Protecting client servers with a large number of files (4 million+ files)

SUMMARY

Protecting client servers with a large number of files (4 million+ files)

ISSUE

Purpose

How to schedule backups of client computers with millions of files.

Description

File servers and other servers that contain 2 million plus files will typically take a long time backup and can cause /usr/bp/dp to throw an alert that it is full.

Cause

Opening and reading millions of files takes an extended period of time and can cause /usr/bp/lists.dir and /usr/bp/logs.dir to fill up and cause backups to stop.

Resolution

This can be addressed by creating separate backup schedules to split the millions of files into smaller backups.

1. Create aliases for the client. To create aliases for a client, reference creating aliases.
2. Create backup schedules for each alias and exclude everything except the directories or files that need to backup under that alias.
3. Ensure these backups are not scheduled to run at the same time.

This will also reduce the amount of data that is inserted into /usr/bp/lists.dir and /usr/bp/logs.dir at the time of backup. When splitting up the backups try to split each individual backup job into segments of 1 million files or smaller. Also, schedule the backups to run at separate times.

Note about Excluding the System State

When you run a backup, create a backup schedule, or create a selection list, you have the option to check an Exclude System State checkbox to back up data and not include OS protection. If you are backing up an aliased client, you must decide whether to include or exclude the system state. DO NOT EXCLUDE the system state on the client that contains the operating system volumes (this is typically the C: volume).