Restoring from a Novell crash
i have a novel 3.12 box that was upgraded to 4.2; died yesterday.
i need to restore this data and get back up and running - the tools that i have are windows xp box, arcserve 6.1 for novell, the tapes and the DLT drive.
i am trying to see how i can approach this and restore all of the data on the tapes to a windows box.
is this possible or would i need to build out a novell server?
i need to restore this data and get back up and running - the tools that i have are windows xp box, arcserve 6.1 for novell, the tapes and the DLT drive.
i am trying to see how i can approach this and restore all of the data on the tapes to a windows box.
is this possible or would i need to build out a novell server?
You're not going to be able to restore to a WinBlows box, so let's cross that off the list of possibilities right away. Among other things, WinBlows doesn't support NWFS.
If you just recently upgraded your NetWare server from v3.12, which is nearly 20 years old, to v4.2, which is about 10 years old, congratulations, you've been doing an admirable job of proving the long-term ROI of NetWare. Don't you wish WinBlows could deliver service for that long? Shame you have to keep pouring money down the WinBlows rathole, what with the constant upgrades and insatiable appetite for hardware.
Now might be a good time to take a fraction of the $$$$ you've been lavishing on WinBlows and put them towards your NetWare environment.
So... how to go about it. Start with rebuilding the failed server. What exactly blew up? Can you get replacement parts? Since you've let your NetWare environment get a decade out-of-date, you probably won't be able to run that ancient version of NetWare on a fresh-from-the-factory server. Your best bet is to get the original server running again and restore to it.
Once you do, then I'd get modern hardware and a modern version of NetWare and migrate.
If you just recently upgraded your NetWare server from v3.12, which is nearly 20 years old, to v4.2, which is about 10 years old, congratulations, you've been doing an admirable job of proving the long-term ROI of NetWare. Don't you wish WinBlows could deliver service for that long? Shame you have to keep pouring money down the WinBlows rathole, what with the constant upgrades and insatiable appetite for hardware.
Now might be a good time to take a fraction of the $$$$ you've been lavishing on WinBlows and put them towards your NetWare environment.
So... how to go about it. Start with rebuilding the failed server. What exactly blew up? Can you get replacement parts? Since you've let your NetWare environment get a decade out-of-date, you probably won't be able to run that ancient version of NetWare on a fresh-from-the-factory server. Your best bet is to get the original server running again and restore to it.
Once you do, then I'd get modern hardware and a modern version of NetWare and migrate.
ASKER
PSI
well i "inherited" this problem a month ago and the main server a "Netware" server crashed. i discovered that there was no Raid solution implemented. The primary disk failed and the decision of upper management has moved to Microsoft and i tend to agree with them
so here is what i have, i have an XP box with Arcserve 2K running on it. i placed one of the backup tapes in and attempted to see the data; i ran a merge on the tape disk and was able to see the data as it scanned the tape.
i came across an article i found recommending that i initialize the DB and get the data off that way,
well i "inherited" this problem a month ago and the main server a "Netware" server crashed. i discovered that there was no Raid solution implemented. The primary disk failed and the decision of upper management has moved to Microsoft and i tend to agree with them
so here is what i have, i have an XP box with Arcserve 2K running on it. i placed one of the backup tapes in and attempted to see the data; i ran a merge on the tape disk and was able to see the data as it scanned the tape.
i came across an article i found recommending that i initialize the DB and get the data off that way,
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The issue with Compression is what I was getting at about not being able to restore to WinBlows. As I recall, it was on by default.
Now, given that it was a new v4.2 build, the data may not have actually been compressed on disk before the backup because not enough time may have elapsed to trigger the automatic compression.
Personally, I'd get the NetWare server running at least long enough to migrate the data. That guarantees the Data Compression issue won't bite. It is true that if it is a factor, all they've wasted is time.
Now, given that it was a new v4.2 build, the data may not have actually been compressed on disk before the backup because not enough time may have elapsed to trigger the automatic compression.
Personally, I'd get the NetWare server running at least long enough to migrate the data. That guarantees the Data Compression issue won't bite. It is true that if it is a factor, all they've wasted is time.
ASKER
hi guys and thank you for advice
i managed to get arcserve 2000 running on an XP box, attached a dlt tape drive and was able to catalog the tape.
i am able to restore some files however they are unable to be opened. for example, there is a pst file i attempt to open and outlook tells me that the file is not a pst and can not be opened. this occurs on all Microsoft items, word, excel, access and so on.
any advice on this? how would i know if there is compression?
i managed to get arcserve 2000 running on an XP box, attached a dlt tape drive and was able to catalog the tape.
i am able to restore some files however they are unable to be opened. for example, there is a pst file i attempt to open and outlook tells me that the file is not a pst and can not be opened. this occurs on all Microsoft items, word, excel, access and so on.
any advice on this? how would i know if there is compression?
ASKER
Hi guys
so here is what i have done thus far
installed arcserve 6.1 on an XP box and built out a 4.11 netware server. when i go to run arcserve i get the following message
arcserve.nlm must me loaded on the file server. i run astart6.ncf and that only brings up the innoculant.
any advice? help!
so here is what i have done thus far
installed arcserve 6.1 on an XP box and built out a 4.11 netware server. when i go to run arcserve i get the following message
arcserve.nlm must me loaded on the file server. i run astart6.ncf and that only brings up the innoculant.
any advice? help!
You need to install an Arcerve agent for Netware on the Novell file server if you want to be able to restore your files.
It's been a while ,but included in the AS disks should be an agent and options disk or folder.
Read the install docs to figure it out.
Plus you've got to use the Novell Client on the XP box to do the restore cause you gotta have IPX bound and used as the preferred protocol.
As for your crash,what happened exactly?
There are other methods of restore depending upon your issues.
It's been a while ,but included in the AS disks should be an agent and options disk or folder.
Read the install docs to figure it out.
Plus you've got to use the Novell Client on the XP box to do the restore cause you gotta have IPX bound and used as the preferred protocol.
As for your crash,what happened exactly?
There are other methods of restore depending upon your issues.
No RAiD?
They must not like there data very much.
They must not like there data very much.
http://supportconnectw.ca.com/public/storage/downloads/netware/6.x/asnw6x.asp
Here's the link to the agent.
Here's the link to the agent.
ASKER
a hard drive failed, the one that hosted the OS.
we ahve already shipped the drive to recovery but in the meantime, i recreated the server and attempting to restore the files.
right now, i can get the scsi contoller to be recognized by the netware server
we ahve already shipped the drive to recovery but in the meantime, i recreated the server and attempting to restore the files.
right now, i can get the scsi contoller to be recognized by the netware server
a hard drive failed, the one that hosted the OS.
You didn't by any chance have your data on a separate disk by any chance ,did you?
You didn't by any chance have your data on a separate disk by any chance ,did you?
John, don't mind us crotchety old Novell guys, we're just bitter because we're used to eating steak and the most successful restaurant chain in the world is McDonalds.
You didn't actually describe what you've done in detail. How did you install the Arcserve agent on the netware server? Do you have a real novell client on the Windows box, and is it able to connect to the netware box?
The issue with the compression is that if you back up files to tape while they're in compressed form, you must restore them back to a file system that supports that compression. This was standard knowledge ten or fifteen years ago, when a lot of today's admins were in elementary school, and storage was actually expensive.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that a company which recently upgraded to Netware 4.2 probably doesn't take its IT infrastructure quite seriously enough. That's gonna have to change when you move to Windows, it's a lot less tolerant of half-arsed maintenance.
Hopefully you'll have an opportunity to impress upon management that saving money by failing to keep IT infrastructure up-to-date is an extremely poor idea, regardless of OS platform.
You didn't actually describe what you've done in detail. How did you install the Arcserve agent on the netware server? Do you have a real novell client on the Windows box, and is it able to connect to the netware box?
The issue with the compression is that if you back up files to tape while they're in compressed form, you must restore them back to a file system that supports that compression. This was standard knowledge ten or fifteen years ago, when a lot of today's admins were in elementary school, and storage was actually expensive.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that a company which recently upgraded to Netware 4.2 probably doesn't take its IT infrastructure quite seriously enough. That's gonna have to change when you move to Windows, it's a lot less tolerant of half-arsed maintenance.
Hopefully you'll have an opportunity to impress upon management that saving money by failing to keep IT infrastructure up-to-date is an extremely poor idea, regardless of OS platform.
There's no such thing as a novell server.
Novell is a company.
It makes a number of products, including eDirectory, SUSE Linux, GroupWise and NetWare.
You have a NetWare Server.
You didn't say microsoft box, so why would you say novell server?
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