Knowledge Base: ADMINISTRATION : DS-Client performance considerations
 
DS-Client performance considerations
Creation Date: November 17, 1997
Revision Date: March 21, 2008
Product: DS‑Client
Summary
The DS‑Client software is designed to perform unattended, scheduled backups of single PCs or an entire LAN. To maximize the DS‑Client's performance, there are some issues that you should consider.
Considerations
To maximize backup speed, consider the following points:
 
 
Use the latest supported Windows operating system
Running the DS‑Client software on the latest supported Windows operating system will boost backup speed, since the DS‑Client software is able to take advantage of features like asynchronous I/O processing and multi‑processor support.
Provide adequate CPU and memory
Since the DS‑Client software performs compression and encryption during the backup, it is CPU‑intensive. Use the DS‑Client 'Load Summary' feature to determine CPU and memory utilization during backups. If it is very high, you should consider a more powerful CPU and/or more memory for the DS‑Client computer.
Use multi‑processor systems
The DS‑Client software is designed to scale on SMP systems, when installed on Windows. Running the DS‑Client on such a system provides large performance boosts when compared with a single CPU configuration.
Use Microsoft SQL Server
The DS‑Client uses a database to store backup logs (catalogs). When using the DS‑Client in a LAN configuration that can exceed a few hundred thousand backup files, the database update/retrieve speed will affect backup performance significantly. Use Microsoft SQL Server as the DS‑Client database to provide faster update/retrieve performance.
Provide 100 Base or higher LAN connections.
When running the DS‑Client on a powerful system (e.g. dual CPU), LAN connections of 10 mbps (Ethernet) or 16 mbps (Token Ring) become a bottleneck. Provide a faster LAN connection to significantly improve the backup speed.
Schedule appropriate number of backups
Scheduling too many backups at the same time will increase overall backup time due to CPU, memory and LAN connection over utilization. 'Load Summary' feature of DS‑Client can be used to determine CPU and memory utilization during backups.