Making backups/restores run faster

[tcable]

Hi

I'm seeing if there is a way to make my backups and restores run any faster.

my current setup is my backup server connected to a switch, which is then connected to another switch via cat5e. which then goes back to my server room over what i think is OM2 cable. I'm assuming that because i am connected via cat5e that is why it is running so slow.

If i were to install a om4 cable from my backup server direct to the server room, buy a 10g switch (so a aruba 6100 that gives a 10g uplink but 1g ports), would that make anything faster? The virtual servers are connected via cat6a to the core switch, and the fibre link would run from end to end. the backup server would be connected to the 6100 by cat6. The switch would be dedicated to the backup server and backup storage.

We use veeam for backup software (obviously!), and Vmware.

It's taken me over 7 hours to restore 1.6Tb of data, and wondering if there is a faster way of doing things.

I'm assuming that the answer is yes as it could handle more throughput, but i just want to make sure before i ask for money.

[HannesK]

Hello,
it depends on how fast the rest of your hardware is. 7h for 1.6TByte means around 0.5Gbit/s on average. So there is still some room for performance on the 1Gbit/s infrastructure (at least theoretically).

I guess that everything in your environment is still 1Gbit/s. And I guess that you do NBD backup for VMware and that you might even use an old VMware version. So the 0.5Gbit/s restore speed might be "expected behavior". Without knowing your environment, I would try to set up a virtual proxy and try Hot-Add for restore.

It's hard to estimate from a forum what really helps. Moving all hardware to one place and for testing can help. Low end switches might not be able to switch at line-speed. If possible, everything should be at least 10G in 2021. Maybe you can involve a local Veeam partner that can check the setup and environment.

Best regards,
Hannes