Configure bandwidth rate limits to control how much bandwidth Barracuda Backup has access to for offsite data transfer during certain times and days. Rate limits are useful to reduce the amount of bandwidth Barracuda Backup consumes during offsite data replication during peak usage times or working hours.
While in most cases both backup and offsite replication are completed each day/night, the initial backup and offsite data transfer can take several days, if not longer, to complete. After the initial offsite transfer is complete, Barracuda Backup only replicates changes detected during each backup.
When configuring rate limits, the default rate limit should be configured as the bandwidth speed that Barracuda Backup is to use most of the time to transfer data. The alternate rate limit is usually used to reduce bandwidth consumption during a brief window. When the alternate rate limit window ends, Barracuda Backup returns to using the default rate limit.
Example Scenario
Following is a common scenario:
- I want to replicate data offsite using all of my available bandwidth after hours when all of the office personnel have left the office.
- During the daytime, between the hours of 8AM and 5PM Monday through Friday, I want to limit the amount of bandwidth that Barracuda Backup can use so that I do not disrupt office productivity. I will limit the amount of usable bandwidth to 10Mbps.
In this scenario, you configure the rate limit as follows:
To configure a bandwidth rate limit, go to the Backup > Replication page and click the Settings icon. On the Replication Target Settings page, configure the rate limit under the Rate Limit section. For both the default and alternate rate limit there are three available options:
- Full Speed – Uses 100% of available bandwidth
- Smart Mode – Uses a percentage of the available bandwidth; configure by dragging the Percent of Bandwidth bar; click Test bandwidth first before setting the percentage
- Custom – Manually specify the bandwidth rate in Kilobits, Megabits, or Gigabits.