Network

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Overview

Network Agents

Network Bandwidth Throttling

Data Pipe Buffers

Client Connectivity

Overview

This page provides information on the following:

Network Agents and Network Bandwidth Throttling provide information on the configurable options for Data Protection Operations using a network.
Data Pipe Buffers provides information on using pipeline buffers to transfer data between the Client the MediaAgent computers.

The following diagram provides a visual representation of the above mentioned parameters:

Network Agents are used to establish the data pipes which are used to transfer data to the MediaAgent. By default, the system uses 2 network agents and this may be suitable for 100 megabit networks. Increasing this value may increase the data transfer throughput from the Client. Note that the other network features, such as Network card speed, Network switch speed, etc., will also impact the network throughput and therefore it is recommended that you use this as an experimental parameter, based on your environment, to see if faster data throughput can be accomplished.

For most Agents, network agents can be established from the following dialog boxes:

From the Subclient Properties, using the Data Transfer Options tab. For some database Agents this option is available at the Instance level. (See Set the Network Bandwidth and Network Agents for a Data Protection Operation for step-by-step instructions.)
For Agents that support Subclient Policy, the option can be established in the policy template. (See Create a New Subclient Template for an Existing Subclient Policy for step-by-step instructions.

For the QR Agent:

To control network bandwidth settings, use the Throttle Network Bandwidth section in the General tab of the Subclient Properties dialog box.
To control the number of network agents, you must create a nQRNetworkAgents registry key.

Support Information

All Agents, except the NAS NDMP iDataAgents support network agents.

Network Bandwidth Throttling

You can specify whether backup throughput is controlled and if it is controlled establish the throughput amount in terms of the amount of data to be transferred in Megabytes (MB) per hour. Note that by default backup throughput is not controlled and must be enabled where needed.

The backup throughput can be throttled based on the network bandwidth in your environment. This option is recommended for slower WAN links where you may want to throttle or limit the amount of data transferred to thereby not utilize the entire bandwidth available in the network. Setting a higher value will result in utilizing the entire bandwidth with the maximum throughput limited to the maximum available bandwidth in the network.

Note that throttling is done on a per Network Agent basis.

For most Agents, network bandwidth can be established from the following dialog boxes:

From the Subclient Properties, using the Data Transfer Options tab. For some database Agents this option is available at the Instance level. (See Set the Network Bandwidth and Network Agents for a Data Protection Operation for step-by-step instructions.)
For Agents that support Subclient Policy, the option can be established in the policy template. (See Create a New Subclient Template for an Existing Subclient Policy for step-by-step instructions.

For the QR Agent:

To control network bandwidth settings, use the Throttle Network Bandwidth section in the General tab of the Subclient Properties dialog box.
To control the number of network agents, you must create a nQRNetworkAgents registry key.

Support Information

All Agents, except the NAS NDMP iDataAgents support network bandwidth throttling.

Data Pipe Buffers

Data pipe buffers determines the amount of shared memory allocated on each computer for data pipes. The size of each buffer is 64K. Be default, the system allocates 30 pipeline buffers on each computer which is used to transfer data between the client and the MediaAgent. (A total of 30 buffers allocates 2 MB of shared memory on each machine.)

You can use the nNumPipelineBuffers registry key to establish additional buffers as needed within the allowable range. Additional pipeline buffers may expedite running dedicated (non-multiplexed) backups to tape devices and therefore improve data transfer performance; on the other hand, allocating additional buffers may take up more shared memory than desired.

Note that this is an advanced feature and we recommend that you exercise extreme caution while modifying this registry key.

Client Connectivity

You can check whether or not a client is accessible in the CommCell using the Check Readiness option in the CommCell Console.

When selected, this option will display a message indicating whether or not the client is accessible. If the client is not accessible, you can check the Service Control Manager to ensure the client's services are running.

For step-by-step instructions, see Check Client Connectivity.