AS2000 Database Empty for Restore - huh?

[speshalyst]

Hi. I'm an old hand at Arcserve but this has got me baffled. Specs:

ARCServe 2000 SP3 (Build 1086)
IBM xSeries 255, Xeon MP 1.4GHz/400MHz, 512KB, 512MB
Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP3
IBM 3600-R20 LTO Library w/ 2 x Ultrium TD1

This is a brand new installation.

I'm experiencing a bizarre problem with the database. I can back up my server with no problems with everything being echoed to the job log and activity logs with no errors. But when I try to do a restore either by Tree or by Session, the database is completely empty. If I expand the tree view against the C: drive the plus sign disappears with the message that there are no items to display. When I change to session view, I see the tape I just used, but expanding these views again shows no items to display. I've done a scan of the tape with logging set to full and the job log shows every file I just backed up with no problems. Yet the database itself is totally empty. Can anyone help? So it Shall be Written!
So it Shall be Done!!

 

[kquaid]

Have you tried to Merge the tape into the database?

 

[speshalyst]

HI....

I BELEIVE THERE IS SOME PROBLEM WITH THIS FORUM....

I DID NOT INITIate this thread..

who do i need to contact for technical issues with this FORUM

Thanx
Speshalyst So it Shall be Written!
So it Shall be Done!!

 

[BillHicks]

I did do a scan and then a merge and still the database is empty. The only new twist to this installation for me is that its on WIndows 2000 Advanced Server. I've installed AS2K many times on NT and 2000 before with no problems. Does anyone else run Arcserve 2000 on Windows 2000 Advanced server?

(btw - I started up this thread. Dunno why it picked up the wrong handle.)

 

[bluechips]

I've been having the same problem and I emailed e-support at CA. Here's what they gave me:

Stop the database engine service and go to X:\..\arcserve\database folder.
Delete R*.* files and delete the CAT files from X:\..\arcserve\temp folder.
Restart the database engine service and merge the tape. Check for your files within the listed sessions.

Problem for me: this didn't work. Maybe it will work for you. (I've notified CA and am waiting for their next response.)

 

[Cyklops]

Did you mark 'backup the ARCserve database' in the job options ??
If so the database is backed up in a separate session and not in the regular files backup

regards

 

[poochie]

Hi Mate! Can you see details of last or any job you backed up in the Activity Log?

 

[BillHicks]

Bluechips - followed the instructions C.A. gave you and they didn't work for me either. This is driving me bats. The Activity Log shows all the output from the job - everything looks fine. Job successfull..etc. From the Database screen and clicking on the Media Records View I can see my last tape and the summary shows there's 6 sessions on there, the volume names and the amount backed up. When you try to expand each session with the + sign - you get the same 'There are no items to show in this view' message.

 

[poochie]

Can you please try the following:
Put the Media last used for the Jobs you are looking for in the Tape Drive>Look in the Activity Log for Sessions backed up to this particular Media.
From the Arcserve File Menu Select>Manager>Restore
at the Drop Down please select Restore by Backup Media>Select the name of this media>
Uncheck all Sessions and put in the any one of the Sessions you have seen in the Actvity Log>Select the Destination tab and restore to another location (Crreate a new folder and point to here)>Run this job and see what happens.....Let me know of the outcome

 

[powersaj]

You could try checking the astpsdat files for corruption:

from cmd prompt get to the arcserve directory then go for the following:

dbcheck -a -L arcserve;admin;secret astpsdat
and/or
dbfix -a -L arcserve;admin;secret astpsdat

This will take longer the bigger your files are, you may get error 10 or error -2005 if you try and run them. Error 10 says database engine is not running, which it must be for the fix, error -2005 points to other problems which should be resolved by killing rds.exe process and deleting all r* files in the database folder. Restart database engine and then you should be able to run the check or fix as above.

Most of this I gleaned from the CA tech document below.

http://support.ca.com/techbases/as2000/as2k-1521.html

Cheers, Andy.

 

[wamason]

BillHicks,

Poochie make a good suggestion by eliminating the database and doing the restore straight from the tape. It is a strong possibility that your database is corrupted. You could use the link posted by powersaj above and initialize the astpsdat database. Merge the tape and then look for the details in a restore session. Let us know how you make out.

 

[amacqueen]

Problem solved!!

Here's what I've done based on the previous posts:-

Restored by Session - as I couldn't drill down, I highlighted the full Session tab and pointed at another drive. All data restored successfully to target directory. Still nothing in the database.

Database Corruption - After banging my head repeatedly against the keyboard for 20 minutes I finally got the DB Check/Fixes to run. It didnt occur to me that you literally had to use 'arcserve';'admin';'secret' as the paramaters. I thought you'd have to change it your reflect your own installation. i.e. 'backupserver';'myadmin';'mypassword'. Doh! Anyway, both DB Check and DB Fix reported no errors.

Velocis.ini file - As per the link above, I stopped the DB Engine, changed the ASyncRead value to 0, restarted and Merge'd and bang! - session info!!! Woo-hoo.

Once that fix was applied, I saw my first [CAT] entries in the Activity Log - might be worth remembering if you come across anyone with similar problems.

Thanks very much for all the replies. Your help has been greatly appreciated.