System state synchronizations and express full backups of protected 2012 R2 machines overload DPM server.

Question

I have one DPM 2012 R2 UR2 server which is running on Windows 2008 R2 and 2 protection groups (A, and B). The server uses direct attached storage for all replicas and recovery volumes.
Group A protects the system state and bare metal recovery of 25 Windows 2008R2 servers. It creates recovery points using express full backup each night at 6PM. The servers range from file/print, SQL, domain controllers, terminal servers, web servers, etc. Total
data 3TB.
Group B protects the system state and bare metal recovery of only 3 Windows 2012R2 servers. It creates recovery points using express full backup each night (morning) at 1AM. The servers are 1 domain controller, 1 WSUS server, and 1 server that runs VMware VCenter.
Total data 90GB.
During group A's nightly backup, which takes approximately 2 hours, the DPM server becomes noticeably slower but remains functional. I can open Windows update and check for updates, copy files to and from network locations, launch intenet explorer, etc. It's
stressed since 25 servers are creating backups on it but it remains functional.
During group B's nightly backup the DPM server grinds to a complete halt. Launching internet explorer takes an hour (literally), 10 minutes will pass before I get a menu after clicking the start button. Basically it becomes completely unresponsive until the
backups finish which typically doesn't happen because I'm forced to cancel them upon arriving at work...8 hours later.
I read that DPM uses the built in Windows Backup to protect system state and bare metal recovery. Did something change in Windows Backup from 2008R2 to 2012R2 that would cause this? Why can my DPM server easily backup 25 Windows 2008R2 machines at once in 2
hours yet freezes solid for 8 hours or more when backing up only 3 Windows 2012R2 machines?
I left performance monitor running during the night and it showed an average disk queue length of 49 during group B's backup but everything else was normal. Seems the disks on the DPM server are the bottleneck but again I ask why can my DPM server easily backup
25 Windows 2008R2 machines at once in 2 hours yet freezes solid for 8 hours or more when backing up only 3 Windows 2012R2 machines? Both protection groups use the same disks.
How can I fix this?
Teenage angst has paid of well, now I'm bored and old.

Answer 1

Hi CS,
You can also run a performance monitor.
For some basic perfmon counters to help narrow down the possible bottleneck:
Perf Counters for DPM
Logical Disk/Physical Disk
\%idle
• 100% idle to 50% idle = Healthy
• 49% idle to 20% idle = Warning or Monitor
• 19% idle to 0% idle = Critical or Out of Spec
\%Avg. Disk Sec Read or Write
• .001ms to .015ms  = Healthy
• .015ms to .025 = Warning or Monitor
• .026ms or greater = Critical or Out of Spec
Current Disk Queue Length (for all instances)
80 requests for more than 6 minutes.
• Indicates possibly excessive disk queue length.
Memory
\Pool Non Paged Bytes*
• Less that 60% of pool consumed=Healthy
• 61% - 80% of pool consumed = Warning or Monitor.
• Greater than 80% pool consumed = Critical or Out of Spec.
\Pool Paged Bytes*
• Less that 60% of pool consumed=Healthy
• 61% - 80% of pool consumed = Warning or Monitor.
• Greater than 80% pool consumed = Critical or Out of Spec.
\Available Megabytes
• 50% of free memory available or more =Healthy
• 25% of free memory available = Monitor.
• 10% of free memory available = Warning
• Less than 100MB or 5% of free memory available = Critical or Out of Spec.
Processor
\%Processor Time (all instances)                                                                  
• Less than 60% consumed = Healthy
• 51% - 90% consumed = Monitor or Caution
91% - 100% consumed = Critical
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