dbcheck, dbfix, keybuild errors

[chuber]

Hi,

I have some problems with ARCserve version 9 SP4A and its database.
Running dbcheck on asobject reports errors, thus I ran dbfix which ended and said errors have been fixed. But if I ran dbcheck again the errors were still there. Thus I ran keybuild that also ended with status fixed. Still, dbcheck reports the same errors.
I think the errors have to do with a faulty tape drive that I had over the weekend, so that the jobs could not be completed correctly.
Now my questions:
1. If dbfix or keybuild don't work, what other options do I have?
2. If there is no other option, what info is in the asobject part of the database? Because, I would then reinitialize the asobject part and just recreate whatever is in it or maybe even restore it from last weeks tape. This leads to the question: can I restore only the asobject?

Thanks for any advice,
Conny

 

[davidmichel]

Run dchain first and then keybuild. See faq478-4386 for more info on the utilities.

 

[chuber]

Unfortunately by now I reinstalled ARCserve since it stopped working last Friday.
The jobs did not continue when they should have changed media. When manually inserting the next media, the tape debug showed "invalid job handle passed in !". I then reinitialized all database (to get the monthly backups running), but still all 4 jobs would not continue.
After reinistalling ARCserve, they ran fine.
Since I am sure the problem will sooner or later come back, I will remember your advise ...

Thanks,
Conny

 

[davidmichel]

Don't wait for there to be problem that shows up. Run utilities every couple of weeks or at least once a month. The more often they are run the quicker they will work.

They can always be scripted or put in a bat file and scheduled.

Best to run them before needed and prevent the problems.

 

[chuber]

I usually only run dbcheck and dbfix on a weekly basis ..
In wich order would you suggest to run the tools?
dbcheck -> dbfix -> dbdefrag -> dchain -> keybuild?
And two more questions: does the "-p"-switch speed it up a little? What about the purge? I only have it set to purge records older than 360 days, because I need one year history for restoring data; does that cause problems?
Database size is about 2 GB ...

Thanks a lot,
Conny

 

[davidmichel]

Weekly is good, and I also like running dbcheck because that way I know if there is a problem and if it is being corrected.

Side Note: In addition to errors there can also be inconsistancies listed in the dbcheck log which are also a sign of corruption.

Dchain and Keybuild should be all that is needed. After that the database should be corruption free and defragmented. In addition it will not leave over the files that dbdefrag does.

 

[chuber]

Hi,

I ran dbcheck, dchain and keybuild on asjob, asmedia and asobject ... just like you said. Now the ARCserve services are not coming up anymore. Whatever service I want to start I get the error: "Error 193: %1 is not a valid Win32 application."

Any idea?
Conny

 

[davidmichel]

I see you saw the other thread with the same problem. Off hand no idea what happened there. First off no matter what the utilities can only effect the Database engine. There is no way for them to cause any problems with the Job or Tape engines. So there is something else that caused problem.

A search produced only one possiblity, a virus.

 

[chuber]

Jepp, I saw the other thread. I am with you with the virus idea ... Strange though that it happened exactly after running the database tools. After I did the disaster recovery, I moved the database to another SQL-server. Seems saver to me.
Thanks,
Conny