Document ID: 183702

http://support.veritas.com/docs/183702

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NET_BUFFER_SZ, SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS and NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS how they work and how to configure them
Details:
Here is some information on undocumented features for setting the Network
Buffer Size, Data Buffer Size, and Number of Data Buffers used by NetBackup
(tm) on UNIX platforms.
NOTE: These settings are used to tune the performance of NetBackup.
TCP/IP Network Buffer Size.
/usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ is a file containing a number
indicating the TCP/IP socket buffer size that should be used for data transfers
between the NetBackup media server and its clients. If the file does not exist, the
default value used is 32032 bytes.
The default value can be changed by creating the file
/usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ on the NetBackup media server and
client systems.
The /usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ file is a text file containing a
single line specifying the value of the Network Buffer Size in bytes in decimal
format.
For example, a Network Buffer Size of 64KB could be configured and checked
like this:

# echo "65536" > /usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ

# cat /usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ
65536
#
Specifying a larger value in the NET_BUFFER_SZ file may improve the
performance of backups and restores. It is recommended that if
NET_BUFFER_SZ is used, the same value should be set on all the NetBackup
media servers and clients.

Data Buffer Size and Number of Data Buffers.

The NetBackup media server uses shared memory to buffer data between the
network and the tape drive (or between the disk and the tape drive if the
NetBackup media server and client are the same system). By default, NetBackup
uses a default value of 8 x 32KB shared memory buffers for non-multiplexed
backups and 4 x 64KB for a multiplexed backup.
These buffers can be configured by creating the files
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS and
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS on the
NetBackup media server. These parameters are meant exclusively for media
servers, and should not be used on a pure master server or client.
The SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS file should contain a single line specifying the data
buffer size in bytes in decimal format.
The NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS file should contain a single line specifying the
number of data buffers in decimal format.
The value in the SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS file has to be a multiple of 1024B.
It is common to increase SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS to 256KB and
NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS to 16.
IMPORTANT: Because the data buffer size equals the tape I/O size, the value
specified in SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS must not exceed the maximum tape I/O size
supported by the tape drive or operating system. This is usually 256 KB or 128
KB.
In order to configure NetBackup to use 16 x 256 KB data buffers, specify 262144
(256 x 1024) in SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS and 16 in NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS:

# echo "262144" >

/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS
# echo "16" >
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS
# cat
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS
262144
# cat
/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS
16
#
Care should be taken when changing these values. For example, increasing the
tape buffer size can cause some backups to run slower and there have been

cases where there have been restore problems.

IMPORTANT: After making any changes, it is vitally important to verify that the
following tests can be completed successfully:
1. Run a backup
2. Restore data from the new backup created in step 1
3. Restore data from a backup created prior to the changes to
SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS and NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS
The number and size of the data buffers used by the NetBackup media server
can be checked by looking in the bptm log file:

12:02:55 [28551]
size
12:02:55 [28551]
for monitoring =
12:02:55 [28551]

<2> io_init: using 32768 data buffer

<2> io_init: CINDEX 0, sched bytes
2000
<2> io_init: using 8 data buffers

or

15:26:01 [21544] <2> mpx_setup_restore_shm: using 12

data buffers, buffer size is 65536
Increasing the size and number of the data buffers will use up more shared
memory, which is a limited system resource. The total amount of shared memory
used is: (buffer_size * num_buffers) * drives * MPX.
So, for two tape drives, each configured with an MPX of 4, and with 16 data
buffers of 256 KB, the total shared memory usage would be:
(16 * 256k) * 2 * 4 = 32 MB (32768 KB)
Take into consideration the total system resources and the entire network.
The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) for the LAN may also have to be
changed.
NOTE: For Digital Linear Tape (DLT) drives, the number that seems to give the
best performance for SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS is 65536. Further performance
improvements can be achieved by increasing the value in the
NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS file.

Related Documents:
244652: DOCUMENTATION: How to configure buffers for NetBackup in a
Windows NT/2000 environment to improve performance
http://support.veritas.com/docs/244652
281842: Veritas NetBackup (tm) Enterprise Server / Server 6.0 Backup Planning
and Performance Tuning Guide for UNIX, Windows, and Linux. This also covers
tuning on NetBackup components such as NOM (NetBackup Operations
Manager). Note: This guide is for 6.0 only. See the related documents section for
a link to the 6.5 Performance tuning guide.
http://support.veritas.com/docs/281842
303153: STATUS CODE 89: Increasing shared memory does not prevent
backups from failing with a NetBackup Status Code 89 (problems encountered
during setup of shared memory).
http://support.veritas.com/docs/303153
307610: DOCUMENTATION: Tuning Solaris 10 shared memory for NetBackup
Media Server processes (bptm)
http://support.veritas.com/docs/307610
Products Applied:

NetBackup DataCenter 3.4, 3.4.1, 4.5

NetBackup Enterprise Server 5.0, 6.0
NetBackup v3.2 and prior (UNIX Platforms) 3.1.1, 3.2
Last Updated: October 15 2009 04:14 PM GMT
Expires on: 365 days from publish date

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Subjects:

NetBackup DataCenter
Application: Backup, Configuration, How To, Restore
NetBackup Enterprise Server
Application: Performance
Nbu Application Basics: Performance
NetBackup v3.2 and prior (UNIX Platforms)
Application: Backup, Configuration, How To, Restore
Languages:

English (US)

Operating Systems:

NetWare
4.2, 5.1, 6.0
Windows 9x
95, 95 OSR2, 95 SP1, 98, 98 Second Edition, ME
AIX
3.2, 4.3.3.10, 5.1
Auspex
1.9.1
TRU64
4.0F, 4.0G, 5.0A, 5.1, 5.1A
HP-UX
10.2, 11.0, 11.11
OpenVMS (VAX)
5.5, 6.0, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3
IRIX
6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 6.5.10, 6.5.11, 6.5.12, 6.5.13, 6.5.14
Solaris
2.5, 2.5.1, 2.6, 7.0 (32-bit), 8.0 (32-bit), 9.0 (32-bit)
Linux
Debian GNU/Linux 2.2r4, RedHat 6.2, RedHat 7.0, RedHat 7.1, SLES 7, SuSe
7.0, SuSe 7.1, SuSe 7.2, TurboLinux 7.0
Mac
8.5, 8.6, 9.0, 9.1, 9.1.2, 9.2
Digital Unix
4.0, 4.0 386, 4.0 878
OpenVMS (Alpha)
6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3
Sun OS
4.1.3, 4.1.4
Sequent PTX

4.0.2, 4.1.3, 4.2.1, 4.2.3, 4.4.2, 4.4.4, 4.4.5, 4.4.6, 4.4.7, 4.4.8, 4.5, 4.5.1
MP-RAS
3.02
MPE
6.0, 6.5, 7.0
DG-UX
R4.20MU02, R4.20MU07
Windows XP
Pro 5.1, Pro 5.1 64-bit