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How long should a restore from workstation take.

Offline abarron

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How long should a restore from workstation take.
« on: January 05, 2014, 05:06:03 PM »
Hi

Yes I know how long is a piece of string but here is some context.  I had a power cut during a previous clean install / restore see:

http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,50492.0.html

A full backup takes about 24 hours to a W7 box with a drive dedicated to this purpose, network is 100baseTx FD but is this the limiting factor?

A full backup currently consists of 224 .dar files all being 700MB except the last which is 278MB.

The restore has now been running for 34 hours and the server manager web page shows 107GB of data currently on the server.

Now I am going to make an assumption that the .dar files are compressed meaning that they contain more than 223 x 700MB + 278MB ~= 156MB data that will be restored to the server.  That would mean I have a long way to go yet.

Is this reasonable?  Do I have something wrong that I can't see?  What investigations are safe to do while the restore is happening?.

TIA for any help.
Andy
« Last Edit: January 05, 2014, 05:08:02 PM by abarron »

Offline TerryF

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2014, 11:51:08 PM »
I think in future you may get better results using the backup to a local attached storage device..

As far as time frame I think it is progressing as expected, I would be shi!@#$ myself without a good UPS  :smile:

Others will have a better idea as to what you can continue to do while the resore is in progress, me I would not touch it without a good UPS in support, just in case...and anything to do with users etc may be overwritten by the restore or vice versa..
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Offline janet

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2014, 11:59:28 PM »
abarron

All the points you make are probably having a cumulative effect, as well as the workstation itself being another bottleneck.
You also do not mention the level of compression you have configured, so higher compression will take longer to unpack.

The time it is taking sounds appropriate for your network etc.

I would definitely up the NIC's to 1G, & cabling to suit, Cat5e or 6
Also does your server have a fast CPU as unpacking & packing dar/tgz files will take a lot of processor power & therefore a slower CPU will slow this process down.

Historically (for me) restore takes longer than back up.

I would suggest that backing up or restoring that amount of data across a slow network to a workstation, is really impractical from purely a time consideration point of view.
Far better/faster to buy yourself 2 USB drives (1Tb or 2Tb) & attach those directly to the USB port on the server, this will give you faster backups & restores (when required).
Swap the disks weekly or as preferred so you have redundancy in your backups.
USB drives are relatively cheap these days.
If you can use USB3.0 connections all the better/faster.

Just be patient & wait until the restore finishes, as for sure, if you interrupt it, you will only have to start again !
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Offline abarron

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2014, 12:42:48 AM »
Thank you all for your comments.

Server is running on an old PII stepping 6 (or whatever it is called) so about the slowest (400 MHz) and oldest it can run on with SME 8.0, I will seriously look at upgrading it.  The compression setting is 6.

I tried local USB once before but couldn't get the server to recognise it, the hardware does work though as I tried it with another OS.

I also tried to upgrade the NIC to an intel Pro / 1000 GT but it wasn't recognised.  I found some posts about this and will also follow that up when this restore finishes. I have a good Draytek router / switch so that is fine.

Is there any way to put the DAR backup onto a USB drive and do a local restore?

Actually I think I might start building a new box now in preparation.

Thanks again
Andy 

Offline janet

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2014, 01:09:32 AM »
abarron

Quote
Server is running on an old PII stepping 6 (or whatever it is called) so about the slowest (400 MHz) and oldest it can run on with SME 8.0, I will seriously look at upgrading it.  The compression setting is 6.

That CPU will be very busy & slow. I would reduce your compression level if you intend to keep that setup.
 
Quote
I tried local USB once before but couldn't get the server to recognise it, the hardware does work though as I tried it with another OS.

You should format the USB to ext3. Apart from a hardware incompatibility, it just sounds like you did not know or follow the correct steps to get the USB drive recognized in sme8, the process was a bit different to sme7. There are Howtos available & it is a straightforward enough process (hardware compatibility allowing). Ask here again for support, in most cases the USB should just be recognized.


Quote
I also tried to upgrade the NIC to an intel Pro / 1000 GT but it wasn't recognised.

I use Intel NICs mostly, not sure about that model, but as always, the hardware must be compatible with Linux/CentOS, so check the specs.

Quote
Is there any way to put the DAR backup onto a USB drive and do a local restore?

See http://wiki.contribs.org/Backup_server_config
the command line restore section


Quote
Actually I think I might start building a new box now in preparation.

Probably a reasonable conclusion
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Offline TerryF

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2014, 02:51:32 AM »
Actually I think I might start building a new box now in preparation.

As far as a home server or even for a small business scenario I can happily recommend the HP microsrver series, N36L, N40L, N54L and the latest Gen 8.

