How do I avoid trouble with Arcserve on Windows NT?

1. Always keep at least a gigabyte of space free on the Arcserve drive. If the drive hosting Arcserve runs out of space, the Arcserve database will get corrupted, and you will have to repair the database before Arcserve will work properly again.

2. Never change the SCSI id of a device used by Arcserve. If you change a tape drive or library SCSI id, Arcserve will become confused and not work properly.

3. Do not replace a tape backup device such as a drive or library on Arcserve unless the replacement device is identical with respect to the firmware, SCSI id, SCSI bus connections, etc. Arcserve will become confused and not work properly.

4. Never allow an Arcserve service to start when a previously configured SCSI tape device is powered off or detached from the system. Arcserve will become confused and not work properly.

5. Do not attempt to connect tape devices such as libraries and auto-changers to Arcserve without first reading the manual for the device. Many devices must be configured in a very specific manner with respect to SCSI cabling and SCSI ids.

6. Be aware that there are three basic types of SCSI:

a. single-ended (SE), such as the Adaptec 2940 family
b. high-voltage differential (HVD), such as the Adaptec 2944 family
c. low-voltage differential (LVD/SE), such as the Adaptec 29160.

The SCSI adapter and the tape device must match. Connecting a single-ended tape drive to a high-voltage differential adapter can ruin both devices.


7. Do not ignore rules for SCSI bus lengths; the bus length is the sum of all devices, connectors and cables on a SCSI host bus adapter (HBA). Some HBAs have multiple buses.

a. SE SCSI buses should not be longer than 1.5 meters for ULTRA SCSI; no longer than 3 meters for FAST SCSI; and no longer than 6 meters for SLOW SCSI
.
b. HVD SCSI buses should be no longer than 25 meters.

c. LVD SCSI buses should be no longer than 12 meters.

8. LVD SCSI buses support SE devices, but the LVD bus will run in degraded mode. This is not recommended.

9. LVD requires specific cables and terminators. Do not mix and match.

10. SCSI port errors are a good indicator of a bad SCSI driver version, bent or missing SCSI pins, bad termination, a faulty terminator, a bad SCSI adapter, a bad tape device. Troubleshoot by process of elimination.

11. Patching Arcserve is necessary, and it must be done in a specific way. See the patching FAQ on Tek-Tips.

12. Installing Arcserve is non-trivial. Follow the FAQ on Tek-Tips.

13. Installing the Exchange Agent without following the techdoc from CA will result in trouble.

14. Follow these techdocs to be successful with Arcserve:

a. http://support.ca.com/products/nt/arcserve-nt-menu.html
b. http://support.ca.com/products/as2000/as2000-menu.html

15. Always make sure you are patched û follow the FAQ on Tek-Tips, and use these patch references:

a. http://support.ca.com/Download/patches/arcserveitnt.html
b. http://support.ca.com/Download/patches/arcserve2000.html

16. Push Agent backup troubleshooting:
a. Run the backup WITHOUT the push agent and check the results
b. Use the Tek-Tips FAQ for slow backup troubleshooting

17. Equipment used with Arcserve must be on the certified device list:

a. http://support.ca.com/techbases/as2000/arc2000.html

18. The SAN option has its OWN certified device list:
a. http://support.ca.com/techbases/as2000/san_option.html

19. Do not delete the Arcserve$ share. Do not change the Arcserve$ share permissions without researching the requirements for this share.

20. A job at 99% is merging the catalog files from the current session into the Arcserve database. Check the running process list in task manager and you will see MERGECAT.EXE. This merge can take from a few minutes to hours, depending on the size of the catalog being merged and the size of the Arcserve database. If the Arcserve DB is corrupted, this merge can hang. If you end the job before the merge completes, you will be unable to restore files from the most recent backup without first MERGING the tape.