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Recommended instance sizes and volume types for N2W Servers

Dror Zion
Updated

Summary

This document provides guidance on the proper sizing and configuration of your N2W server on AWS.

 

Description

EC2 Instance sizing guidelines

Recommended instance sizes for N2W Servers:

  • Up to 200 instances   -  T3.medium
  • Up to 500 instances   -  M5.large, C5.large, R5.large, C6i.large, R6i.large, M6i.large, C7i.large, M7i.large
  • Up to 1000 instances  - M5.xlarge, C5.xlarge, R5.xlarge,  C6i.xlarge,  R6i.xlarge, M6i.xlarge,C7i.xlarge, M7i.xlarge
  • Up to 2000 instances - M5.2xlarge, C5.2xlarge, R5.2xlarge,  C6i.2xlarge,  R6i.2xlarge, M6i.2xlarge, C7i.2xlarge, M7i.2xlarge
  • Up to 4000 instances - M5.4xlarge, C5.4xlarge, R5.4xlarge,  C6i.4xlarge,  R6i.4xlarge, M6i.4xlarge, C7i.4xlarge, M7i.4xlarge
  • Over 4000 instances - please move additional instances to a new N2W Server

Important: when using the Copy to S3 feature, please upgrade to the next available instance size, but no smaller than "large" - this feature can be very memory intensive.

 

Additional recommendations:

  • Usage of T3 is not recommended for environments with over 200 protected instances or intensive workload.
  • N2W is more IO-intensive than CPU-intensive, therefore, improving IO performance will usually gain better results than improving CPU performance.
  • When using burstable instances (T3 type), it is recommended to use unlimited mode:
    https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/burstable-performance-instances-unlimited-mode.html
  • R5 instances are much more cost-effective per GB and have more memory than other types of the same size, if the main sizing issue you have is memory usage, then it is recommended to switch to R Family in the same size instead of increasing the size.
  • It is recommended to upgrade instance type to newer version of the same type, for example using R6i instead of R5. newer hardware usually has better performance for the same price. 

 

Please note:

  • R6i/C6i/M6i families are only supported from N2W v4.1
  • C7i/M7i families are only supported from N2W v4.2

 

Recovery:

  • It is highly recommended to conduct recovery drills to ensure that the instance size can effectively manage real-life recovery scenarios.

The recommendations are based on the following assumptions:

  1. Instances have 3 volumes on average.
  2. No more than 20% of instances have Agents performing VSS/scripts.
  3. No more than 20% of instances are being backed up simultaneously (within 60 minutes from each other).

Exceeding these assumptions may require larger instance sizes.

In addition, performing a large number of restores in parallel might also require a larger instance size.

To resize the instance, please follow this guide:

 

EBS volumes sizing

Recommendation for the volumes sizing:

  • GP2 is not supported in versions 3.2.1 and above. 
    Please note: GP3 is 20% cheaper and provides 3000 IOPS (compared to only 100 IOPS in GP2).
  • If GP3 is not available, you can switch to IO1 or IO2 with a minimum of 1000 IOPS.
  • For cpmdata volume
    1.  
      • For over 200 instances/targets or 600 volumes, you may need to raise IOPS further
        we recommend adding another 500 IOPS per each 100 instances or 300 volumes above this limit.

Please note:

  • We added support for IO2 in v3.2.0
  • We added support for GP3 in v3.2.1

For best results, it's recommended to switch to instance types that are EBS-optimized and review the instance baseline IOPS.  more details available here: 
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ebs-optimized.html

You can switch the volume's type with zero downtime by following this guide: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/console-modify.html

 

Since achieving more IOPS might require resizing the volume, please follow this guide to allow OS to see the new size correctly: Resizing the N2W cpmdata volume

Note: Please make sure to first check AWS documentation for maximum IOPS per GB BEFORE resizing the volume

Note: Using "gp2" volumes may cause severe performance issues, including failing backups/DR and unexpected restarts of the N2W Agent/Server.

 

If you were looking for Azure VM Size recommendations, see the following KB article -Recommended VM Types for an N2W Server in Azure

 

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