMslotsinthe

expandedmemorybladeserverappeartotheCPU’smemorycontrollerasasingleDIMMthatisfourtimesthesize.For

example,usingstandardDDR3DIMMs,thetechnologymakesfour8-GBDIMMSappearasasingle32-GBDIMM.Thispatented

technologyallowstheCPUtoaccessmoreindustry-standardmemorythaneverbeforeinatwo-socketserver:

•Formemory-intensiveenvironments(forexample,backupdeduplicationtargets),datacenterscanbetterbalancetheratio

ofCPUpowertomemoryandinstalllargeramountsofmemorywithouthavingtheexpenseandenergywasteofmoving

tofour-socketserverssimplytohavealargermemorycapacity.Withalargermainmemoryfootprint,CPUutilizationcan

improvebecauseoffewerdiskwaitsonpage-inandotherI/Ooperations,makingmoreeffectiveuseofcapitalinvestments

andmoreconservativeuseofenergy.

•Forenvironmentsthatneedsignificantamountsofmainmemorybutwhichdonotneedafull384GB,smaller-sized

DIMMscanbeusedinplaceof8GBDIMMs,withresultingcostsavings;four2GBDIMMSaretypicallylessexpensive

thanone8GBDIMM.

DeduplicationtechnologiessuchastheembeddedMediaServerDeduplicationPool(MSDP)inNetBackupcanusethisextra

CPUpowerandmemorycapacitytoextenddeduplicationefficienciesandbackupperformance.

2.3netBackup7MediaserverDeduplicationPool

NetBackup7integratesthededuplicationcapabilitiesofSymantecNetBackupPureDisk™softwarewiththestandard

NetBackupmediaservertoprovideasinglepointsolutionforbothregularanddeduplicatedbackups.Amediaserverenabled

withthisfeatureiscalledamediaserverdeduplicationpool(MSDP),referringtothepoolofdeduplicateddataitishosting

locallyondisk.Nolongerdoesonerequireadedicatedserverorappliancetohostanddeduplicatebackupdata.Aswellas

actingasamediaserverinitsownrightanMSDPmediaservercanalsoactasatargetforothermediaserversinthesame

waythataPureDiskservercanwiththePureDiskdeduplicationoption.

Deduplicateeverything.Deduplicationtechnologiestypicallylookatfilesandsearchforblocksorsegmentswithinthosefiles

thathavepreviouslybeenbackedup.Thesesamededuplicationtechnologiestakethesameapproachwhendeduplicating

virtualmachinevmdkfiles.Theytreatthesetypicallyverylargefileslikeanyotherfilesandsimplytrytofindblocksthat

matchotherblocksthathavealreadybeenbackedup.Butthesevmdkfilesarenotjustsimplefiles.Theyarevirtualmachine

containersthatholdOSfilessuchasWorddocsorExcel®spreadsheets.Thekeyisunderstandingexactlywhatisinsidethese

vmdkcontainerfiles.NetBackupusesitspatent-pendingGranularFileRestoretechnologytolookinsidethesevmdkfiles.

NetBackupthentakesthisinformationanddeduplicatesfilesthatexistinsideavmdkfileagainstfilesthatexistonaphysical

system.Thismeansthatforthefirsttime,adeduplicationtechnologycanactuallydeduplicatedatafromthevirtualworldto

thephysicalworld.

Globalstoragesavingsof20xtimesormore.Backupsaretheperfectfitfordeduplicationaseachnewbackupofthesamefile

systemorapplicationprotectsalargelyunchangeddataset,leadingtoalotofredundantdata.Deployingdeduplication,with

itsabilitytoidentifydatasegmentsthatarecommonbetweenbackupsetsandsaveonlyonecopyofeachsegment,leadsto

hugestoragesavings.Testshaveshownthatmorethan20xstoragesavingscanbeachievedwhenprotectingunstructured

datawithdeduplication.

Higherbackupspeeds.Astargetdeduplicationremovesredundantdatainlinebeforestoringtodisk,lessdataneedstobe

movedandstoredtothefinaltargetdestination.AsaresultthisreductioninI/Omovementincreasesthebackupspeedsan

averageof30percentandsomecasesevendoublethebackupspeed.

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Reducedcostbyleveragingcommodityserversandcommoditydisk.Whilemostdeduplicationsolutionsrequirededicated

hardwareandanextralayerofmanagement,NetBackup7.0breaksthoseboundariesbydeliveringbuilt-indeduplicationin

themediaserver.BundledinthesameinstallationpackageasNetBackup7,thisdeduplicationdeliversthesimplicityand

flexibilityabackupadministratorislookingfor.Withthisready-to-goconfigurationcustomerscanactivatethisoptionatany

giventimeandhavethechoicetousecheaperstorageandservers,againreducingtheoverallinfrastructurecost.Customers

withamixedcustomerbase,caneasilyactivethededuplicationserveronaWindows,Solaris®orLinux®mediaserver,without

therequirementtomaintainanewplatform.

Fasterrestoreprocess.Asdeduplicationsupportsmoreversionsondisk,customerscaneasilyreduceorevenreplacetheir

dailytapebackupsbyextendingtheretentionbackupstodisk.Havingmoreversionsavailableonlinespeedsuptherestore

processandincreasestherestoresuccessrate.

Moreflexibilityinmixedenvironments.Customershavetheflexibilitytoinstallmediaserverdeduplicationpoolsandstand-

alonePureDiskpoolsinthesameNetBackupdomain.Bothtypesofpoolsarepresentedasastorageserverwithstorageunits,

keepingmanagementtransparentandconsistent.Onemediaservercancontributetothededuplicationprocessandreroute

datatoanyMediaServerDeduplicationPool(MSDP)andPureDiskpoolsimultaneously,leadingtoaflexiblearchitecture.

2.4VMware’svstorageAPIsforDataProtection

TheVMwarevSphere4.0releaseisasignificantdeparturefromthepreviousVirtualInfrastructure3release.Therearean

abundanceofnewfeaturesinvSphere4.Fortunatelyforbackupadministrators,manyoftheseenhancementsarerelatedto

virtualmachineprotection.TheseimprovementsaredeliveredthroughthevStorageAPIsforDataProtectionthatVMwarehas

developedspecificallyforvirtualmachinebackup.ThisAPIallowsNetBackuptoprovidedirectintegrationofallthebackup

functionalitiesthatvSphere4provides.

ThevStorageAPIsforDataProtectioncompletelyreplaceVMwareConsolidatedBackup.WhiletheVMwareConsolidated

Backupstyleofbackupsarestillsupported,thisisstrictlyforbackwardcompatibility.BothESX3andESX4systemscan

beprotectedwiththevStorageAPIsforDataProtection.ThevStorageAPIsforDataProtectionhasadditionalarchitectural

advantagesasfollows:

Nostagingarearequired.NetBackup7.0nolongerrequiresanydiskforastagingareaorholdingtank.WithNetBackup7.0,

thebackupdatastreamisdirectfromthesourceESXdatastoretoanydestinationstorageunittypethatNetBackupsupports

includingdisk,tape,VTLordeduplicationtarget(includingthenewNetBackupMediaServerDeduplication).Byeliminating

therequirementforastagingarea(orholdingtank),NetBackupsignificantlyimprovesbackupperformancebecauseall

backedupdatanolongerneedstobetemporarilystagedtodisk.ThisappliestobothESX3andESX4(vSphere)systems.