I have a 40 and a 54, they will take up to 16gb of memory, 4HDs in enclosures, price for 54 from around  $250 brand new, although you do get them on specials got mine for $199. Gen 8 start at around $450up depending on the CPU its a bit more serious  :-) but same form factor as the 54.

They are super quiet, low power users and small form factor so fit just about anywhere..

Heres a wiki http://n40l.wikia.com/wiki/HP_MicroServer_N40L_Wiki
and the overclockers users forum
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=958208

My N40 has SME8 on it runs my home data/media storage etc, 8gbs of RAM

The N54, 16gbs RAM, modded BIOS, runs 5.5 ESXi on a 120GB SSD in the OD bay in a Vantec enclosure with a couple of 500gb drives as datstores, SME8, 9, CentOS 5 and 6, Win XP, 7, Fedora, Vector Linux, not all at once of course, the little server can only do so much, but will run three SME VMS at once without problems.

You may get the impression I am happy with the "toys" I am and of course compatable with SME8 and 9, and so far everything else I have thrown at it. :-)
« Last Edit: January 06, 2014, 02:54:26 AM by TerryF »
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Offline idp_qbn

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2014, 07:49:54 AM »
I thoroughly support TerryF's recommendations for the HP Microservers (N36L, N40L, N54L )
I have 2 myself and have installed 3 others which have been running for 6 - 9 months with no problems. Reliable and cheap.

Cheers
Ian
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Offline johnp

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2014, 11:51:59 AM »
I would also make sure the usb is at least 2.0 if going that route

Offline abarron

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2014, 07:57:30 PM »
Quote
Is there any way to put the DAR backup onto a USB drive and do a local restore?

See http://wiki.contribs.org/Backup_server_config
the command line restore section

I meant is there a way to convert the .dar files created by backup to work station into a .tgz file(s) and copy them onto a USB disc that I can then use connected locally to do a restore from console at install time?

I can't find that information in the above link (although I am beginning to feel senile, restore still running)

Cheers
Andy

Offline janet

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #9 on: January 07, 2014, 10:24:12 PM »
abarron

See
http://wiki.contribs.org/Backup_server_config#Command_line_manual_Restore_from_USB_drive_or_memory_stick

This is a generic procedure you could follow, replacing the tar command with a suitable dar unpacking command. I do not know the command off the top of my head, but at the command prompt do
man dar
for an answer, or google it.
You could also look at the backup & restore code that dar workstation backup & restore uses, perhaps also review the messages log file to see what commands are actually run (ie after a backup & restore are run review the commands that sme server issued).

I think an easier approach is to recreate the backup folder structure on a USB drive (using the correct server name & domain name structure), copy your backup files to the USB drive, then setup the backup job in server manager selecting the local USB drive option, & then run the restore from the locally connected USB drive.
Before doing the above, test & get your USB drive working correctly with sme server, follow the USB drive wiki articles.

But using/doing any of those abovementioned options is really being impatient & trashing your existing running restore.

The real issue here is that you are using slow equipment & slow connection speeds.
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Offline abarron

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #10 on: January 08, 2014, 12:02:07 AM »
Janet
Thank you for your help as usual.

No I am going to wait for this restore to finish, I think it is nearly there.  I was thinking ahead in case I had another failure.

Cheers
Andy

Offline abarron

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #11 on: January 08, 2014, 02:12:40 AM »

 :D   Well 187GB and 91 hours later the restore has finished and better the whole system appears to be working.

Seriously need to upgrade my server hardware.

Andy

Offline TerryF

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2014, 04:06:47 AM »
:D   Well 187GB and 91 hours later the restore has finished and better the whole system appears to be working.

You have taken a hit for the community :-)

We now know with a degree of certainty what that size restore takes on that level of hardware.  :lol:
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Offline janet

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #13 on: January 08, 2014, 09:44:34 AM »
abarron

On a 400MHz system I would not even consider turning on compression, the CPU is simply not up to the task (in a timely fashion), with that amount of data.
Set compression to 1 asap, & run a full backup again, in case you need to restore again.

I would also not even consider backing up that amount of data across a network, especially not a 100Mb system.
The minimum config I would use would be backup direct to a locally connected USB drive, & as mentioned previously you want at least USB 2.0 support for adequate speed. That older server you have is probably/possibly only USB 1.0.


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Offline abarron

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Re: How long should a restore from workstation take.
« Reply #14 on: January 08, 2014, 09:54:55 AM »
You have taken a hit for the community :-)

We now know with a degree of certainty what that size restore takes on that level of hardware.  :lol:

I tell you what Terry I wouldn't recommend it, nerve wracking or what   :shock:   I doubt anyone else is daft enough to use such old hardware though   :-)

Andy