Minimum size needed by the Netvault database?

Question

We thought we had hard drives big enough for our backups, but now I'm hearing that the Netvault database itself is going to be huge. 
 We are wanting to back up just a single client. It's about 250 GB in size, and it's approximately 2 million files/directories. We only want 5 backups, which should fit on a 2 TB drive. 
 But if I'm reading the documentation correctly, it says that I would need approximately 1.5 TB alone just for the database -- before we even backup anything. 
 The documentation says that if you disable the search index, most of the database size will be eliminated. I doubt we need a search index. We just want to backup the client. 
 Is all of this true?

Tomas.Dominguez · Answer

Hi jasonfreeman 
 There are two techniques for calculating a NetV ault database size. The first is a general &ldquo;rule of thumb&rdquo; approach. This is the simplest way to define the amount of storage a NetVault database will require. The &ldquo;rule of thumb&rdquo; approach is based on numbers gained from internal and external feedback and experience. 
 
 - A typical large (400 to 1000 clients) NetVault server environment will require 1TB of storage for the NetVault database. 
 
 - A typical small (1 to 400 clients) NetVault server environment will require 500GB of storage for the NetVault database. 
 
 When in doubt, it is best to provide 1TB or more of storage for NetVault database. For some installations this may be an excessive amount of storage, but it will help to ensure and trouble free product experience and prov ide room for unexpected growth. 
 If the NetVault server is virtual, then it is possible to create a smaller volume and extend this when required. In this scenario, always us e thick-provisioning (VMware) or fixed VHDs (Microsoft Hyper-V). 
 
 The second sizing technique is to calculate the amount of storage a NetVault database will need using known variables. By default, backups have an infinite life. Most systems cannot handle this amount of storage requirement, so the NetVault backup administrator must ensure that a suitable retirement is set for each backup. 
 
 Database size calculation variables:

- Approximate number of files and directories backed up per machine: NFD 
 
 Each file or directory that is included in a backup requires an average number of bytes for an index entry in the NetVault database. This average is based on a formula of 71 bytes plus the average 
 number of characters contained in the filenames of the files that make up a target file system. 
 
 - Approximate number of generations retained: NGR 
 
 Each generation is a separate instance of a file or directory backup. For example, if the same file is backed up seven times using the default backup settings, there are 
 seven generations of the file stored on the media and indexed in the NetVault database. 
 
 - Number of Machines backed up : NMB 
 
 - Average filename length : AFL 
 
 Database size calculation formula: 
 NFD x NGR x NMB x (71 bytes + AFL )