Testing IOPS for Disk Library Mount Path with IOmeter

You can use the IOmeter to test the I/O Operations Per Second (IOPS) performance on each mount path of the disk library.

When you run this tool, you can specify the following settings:

• Read and write modes, such as sequential or random access.

• Parameters, such as block size for a file system or block count or file count or thread count.

The minimum IOPS required for each mount path of the disk library of extra large, large and medium MediaAgents is:

Before You Begin

• Ensure that you run the IOmeter test on a complete raw disk.

• Before running the test on a mount path, IOmeter prepares the mount path by creating the file named iobw.tst, on which it will run read/write tests. In case of multiple mount paths, ensure that the test is not run concurrently on all the mount paths.

• We recommend that you run IOmeter on the physical disk that represents the storage mount path for which IOPS need to be measured. IOmeter allows physical disks to be selected only when there are no mount paths on the disk.

Procedure

1. Log on to the MediaAgent computer where you want to test the storage disks.

2. Stop all MediaAgent services. For instructions, see Stopping a Service.

3. In Explorer, navigate to the software_installation_directory/Base folder, then right-click IOmeter > Run as Administrator.

4. In the license dialog box, click I Agree.

5. In the Topology pane, click the name of the computer. The available disk drives appear in the Disk Targets tab.

6. Under All Managers, expand MediaAgent_name. Iometer, on startup, creates one Manager with multiple worker threads.

7. On the Disk Targets tab, select the disk to test.

   Values for Maximum Disk Size and Starting Disk Sector should be set to 0 (zero), to test the complete disk.

   Notes:

   • Blue disk icons represent physical drives that have no partitions on them.

   • Yellow disk icons with a red strike-through are mount paths that need to be prepared before the test. These are the mount paths that do not contain the iobw.tst file.

   • Yellow disk icons without the strike contain the iobw.tst file.

8. Click the Access Specifications tab.

9. In the Global Access Specifications area, create one by clicking New. Click OK to add the new specification.

10. Use the following parameters. These settings will simulate simultaneous backups and restores from the mount paths with 24 different streams at a time.

    Access Specification	Settings
    Percent Read	50
    Percent Write	50
    Percent Random Distribution	50
    Percent Sequential Distribution	50
    Transfer Request Size	64K

11. Click the profile in the Global Access Specifications area, then click to place it in the Assigned Access Specifications area, so it will run.

12. Click the Results Display tab.

13. Change the Update Frequency slider to 5 seconds.

14. Click the Test Setup tab.

15. For Run Time, enter 30 minutes.

16. Click Start Teststo run the Iometer test.

17. A standard Save File dialog appears. Select a file to store the test results (by default it saves as results.csv).

    After a few seconds the test results appear in the Results Display tab.

    Run the test for around 30 minutes or until the IOPS value has stabilized.

18. Click Stop Test. The test stops and the final results are saved in the results.csv file. This can be viewed in any text editor.

    At the end of the test, note the IOPS test rating.

19. If you are running IOmeter on a mount path, make sure to delete iobw.tst file after the test is complete.

20. Start all services

    For instructions, see Starting a Service.