TI9 Workstation imaging VERY slowly to server computer

[bottomline]

I have successfully been using Acronis 9 Workstation to back up workstations to another workstation that has large drives. All backups work quickly and well.

I installed a W2K3 domain controller on this lan and decided to start sending these images to a the server, and the backup times dramatically increased. Backups that had taken minutes were now taking many hours. I have done extensive testing and have proven that this problem is real. Here is a brief summary of my tests:

-to determine whether the problem was caused by the workstations now being a member of the new domain, I removed them from the domain and logged in locally and still had the problem.

-to determine whether something else had happened on the network that was slowing traffic, I ran numerous file-level backups and timed them. They all worked quickly and speeds were nearly 100 mbps.

-to determine if other imaging programs had the same problem, I installed Norton Ghost 9. It backed up an order of magnitude more quickly than Acronis.

-to determine whether your TI Server had the same problem, I temporarily installed Acronis True Image Server for Windows onto the workstation and it was just as super-slow as Acronis Workstation.

-to determine whether this was a compression issue I turned compression off and the problem still exists.

-to determine whether this was an issue with the one specific server, I tried backing up a workstation on another lan to another server, and the problem still exists.

-Finally, I pointed the workstation backups back to the other workstation we used to use to hold backups, and it worked at the normal high speed it used to. There definitely exists a speed problem going to this server. Backups to another workstation are running at about 93mbps, but backups to the server are running at only 3mbps.

There is no compression happening on our network switches. All workstations are on the same small lan and subnet. There is nothing special on this network.

I then did some research in these forums and found that others are having this exact problem. Acronis engineers have recognized it but I could not find any solution posted. Here are some of the links:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/archive/index.php/t-128480.html

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=54920&highlight=slow+domain

Any help would be greatly apprecitated. Thank you for your time.

[OldITGuy]

Be very carefull about backing up a DC. I know Acronis says that you can back up a DC and you can, as long as you just have a single DC such as in an SBS server. But if your DC synchronizes with any other DC a recovery will completely screw up the serialization of the updates that windows uses to keep everything in balance. NTbackup has logic in it to handle this situation and that is why you can recover a DC with NTbackup. Theoretically you could back up 2 DC's but you would have take both of them off the network, back them both up, and then reconnect them to the network. If a restore of either were necessary you would have to restore both DC's.

[bottomline]

Thanks for the reply, but I am not backup up a DC. I am backing up workstations to data drive that resides on a DC. When I back up these workstations to a machine other than a DC, it proceeds very quickly. When I back them up to the DC, the image is very much slower.

[OldITGuy]

Sorry for the confusion. I thought when you said "these images" you meant images of the server. Interesting that they should run so slow but just when backing up to the server. I assume you have checked CPU utilization and i/o on both computer during the backup. Do these computers only have one network card? How about a Quality of Service (QOS) issue. Maybe the server is throttling down the file transfer activity to assure other service levels. You have me interested, I may try this one myself.

[bottomline]

These machines all have the same motherboard that has 2 NICs as part of the board. The motherboard is an Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe. However, I am only using one of the NICs on each machine, the Marvell Yukon NIC.

I've checked utilization, and it does not appear that the CPUs are throttling the traffic.

Thanks for your interest - let me know if you have any more ideas.

[far182]

I suspect the hardware/driver of your server. We exclusivly backup to servers (including DC's) at numerous clients. We don't have any problems. Then again our clients use DELL, HP, IBM servers.

[Acronis Support]

Hello bottomline,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Workstation Disk Backup Software (http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATICW/).

Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response.

First of all, please try copying\moving large files, e.g. disk\partition images created by Acronis True Image, from the workstation(s) that you back up to the shared folder on your server using Windows Explorer or any other file manager and see the result.

If files are being copied slowly then this problem is not related to Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation, but to some peculiarities of your network setup.

In case files are being copied at a normal speed when Windows Explorer or some other file manager is used, please make sure you use the latest build (3718) of Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation which is available for downloading in the Product Updates (https://www.acronis.com/enterprise/my/updates/) section of your account at Acronis web site.

You can find the full version name and build number by going to Help -> About... menu in the main program window.

To get access to updates you should create an account (http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/my/) then log in and use your serial number to register the software.

Please uninstall any previously installed build by following Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Acronis True Image, prior to installing build 3718.

Note that you should update all components including Acronis Agents, Acronis Management Console, Acronis Backup and Group Servers. It is obligatory for all components to be of the same build on order to interact correctly.

It is also recommended that you re-create Bootable Rescue CD after installing the update.

If the problem still persists with the latest build (3718) of Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation then please provide us with the following information:

- Create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317) for both workstation that you back up and server where you save the resulting backups;

- Rename the files collected to sysinfo_source.NFO, report_source.txt and sysinfo_destination.NFO, report_destination.txt accordingly;

- What is the exact size of the backed up data?

- How much time does it take to create a backup exactly?

- Does the problem appear when you create both disk\partition images and file-based backups?

- Are you able to achieve a satisfactory backup creation speed by choosing another backup location?

- Reproduce the problem and collect Acronis True Image log which can be saved from Tools -> Show Log -> Diskette icon;

- Describe your network structure in detail (let us know vendors and models of both hardware devices and software applications persisting in your network).

Then please submit a request for technical support (http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/my/support/). Provide the files and information collected in your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the most suitable solution as soon as possible.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov