A first time Externalization Job is an extensive job that can take from hours, days or even weeks to complete. While Quest Support and cannot estimate how much time will an Externalization Process takes to complete, there are some things that can be reviewed to ensure the process takes the full potential of the resources available in your environment.

A first time Externalization Job is an extensive job that can take from hours, days or even weeks to complete. While Quest Support and cannot estimate how much time will an Externalization Process takes to complete, there are some things that can be reviewed to ensure the process takes the full potential of the resources available in your environment.

Brief Overview on Best Practices for Externalization Job

Here are some recommendations to follow for optimal performance, reference below.

Estimate the Time for Externalization on StoragePoint's own Job

It is important to have an accurate estimate as to how much time it will take for STP to externalize your BLOBs in the Content Database. This way you can schedule better and have a more accurate estimation on job completion. Please note that this, is not an exact estimate on the process, but just a rough estimate

Distance between Servers for Timer Jobs and BLOB Offloading

The distance between the servers can affect also the speed at which the Externalization happens. You can run the externalization job on a Web Front End were StoragePoint is actually installed, that means, a server that has the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Web App so the timer job runs on shorter notice and performance can improve

Networking Considerations

Networks with a lot of traffic can also cause some delays while attempting to externalize. We recommend running Bulk Externalizations after work hours or when there is not a lot of traffic on the network.

The complexity of the SharePoint Sites

Even when some Sites will have relatively small files to be offloaded from the Content Databases, complex Site Hierarchy Structures can delay the process. While there is nothing that can be done to improve this factor, this can help build a more realistic expectation of the time it will take to process.

Increasing Amount of Threads for Externalization Job

Increasing the threads for the job can significantly improve the time it takes to externalize BLOBs. Please note that is not recommended to go over the maximum threads on the server, and also not to increase it to a number that can cause the Web Front End to stop responding to other SharePoint Processes.

For more information on this, please review the Reference Guide