Enhancedincrementalbackuptechnology.AnotherexcitingfeatureofthevStorageAPIsforDataProtectionisrelatedto

incrementalbackups.NetBackup6.5.2providedafilelevelincrementalbackupbutNetBackup7.0featuresamuchfaster

andefficientblocklevelincrementalbackuptechnology.ThismeansthatavirtualmachinerunningonanESX4servercanbe

completelyprotectedbybackinguponlytheblocksthathavechangedsincepreviousincrementalorfullbackups.

Bettersinglefilerestores?Youbet!VMwareConsolidatedBackupdidnotsupportanincrementalbackuptechnologywherethe

entirevirtualmachinecouldbeautomaticallyrestoredfrombothfullandincremental(vmdk)backupstoaspecificpointintime.

ThevStorageAPInowprovidesthisabilityandanyvendorcanenablethis.NotonlydoesNetBackup7fullysupportthiscapability

butalsohastakenthisastepfurtherbyuniquelyrestoringindividualfiles(Windowsonly)directlyfromanincrementalbackup

withouttheneedtoreconstructtheentirevirtualmachine.Thesesinglefilesareindexedandsearchableaswell.

WhileallvendorswillbeabletoutilizeVMware’schangedblocktrackingtechnology,onlyNetBackupwillbeabletorestore

individualfilesand/ortheentirevirtualmachinedirectlyfromablock-levelincrementalbackup.Onehundredpercentofthis

dataisindexedandanyfileorvirtualmachinecanbesearchedforandinstantlyfoundandrestoredwithouthavingtofirst

restoreorrestagetheentirevirtualmachinetodisk.

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3.0Benchmarkconfiguration

Oneofthemostimportantaspectsofmaximizingbackupperformanceispayingspecialattentiontosoftwareandhardware

componentselection.Althoughyoumaybefamiliarandcomfortablewitholderoperatingsystems,newerversionstypically

provideperformanceandscalabilityimprovements.Forexample,thedifferencebetweena32-and64-bitOScanbevery

importantifalargermemoryfootprintisdesired.Selectingtheproperhardwareformaximumperformanceisequally

important.Whendecidingwhathardwaretodeployinthebackupenvironmentthecomponentsthatareinvolvedinthe

backuppathshouldbechosenwithperformanceinmind.Anycomponentinthebackuppaththatisinherentlyslowor

performingpoorlywillnegativelyimpacttheoverallbackupperformance.

Thefollowingsectionsdescribethehardwareandsoftwareenvironmentselectedforthisbenchmark(Figure2).When

selectingthishardware,specialcarewastakentocreateabalancebetweenhardwarecostsandperformance.Inaddition

todescribingthesecomponents,wealsoprovidecommentsandsuggestionsrelatedtocomponentselectionandoverall

methodsforimprovingbackupperformance.Takentogether,thisinformationcanpotentiallyenhanceoverallbackup

performanceandinturnreducehardwarerequirementsandexpenses,shortenbackupwindows,andreducebackupimpact

onyourvirtualmachines.

Figure2-Benchmarkconfiguration

3.1netBackup7forVMware

WithNetBackup7,thesystemresponsibleforvirtualmachinebackupsisnowtermedtheVMwarebackuphost.Adedicated

(thatis,BackupProxy)systemnolongerneedstobeallocatedtosupportVMwarebackups.Anyneworexistingbackup

systemrunningasupportedWindowsplatformcanbedesignatedasaVMwarebackuphost.TheVMwareBackuphost

canalsobeconfiguredasaNetBackupmasterserver,mediaserverorevenaclient.Thisoffersconsiderableflexibilityin

configuringyourVMwarebackupsandalsocanreduceadditionallicensingand/orhardwarecosts.Forthisbenchmarkasingle

NetBackupsystemconfiguredasamaster/mediaserverwasdefinedastheVMwarebackuphost.Inlargerenvironmentsitis

commonfortheNetBackupmasterandmediaserver(s)tobeconfiguredonseparatehosts.

NetBackup7forVMwarealsoprovidesnewfeaturesthatbythemselvescandramaticallyreducebackuptimes.VMware

vSphereprovidesatrueincrementalbackuptechnologythroughitschangedblocktracking(CBT)feature.NetBackupfully

supportsthisandimplementsitasBlockLevelIncrementalBackups(BLIB).NetBackuptakesthisastepfurtherandprovides

theabilitytorestoresinglefilesdirectlyfromanyfullorBLIBstylebackuponWindowsvirtualmachineswithouteverhaving

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torestageanythingtodiskorrecombineincrementalbackupstocreateafullVIRTUALMACHINEimage.Thismeansthat

incrementalbackupscanbemorecommonplace,whichreducestheamountofdatabeingbackedupwithoutanylossof

restore(singlefileorentireVIRTUALMACHINE)options.Backinguplessdatameansimprovingoverallbackupperformance

andshorteningbackupwindows.

NetBackupSetting Value Notes

NetBackupVersion 7.0GA

NumberofNetBackupPolicies 4 PoliciesalignedwithESXdatastore

LimitJobsPerPolicy 8

MaxConcurrentJobs 32

NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK 512

SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS_DISK 1048576

table1-netBackup7forVMwaresettings

TheNetBackupconfigurationsettingsusedinthisbenchmarkarelistedinTable1.BecausetherewerefourESXserver/

datastorepairs,fourNetBackuppolicieswereconfigured–onepolicyperESXserver.Thisallowedustolimitthenumberof

simultaneousbackupsthatoccurredagainsteachESXserver.Usingthismethod,thebackupI/OloadoneachESXdatastore

wassimilar,backupperformanceandreliabilitywasoptimized.Multipletestrunsweremadetofine-tuneNetBackupbuffer

settings.Theresultingbuffersettingsthatweusedmaximizeddiskstorageunitperformance.

NetBackupstorageunit

InNetBackupterminology,thestorageunitisthedesignationofabackupdestination.ANetBackupstorageunitcanbe

configuredasdisk,tape,virtualtapelibrary(VTL)oradeduplicationtarget.Thisbenchmarktestingusedtwotypesofstorage

units–abasicdiskstorageunitandadeduplication(MSDP)storageunit.

TheLUNusedforthestorageunitwasconfiguredonasimplediskpartitionbuiltontopoftwoRAID5LUNs,mirroredwithin

Windows.Two4GbFibreconnectionstothisdiskwereconfiguredinconjunctionwithmulti-pathingsoftwarethatprovided

thesametheoreticalperformancethroughputofasingle8GBFibreconnection.ThismirroredRAID5LUNwasusedforboth

thestandarddiskstorageaswellasthededuplicationstorageunit.

3.2VMwarebackuphost

TheVMwarebackuphostiseasilythesinglemostimportantcomponentwithinthebackupenvironment.Generallyspeaking

backupsystemsareI/Omachines.TheytendtoberesponsibleforlargeamountsofI/O.Forthisreason,werecommendthat

specialfocusbeplacedontheI/OcapabilitiesoftheVMwarebackuphost.Thisbenchmarkalsofeaturesbackupdeduplication.

Deduplicationreliesheavilyonbothmemory(RAM)andCPUresources.Forthisreason,weextendourVMwarebackuphost

systemselectioncriteriatoincludeRAMandCPUasimportantconsiderations.Theseattributesareaddressedbelow.

I/Ocapacity.TherearetwokeyareasthatinfluenceI/Ocapacity.ThefirstistheinternalbusstructureoftheVMwarebackup

host.ManycomputingplatformsstillofferaninternalFrontSideBusarchitecture.Thisarchitecturehasbeenaroundfor

sometimebuthasbeenreplacedbynewerinternalbusstructuressuchasIntel’sQuickPathInterconnect(QPI)orAMD’s

HyperTransport.TheCiscoUCSarchitecturesupportsQuickPathInterconnect.Regardlessofwhichtechnologyyouuse

orhaveavailabletoyou,considerthatmanycomputingplatformsyoumayhaveatyourdisposalmaynotbedesignedor

optimizedforI/O.

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AnotheraspectofI/Oistheabilitytoconnecttothebackupenvironmentthroughhostbusadapters.I/Oslotcapacityiskey.

WerecommendthateachI/Osourceanddestinationbeconfiguredonseparatehostbusadapters(HBA’s)ifpossible.This

includesnetworkbackuptrafficasthisisessentiallyI/Oaswell.Forexample,theconnectionbetweenthebackupsource

(inthiscasetheESXdatastore)andthebackupdestination(forexample,diskortape)shouldnotbeshared.Thisisolates

thebackuptraffictoseparateHBAsthatinturncanimproveperformance.AlsoconsiderthatadditionalI/Oslotsthatmight

emptyandarenotneededtodaycanbeusedinthefuturewhenyourbackupneedsexpand.

CPU.Fast,multi-coreCPUsarecommonplacetoday.Today’sCPUsaresopowerfulthatfortraditionalbackupsitisnot

uncommonforthebackupsystemCPUtobeabitunderutilized.Butdeduplicationtechnologieshavechangedthis

significantly.DeduplicationreliesheavilyonCPUpowertocomparesegments(orblocks)ofdatatodetermineiftheyhave

beenpreviouslybackeduporiftheyareunique.MoreandfasterCPUscanimproveoveralldeduplicationperformancewhich

inturnimprovesbackupperformance.Onceagain,expandabilityshouldalsobeanimportantconsideration.Theabilitytoadd

CPUcapacityon-demandcanfuture-proofyourbackupsystem,delayingtheneedtoupgradeyourbackupsystem.

Memory(RAM).DeduplicationtechnologiesareparticularlysuitedtotakeadvantageoflargeamountsofRAM.Beforebackup

dataiscommittedtodisk,itiscomparedwithdatathathasbeenpreviouslybackedup.Thiscomparisonprocessisperformed

inRAMinsteadofconstantlycomparingbackupdatathatexistsondisk.Thissignificantlyspeedsupthededuplication

processandenhancesdeduplicationefficiently;however,ittendstorequirealotofRAM.Ifdeduplicationistobeused,we

recommendasystemthathasthecapacitytosupportatleast32GBofRAM.Thissystemshouldalsohavethecapacityto

expandwellbeyondthis.Onceagain,thisexpansioncapabilitycanfuture-proofthebackupsystemtoscaletomuchlarger

deduplicationenvironments.

VMwarebackuphostconfiguration

CiscoSystem’sUCSplatformwasselectedastheVMwarebackuphost.Thesesystemsareideallysuitedforthisbenchmark

aswefocusonvirtualmachinebackupperformanceusingtraditionalbackupdestinationsaswellasdeduplicatedbackup

destinations.CiscoUCScomputersexcelinallimportantperformancemetrics.TheUCSplatformfeaturesIntel’sstateof

theartQuickPathInterconnecttechnologyforfastinternaldatatransfersbetweencriticalinternalsystemcomponents.

ThisprovidesextremelyfastI/Ocapabilities.UCSsystemscanalsoexpandtoasmanyas32coresand384GBofRAM.The

configurationusedfortheVMwareBackuphostislistedinTable2.

Component Description Notes

NetBackupVMwareBackupHost CiscoUCSB200-M1

OperatingSystem WindowsServer2008,SP2 64bit

Processors Xeonx55702.933GHzCPU 2Sockets,4Cores/Socket

RAM 48GB

UnifiedNetwork/FCOECNA CiscoUCSM81KRVirtualInterfaceCard Twodualportcards

table2-netBackupforVMwarebackuphostconfiguration

3.3VMwareconfiguration

AcompleteVMwarevSphere4.0cloudcomputingenvironmentwasusedforthisbenchmark.ThisincludedavCenter™server

aswellas4separateESX4.0systems.ThespecificVMwarecomponentsaredescribedasfollows:

vCenterServer.ThevCenterserverisastandardvCentersystemrunningonWindows2008(64bit).

ESX4.EachESXsystemwasconfiguredexactlythesame.EachwasrunningESX4.0andhoused23virtualmachines.TheESX

datastorewasconfiguredontopofRAID5LUNs.

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Virtualmachines.Atotalof92virtualmachineswereusedasbackuptargets.ThevirtualmachineswererunningWindows,

hadanaveragesizeof43GBofdata,andapproximately100,000filespervirtualmachine.

MoreinformationcanbefoundinTable3.

Component Description Notes

ESXServer CiscoUCSB200-M1

OperatingSystem ESX4.0.0,Build208167 PatchESX400-200912001

Processors Xeonx55702.933GHzCPU 2Sockets,4Cores/Socket

RAM 24GB

UnifiedNetwork/FCOECNA CiscoCNAM71KR-C(AKAPaloorCisco

VirtualizationInterfaceAdapter)

OneperESXserver

VirtualMachineOS Windows2008 AvgSize=43GB

NumberofVM’sperESX 23 TotalnumberofVM’s-92

NumberoffilesperVM ~100,000

table3-esXserverconfiguration

4.0Performancebaselinetesting

Nomatterhowfasttheirbackupsare,mostbackupadministratorsalwayswant“justalittlebitmore”speed.

Baselineperformancetestingisarguablythemostimportantstepintheprocessofoptimizingthebackupperformanceof

yourenvironment.Baselinetestingdeterminestheperformancecharacteristicsorperformancebaselineofthehardware

environmentbeforeanybackupsoftwareiseveninstalled.Thisallowsustofindandfixanyperformanceissuesor

bottlenecksbeforeactualbackuptestingisinitiated.Wecanalsorecordandusethisinformationinthefuturetodetermine

ifanyperformancedegradationhasoccurredwithintheenvironment.Thekeyistomakesurethatnomatterwherethe

performancebottleneckisweunderstandwhyitisperformingasmeasuredandensurethatitisperformingoptimally.

Acommonmistakeistoconfigureabackupenvironment,testbackups,andcomplainthatbackupsare“slow”without

understandingwhatperformanceisactuallyobtainable.

Duringthecourseofthisbenchmark,muchtimewasspenttestingandtuningtheenvironment.AftertheFibre,network,

andstorageenvironmentwasinitiallyconfigured,fewofthecomponentsinitiallyperformedasexpected.Beforeanybackup

softwarewasconfiguredoranyvirtualmachinesinstalled,acompleteandthoroughtestingregimentwasperformedto

ensurethatthemaximumbackupperformancecouldbeachieved.

4.1Baselinetestingoverview

Thissectiondetailstheprocessweusedtotuneourvirtualmachinebackupenvironment.Thebaselineperformancetesting

weperformedwasdesignedtoinvolveasfewcomponentsaspossible.Foreachtestwewereabletolimitthenumberof

devicesthatweretestedandinturncouldbecausingperformanceissues.Onceaperformanceissuewasencountered,we

wereabletoquicklyisolateandfixitwithouthavingtoguesswheretheperformanceproblemexistsamongdozensofdevices.

Webrokedownthebaselinetestingintothreedistinctareas:

• ReadperformancefromeachESXdatastore.

• Diskstorageunitreadandwriteperformance.

• BaseNetBackupbuffertuning.

9


Thesethreetestsweredefinedto(1),simulatetheI/Opaththatdatatakesduringthebackupprocessand(2),limitthe

numberofcomponentsinvolvedineachtest.

ESXdatastorereadperformance

DuringtheNetBackup7forVMwarebackupprocess,virtualmachinedataisreadfromtheESXdatastoreandsenttothedestination

storageunit.Aspartofthebackupprocess,weareonlyconcernedabouthowfastwecanreaddatafromthedatastore.

Becausethedatastoreistypicallydesignedandconfiguredseparatelyfromthebackupenvironment,thebackup

administratorhaslittletosayregardinghowitmightbeconfigured.Yetitisstillimportanttounderstandtheperformance

capabilitiesofeachdatastoresothatbackupperformanceexpectationscanbeproperlyset.TheHD_Speed(seeAppendixA)

utilitycanbehelpfulinthisarea.

TheHD_Speedutilityisnon-destructivewhenperformingI/Oreadtests.Duringthisbaselinetesting,theHD_Speedutilityis

usedtodeterminethereadI/OcapacityofeachoftheESXdatastoresseparately.Thistestsimulatestheprocessofreading

orpullingthevirtualmachinefilesfromthedatastore,whichiscommonduringtheNetBackup7forVMwarebackupprocess.

ThistestisperformedfromtheVMwarebackuphost.NotonlydoesthisteststresstheESXdatastore,butitalsostresses

theFCenvironment,thestorageadapters,anddrivers.Anyoneofthesecomponentscouldberesponsibleforperformance

problems.Whilethistestdoesn’texactlymatchtheI/OpatternthatwouldoccurduringVMwarevStorageAPIsforData

Protectionbackups,itdoesprovideareasonablyaccurateideaofthereadperformanceofeachdatastore.Figure3showsthe

performancemeasurementsobtainedfromeachdatastore.

Figure3-esXdatastorereadperformance

NetBackupdiskstorageunitperformance

Oncewereadvirtualmachinedataoffofthedatastore,wewriteittoourultimatedestination.AlthoughNetBackup7for

VMwaresupportsabroadarrayofbackupdestinations(forexampledisk,tape,VTL),butforthistestingweutilizedbasicdisk.

FromtheVMwarebackuphost,werantheHD_SPEEDutilitytodeterminereadperformance.Thesereadperformancetests

arenondestructive.

10


Figure4-netBackupdiskstorageunitperformance

WriteperformancetestsusingtheHD_SPEEDutilityaredestructive,socaremustbeusedwhenperformingthesetests.These

testswererunbeforeanyvaliddatawasplacedonthestorageunit.AsI/Owriteoperationstendtobemoreexpensiveandin

turnslowerthanreadoperations,weexpecttheresultsofthesewriteteststobelessthanthereadtests.

Itshouldalsobeunderstoodthatthisdiskstorageunitwillbeservingadualpurpose.Inadditiontobeingusedasabasic

diskstorageunit,itwillalsobeusedasadeduplicationtarget,thoughneveratthesametime.Thisisanotherreasonwhy

performancenumbersareimportant(seeFigure4).

NetBackuptuning

Nowthatwehavetestedandfixedanyperformanceissuesrelatedtohardware,wecanfocusonsoftware.NetBackup

providestheabilitytofine-tuneinternalbufferstoimprovebackupperformance.Thesebuffersaredesignedtoimprovethe

speedthatdatacanbewrittentostorageunits.Asourtestswillexclusivelyinvolvedisk,wewillfine-tunetheNetBackupdisk

buffers.ThisissimplyaniterativeprocessthatinvolvescreatingasimpleNetBackuppolicythatwritesbackedupdatatoour

diskstorageunit.Therearejusttwobuffersettingsthatareinvolved,sotheprocessdoesnottakealongtime.Theresultsof

thisprocesswerenotedearlierinTable1.

Thereisonecaveatabouttheseresults:Whilethesebuffersettingsallowedustoobtainmaximumperformancefromour

environment,donotassumethatthesenumberswillbeoptimalforyourenvironment.Wehighlyrecommendthatyou

performyourowntestingsothatyoucanobtainsettingsthatprovidethebestpossibleNetBackupperformance.

5.0Benchmarkresults

VMware’svStorageAPIsforDataProtectionhassignificantlychangedthevirtualmachinebackupprocess.Insteadoffirst

stagingdatatodisk,virtualmachinebackupdatacannowbesentdirectlytoitsfinalbackupdestination.Byitself,this

changeinbackupprocessinghasthepotentialtoimprovevirtualmachinebackupperformancesignificantly.NetBackup7for

VMwareusesacombinationoftechnologiesfromVMwareandCiscotoprovidebackupperformanceimprovementsthatare

considerable.Thesetechnologiesinclude:

•NetBackup7forVMwareGranularFileRestore

•NetBackup7MediaServerDeduplication

•VMwarevStorageAPIsforDataProtection

11


•VMwarevSphere’schangedblocktrackingfeature

•CiscoUCSperformanceandscalabilityenhancements

Inthefollowingsections,wewilldiscussbasicbenchmarkresultsbutwillalsodiscussvariationsrelatedtohowthese

technologiesmightbeimplemented.

Performanceresults:basicdiskstorageunit

Usingtheconfigurationdescribedinsection3,wewereabletoachieveasustainedbackupperformancerateasfollows:

Basicdiskstorageunitbackupperformance=450MB/sec

ThisperformanceisasignificantimprovementovertheVMwareConsolidatedBackuptechnology.Wepreviously

benchmarkedVMwareConsolidatedBackupusingNetBackup6.5.3andobtainedabackuprateof63MB/sec.Asyoucansee,

withNetBackup7,wewereabletoachieveover700percentperformanceimprovement.Let’scomparethisinpracticalterms.

IfweassumethattheaveragesizeofyourVIRTUALMACHINEis40GB,VMwareConsolidatedBackupcouldprotect56virtual

machinesina10hourwindowperformingfullbackups.Asdemonstratedbythisbenchmark,NetBackup7canprotectmore

than400virtualmachinesinthatsamebackupwindow.

Performanceresults:MediaServerDeduplicationPoolstorageunit

DuringthistestingwediscoveredthattheNetBackup7integrateddeduplicationtechnologyprovidesasignificant

performanceenhancementthatessentiallychangesthedynamicsofvirtualmachinebackups.Theperformanceweachieved

whenusingaNetBackupMediaServerDeduplicationPool(MSDP)wasevenbetterthantheperformanceweachievedby

writingtodisk.Thebackuprateweachievedwasasfollows:

MediaServerDeduplicationPoolstorageunitbackupperformance=600MB/sec

Toclarify,theseMSDPbackupswereperformedusingexactlythesamehardwareconfigurationasthebasicdiskstorage

backups.TheFCenvironmentandtheunderlyingdiskwereallunchanged.Theonlydifferencebetweenthesetwotestsisthat

deduplicationwasimplementedasthebackuptarget.TheresultsaresummarizedinFigure5.

Figure5-PerformanceBenchmarkResults

12


5.1Additionalperformancetopics

Basicperformancenumbersareimportantwhendeterminingoverallthroughput;however,itisalsoimportanttounderstand

theimplicationsofthesetechnologiesastheyareappliedtobackups.Thissectionprovidesdetailedinformationrelatedtoa

numberofperformancetopics.

IncrementalbackupswithVMwarevSphere’sChangedBlockTrackingFeature

ThisisprobablythemostsignificantbackupperformanceenhancementthatVMwarecreatedwiththevSphere4release.

WithVMwareConsolidatedBackup,incrementalbackupswhenprotectingatthevmdklevelwerenotsupported.Backup

administratorswererequiredtoconstantlyperformfullbackups.Thisincreasedbackupwindows,requiredmoreback-

end(backup)storageandcausedadditionalbackupimpactonthevirtualmachines.vSphere4introducedchangedblock

tracking.Thismechanismkeepstrackoftheblocksthathavechangedsincethepreviousbackup.Thisisperformedat

thevirtualmachinelevel,notthefilesystem(VMFS)level.Theadvantagehereisthatwithverylittleimpactonthevirtual

machine(VMwareclaims1–2percentimpact),true,integratedincrementalbackupsarenowareality.NetBackupforVMware

implementsthisCBTtechnologythroughitsBlockLevelIncrementalBackuporBLIBoption.

Duringourtesting,wealsotestedtheperformanceofthisnewincrementalbackuptechnology.Todothis,wecreated5

percentdatachangewithineachvirtualmachineandthenperformedanincrementalbackup.Wewereabletofullyprotect92

virtualmachinesinonly12minutesusingthisincrementaltechnology.

Incrementalbackupof92virtualmachines=12minutes

Butwhatrestoreoptionsdoesthisprovideforus?TheCBTtechnologyonlyprovidestheabilitytorestoreallornothing.In

otherwords,CBTcanonlyrestoretheentirevirtualmachinetoaspecificpointintime.Nosinglefiles(forexample,Word

doc)restoresarepossiblefromaCBTincrementalunlesstheentirevirtualmachineisrecombinedfromallincrementalsand

restagedtodisk.Thiscanbeextremelytime-consuming.

NetBackup7providesatruesinglefilerestorecapabilityfromanyincrementalorfullbackupofWindowsvirtualmachines.

NetBackupusesitspatent-pendingGranularFileRestoretechnologytounderstandwhichblocksareassociatedwithagiven

filethathaschangedandincludesthoseblockswiththeincrementalbackup.Thismeansthatsinglefilesarecanbeinstantly

found(indexed)andinstantlyrestoredregardlessofwhattypeofbackupwasperformed.Theentirevirtualmachineneverhas

toberestagedtodiskandtherestoreprocessisexactlythesameregardlessofwhetherthebackupwasafullorincremental.

ThisisatechnologythatisuniquetoNetBackup.Noothervendorisabletoprovidethiscapability.

MediaServerDeduplicationPoolperformancedynamics

TheNetBackupMediaServerDeduplicationPoolfeatureisdesignedtoprovideanembeddeddeduplicationtechnologythat

iscompletelyintegratedintotheNetBackup7release.Onceyou’veinstalledNetBackup7,you’vealreadyinstalledallofthe

softwarethatisrequiredtoenableMediaServerDeduplication.MediaServerDeduplicationisimplementedbyrunninga

simpleconfigurationwizard.

Thepositiveimpactthatthistechnologyhasonvirtualmachinebackupsissignificant.MediaServerDeduplicationofvirtual

machinedataisextremelyefficient.Duringthistestingweobtaineddeduplicationratesashighas98percent.Inaddition,

deduplicationalsoimprovedoverallbackupperformancesignificantly.Bywhydoesthisperformanceimprovementoccur?

Duringthebackupprocess,virtualmachinedataisreadoffoftheESXdatastoreandthenwrittenorcommittedtothe

NetBackupstorageunitdisk.Aswasillustratedduringourbaselineperformancetesting,thediskstorageunitperformed

slowerthantheFibreenvironmentwascapableof.WeprovedthatwecouldstreamdatathroughourFibreenvironmentatthe

rateof600MB/secbutcouldonlywritetothedisktargetattherateof450MB/sec.So,withbackupswritingtostandarddisk,

ourperformancewaslimitedbythewriteperformanceofthisdisk.

13


WhenweimplementedtheMSDPbasedstorageunit,wefoundthatthebackupperformanceincreasedtotheperformance

limitoftheFibreenvironment–600MB/sec.Butwhydidthisimprove?Inbothcaseswewereusingexactlythesamedisk.

Wecanunderstandthisbetterbylookingatthebackupdatapath.NetBackupusesthevStorageAPIsforDataProtectiontostream

dataoffoftheESXstoragethroughtheNetBackupVMwarebackuphosttoastorageunit.Whenabasicstorageunitisused,

allofthedatamustbewrittentothestorageunit(inourcase,disk).ButwhenanMSDPstorageunitisused,beforethedatais

committedtodisk,itiscomparedinmemory(RAM)withotherdatathatisalreadystoredinthededuplicationpoolandmostofthe

dataisnotunique(thisiswhytheCPUandRAMperformancecharacteristicsoftheCiscoUCSsystemareimportant).Therefore,

withMediaServerDeduplication,theprocessofwritingorcommitting100percentofthedatatodiskisnolongerrequired.

WiththehighlevelsofdeduplicationthatMSDPprovides,mostofthedatacanbeskippedandtheamountofI/Otodiskthatis

involvedismuchless.Itisthisprocessthatchangestheperformancebottleneckfromthediskstorageunittotheconnectivity

technology;inthiscase,Fibre.Deduplicationchangesthebasicdynamicsofthisbackupprocess,whichmeansthatlessdiskand

lessexpensive(slowerperforming)diskcanbeusedwithoutimpactingoverallbackupperformance.

GranularFileRestoreimpact

TheNetBackupGranularFileRestoretechnologyisveryattractivetobackupadministratorsasitprovidesasinglefilerestore

capabilityforbothfullandincrementalWindowsvirtualmachinebackups.Butatwhatprice?Whatistheperformanceimpact

whenthisfeatureisenabled?

Thebackupenvironmentwasasfollows:

•Numberofvirtualmachines=92

•Averagesizeofthevirtualmachines=43GB

Wetestedthisbyrunningtwobackupruns.ThefirstwiththeGranularFileRestorefeatureturnedoffandthenweranthe

exactsamebackupwiththeGranularFileRestorefeatureturnedon.Theresultswereasfollows:

BackuptimeimpactoftheGranularFileRestoretechnology=5minutes

Thismeansthatafterindexingmorethan9millionfiles(thisenablesinstantsinglefilesearchandrestore),thecosttothe

overallbackupprocesswasanextremelysmallamountoftime.

Whyisthisimportant?Allotherbackupvendorsindexnothingwithinthevirtualmachineorhaveimplementedslow,disk

intensiveworkaroundsfortheindexingprocess.TheNetBackup7forVMwareindexingprocessisdesignedintothebackup

process.Itisenabledviaasimplecheckboxandnopost-backupprocessingiseverrequired.

Networkbasedtransfers

MuchoftheperformancetestingwehavedonefocusesonFibrebasedtransfers.InenvironmentswhereFibreisnotdeployed,

itisimporatanttounderstandtheperformancecharacteristicswhenthebackupdatapathisoverthenetwork.Wetestedthis

byusingtheexactsameconfigurationsettingsaswithFibrebasedbackupsbutwedirectedbackuptrafficoverthenetwork.

InthiscaseweessentiallyobtainedverysimilarresultswhencomparedtoFibrebasedbackups:

BackupperformanceoverFibre(santransfer)tobasicdiskstorageunit=450MB/sec

Backupperformanceovernetwork(nbdtransfer)tobasicdiskstorageunit=436MB/sec

Asyoucansee,theperformanceisnearlyidentical.TheCiscsoUCSsystemfeaturesacapabiityknownasthe“unifiednetwork

fabric,”whichallowsmultipletypesoftrafficoverasinglephysicalEthernetnetworkadapter.ThisadaptercancarrybothLAN

andSANtrafficonthesamecable.Ourenvironmentwasa10GbEenvironment,whichenabledthesefasttransfers.

•Numberoffilesineachvirtualmachine=100,000

•Totalnumberoffiles(92VM’s)=9.2million

14


6.0Protectingmuti-terabytevirtualmachineenvironments

Uptothispointwe’vediscussedperformanceandspeedsandfeeds.Letstakealookathowthesenewtechnologiescanbe

implmentedtoeffecitivelyprovideavirtualmachineprotectionsolutionthatensuresthateveryvirtualmachineisbackedup

atleastonceevery24hours,efficientlyusestheleastamountofdiskresourcespossible,andisabletorestoreeitherasingle

fileortheentirevirtualmachine.

Forthepurposesofthisexercisewewillmakethefollowingassumptions:

•BackupsareperformedbyasingleVMwarebackuphost.

•BackuptargetisconfigureusingMSDP.

•Backupsarescheduledonatwo-weekrotationperiod.Inotherwords,thetimebetweenfullbackupsistwoweeks.

•Fullbackupsareonlyperformedduringtheweekendandhaveabackupwindowof60hours.

•Incrementalbackupsareperformedduringtheweekandhaveabackupwindowof10hours.

•Theaverageamountofdatathatchangesbetweenbackupsis5percent.

•Theaveragevirtualmachinesizeis40GB.

Usingtheseconstraintsandtheperformancenumberscollectedinthisbenchmarkwecancalculatehowmuchvirtual

machinedatacanbebackedupduringtheweekendfullbackups:

Backupperformanceduringfull=600MB/sec=2.16TB/hour

Nowwecalculatetheamountofrawvirtualmachinedatathatcanbeprotectedinthe60-hourbackupwindowthatis

designatedforfullbackupsonly:

(hourlybackuprate)x(60hours)=129.6TBofvirtualmachinedata

Herewetranslatethisbackuprateintothenumberofvirtualmachinesthatcanbeprotectedusingthatbackup

throughputnumber:

(129.6TBofVMdata)/(40GB–avgVMsize)=3,240protectedvirtualmachines

Nextwedeterminehowmanyvirtualmachinescanbeprotectedwithincrementalbackups.Hereweusethebenchmark

testingthatindictatedwecanincrementallyprotect92virtualmachinesin12minutes(assuming5percentdatachange)

whichtranslatesinto460virtualmachinesbackedupperhour.

(460VM’sperhour)x(10hours)=4,600VM’s

Inthisexamplewecanprotect3,240virtualmachinesduringfullbackupsand4,800virtualmachinesduringtheincrement

backupwindow.ByusingthesmallerofthesetwonumberswecandeterminetheultimatecapacityoftheVMwarebackup

host.ThisindicatesthatasingleVMwarebackuphostcanbeconfiguredtoprotectmorethan3,000virtualmachines!

SingleVMwareBackupHostCapacity=3,240virtualmachines

Figure6-totalnumberof

VM’sprotected-fullbackups

15


7.0netBackupforVMwareperformanceadvantage

Uptothispointwe’vefocusedonbackupperformance.Inthissectionwewillconsidertheimpactthatbackupshaveonthe

ESXserveritself.Bydefinition,ESXserversarealmostalwaysbusy.ItisnotuncommontoseeESXservershosting40oreven

50virtualmachines.VMware’stechnologyisextremelyefficientatusingexistingphysicalresourcesinsupportofvirtual

machinesbutatsomepointtheseresourcescanbecomescarce.OncetheESXserverisfullyloadedwithvirtualmachinesand

extremelybusywestillneedtoprotectandbackupallthesevirtualmachines.Buthowcanthisbeaccomplishedonabusy

ESXserver?ThisistheadvantageofVMware’svStorageAPIsforDataProtection.

ThevStorageAPIsforDataProtectionisanoff-hostbackuptechnology.Itisdesignedtoremovenearlyallthebackupprocessing

loadfromtheESXserver.ThebackuploaddoesnotmagicallydisappearbutisremovedfromtheESXserverandplacedonthe

NetBackupVMwarebackuphostwhentheESXdatastoreisconfiguredinashared(SAN,iSCSI)storageenvironment.

ToillustratehowmuchloadisactuallyplacedontheESXserverduringclient-basedbackups,weperformedtwobackupload

tests.Thefirstbackuptestwasrunusingstandardclientsinsideeachvirtualmachine.ThesecondtestusedthevStorageAPIs

forDataProtectioninasharedstorageenvironment.DuringbackupswemeasuredtheloadontheESXserver.Theresultsare

discussedinthefollowingsections.

7.1Backupperformanceimpactcomparison–esXserver

Thisfirsttestwasperformedbybackingupthevirtualmachineswithastandardclientplacedinsideeachvirtualmachine.We

measuredtheimpactonboththeCPUandtheESXdatastoreasreportedbythevCenterserver.Inbothtestsafullbackupof

all92virtualmachineswasperformed.WemeasuredboththeCPUloadaswellastheI/O(disk)loadontheESXserver.

Test1–ClientBackup

Figure7andFigure8showtheCPUanddiskloadthatoccurontheESXserverduringstandardclient-basedbackups.The

entirebackuploadmustbeshoulderedbytheESXserveritself.Thisbackupprocessingloadimpactseveryvirtualmachine

hostedonthisESXserver.Italsotakeslongertoperformthisstyleofbackup.Thisbackuprunwascharacterizedasfollows:

NumberofVMsbackedup:23

Backuptime:57minutes

Figure7-esXCPULoad-ClientBackup Figure8-esKDiskLoad-ClientBackup

Test2–NetBackup7forVMwareBackup

ForthissecondtestwereliedonNetBackup7’snativeintegrationwiththevStorageAPIsforDataProtection.Webackedup

exactlythesamevirtualmachinesastest1,butthistestwasanoff-hostbackuputilizingsharedstorage(SAN).Ascanbe

seeninFigure9andFigure10nearlyallofthebackupprocessingwasoff-loadedtotheNetBackupVMwarebackuphost,

leavingtheESXserverresourcesforthevirtualmachineenvironment.Thebackupswerefasteraswell.Ittookabout1/3rdthe

amountoftimetobackupthesevirtualmachinesusingthevStorageAPIsforDataProtection.

16


NumberofVM’sbackedup:23

Backuptime:21minutes

Figure9-esXCPULoad-nBUforCVMware Figure10-esKDiskLoad-nBU7forVMware

8.0netBackup7forVMwareConfigurationtips

Uptothispointwehavefocusedprimarilyonthehardwareaspectsofvirtualmachinebackups.Properconfigurationof

NetBackupcanalsohelpcontributetothefastestpossiblebackups.Asmentionedinsection6,incrementalbackupscan

beanextremelyeffectivemethodforminimizingtheamountofdatathatisbackeduponadailybasis.Butthereareother

NetBackupconfigurationsuggestionmethodologiesthatweusedduringthisbenchmark.Theyinclude:

Alignbackuppolicieswithstorage.ThisbenchmarkconfigurationhadfourESXdatastores.Weconfiguredfourseparate

policiesthateachcontainedvirtualmachinesassociatedwithonespecificdatastore.Inthiswaywecouldcontrolthenumber

ofbackupsthatoccuragainstanydatastoreandinturn,minimizethatI/Oimpactforeverydatastore.

Limitsimultaneousbackups.Duringthistesting,usingNetBackup7forVMwarewewereabletosimultaneouslybackup15

virtualmachinesonasingleESXserver.Inmostenvironments,themaximumnumberofsimultaneousbackupsthatshould

berunagainsteachESXserverwilltypicallybelower.Theactualnumbersthatyoushouldusewillbedeterminedinlarge

partbytheinitialtestingyouperformedintheperformancebaselinesection(section4)ofthispaper.Werecommendthis

becausetoomanysimultaneousbackupscanactuallyslowtheoverallbackupspeed.Findanumberthatworkswellinyour

environmentandthendonotexceedthatnumber.

VMwarebackuphostConfiguration.TheVMwarebackupproxycanbeconfiguredasaNetBackupmasterserver,mediaserver,

orenterpriseclient.WerecommendthattheVMwarebackuphostbeconfiguredasamediaserver.TheVMwarebackup

hostisanaturalfocalpointofbackup-relatedI/O.VMwarebackuphostaccesstovirtualmachinefilesistypicallymade

throughafastFibreoriSCSIconnection.Inmostconfigurations,itmightmakesensetoavoidconfiguringthebackupproxy

asaNetBackupenterpriseclientbecausethisforcesalloftheVIRTUALMACHINEbackupdatathroughtheNetBackupclient

network,whichistypicallyaslow,sharedresource.

Deduplication.Asshowninthisbenchmark,MediaServerDeduplication(MSDP)canbeanextremelyeffectivetoolfor

reducingbackupstoragerequirementsandincreasingoverallbackupspeeds.WehighlyrecommendtheuseofMSDPfor

improvingoverallbackupefficiencies.

17


Additionalresources

VMwareHardwareCompatibilityGuide.ThisisaWeb-basedsearchableguidethatcanprovidecompatibilityinformationfor

systems,SAN,I/Odevices,etc.

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

VMwareSANConfigurationGuide–http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_san_cfg.pdf

CiscoUnifiedComputingSystem(UCS)–thislinkprovidesupdatedinformationrelatedtoCiscoUnifiedComputingProducts

http://www.cisco.com/go/ucs

VeritasNetBackup™BackupPlanningandPerformanceTuningGuide–providessignificantdetailrelatedtoNetBackupMedia

Server(andin-turntheBackupProxy).

http://support.veritas.com/docs/307083

OverviewofsupportforNetBackup7.xinvirtualenvironments–Detailsallaspectsofthevirtualmachinesupportthat

NetBackupprovides.

http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/340091.htm

SymantecNetBackup7.0forVMwareGuide–AdministratorguideforNetBackup7VMwarefunctionality.


SymantecNetBackup7.0.1forVMwareGuideUpdate–Providesupdatedinformationrelatedtothe7.0.1release.


VMwarevStorageAPIsforDataProtection–ThevStorageAPIsforDataProtectionenablebackupsoftwaretoperformcentralized

virtualmachinebackupswithoutthedisruptionandoverheadofrunningbackuptasksfrominsideeachvirtualmachine.

http://www.vmware.com/products/vstorage-apis-for-data-protection/

VMwareVirtualizationPerformanceResources–LearnmoreaboutVMwaretechnologiesdesignedtoimproveperformance

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vs_pages/vsp_pubs_esx41_vc41.html

18


AppendixA:HD_speedUtility

DiskmanufacturesprovideI/Operformancemetricsfortheirharddrives;however,thoseI/Otransferratescanbemisleading.The

performancefiguresmanufacturerspublishtendtobemeasuredunderperfectandcontrolledcircumstances.Whenusedinreal

operatingenvironments,nohardwareseemstoachievetheseresults.Thereareanumberofreasonsforthis.Theperformance

ofanydevicecanbesignificantlyimpactedbytheenvironmentinwhichitisplaced.Factorsthatcanimpactperformanceinclude

connectiontype(ide/scsi/sata),diskandhostcontrollercache,OStype,filesystemtype,internalbusonhost,etc.

