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Hi. I am using Syncrify backup client and need to speed up the process.
I can see threads in the options, but cannot find anywhere that documents what this option refers to.
Please can you let me know the max number of threads that can be used and what this exactly refers to?
I have changed it from 5 to 40, as we have a large number of small files to backup, but the network / cpu / ram do not seem to change to reflect more files being transferred.
Thanks
You should not change the number of threads. Leave it at 5. The biggest bottleneck in Syncrify is NOT CPU. It is either disk or network. Therefore, increasing the number of threads won't have any affect.
Is this the first backup or there is already a copy on the server's side? If this is first, try seeding the backup. Check http://web.synametrics.com/SyncrifySeeding.htm for details.
If you already have a copy on the server, try enabling folder cache. Check http://web.synametrics.com/SyncrifyFolderCache.htm for details.
Thank you for replying.
What exacly does threads refer to then, just CPU threads? The problem is that our server has thousands of small files, which take longer to transfer than larger ones. The backup has completed 1% in 24 hours, since it has hit the smaller files on the server. We have enabled folder cache already.
This is the first backup and the server has plenty of CPU and RAM available to use extra threads. The server is on RAID10 and has a 50Mb connection to the backup NAS, which is in RAID.
Does changing the threads take effect while backing up, or would I have to abort, change the threads, then backup again? Also, what is the maximum amount of threads that the client will use please?
Yes. These are just CPU threads. When you have lots of small files, it's not the CPU that becomes the bottleneck. Instead, it is the disk, which has to jump all over the place to read small chunks of data, which makes the disk cache useless because the same data is hardly read twice.
Therefore, adding more CPU threads will only put more load on the disk that is already working at its maximum capacity.
How many folders do you have? Note that folder cache makes sense when you have lots of folders. If all of these small files are stored in just a handful of folders, caching will not help.