Hard Drive failed (Octel 250)

[BayAreaPhoneTech]

Not sure what version they're running since I can't get the thing to stop rebooting.

My question is if there's any way to recover the data from the hard drive.

The system will not stop rebooting. I've tried to replace the CCF card but it didn't work. I also tried to put in a new hard drive in the 1 slot to see if it would auto-recognize it so that I could try and transfer the data.

Nothing I've done so far is keeping this thing from rebooting.

Note: This system was brought down due to a power outage. It was not brought down "gracefully."

Anything you guys can do to shed some light on this would be great. I'm just trying to find a solution that keeps me from having to start from scratch on this VM system.

Thanks in advance.

 

[KenMeans]

have you tried skipping the testing phase by doing a conrl c ?

Also what does the error say when it is rebooting?

When the system starts the dram walking do a control c and then a b to boot. if it stops at the enter boot command enter an A

Also how many drives are in the system ?

Ken Means

http://www.tel-is.com

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

 

[BayAreaPhoneTech]

There's only one drive.

Cntrl+C then boot only takes it back to the same thing where it won't stop re-booting.

 

[ChuckRCT]

Are there any errors as it is booting up? (look at the tests as it is booting up to see if anything has Failed)

Also are there any alarms on the Alarm panel?



Chuck

RCT Technologies

 

[KenMeans]

Where did you get the 2nd hard drive to put in slot 1? and as Chuckrct said what are the mesages on the boot? Restarting and resetting due to ?

Can you do a cap of the boot up and post it

Ken Means

http://www.tel-is.com

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

 

[BayAreaPhoneTech]

It says "SCSI drive (something, cant' recall)...........failed"

That's when it goes to the boot menu, but re-boots on it's own even when I try to select an option.

The SA and OOS light appear red on the FLT card. CAB 1 is green on the alarm panel.

 

[KenMeans]

Well it sounds like you will need to get a system drive and redo the system. I assume you do not have a tape backup of the system but if you do it can be put back just the way it was.

Ken Means

http://www.tel-is.com

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

 

[BayAreaPhoneTech]

Is there any way to recover the data from the old drive?

We're going to put in a new HD, but the Customer would really like to get the data off the old one.

They said Avaya did it for them when this happened to them in 2000, but a call to Avaya yesterday uncovered that Avaya no longer assists in recovering data from HDs.

 

[KenMeans]

you can try to do a drive replacement but it needs to be running on the drive with the data on it. If it is a one drive system you can't do much with out a backup on tape but you may be able to change out the board the drive is on. Most of the time it is the control board and not the drive that fails. I would try removing the drive from the board and putting it on a new control board or changing to a different board and put it in slot 0 and turn it on. Like I said most of the time this will work but it still could be the drive and if it is you are SOL.

Do you have a lab system to put the drive in and test


Ken Means

http://www.tel-is.com

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

 

[BayAreaPhoneTech]

I'm going to test that out when I get back to the office.

I'll let you know if that works.

 

[BayAreaPhoneTech]

It did not work.

We have to start from scratch.

 

[jon24422531]

This is not my area of expertise (if I have any at all), but I am concerned over BayAreaPhoneTech's comment "but a call to Avaya yesterday uncovered that Avaya no longer assists in recovering data from HDs." I know that in the Serenade 200/300 arena there is less willingness to assist customers who cling to legacy systems despite the fact that they are superior to the replacements on offer.

Does this mean that Avaya can not, or will not, assist their customers with recovering data from their systems. If I was a potential customer of theirs I would have to think twice about considering their products.

Jon

http://www.telecom-stuff.com

http://www.jonschofield.com

 

[ChuckRCT]

OK,

Here is my own personal opinion. This is what differentiates Avaya from an Avaya BusinessPartner. I'm a BusinessPartner. If this was a customer of mine I would make sure that I had a tape backup of the system or install a 2nd system drive. Having an Octel 250 with just one system drive is crazy. The cost to do a tape backup or add a 2nd drive is minimal compared to having the only drive go bad.

I know that there are BusinessPartners out there that are more than capable to support the legacy systems; you just have to find them (Ken Means I know you are one of them).The support for the Octel systems from Avaya is running out, but there are still good people taking care of the systems. It's not to say that these systems will go on forever...nothing does.

I think new potential customers will be steered towards Modular Messaging since the Octel products aren't sold as new anymore.

OK, I guess I can step down from my pedestal, sorry for the ranting...

Chuck

RCT Technologies

 

[KenMeans]

Well now I will get on my box for a second.


jon24422531 comments on Avaya not recovering the data is valid to a point,but remember the Octel has been manufacture discontinued also. They did offer a way to recover the data if possible from a aria drive. They do not do it now for 3 reasons.

1. they do not have the man power that they did and the expertise to go with it.

2. they are selling a new system and want users to change so they do not have to support 5 or 6 different platforms of VM.

3. They do not own the manufacturing arm of the Octels any longer as it was sold to Sanmina. So they do not have the systems needed to do it even if they wanted to.

I would like to point out that this was something that they did to help a customer and they did not have to offer this at all.

that said it is foolish to have a one drive system with out a tape backup or some type of backup drive.

All other systems in an enterprise get backed up and have drive redundancy do they not? and then if one fails it is restored or the other drive handles the load till it is replaced.

What other manufacturer can you send your drive to and have them pull your data from it? I am sure there are some but none come to mind.

Bottom line is it is the customer and the vender should bear the responsibility to make sure this does not happen.

As ChuckRCT said we would never let a customer do this or be this exposed with out a backup of some kind. ( thanks for the kind word by the way)

It is easy to not think about this with the aria as it just keeps on working. We have many in service that have never had a service call in the 11 years they have been in use.

So if the system is that old and a drive fails I would say it is doing great.

The other side of the problem is to make sure you are dealing with someone that knows the product.

Step down.


Ken Means

http://www.tel-is.com

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

 

[BayAreaPhoneTech]

I agree with all of the points made. Let me just first say we were not the installing dealer. We took this over recently and then they had a "scheduled" power outage of which they didn't notify us of.

I'm not trying to be defensive or try to shift blame. Whoever sold maintenance on this from our company should have suggested that they get a second drive before signing this into a contract. Now our company is responsible for replacing this unit which is going to be costly in the long run.

The comment made about Avaya not being able to recover the data is merely a comment about how Avaya seems to be less interested in support and more interested in pushing as much product as they can out the door. It's getting really ridiculous that we as Business Partners have such a difficult time getting support from a company that we sell so much product for.

If you ask me, it doesn't make much sense.

 

[tty007]

Question to all, A technician is moving an Octel 250 to another location...He will perform a fullbackup of their system and lock the drives.

If a drive fail during the move, can he put any new hard drive in there or they're restrictions to the size of Hd you can insert?

And with new hard drives in place, does he need to perform only a restore of the backup ? Or will he have to do something else?

thank you so much in advance to all!

 

[KenMeans]

It depends on how many drives are in the system and what drive fails. It will also matter if the system has global message redundancy or not.

If it is a 2 drive system only then you would need to restore the system from tape to recover all of the messages and greetings. Or if it is a 3 to 6 drive system with out message redundancy same thing.

If you have global message redundancy then you would just do a drive replacement to the failed drive (system or message) and away you go.



Ken Means

http://www.tel-is.com

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

 

[tty007]

thank you very much.

So I can understand that all the messages, configuration of the Octel is on the Tape.

thank you so much and have a great day!