Insteadofrelyingonmanufacturerspublishedperformancefigures,ourgoalwastoaccuratelydeterminewhatreal-life

performancewecouldexpectfromourI/Odevices.Tothatend,weutilizedafreeutilitycalledHD_Speed.HD_Speedutilityis

anI/Operformancetestingutilitythatisavailablehere:

http://www.steelbytes.com

HD_Speedissmall(<100KB)andonlyrunsonWindows.Itmeasuresbothsustainedandburstdatatransferratesofdisk

drives.Italsoprovidesareal-timegraphicdisplayoftheresults:

Beforeperforminganytestsinthisbenchmark,everyI/OsubsystemwasthoroughlystresstestedusingHD_Speed.Duringthis

testing,performanceissuesandmisconfiguredhardwarewasfoundandcorrected.Withouthavingfirsttestedthesedevices,

subsequentperformanceissueswouldhaveoccurredanditwouldhavebeendifficulttoquicklyandaccuratelydeterminethecause.

AnotherutilitythatprovidesI/OperformanceinformationisIometer(http://www.iometer.org).Iometerwasoriginallycreated

byIntelCorporationandisnowmadeavailableviaSourceForge.net.IometersupportsmanyOSesoutsideofWindows.

WARNING:Regardlessofwhichutilityisused,werecommendthatI/Otestingbeperformedonnon-orpre-production

systems.TestingI/OwriteswithHD_Speedisadestructivetest.AnyexistingdataondiskwillbedestroyedwhenI/Owrites

aretestedusingHD_Speed.Beforerunninganytests,makesureyouunderstandtheimplicationsofthosetestandtakethe

necessarystepstoensurethatvaluabledataisnotdestroyed.

19


AboutCisco

Cisco,theworldwideleaderinnetworkingthattransformshowpeopleconnect,communicateandcollaborate,thisyear

celebrates25yearsoftechnologyinnovation,operationalexcellenceandcorporatesocialresponsibility.Informationabout

Ciscocanbefoundathttp://www.cisco.com

AboutVMware

VMware,thegloballeaderinvirtualizationandcloudinfrastructure,deliverscustomer-provensolutionsthatsignificantly

reduceITcomplexityandenablemoreflexible,agileservicedelivery.VMwareacceleratesthetransitiontoacloudcomputing

approachwhileleveragingexistinginvestmentsandimprovingsecurityandcontrol.

20


Glossary

BackupProxy AWindows-basedsystemdesignatedastheoff-hostbackupsystem.WiththereleaseofNetBackup7,

theBackupProxydesignationisnolongerused.SeeVMwarebackuphost.

BLIB Blocklevelincrementalbackups.ThisisNetBackup7’simplementationofthechangedblocktracking

featureintroducedwithvSphere4.WhenBLIBisselected,NetBackupautomaticallyenablesthevSphere

4changedblocktrackingfeature.

ChangedBlock

Tracking

IntroducedwithvSphere4,thisabilityprovidesatrueblocklevelincrementalbackuptechnologyforESX

4(HWversion7)virtualmachines.

Datastore ITheESXserverstorage.Virtualmachine(vmdk)filesarecreatedandstoredontheESXdatastore.

GuestOS ITheactualoperatingsystemthatresideswithinthevirtualhardware(thatis,thevirtualmachine).

Holdingtank IAnNTFSformatteddiskvolumethatiscreatedonthebackupproxy.Thisvolumeisusedaspartofthe

VMwareConsolidatedBackupprocess.AsoftheNetBackup7release,theholdingtankisnolonger

requiredwhenvStorage™APIbackupsareused.

Stagingarea ISeeHoldingtank

UCS ICiscoUnifiedComputingSystems(UCS).Anext-generationdatacenterplatformthatunitescompute,

network,storageaccess,andvirtualizationintoacohesivesystemdesignedtoreducetotalcostof

ownership(TCO)andincreasebusinessagility.Thesystemisanintegrated,scalable,multi-chassis

platforminwhichallresourcesparticipateinaunifiedmanagementdomain.

VADP ISeevStorageAPIforDataProtection

VCB ISeeVMwareConsolidatedBackupFramework.

Virtualmachine ISoftwarethatcreatesavirtualizedenvironmentbetweenthehardwareplatformanditsoperating

system,sothattheendusercaninstallandoperatesoftwareonanabstractmachine.Notethatthe

virtualmachinedesignationdoesnotimplyanyspecificoperatingsystemversion.

VM IAnacronymforvirtualmachine.

VMDK IAdesignationspecifictothefilesthatcompriseaVMwarevirtualmachine.Thesefilesarecommonly

called“vmdk”filesbecauseofthe.vmdkextensionthatVMwareaddstothesefiles.

VMwarebackup

host

ITheNetBackupsystemthatisdesignatedforbackingupthevirtualmachineenvironment.This

WindowsbasedsystemcanbeconfiguredasaNetBackupmasterserver,mediaserver,orclient.

VMware

Consolidated

Backup

Framework

IAnoff-hostbackupframeworkcreatedbyVMware.VMwareConsolidatedBackuphasbeensuperseded

bythevSpherecomponentvStorageAPIsforDataProtection(VADP).TheVMwareConsolidatedBackup

Frameworkisnolongerrequired.

VMwareTools IInstalledinsideeachvirtualmachine.VMwareToolsenhancesvirtualmachineperformanceandadds

additionalbackup-relatedfunctionality.SeeVSSWriter.

VSSWriter IVMwarereplacedtheSyncDriverwithaVolumeShadowCopyService(VSS)writerbeginningwiththe

ESX3.5U2release.

vStorageAPIsfor

DataProtection

IThevStorageAPIforDataProtectionisaVMwaretechnologyavailabletobackupvendors.Backup

softwarevendorscanintegratewithittoperformcentralizedvirtualmachinebackupswithoutthe

disruptionandoverheadofrunningbackuptasksfrominsideeachvirtualmachine.

21


Moreinformation

Visitourwebsite

http://enterprise.symantec.com

TospeakwithaProductSpecialistintheU.S.

Calltoll-free1(800)7456054

TospeakwithaProductSpecialistoutsidetheU.S.

Forspecificcountryofficesandcontactnumbers,pleasevisitourwebsite.

AboutSymantec

Symantecisagloballeaderinprovidingsecurity,storage,andsystems

managementsolutionstohelpconsumersandorganizationssecureandmanage

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Documents

, Cisco UCS, vSphere Joint Backup - Symanteceval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/white_papers/b-nbu_cisco... · 1 Symantec NetBackup™, Cisco® UCS, and VMware® vSphere™ Joint