Checklist for container storage pools
Review how your server is set up to ensure optimal performance when using directory-container and cloud-container storage pools.
| Question | Tasks, characteristics, options, or settings | More information |
|---|---|---|
| Measured in terms of input/output operations per second (IOPS), are you using fast disk storage for the IBM Storage Protect database? |
Use a high-performance disk for the database. Use solid-state drive technology for data deduplication processing. Ensure that the database has a minimum capability of 3000 IOPS. For each TB of data that is backed up daily (before data deduplication and compression), add 1000 IOPS to this minimum. For example:
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For recommendations about disk selection, see Checklist for server database
disks. For more information about IOPS, see the IBM® Storage Protect Blueprints and locate the Blueprint for your operating system. |
| Do you have enough memory for the size of your database? | Use a minimum of 40 GB of system memory for IBM
Storage Protect servers, with a database size of 100 GB, that are
deduplicating data. If the retained capacity of backup data grows, the memory requirement might need
to be higher. Monitor memory usage regularly to determine whether more memory is required. Use more system memory to improve caching of database pages. The following memory
size guidelines are based on the daily amount of new data that you back up:
|
Memory requirements |
| Have you properly sized the storage capacity for the database active log and archive log? |
Configure the server to have a minimum active log size of 128 GB by setting the ACTIVELOGSIZE server option to a value of 131072. The suggested starting size for the archive log is 1 TB. The size of the archive log is limited by the size of the file system on which it is located, and not by a server option. Ensure that there is at least 10% extra disk space for the file system than the size of the archive log. Use a directory for the database archive logs with an initial free capacity of at least 1 TB. Specify the directory by using the ARCHLOGDIRECTORY server option. Define space for the archive failover log by using the ARCHFAILOVERLOGDIRECTORY server option. |
For more information about sizing for your system, see the IBM Storage Protect Blueprints and locate the Blueprint for your operating system. |
| Is compression enabled for the archive log and database backups? | Enable the ARCHLOGCOMPRESS server option to save storage
space. This compression option is different from inline compression. Inline compression is enabled by default with IBM Storage Protect 7.1.5 and later. Restriction: Do not use this option if the amount of backed up data exceeds 6 TB per
day.
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For more information about compression for your system,see the IBM Storage Protect Blueprints and locate the Blueprint for your operating system. |
| Are the IBM
Storage Protect database and
logs on separate disk volumes (LUNs)? Is the disk that is used for the database configured according to best practices for a transactional database? |
The database must not share disk volumes with IBM Storage Protect database logs or storage pools, or with any other application or file system. |
For more information about server database and recovery log configuration, see Server database and recovery log configuration and tuning. |
| Are you using a minimum of eight (2.2 GHz or equivalent) processor cores for each IBM Storage Protect server that you plan to use with data deduplication? | If you are planning to use client-side data deduplication, verify that client systems have adequate resources available during a backup operation to complete data deduplication processing. Use a processor that is at least the minimum equivalent of one 2.2 GHz processor core per backup process with client-side data deduplication. | |
| Did you allocate enough storage space for the database? | For
a rough estimate, plan for 100 GB of database storage for every 25 TB of data that is to be
protected in deduplicated storage pools. Protected data is the amount of data before
data deduplication, including all versions of objects stored. For database backup operations with a large number of small files, where the average size of the file is less than 512 KB, you need more database space. For smaller object sizes, plan on 100 GB of database space for every 10 TB stored. As a best practice, define a new container storage pool exclusively for data deduplication. Data deduplication occurs at the storage-pool level, and all data within a storage pool, except encrypted data, is deduplicated. |
The optimal IBM Storage Protect environment is set up by using the IBM Storage Protect Blueprints. |
| Have you estimated storage pool capacity to configure enough space for the size of your environment? | You can estimate capacity requirements for a deduplicated storage pool by
using the following technique:
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For an example of using this technique, see Data Deduplication FAQ. |
| Have you distributed disk I/O over many disk devices and controllers? | Use arrays that consist of as many disks as possible, which is sometimes
