Recommended cache settings for the Sybase ASA database within NetBackup 6.0

Recommended cache settings for Sybase ASA:

A good general rule is to keep the initial and minimum ASA database cache equal to or more than at least 10% of the total database size.

If a message such as the following is seen in server.log, then the cache (25M by default) is less than 10% of the total database file size.  Note that this figure includes the transaction logs:
I. 09/25 12:11:10. Note: Server cache size is too small for database "NBDB"

Therefore, if this message appears, it may serve as an indication that the database cache settings need to be changed.  Catalog backups should be run regularly to truncate the transaction logs.  However, cache settings should be based upon the size of the actual database, not including the transaction logs.

Server.log is in the following location:
UNIX: /usr/openv/db/log/server.log
Windows: \VERITAS\NetBackupDB\log\server.log

Determining the size of the database
By default, the database files are in the following location:

UNIX: /usr/openv/db/data
Windows: InstallPath\VERITAS\NetBackupDB\data

alfred% cd /usr/openv/db/data
alfred% ls
EMM_DATA.db   EMM_INDEX.db  NBDB.db       NBDB.log      vxdbms.conf
alfred% ls -al
total 108294
drwxr-xr-x   2 root     bin          512 Oct 23 14:59 .
drwxr-xr-x  11 root     bin          512 Oct 18 17:58 ..
-r--------   1 root     other    26226688 Oct 23 16:07 EMM_DATA.db
-r--------   1 root     other    26226688 Oct 23 16:07 EMM_INDEX.db
-r--r--r--   1 root     other    2453504 Oct 23 16:07 NBDB.db
-r--------   1 root     other     458752 Oct 23 16:07 NBDB.log
-rw-------   1 root     bin          362 Oct 23 15:14 vxdbms.conf

Add up the total byte count for the following files:

EMM_DATA.db

EMM_INDEX.db

NBDB.db

If Bare Metal Restore (BMR) is also installed, include the following files in the calculation:

BMR_DATA.db 

BMR_INDEX.db

BMRDB.db

Once the files have been totalled, then allocate at least 10% of this amount to the initial and minimumcache (do not include .log files in this calculation).

If the database files are not in the default location, look in vxdbms.conf to find them.

alfred # more v*.conf

VXDBMS_NB_SERVER = VERITAS_NB_alfred.min.veritas.com

VXDBMS_NB_PORT = 13785

VXDBMS_NB_DATABASE = NBDB

VXDBMS_NB_DATA = /usr/openv/db/data

VXDBMS_NB_INDEX = /usr/openv/db/data

VXDBMS_NB_TLOG = /usr/openv/db/data

VXDBMS_NB_PASSWORD = 2371d950c797cb6cc83064e619715c908381bc9fc814d836

VXDBMS_NB_FULL_KEYWORD = NBDB:49:1161632832:F

VXDBMS_NB_INCREMENTAL = NBDB.log.2

The location of vxdbms.conf itself is given in the bp.conf file in UNIX:

alfred # more /bp/bp.conf

SERVER = alfred.min.veritas.com

CLIENT_NAME = alfred.min.veritas.com

EMMSERVER = alfred.min.veritas.com

VXDBMS_NB_DATA = /usr/openv/db/data

VERBOSE = 5

In Windows, the location of vxdbms.conf is given in the registry at the following location: 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VERITAS\NetBackup\CurrentVersion\Config\VXDBMS_NB_DATA

Configuring the Database cache settings
Cache settings can be changed by editing the server.conf file, kept in the following location:

UNIX: /usr/openv/var/global/server.conf
Windows: \VERITAS\NetBackupDB\conf\server.conf 

The System Administrator's Guide notes that the customer should only change this file with the help of Support.

There are three parameters related to the amount of memory in megabytes. The default settings are as follows:

-c 25M

Indicates the initial memory reserved for caching database pages and other server information.  This should be adjusted in accordance with the calculation mentioned above.

-cl 25M

Indicates minimum cache size, as a limit to automatic cache resizing.  This should be adjusted in accordance with the calculation mentioned above.

-ch 500M

Indicates the maximum cache size, as a limit to automatic cache growth.

Once the server.conf is edited, NetBackup Services should be restarted on the EMM server.  Restart these services only when no jobs are active.