Organization: College of Business, U of Maryland
X-Mailer:     Pegasus Mail v2.3 (R3).
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.novell
Date:         Tue, 8 Sep 1992 09:50:13 EST
Reply-To:     jbeck@bmgtmail.umd.edu
From:         John Beck <JBECK@BMGTMAIL.UMD.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Full Server Restore Process/Method

We have done such a task with a Tecmar Datavault tape drive and
Tecmar's QT software.  The tape drive is in a workstation, not the
server.  I don't know that a server based system would be any
different.

STep 1:
After server crashes, get it fixed.

Step 2:
From your backup diskettes or original diskettes, reinstall
the server just enough to get it on the network.  When you do your
restore from the tape drive, all of this will be overwritten anyway.
Set your volumes up the way they were before, or at least provide the
same volume names with sufficient space on each to hold the data that
used to be on them.

Step 3:
    Restore the server from your tape backup device.

If your tape drive and software are truly Novell compatible, all
bindery and trustee information will be restored as well as the files
themselves.

Complication one: If you're are using some NON-DOS name space, make
sure that your tape backup software will support it.  For example,
on my Tecmar tape drive, I cannot backup mac files stored on my
Novell volume because my software doesn't understand the Mac file
structure (2 forks, etc.). The same would probably apply to OS/2 and
NFS.

Complication 2:
If you're changing your configuration, such as switching network
boards, after restoring the files you'll have to make sure that you
load the appropriate NLM driver and modify your autoexec.ncf
file.


Success story:

We upgraded our server from a 386 to a 486 machine.  We did a full
backup onto our tape drive.  Then we installed Netware on the new
server and created two partitions (same names as before but with
more disk space). No extra NLMs were loaded and nothing was
done to trustee and accounts rights.  We then restored the two
volumes from our tape drive and then rebooted our server.  It came up
and was in production just seconds after it came up.











> I am interested in what sequence everyone uses for a FULL netware V3.11
> restore, say for instance you had a large machine crash/hardware fault.
>
> I currently use arcserve V4.0 and maybe I am missing some documentation but
> nowhere in the doc's do I find a complete explanation of the process.
>
> Possibly it is worth while discussing a general restore process
 method/sequence
> that can be abbreviated and placed in the FAQ list.
>
> This is what I think should happen. Any comments would be appreciated. I would
> like to know what sequence other people use for restoring backup software and
> the steps used for restoring volumes, including any server reboots and at what
> stage.
>
>
>     o   Install any new hardware replacements.
>
>         Useful things to have handy at this time:
>
>             o A backup of any ESIA configuration disks
>
>             o A PC configuration file containing a complete
>               breakdown of what hardware is in the PC along
>               with any notes made at the time of original
>               card/server installation.
>
>     o   Low-Level Format all hard disks using the tools supplied by
>         the hard disk controller manufacturer.
>
>         Some controllers have a problem using hard disks preformatted
>         by another controller. The time to perform this stage can be
>         very lengthy. (** I am very interested in comments about this
>         process, especially for SCSI drives. Is it ALWAYS required. **)
>
>     o   Create a DOS partition to hold SERVER.EXE.
>
>         Useful things to have handy at this time:
>
>             o A copy of your server CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT
>
>             o Backup of DOS partition.
>
>     o   Perform the Netware V3.11 installation using a backup of the
>         original installation disks to such a stage that your backup
>         software will function.
>
>         Useful things to have handy at this time:
>
>             o A copy of your server STARTUP.NCF & AUTOEXEC.NCF
>               so you can see which commands to type manually
>               during initial server start-up and it can also act
>               as a check list on software to verify for a successful
>               restore. Do you remember what slot your hard disk
>               controller sits.
>
>             o Original Netware disk controller drivers.
>
>     o   Down the server and bring it up again.
>
>     o   Perform the installation process for your backup software if
>         it exists on the server.
>
>     o   You now have a default backup system. As several backup systems
>         keep a quick restore databases which log the contents of files
>         on tape you now need to selectively restore this from your last
>         image backup.
>
>     o   Restore the last image of the SYS volume and then reboot the
>         server.
>
>     o   Restore all other volume images and reboot the server.
>
>     o   Apply any incremental backups and reboot the server.
>
>     o   Perform any application restore process.
>
>     o   Write down in a server log file why the server failed and
>         what you did to recover.
>
>
>
> Ian.
>
> ---
> Ian Dingwall                       SINet  : M_SIF::DINGWALL
> Schlumberger Technologies,         DOMAIN : dingwall@sif.sinet.slb.com
> Instruments Division,              Phone  : (44) (0) 252 376666 Ex 4479
> 124 Victoria Road, Farnborough,    Fax    : (44) (0) 252 543854
> Hants, Great Britain.              Telex  : USA 1565230002
>           John Beck
Director of Computing Services
      College of Business
    jbeck@bmgtmail.umd.edu
        (301) 405-2271
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU