DisableVddkNetworkOutput @ VMworld 2012 EMEA

[raphael@schitz.net]

Hi folks,

During the session "SPO3292 - Veeam Backup & Replication: Tips and Tricks" Anton Gostev told about the DisableVddkNetworkOutput registry trick that may save up to 5min per job. The room was really full and for the people in the back (like me), it was hard to hear everything clearly. Can someone from the veeam team give us some details about what this setting is doing and why it could same time on jobs ?

Thanks for this great session Anton !

Regards

[Gostev]

Hi Ralf,

Actually up to 5 minutes per each VM in the job, not just 5 minutes per job.

This settings disables VDDK (VMware vStorage API) logging, which we do without buffering to ensure sure the data is captured even if the data mover process crashes, and thus it may take a while in large environments with a lot of LUNs.

We have reduced the amount of logging in 6.5 to the bare minimum, but previous product versions can write a lot of logs, which slows down VDDK disk open operation significantly.

Remember to apply this only in stable environments, because this will reduce your supportability dramatically. Meaning, with certain issues you would have to re-create support log package with this registry key disabled if our support requests.

Thanks!

[Becha]

Thanks Anton, but what is exactly the tip?
Where can we add/modify this registry entry?
"takes a while in large environments with a lot of LUNs": do you mean it's unnecessary on a Veeam server proceeding only 30 VMs a night...?
Best regards

[Gostev]

We only have a single hive for all registry hacks on Veeam management server, it is easily identifiable by just browsing the registry (and it already has some existing values, so you should have no problems finding one). Sorry I don't have a Veeam server handy right now.

It will have positive impact on environments of any size, just don't expect it to be 5 minutes if you only have a handful of LUNs.

[Cokovic]

It's located under HKLM\SOFTWARE\VeeaM\Veeam Backup and Replication

[raphael@schitz.net]

Thanks Anton, i'll give a try asap

We have reduced the amount of logging in 6.5 to the bare minimum, but previous product versions can write a lot of logs, which slows down VDDK disk open operation significantly.

So the setting may still be usefull in 6.5 for jobs with a lot of vm ?

[Gostev]

Yes, but to a less extent, because 6.5 by itself filters out 90% of VDDK output that previous versions would dump to the log file, slowing things down.

[Berniebgf]

Gostev.....Mate..

Any chance you can make the Presentation Available via the Veeam Website? Seems as though your presentation is for "Paid Attendees" only on the VMworld Website.

Thanks VMware.

Bernie.

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Bernard, we have just asked our marketing team to publish this presentation on the Veeam website. Anton or I will update this topic once this presentation becomes available for download.

[Gostev]

Just wanted to update that as of 6.5, the above key is obsolete. Instead, if you want to completely disable VDDK logging, you should create VDDKLogLevel (DWORD) value, and set to 0.

However, this will no longer provide significant impact in most environments, because the default logging level has been already reduced tremendously in 6.5. Nevertheless, I know of at least one customer who chose to use this value since some of the backup proxy servers they use have as many as 350 LUNs mounted, so even minimal logging adds up quickly.

[Vitaliy S.]

And here is the link to Anton's full presentation:
http://go.veeam.com/vmworld-barcelona-2 ... ts-en.html