Resolving common performance problems with virtual machine backup operations
The table contains common questions and situations about virtual machine backup operations and solutions that can help to improve the performance.
The information in the following table, unless otherwise stated, applies to virtual machine backup operations on both the standard backup-archive client and IBM Spectrum Protect™ for Virtual Environments.
| Scenario | Solution | More information |
|---|---|---|
| Excluding IBM Spectrum Protect settings, what settings can improve the efficiency of VMware operations with virtual guests? | The VMware Changed Block Tracking (CBT) feature
for virtual machines on the vSphere client is enabled automatically
by IBM
Spectrum Protect. This feature can reduce the data that is sent to the IBM Spectrum Protect server during incremental backups. CBT can reduce the total backup time and the storage pool size on the IBM Spectrum Protect server. CBT might increase the resource utilization slightly on vSphere hosts. |
Review information about CBT. Go to the http://www.vmware.com/ and search for information about Changed Block Tracking (CBT) on virtual machines. |
| What is the best network adapter type to use for a system that is running as a VMware guest? | When you are running an IBM Spectrum Protect Windows client in a VMware guest environment, use the VMXNET Generation 3 (VMXNET 3) network adapter type. The VMXNET 3 adapter is a virtual network device from VMware that is optimized to provide enhanced hardware and software performance in a virtual environment. | Review information about the VMXNET 3 adapter. Go to the http://www.vmware.com/ and search for information about the VMXNET 3 network adapter. |
| I am running parallel backups of virtual machines. How do I reduce the processor load during parallel backups, and also improve the throughput from the IBM Spectrum Protect backup-archive client to the IBM Spectrum Protect server? | Optimize parallel backups by using the following client options:
|
For more information, see the following topics:
|
| How do I select the best transport mode for virtual backups? | The optimal transport mode to use depends on the composition of the backup environment. Use the vmvstortransport option to specify the preferred order of transport modes to use during backup or restore operations of VMware virtual machines. |
For more information, see the following topics:
|
| For IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments, how can I fine-tune the scalability of incremental-forever backups of virtual guests? | Virtual machine disk files are stored on the IBM
Spectrum Protect as blocks of data called megablocks. When a change
occurs on a disk in an area that is represented by a megablock, an IBM
Spectrum Protect object is created. When a large number of IBM
Spectrum Protect objects exist for the same virtual machine data,
excessive demands are placed on the IBM
Spectrum Protect server
database. Use the following options to control the number of IBM
Spectrum Protect objects that are created on the server:
|
For more information, see the following topics:
|