Source:SEP sesam Requirements

PostgreSQL/64-bit

• On 64-bit Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris PostgreSQL is used as the SEP sesam database.
• When SEP sesam is installed on MS Windows, PostgreSQL is installed for the SEP sesam database. The SQLite database was automatically installed up to version 4.4.3 Beefalo V2. In version 5.0.0 Jaglion, you can choose to install a PostgreSQL database that is included in the SEP sesam installer (or use the SQLite database that does not require a server to be set up and is used with SEP sesam by default). For details, see Installation on Microsoft Windows.
• When SEP sesam is installed on a 64-bit Unix operating system, PostgreSQL has to be installed before the SEP sesam Server to enable the DB instance to be set up for use.

Hardware Requirements

The following are the hardware requirements for the SEP sesam Server, RDS or SEP sesam Client. They are similar for both servers, SEP sesam Server and RDS, except for the required space on the file system for the SEP sesam database, which is not necessary for RDS.

• The hardware requirements for the SEP sesam components represent the common requirements. Additional amount of RAM/CPU may be required for bigger Si3 data stores. For details, see Si3 Deduplication Hardware Requirements.

• (Windows only) Make sure that you are using CPUs with supported AVX versions (AVX, AVX2, or AVX-512) and FMA3 (Fused Multiply-Add 3-operand Form) or FMA4 (Fused Multiply-Add 4-operand Form) to prevent the Sesam Transfer Protocol Server (STPD) from automatically disabling the HTTPS port. This happens when the CPU instructions are missing due to unsupported AVX. Consequently, the TLS key and certificate cannot be created. For a list of supported AVX versions, see Advanced Vector Extensions.

Requirements	SEP sesam Server Standard edition	SEP sesam Advanced Server edition	SEP sesam Premium Server edition	SEP sesam Enterprise Server	SEP sesam Client
Memory (without Si3 deduplication)	8 GB RAM	Minimum 16 GB RAM	32 GB RAM	Minimum 64 GB RAM	2 GB (recommended 4 GB)
Memory (with Si3 deduplication)	Minimum 32 GB RAM	Minimum 32 GB RAM	64 GB RAM	Minimum 128 GB RAM	Minimum 8 GB
Core (without Si3 deduplication)	1x CPU with 4 cores (≥ 2,4 GHz)	1x CPU with 8 cores (≥ 2,4 GHz)	Minimum 1x CPU with 8 cores (≥ 2,4 GHz)	Minimum 2x CPUs with 4 cores (≥ 2,4 GHz)	-
Core (with Si3 deduplication)	1x CPU with 6 cores (≥ 2,6 GHz)	2x CPUs with 8 cores (≥ 2,6 GHz)	2x CPUs with minimum 8 cores (≥ 2,6 GHz)	Minimum 2x CPUs with 8 cores (≥ 2,6 GHz)	-
Minimum hard disk space for SEP sesam metadata	200 GB	300 GB	500 GB	500 GB	4 GB (for all client data)
No. of backup clients	Up to 15	Recommended up to 50	Recommended up to 150	Recommended for more than 150	-

Si3 Deduplication Hardware Requirements

• For the minimum Si3 hardware requirements that apply to the SEP sesam Si3 deduplication server, see the above requirements list. Keep in mind that these requirements represent the demand for deduplication only. In addition, the amount of memory for the operating system and other services should be taken into account.

• For the minimum Si3/Si3-NG hardware requirements that apply to the SEP sesam Si3/Si3-NG deduplication server, see Hardware Requirements.

• For details on the required Java version, see Java Compatibility Matrix. Si3/Si3-NG is not mandatory, so there is no dependency rule for it in the RPM/DEB packages.

• When estimating the maximum size of a deduplication store, you have to ensure that there is enough space available for dedup trash, otherwise the deduplication store will run out of space. You should calculate the required disk space based on a representative sample of your full backup and add the additional storage space equal to approximately 50% of the representative full backup.

Disk attachment and protocols

Si3/Si3-NG supports all types of direct-attached disk storage, such as serial attached SCSI (SAS), Serial ATA (SATA), and Fibre Channel (FC)/LUN.

Performance tip

Applies to Windows only: SEP AG recommends using the High performance power plan to increase the performance of your backup. Note that Windows sets all computers to the Balanced power plan by default and you must manually switch to the High Performance power plan. This way, your Windows computer will use more power, but the systems with Si3 will always operate at the highest performance level.

• From the Start menu, go to Control Panel -> System and Security -> Power Options and change the setting to High performance.

Restrictions

• Si3 NG deduplication store is not supported for NSS and MooseFS volumes.
• To avoid problems resulting from the combination of excessively large Si3 deduplication stores and inefficient hardware, the maximum initial Si3/Si3-NG deduplication store size is limited to 40 TB. If you would need to increase this limit, contact SEP support.
This limitation applies to the creation of a new Si3/Si3-NG deduplication store in the GUI.

Note

It is recommended to run Si3 deduplication (SEP sesam Server or RDS) on the physical host. It is also possible to run it on a virtual machine. In this case, take into account that deduplication consumes a lot of server resources for reading, processing and writing the deduplicated data, as well as for some other deduplication tasks such as housekeeping and various checks. These tasks require a large amount of IO and a large amount of memory. Si3 performance can be affected by other virtual machines running on the same host. Therefore, if you are running Si3 on a VM, you should be aware of possible bottlenecks and shortcomings.

Required additional amount of RAM and CPU cores

Memory requirements are dependent on the number of concurrent streams and expected workload. The following tables show the recommended minimum additional amount of RAM and CPU cores for a Si3/Si3-NG data store to ensure good performance. The TB value corresponds to the capacity of the Si3/Si3-NG data store.

	Note
	These requirements relate solely to the need for deduplication. In addition, you should consider the amount of memory for the operating system and other services.

Si3/Si3-NG data store capacity (check initial size limit)	RAM
<20 TB	at least 16 GiB
20-40 TB	at least 32 GiB

The following table shows the number of CPU cores required for a Si3/Si3-NG data store. The TB value is the amount of data backed up (before deduplication)!

Backed up data (before dedup)	CPU cores Note
10 TB	4
20 TB	4
40 TB	8

Note

This is the minimum amount to ensure good performance. Depending on the number of concurrent streams, more cores may be needed.

Java Compatibility Matrix

SEP sesam version	Java version
5.1.0 Apollon [V2]	Java 17 Note1, Java 11, OpenJDK 11 LTS
5.0.0 Jaglion V2	Java 17 Note1, Java 11, OpenJDK 11 LTS, Java 8 ≥ patch level 111 (both Windows and Linux) Note2 Note3
5.0.0 Jaglion	Java 11, OpenJDK 11 LTS, Java 8 ≥ patch level 111 (both Windows and Linux) Note3
4.4.3 Beefalo V2	Java 11, OpenJDK 11 LTS, Java 8 ≥ patch level 111 (both Windows and Linux)

Note¹

• On Windows, SEP sesam recommends Java 17.
• On Linux, SEP sesam versions ≥ 5.0.0.9 Jaglion V2 and 5.1.0 Apollon support Java 17 only on demand, if the use of Java 17 from the command line has been enabled with sm_setup set_java_path -f <java_17_installation_path>.

Note²

5.0.0.9 Jaglion V2 is the last version of SEP sesam that supports Java 1.8.

Note³

Java 1.8 (≥ 1.8.0_111) is only accepted if it is already installed and the computer does not have a 4K display.