Since we released Direct-to-Cloud, your most frequent request has been for a means to limit the bandwidth of the agent.  

Agent 2.27 now supports a new configuration file option NETWORK_MBPS=xx.x. 

Adding this setting to the agent configuration file (aristos.cfg) will limit the total network upload speed of the agent during backups.  Fractional values in megabits per second are supported.  (i.e. NETWORK_MBPS=1.5 etc.)

Note: This article explains how to manage agent throttling of Direct-to-Cloud vault traffic.

For instructions on how to manage throttling the replication traffic between an appliance and a vault, see  Replication throttling between an appliance and a vault

Network bandwidth throttling

Agent 2.27 and newer features the capability to set a maximum outbound bandwidth limit and perform throttling of network upload usage.  This is useful for Direct-to-Cloud deployments, to ensure that backup traffic does not negatively impact user experience and to prevent the agent from overwhelming the Internet connection.

Agent 2.x

To configure network bandwidth limits for Agent 2.x, modify the aristos.cfg file in the agent installation directory and add the following option:

NETWORK_MBPS=<limit> where <limit> is a whole or fractional numeric value expressed in Megabits per Second (i.e. NETWORK_MBPS=1.5 or NETWORK_MBPS=5, etc.)

Agent 3.x

To configure network bandwidth limits for Agent 3.x, modify the config.json file in the agent installation directory and add the following:

“send_mbps_per_second” : “<limit>” where <limit> is a whole or fractional numeric value expressed in Megabits per Second (i.e. NETWORK_MBPS=1.5 or NETWORK_MBPS=5, etc.)

Optionally, you may specify a separate network bandwidth setting for full backups.  If no bandwidth setting is specified for full backups, they will default to the settings applied to Incremental backups above:

“send_mbps_per_second_for_full” : “<limit>” where <limit> is a whole or fractional numeric value expressed in Megabits per Second (i.e. NETWORK_MBPS=1.5 or NETWORK_MBPS=5, etc.)

Agent 3.x Settings Format

Note that Agent 3.x uses a new configuration file format from previous agent releases.  Where Agent 2.x and earlier utilized a flat text file containing key names and values, Agent 3.x uses a JSON formatted structure that requires proper syntax to be present when modifying settings.

JSON is a structured format containing one or more keys with associated values.  JSON objects contain sets of key/value pairs bracketed within ‘{‘ and ‘}’ characters to denote the beginning and end of the content.  Keys and values are separated by ‘:’ and each set is separated by a comma.  The value of a key may be another JSON object, allowing for nesting of complex values and objects within the JSON.

As an example, the network bandwidth settings described above would be represented as:

{

    “send_mbps_per_second” : “1.5”,

    “send_mbps_per_second_for_full” : “5”

}

Disk IO Throttling

Agent 2.23 and newer features the ability to limit the maximum Disk IO operations on a per-volume basis during backup operations. 

Limiting Disk IO is primarily useful in preventing the agent from impacting user performance during backups, particularly on virtual instances where physical disk storage is shared among multiple virtual systems. For more details on how to use Disk IO throttling, see Agent Simple Disk I/O Throttling.

Note: The <limit> defined below is expressed as a whole number integer in MB/sec (MegaBytes per Second).  Limits are per-disk-volume, and data is read in parallel across all protected volumes on the system during a backup.

Note that fractional values are not allowed.  Entering a fractional value will cause the setting to be entirely ignored by the agent.

Agent 2.x

To configure Disk IO throttling for Agent 2.x, add the following two values to the aristos.cfg file in the agent installation directory:

MAX_READ_MB_PER_VOLUME=<limit>
and
MAX_READ_MB_PER_VOLUME_FOR_FULL=<limit>

Agent 3.x

To configure Agent 3.x Disk IO throttling, add the following keys to the config.json file in the agent directory:

“max_read_megabytes_per_second_per_volume” : “<limit>
and
“max_read_megabytes_per_second_per_volume_for_full” : “<limit> 

CPU Priority

Agent 3.0.0 and newer support setting the CPU priority under which the agent will execute on the protected system. 

Note:  We do not recommend adjusting this setting unless you are directed to do so by Axcient Support.

To configure this option, edit config.json in the agent installation directory and set the following key:

“cpu_priority” : “<priority>”

<priority> may be one of: “High”, “AboveNormal”, “Normal”, “BelowNormal” , or “Idle”

The default Agent CPU priority value is “BelowNormal”

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