MSDP volume group best practices
The following are some of the best practices with the MSDP volume group.
Put an MVG server close to the regular MSDP servers of which the physical volumes are grouped by the MVG server.
The MVG server and the load balance media servers of the MVG server can reach the MSDP servers efficiently with low latency and good throughput.
Add the media servers of the regular MSDP servers to the load balance media server list of the MVG server. Consider adding more media servers to the list if there are.
Put an MVG server in a reliable place, which is desired to have physical isolation with the regular MSDP servers.
As an example, the MVG server can be configured on the NetBackup primary server if it is the only MVG server, or on HA-enabled Flex appliance or BYO environment.
The physical volumes in one MVG volume have the similar configuration.
They have similar volume size, similar server CPU/memory, similar disk/network performance. It makes a more balanced load between the physical volumes and MSDP servers.
They are enforced to have the same encryption, KMS, WORM, and other security configuration. The MVG volume creation fails if the settings do not match.
Add a new MVG server only when needed to reduce cost and not compromise on the performance.
Add a new MVG server only when the existing ones cannot meet the requirements. For example, physical isolation between the MVG servers and the MVG volumes is needed. The existing MVG server too small to manage many MVG volumes. The MVG server has too many MVG volumes.
Do not use multiple MVG servers to manage the physical volumes of the same MSDP servers.
Do not have a physical volume assigned to multiple MVG volumes, does not matter if the MVG volumes are managed by the same or different MVG servers.
If an MSDP server has multiple volumes, they can be assigned to different MVG volumes of different MVG servers. However, it is not recommended.
Once a physical volume is assigned to an MVG volume, it's not recommended to use it anymore for NetBackup jobs.
It does not block anything if the physical volume continues being used. You can still use it to restore the pre-existing backup images. The currently working configuration with the physical volume can continue working. To have a more balanced load, remove it from the configuration of the backup policy when it is assigned to an MVG volume.
Deactivate the media server on an MVG server if it is small.
If the MVG server is small, deactivate the media server on the MVG server to prevent NetBackup from scheduling jobs on it when there are additional load-balancing media servers for the MVG server. Do not deactivate it if it is the only load-balancing media server of the MVG server.
You can go to NetBackup web UI Storage > Media server, select the MVG server, then click .
You can also run the following NetBackup command:
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/nbemmcmd -updatehost -machinename <mvg-server> -machinestateop set_admin_pause -machinetype media -masterserver <primary-server>
Create the media server and MSDP engine affinity.
See Enabling the media server and MSDP engine affinity in the MSDP cluster.