Multiple Backup Streams - HP StorageWorks 12000 - Virtual Library System EVA Gateway Manual

• Servers to back up are split across two physical networks which need independent access to
the D2D. You must assign the virtual libraries to whichever port is on the network of the device
to back up.
• Separate data and management LANs are used, i.e., each server has a port for business network
traffic and another for data backup. One port on the D2D can be used solely for GUI access
with the other used for data transfer.
• High Availability port – Both ports are used but are bonded to appear as a single port.
This is the recommended configuration, there is no special switch configuration required other
than to ensure that both Ethernet ports from the D2D are connected to the same switch. This mode
sets up "bonded" network ports where both network ports are connected to the same physical
switch and behave as one network port. This mode provides some level of load balancing across
the ports and also port failover.
Backup Server Networking
When considering backup performance, consider the whole network. Any server acting as a backup
server should be configured where possible with multiple network ports which are bonded in order
to provide a fast connection to the LAN. Client servers (those that backup via a backup server) may
connected with only a single port if backups are to be aggregated through the backup server.
Ensure that no sub 1Gbit network components are in the backup path because this will significantly
restrict backup performance.
Fibre Channel SAN
Two Fibre Channel ports are provided at 4Gbit. These should both be connected to a SAN switch
which supports 4Gbit Fibre Channel.
Virtual library devices are assigned to an individual interface; therefore, balancing virtual devices
across both interfaces will ensure that one link is not saturated while the other is idle.
Fibre Channel devices should be zoned on the switch to only be accessible from a single backup
server device to ensures that other SAN events (such as the addition and removal of other Fibre
Channel devices) do not cause unnecessary traffic to be sent to devices. It also ensures that SAN
polling applications cannot reduce the performance of individual devices.

Multiple Backup Streams

The HP D2D Backup System performs best with multiple backup streams sent to it simultaneously. For
example, a D2D4009i will back up data at approx 40 MB/s for a single stream; multiple streams
can deliver an aggregate performance in excess of 80 MB/s.
There are two ways that the D2D can be used to achieve multiple stream backups:
• Several virtual library devices each with a single virtual tape drive receiving one backup stream
each.
Use this configuration if you are backing up multiple servers, each of which is a backup application
"media server," which can directly connect to a virtual library target. Also use this configuration
if you are backing up one or more servers but wish to keep the data backed up from each logically
separate for easier management.
• A single virtual library with multiple virtual tape drives (up to four on HP D2D4000 models) receiving
backup jobs to each tape drive simultaneously.
Use this configuration if you are backing up a single server (or multiple servers using a single
"media server"), and you wish to achieve some deduplication of backup data across all of the
HP StorageWorks VLS and D2D Solutions Guide 57