Resource sizing for VMware backup proxy
Deploying a backup proxy creates a new virtual machine with the following configuration:
The backup proxy VM must be dedicated to performing backup proxy operations.
Also, consider the following:
Resource monitoring tools can be used, but tools that use a lot of CPU (more than 3%) require extra CPU to be added to the virtual machine.
Operating system patching should be in line with the operating system vendor security and patching policy.
Operating system upgrades must be verified and supported by Druva.
If you change the backup proxy configuration, additional changes in the backup proxy settings are required to:
Ensure concurrent backup jobs
Avoid any impact on the CPU
For more details, contact Support.
The minimum supported configuration for backups to run without any issues is 3 vCPU and 3 GB RAM. With this configuration, you can backup only 1 virtual machine at a time.
Guidelines to determine the VMware backup proxy concurrency
The following guidelines will help you determine the concurrency of backups for backup proxies. You can use these guidelines to scale up (increase RAM etc, for proxy server) or scale out (add more backup proxies).
Each virtual machine backup requires 2 vCPUs and 1.3 GB RAM.
Additionally, 30% of CPU resources and 2 GB RAM are required for operations, such as file-level restores, log uploads, etc.
The resources allocated to a proxy is a function of the number of concurrent backups you want to achieve in your environment.
If you want to run multiple jobs per backup proxy, increase the configuration as stated above based on the factors discussed below.
Calculating concurrency
The configuration is a function of the number of concurrent backups you want to achieve in your environment.
Say, you have a backup proxy configuration of X vCPUs and Y GB RAM. The number of concurrent backups can be calculated using the following formula:
Number of concurrent backups = Minimum { (X*0.7)/2, (Y-2)/1.3 }
Example 1: If you have 16 vCPUs and 16 GB RAM in your setup, you can calculate the number of concurrent backup operations that can run as follows:
Number of concurrent backups = Minimum { (16*0.7)/2 = 5.6, (16-2)/1.3 = 10.7 } = 5.6
You can run up to 6 concurrent backup operations (after rounding the last decimal).
Correspondingly, you can now calculate your ideal RAM configuration to save system resources.
Optimal RAM configuration required to run 6 concurrent backups = (6*1.3)+2 = 9.8
You can optimize your setup to 10 GB RAM (rounded to the nearest available unit) since the number of concurrent backups is governed by the vCPU configuration. Vice versa will be applicable in case the number of concurrent backups is derived from the RAM configuration.
Example 2: If you have 16 vCPUs and 8 GB RAM in your setup, you can calculate the number of concurrent backup operations that can run as follows:
Number of concurrent backups = Minimum { (16*0.7)/2 = 5.6, (8-2)/1.3 = 4.6 } = 4.6
You can run up to 5 concurrent backup operations (after rounding the last decimal).
Correspondingly, you can now calculate your ideal vCPU configuration to save system resources.
Optimal vCPU configuration required to run 5 concurrent backups = (5*2)*1.3 = 13
You can optimize your setup to 13 vCPUs (rounded to the nearest available unit) since the number of concurrent backups is governed by the RAM configuration.
Calculating the required vCPU and RAM
Alternatively, you can calculate the vCPU and RAM configuration by deciding the number of concurrent backups you want for your environment.
Example : If you have to backup 50 virtual machines in a 14-hour window and each virtual machine requires approximately 1 hour for backup.
Thus, you need 50/14 = 3.6 = ~4 virtual machines to proceed in a parallel backup.
In case you have to run 4 concurrent virtual machine backups in the environment. You can calculate the number of vCPUs and RAM configuration as follows:
vCPUs required = (4*2)/0.7 = 11.42
RAM required = (4*1.3) + 2 = 7.2
You need at least 10 vCPUs and 7 GB RAM for 4 concurrent backups.
Changing the backup proxy concurrency
Perform the following tasks to change the VMware backup proxy concurrency:
Stop the service using the following command:
service Phoenix stop(For VMware backup proxy version prior to 7.0.0)service Druva-EnterpriseWorkloads stop(For VMware backup proxy version 7.0.0 and later)
Edit the following and save the file.
value of the MAX_CONCURRENT_BACKUPS parameter in the phoenix.cfg file at /etc/Phoenix/VMWARE directory (For VMware backup proxy version prior to 7.0.0)
value of the vm_max_concurrent_backups parameter in the VMwareConfig.yaml file at /etc/Druva/EnterpriseWorkloads/vmware directory (For VMware backup proxy version 7.0.0 and later)
Start the service using the following command:
service Phoenix start(For VMware backup proxy version prior to 7.0.0)service Druva-EnterpriseWorkloads start(For VMware backup proxy version 7.0.0 and later)