About the MSDP Deduplication Multi-Threaded Agent
The MSDP deduplication process can use a Multi-Threaded Agent for most data sources. The Multi-Threaded Agent runs alongside the deduplication plug-in on both the clients and the media servers. The agent uses multiple threads for asynchronous network I/O and CPU core calculations. During a backup, this agent receives data from the deduplication plug-in through shared memory and processes it using multiple threads to improve throughput performance. When inactive, the agent uses minimal resources.
The NetBackup Deduplication Multi-Threaded Agent improves backup performance for any host that deduplicates data: the storage server, load balancing servers, or clients that deduplicate their own data. For each host on which you want to use the Multi-Threaded Agent, you must configure the deduplication plug-in to use it.
The Deduplication Multi-Threaded Agent uses the default configuration values that control its behavior. You can change those values if you want to do so. The following table describes the Multi-Threaded Agent interactions and behaviors. It also provides links to the topics that describe how to configure those interactions and behaviors.
Table: Interactions and behaviors
| Interaction | Procedure |
|---|---|
|
Multi-Threaded Agent behavior and resource usage |
See Configuring the Deduplication Multi-Threaded Agent behavior. |
|
Whether or not the deduplication plug-in sends backups to the Multi-Threaded Agent |
See Configuring deduplication plug-in interaction with the Multi-Threaded Agent. |
|
The clients that should use the Deduplication Multi-Threaded Agent for backups |
See Configuring deduplication plug-in interaction with the Multi-Threaded Agent. |
|
The backup policies that should use the Deduplication Multi-Threaded Agent |
See Configuring deduplication plug-in interaction with the Multi-Threaded Agent. |
Table: Multi-Threaded Agent requirements and limitations describes the operational notes for MSDP multithreading. If the Multi-Threaded Agent is not used, NetBackup uses the single-threaded mode.
Table: Multi-Threaded Agent requirements and limitations
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
|
Supported systems |
NetBackup supports the Multi-Threaded Agent on Linux, Solaris, AIX, and Windows operating systems. |
|
Unsupported use cases |
NetBackup does not use the Multi-Threading Agent for the following use cases:
|
|
Policy-based compression or encryption |
If NetBackup policy-based compression or encryption is enabled on the backup policy, NetBackup does not use the Deduplication Multi-Threaded Agent. Veritas recommends that you use the MSDP compression and encryption rather than NetBackup policy-based compression and encryption. |