Introducing Arcserve Backup Agents and Options › Using Options › Arcserve Backup for UNIX and Linux Enterprise Option for SAP r/3 for Oracle › Introducing the Option › Supported Functionality › How the Option Uses Multistreaming to Process Backups

How the Option Uses Multistreaming to Process Backups

The multistreaming capability increases the speed and efficiency of your backups by enabling you to back up a job to multiple tapes concurrently. Both online and offline procedures can be performed using the multistreaming capability.

To use the multistreaming backup feature, you must set the following variables in the util_par_file:

Note: The file named util_par_file is a parameter file that the SAP agent backup utility requires.

• MULTISTREAM value—Set this variable to true to enable the multistreaming feature.
• MAXSTREAMS value—Set this variable to the maximum number of storage devices that you want to run concurrently.

The default location of the util_par_file is as follows:

$CASAP_HOME(/opt/Arcserve/ABsapagt)

After you set these variables, multistreaming distribution is determined based on the number of file systems to back up, using the MAXSTREAMS value you set. For more information on configuring these variables, see the “Installing the Option" chapter.

The following diagram illustrates how the option processes information by performing parallel jobs, without interrupting other SAP R/3 activities:

Example: How Arcserve Backup Backs up Oracle Data Using Multistreaming

The following example illustrates data on four file systems being backed up to two storage devices. Because there are two storage devices, two jobs are created for the four file systems. Jobs are split according to the maximum number that you set in the MAXSTREAMS value (in this example, MAXSTREAMS is set to 2).

A backup request triggers the following process:

1. When the job request is made, SAP notifies the backup option integration module of the request.
2. The backup option integration module processes the job and regroups the four file systems in accordance with the MAXSTREAMS value you set.
3. The backup option integration module sends Arcserve Backup the information to process the jobs.
4. Arcserve Backup communicates with the option to start the job request.
5. When the option finishes processing the data, the backup option integration module is contacted. The backup option integration module aggregates the results of each job.

The following diagram illustrates data on four file systems being backed up to two storage devices: