Moving groupwise 5.5 to new server/tree

[yaktam]

Hi all!

I've gone thru quite a few TIDs on Novell's site.
Seem to be running up against a wall.

Trying to move a Groupwise 5.5 system.
From a 5.0 SBS server to another 5.0 SBS server.

Old hardware to new.
Old hardware to disappear.

Any suggestions?

I've tried TID 10007622.

Doesn't work here (second server cannot read the domains .db file??? after the move on trying to connect to the "moved" domain - "the correct database type does not exist in the specified directory").

regards
Luke

 

[gioffre]

Hi,

Your message title mentions moving to a new server and new tree, however the message itself only mentions new server. Has the tree changed or not?

First of all, what I would have suggested is to set up the new server in the same tree as the old. This would have made the transition easier since there would be no disassociation of objects, etc... However if you have already moved to the new tree:

1) You wrote that you could not connect to the new domains.db file ? I assume you mean the WPDOMAIN.DB file, correct?

2) Before being able to do most anything with a domain that has moved to a new tree, you need to graft the domain in to the new tree. This is done from the Tools menu. Once grafted, you will need to modify the other domain and post office settings (UNC path, IP addresses, etc...).

Gioffre Consulting

http://www.gioffre.com

 

[yaktam]

Gioffre:

The "correct database type does not exist" turned out to be a slight "faux pas" on my part. I actually didn't copy over the wpdomain.db when I "xcopied" the entire old server MAIL directory over to our NT server and then from the NT server to the new Novell Server MAIL directory. Once I copied ALL the files over to the new server I was able to start grafting etc.

My next prob was interesting. If I was admin, I could look inside my mailbox. If I logged in as anyone else I was give an "820c" error. Google led me to a thread that a Groupwise Sysop dug up a reference to "not having any files to look at" - he suggested permissions in the thread. Sure enough, browsing thru the mail folders and looking at the USERxxx.db files, admin had ownership of all the files! I guess I shoulda used ncopy or ndir? Would gwbackup have done it properly for me too?

tia
Luke

 

[KenB]

Hi Luke,
Check out this TID it sounds like the same scenario as you described.

http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?/10062848.htm

HTH
Ken

 

[yaktam]

KenB:

Thanks for the tip. Went thru that TID. Unfortunately it is a destructive method, one that could potentially leave both the old server and new server dead on the floor. I needed something where I could leave the old server intact, copy some files and create a duplicate server.

I wound up using TIDs, 10007622 and 10009349.

There was a lot left out of both TIDs, the most important part being that Groupwise has to be in "exclusively" CLIENT/SERVER mode in order for one to "copy" the MAIL directory from one tree to the other (via a workstation that temporarily connects to one tree first, disconnects and then connects to the other tree). Funny thing was, there were a LOT of answers on the Internet very much like those TIDS, that simply said:

Copy the files
start up groupwise
and you're done

Way too simplistic. And big time misleading for someone who had NEVER done this before.

A gentleman by the name of PsiCop on

http://experts-exchange.com

helped me out immensely. See our small novel on Novell groupwise here:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Networking/Netware/Q_20975128.html

CLIENT/SERVER mode makes clients attach to the groupwise files, via IP addressing instead of direct which places permissions (trusteeships) on every single file in Groupwise. Without the permissions the TIDS worked like a breeze.

Luke

 

[KenB]

Luke,
Glad to hear you solved the problem. I always ran my GW system in C/S only mode to protect the PO dbase from corruption so never thought about the permissions. I moved my GW system from one server NW v5.0 to NW 6.0 in the same tree and copied all the files did the Graft re-linked and everything was fine. Except the GWIA, had to reinstall it to get the mail moving to/from the Internet again. Anyway there are a few other details that need to be cleaned up along the way.
I hope to move the whole GW system to a new server running NW 6.5 soon. The fun never stops.

Ken

 

[terry712]

it's a lot easier with groupwise 6 and 6.5 - it's not as fussy as 5.X - and it's really easy to fling around the place

the gwia and webaccess are always quicker to reinstall - they are quick anyway - if you move to netware 6.5 - your apache will go to v2 and it's definately easier to reinstall here