Tuning operations for automatic backup-archive client deployment

You can take actions that might improve backup-archive client deployment performance.

• Deploy the client when the clients, server, and network have minimal activity. Do not deploy during client backup operations.
• To avoid the cost of retrieving a wrong package, use separate schedules for each client architecture (for example, x86, x64, ia64).
• If multiple clients are being upgraded concurrently, store the deployment packages in a random-access DISK or in a sequential-access FILE storage pool. Both types of storage pools support read access to the same object from multiple sessions concurrently.
  If the storage pool uses tape, the server serializes read access to the storage pool volume that contains the upgrade package data. Serial access is also used for a storage pool volume in a virtual tape library (VTL), even if the data is stored on physical disks.
• Provide sufficient cache memory on the disk system that is used by the random-access DISK or sequential-access FILE storage pools that contain the deployment packages. Deployment packages are read from the storage pool volumes during retrieval by using direct input/output (I/O). This means that the server operating system does not cache the data in memory, and each I/O must come from the disk system. When the server is deploying many clients at the same time, the disk system sees a high read-hit ratio on these data blocks, which leads to faster throughput.
• Balance multiple clients across the network interfaces on the server. Such balancing might be done to optimize backup performance as well.