referred to as wide striping. Ensure that you use one database directory per distinct array on the
subsystem. Set the DB2_PARALLEL_IO registry variable to enable parallel I/O for each table space used if the containers in the table space span multiple physical disks. When I/O bandwidth is available and the files are large, for example 1 MB, the process of finding duplicates can occupy the resources of an entire processor. When files are smaller, other bottlenecks can occur. Use the following guidelines to create file systems:
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For guidelines about setting up storage pools, see Checklist for storage pools on DISK or
FILE For information about setting the DB2_PARALLEL_IO variable, see Recommended settings for IBM DB2® registry variables. |
| Have you scheduled daily operations based on your backup strategy? |
The best practice sequence of operations is in the following order:
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| Have you scheduled audit operations to identify corrupted files in storage pools? | To schedule audit operations, use the DEFINE STGRULE
command and specify the ACTIONTYPE=AUDIT parameter. As a best practice, to ensure that audit operations run continuously, do not specify the DELAY parameter. |
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| Do you have enough storage to manage the IBM Db2 lock list? | If you deduplicate data that includes large files or large numbers of
files concurrently, the process can result in insufficient storage space. When the lock list storage
is insufficient, backup failures, data management process failures, or server outages can
occur. File sizes greater than 500 GB that are processed by data deduplication are most likely to deplete storage space. However, if many backup operations use client-side data deduplication, this problem can also occur with smaller-sized files. |
For information about tuning the Db2 LOCKLIST parameter, see Tuning server-side data deduplication . |
| Is sufficient bandwidth available to transfer data to an IBM Storage Protect server? | To transfer data to an IBM Storage Protect server, use client-side or server-side data deduplication and compression to reduce the bandwidth that is required. | For more information, see the enablededup client option. |
| Have you determined how many storage pool directories to assign to each storage pool? | Assign directories to a storage pool by using the DEFINE
STGPOOLDIRECTORY command. Create multiple storage pool directories and ensure that each directory is backed up to a separate disk volume (LUN). |
|
| Did you allocate enough disk space in the cloud-container storage pool? |
To prevent backup failures, ensure that the local directory has enough space. Use the following
list as a guide for optimal disk space:
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| Have you bench marked the performance of your cloud container pool cloud cache? |
To prevent disk hot spots, ensure that the local directory has a single storage pool directory and file system for the cloud cache. |
For more information about optimizing backup operations, refer to Sizing a cloud cache to optimize backup operations. |
| Did you select the appropriate type of local storage? |
Ensure that data transfers from local storage to cloud finish before the next backup cycle
starts.
Tip: Data is removed from local storage soon after it moves to the cloud.
Use the following guidelines:
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| For cloud-container storage pools, have you specified the total maximum number of parallel processes for the storage tiering rule and each of its subrules? | To specify the maximum number of parallel processes, issue the
DEFINE STGRULE command and specify the MAXPROCESS parameter.
The default value is 8. For example, if the default value of 8 is specified, and the storage rule
has four subrules, the storage rule can run eight parallel processes and each of its subrules can
run eight parallel processes. For optimal throughput, use the following maximum number of parallel
processes for small, medium, and large Blueprint systems:
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| For cloud-container storage pools, have you defined multiple Accesser endpoints if you are using an on-premises IBM Cloud Object Storage system with IBM Storage Protect? | To optimize performance, define access for the following number of
Accessers for small, medium, and large
blueprint systems, depending on your data ingestion requirements:
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For more information, see the IBM Storage Protect Cloud Blueprints. |
| For cloud-container storage pools, have you defined multiple Accesser endpoints if you are using an on-premises IBM Cloud Object Storage system with IBM Storage Protect? |
Generally, the following Ethernet capability is required to connect to private IBM Cloud Object
Storage endpoints for small, medium, and large
Blueprint systems:
Tip: Depending on client data ingestion and simultaneous data transfer to object
storage, you might require more than one 10 Gbit Ethernet network.
When you configure the Ethernet connection, work with a network administrator and consider the
following factors:
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