jamessfrench-839278 (4/18/2013)
I'll have to check on the LUN with another person. I was focused on the file groups as a way to avoid backing up all the data, so I overlooked filegroups as a way to temper/throttle the impact of a single large backup. This approach will also address some of the timing/process issues as I can backup at the appropriate time. Thanks very much!I'll have a trial of Redgate Backup Pro on the server in the next couple of days, and hope that will also make managing multiple filegroup backups easier.
I changed job almost a year ago. Used to work for a big, big, big company 😉 ... they had their own backup solution and never had to worry about that aspect of the SQL design.
Now, in my new role and job, I am also in charge of backups, which I like. This is when I discovered RedGate SQL Backup and let me tell you, it is a good piece of software. The compression algorithm is really good, saves you space and time.
Ironically, I am also having backup issues, but I do have around 1TB of data now, I'll have 8TB once I finished another Project. Even though my SQL design is really good, the SAN does not perform well, it is too slow for writes. So I will have to backup directly over the network. But if your SAN has good IO numbers, you may ask your IT guys to create separate LUNs: one for Data, one for Tlogs, one for tempdb, one for Backups. Separate LUNs segregate the IO workload and your backup jobs won't be competing for disk resources in the middle of the nigh.
I also suggest create several backup files for big databases, let's say, anything above 100GB. It will run faster, and will transfer faster over the network too.
Good luck!