589 - How to optimise parallel network volume and disk processing in ESE

Network volumes can be included in the backup selection in the ESE Agent. To optimise backup processing, these folders can be backed up in parallel or serially by changing the 'network.share.group.mode' setting in the a5backup.properties file (located in the Agent's installation folder). Also note, the 'maximum.concurrent.devices' setting determines the number of "devices" (including network shares, but also disk volumes) that can be processed in parallel.

Warning: Depending on disk latency, the number of network cards, the number of share being backed up, and the network bandwidth available, adjusting these settings can cause performance degradation.

Network share handling

To do this, add the relevant line to the a5backup.properties file:

network.share.group.mode=server

network.share.group.mode=all

network.share.group.mode=none

Descriptions:

• server (on by default): process shares on a the same server serially - results in shares on different servers being processed in parallel
• all: process all network shares and servers serially
• none:  process all shares in parallel

Increasing parallel processing

To change the number of "devices" being processed in parallel, add the following line to the a5backup.properties file and change the value of the setting:

maximum.concurrent.devices=4

(any number can be used, 4 being the default)

Note: Some volumes could span multiple disks. This means only volumes that don't share the same physical disks can be backed up in parallel.