Ransomware attackers specifically target and attempt to destroy backup systems to increase the probability of payment. Hardening your system is critical. Please ensure you have reviewed your platform security using the Security Hardening Checklist
Cohesity

COHESITY Documentation

Explore our documentation to get started, discover products & new features, access troubleshooting guides, register sources, platforms support.

Products
Data Security Alliance
Visit Cohesity.com
Demos
Support
Blogs
Developers
Partner Portals
Cohesity Community
© 2026 Cohesity, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use|
Privacy Policy|
Legal|
  1. Home
  2. NetBackup™ Deduplication Guide
  3. Configuring and using universal shares
  4. Changing the number of vpfsd instances
NetBackup™ Deduplication Guide

Changing the number of vpfsd instances

A universal share uses one vpfsd instance by default. In most cases, one instance is adequate. Increasing the number of vpfsd instances might improve universal share performance, although it also requires more CPU and memory. You can increase the number of vpfsd instances from 1 to up to 16 and distribute the shares cross all the vpfsd instances.

To change the number of vpfsd instances for universal shares

  1. Stop NetBackup on the media server.

    systemctl stop netbackup

    Or

    /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/goodies/netbackup stop

  2. Modify the number of vpfsd instances.

    Change the numOfInstance value in the vpfsd_config.json file. The value must be an integer between 1 and 16. For example:

    # grep numOfInstance /msdp/vol1/etc/puredisk/vpfsd_config.json "numOfInstance": 2,

    BYO (build-your-own): <storage path>/etc/puredisk/vpfsd_config.json

    NetBackup Appliance and NetBackup Flex Scale: /msdp/data/dp1/pdvol/etc/puredisk/vpfsd_config.json

    NetBackup Flex: /mnt/msdp/vol0/etc/puredisk/vpfsd_config.json

  3. Start NetBackup on the media server.

    systemctl start netbackup

    Or

    /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/goodies/netbackup start

Check the deduplication ratio for the universal share or a folder in the universal share

Check the deduplication ratio for a universal share: /usr/openv/pdde/vpfs/bin/vpfs_metadump dedupe /mnt/vpfs_shares/<share_dir>/<share_id>

Check the deduplication ratio for a universal share folder: /usr/openv/pdde/vpfs/bin/vpfs_metadump dedupe /mnt/vpfs_shares/<share_dir>/<share_id> <sub_dir>

Example usage and output:

/usr/openv/pdde/vpfs/bin/vpfs_metadump dedupe /mnt/vpfs_shares/02b1/02b1e846-949f-5e55-8e39-e9900cd6a25e LT_0.1_20_1

File Name   File Size   Stored Size Overall Rate    Dedupe Rate Compress Rate
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.1of14: 3043.42MB, 30.26MB, 99%, 93.31%, 85%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.2of14: 3043.42MB, 28.10MB, 99%, 93.94%, 84%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.3of14: 3045.02MB, 32.78MB, 98%, 92.82%, 85%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.4of14: 3044.93MB, 38.48MB, 98%, 91.44%, 85%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.5of14: 3044.93MB, 29.05MB, 99%, 93.78%, 84%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.6of14: 3044.93MB, 30.06MB, 99%, 93.45%, 84%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.9of14: 3043.42MB, 26.71MB, 99%, 94.27%, 84%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.8of14: 3043.42MB, 32.05MB, 98%, 93.07%, 84%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.10of14: 3043.42MB, 31.12MB, 98%, 93.36%, 84%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.12of14: 3044.93MB, 31.57MB, 98%, 93.13%, 84%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.11of14: 3044.93MB, 27.08MB, 99%, 94.23%, 84%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.7of14: 3043.42MB, 25.31MB, 99%, 94.65%, 84%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.13of14: 3044.93MB, 31.09MB, 98%, 93.33%, 84%
[INFO]: /LT_0.1_20_1/db_dump.14of14: 3044.93MB, 36.60MB, 98%, 91.79%, 85%
[INFO]: total size: 42620.06MB, stored size: 430.25MB, overall rate: 98.99%, 
dedupe rate: 93.33%, compress rate:84%
    [0K, 8K): 0.0%
    [8K, 16K): 0.0%
    [16K, 24K): 0.7%
    [24K, 32K): 0.5%
    [32K, 40K): 98.8%
[INFO]: total SO: 1368688, average SO: 31K

Feedback

Was this page helpful?
Previous

Disaster recovery for a universal share

Next

Upgrading to NetBackup 10.1.1

Feedback

Was this page helpful?