Gary Roach wrote at about 13:43:28 -0700 on Sunday, April 7, 2013: > Hi, > > I am modifying my whole backup system for greater volume and speed. The > new system is as follows: > > Software - Backuppc using rsync (without SSH) > Server - D865PERL Motherboard > Pentium 4 - 2.4 GHz Processor > IDE System hard drive > SATA, 1 TB WD green backup data storage disk. (S/B > 1.5 Gb/S) > 1GB system memory > PCI bus > Intel PWLA8391GT PRO/1000 GT PCI Network Adapter > Cat 6 cable > > Clients (2) > Intel DP55KG motherboard > Intel i5-750 Processor 4 core, 2.66 GHz > Hard Drive - Western Digital WD5000AADS -500GB, 32MB > Cache, SATAII (3 Gb/s) > PCIX bus > 2 GB system memory > Intel Gigabit CT PCI-E Network Adapter EXPI9301CTBLK > Cat 6 Cable > > I have read all sorts of complaints about this type setup and need some > advice.
I am not aware of *any* general complaints about any general hardware. Complaints if any typically reflect a lack of understanding about how BackupPC works or unrealistic expectations of performance relative to the size/number of backups on the one hand and network bandwidth and to lesser extents CPU speeds and disk setup on the other. That being said, I am puzzled by your statement that you are "modifying my whole backup system for greater volume and speed", yet your server setup seems to be based on 10 year old technology - Pentium 4 2.4GHz (presumably single core), 1GB DRAM, IDE system drive and a WD Green (i.e.., exact opposite of a performance) data disk. In fact, it would be harder to imagine a *less* suitable hardware setup if you are interested in greater volume and speed. Now this doesn't mean that BackupPC won't run on such a setup -- indeed, my home backup server is approaching 10 years and has only slightly better hardware (p4 2.8GHz, 2GB DRAM, pair of RAID1 Seagate (non-green) 1TB drives). It works fine for me but it is at the low end of performance. I get about 5-6 MB/sec max (on a 100bps ethernet). Of course, my backup backup server is even lower powered being an 800MHz ARM plugcomputer with 512MB DRAM and a USB hard drive... but it's slow. > It would appear that I should get around 1 Gbit/S transfer rate > for continuous data transfer. If this is not true, why not and what can > I realistically expect. How would you ever expect to get 1 Gbit/second???? First, while you mention that your ethernet cards are GigE, you don't say anything about your actual network speed being GigE which would require a GigE router/switch. Second, GigE can't even do 1 Gbit/second raw data transfers due to the ethernet (and other) protocol overheads plus collisions, etc. Even under ideal conditions, one would get a good fraction less than 1 Gbit/second. Third, your old IDE-based motherboard (even with onboard SATA adapters) is unlikely to have more than about 150 mbit/sec capacity. Fourth, while your drive may have a 1.5Gb/sec interface and may in burst mode approach such a speed when reading/writing from its buffer, there is no way it can do sustained transfers anywhere near that speed -- especially Green drives that are optimized for power usage and not for performance. Finally, how do you expect your lowly p4 2.4GHz to keep up with rsync at anything approaching 1 Gbit/second let alone any of the overhead of BackupPC (and in particular compression). My guess is that if you don't have a true GigE network (including your router/switch), you are unlikely to get more than about 6-8 mbit/sec (i.e. .006 - .008 Gbit/sec). If you have a GigE network, maybe you can expect to get a little more before your motherboard and cpu are rate limiting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Minimize network downtime and maximize team effectiveness. Reduce network management and security costs.Learn how to hire the most talented Cisco Certified professionals. Visit the Employer Resources Portal http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/employer_resources/index.html _______________________________________________ BackupPC-users mailing list [email protected] List: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki: http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
