Need to restore files from backup run 1 year ago

[ttroxell]

Hi,

Networker 6.1.3 build 428 / Solaris 5.8.

We're backing up sun server and W2K client servers. I need to restore some files to a W2K client, from a backup run over a year ago. I got the tapes from storage, and tried to recover with browse, but the browse period has passed.

Am not sure how to proceed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Tracey

 

[605]

You have 3 general possibilities:

- If the save set is still in the media index, you may recover the set to a temporary location and copy your files from there
- You may rebuild the file index info. Insert the media into a drive and run "scanner -i -S ssid /devicename"
- If you know the directory name, you may recover it directly using "recover -S ssid -a pathname"

If the media has been deleted from the media index, you must first add it again using the scanner command.

 

[ttroxell]

Thanks,

Can I redirect the restore? I will be recovering by directory name. Will I have to load the tape into the drive first?

Is this the correct syntax for the recover command?

recover -S 3061167361 -a D:\Users\pathname

Will recover prompt me?

Thanks,
Tracey

 

[605]

use "-d new_pathname" as second option. For more details, please look at the NW manpages.

NW will only prompt you if it finds a file with the same name at the destination.

 

[ttroxell]

Hi,

No luck, here's what I'm trying:

# recover -S 3061167361 -a D:\Users\sworthington -d D:\temp\restore
recover: recover path `D:Userssworthington' not an absolute path

a review of a backup looks like this:

Mar 7 20:31:35 gi-dam root: [ID 702911 daemon.notice] * gi-exchange:\ D:\Users\wtucker\Profile\UserData\0VEVUD2T\

I also tried this:

# recover -S 3061167361 -a gi-exchange:\ D:\Users\sworthington -d D:\temp\restore
recover: recover path `gi-exchange: D:Userssworthington' not an absolute path

I've looked at the recover man pages, and this should work. It would help to have a sample to look at.

Tracey

 

[605]

I said: "use -d as second option" (recover -S -d -a)

The syntax is ok in general. However, the backslash will not be recognized. Try "\\" instaed of "\"

 

[ttroxell]

Hi,

Still no luck, I tried with \\ and \ both, also with and without the client name.

I'm also running this command on the unix server, but these files are for a w2k client. Will this command work to restore files to the client?

# recover -S 3061167361 -d D:\temp\restore -a D:\\Users\\sworthington
recover: recover path `D:\Users\sworthington' not an absolute path
# recover -S 3061167361 -d gi-exchange:\temp\restore -a gi-exchange:\Users\sworthington
recover: recover path `gi-exchange:Userssworthington' not an absolute path

# recover -S 3061167361 -d gi-exchange:\temp\restore -a gi-exchange:\\Users\\sworthington
recover: recover path `gi-exchange:\Users\sworthington' not an absolute path

 

[605]

This is the problem. recover needs to be executed on the destination client (the windows client in this case).

There is a so-called "directed recovery" which you may initiate at any client (of course it can only restore the data to an alike system, UNIX-UNIX or Windows-Windows), but for this you must have the file index in place already. So this is not an option here.

If you execute the program at the windows client, it should work. But be careful: the pathname is case-sensitive.

 

[ttroxell]

You said one of the possibilities for a restore was if I know the directory name, that I should be able to recover the files with "recover -S ssid -a pathname". If the files are from the client server, is this not possible? Is the recover command only for the unix server?

As the browse time has passed, do I need to recover the index? If I try to recover the index, will it overwrite the existing index? After the index has been recovered, will I be able to use the browse to restore the files?

You mention a "directed recovery", can you tell me what that is and how it works?

Thanks,
Tracey

 

[605]

1. "recover -S ssid -a pathname" runs on any client, no matter which OS (except Netware ;-)

2. You dare. Do not recover the file index but rebuild (re-add) the file index info for a specific save set with "scanner -i -S ssid device_name".

3. Directed recovery is a bit complicated - and it is not. In general, ALL recoveries are directed recoveries:
- from a source client
- to a destination client (must be of same OS family)
- initiated at a so-called admin client host
Even if all are located on the same machine, this is nothing else but a specific directed recovery:

recover -s server -c source_client -R dest_client -i[]

Please see the manpage for more details.

 

[ttroxell]

Hi,

"recover -S ssid -a pathname", worked! I had tried it from the cmd prompt, but since nsr wasn't in the path, that's why it didn't run from there. Once I cd'd to the nsr path, on the W2K client, and ran the command, it worked!!!! Thanks.

I have a second restore to do from that time frame, unfortunately, I do not know the full pathname for the files.

Once I (re-add) the file index info for a specific save set with "scanner -i -S ssid device_name", will I be able to browse using the recover command in networker user?

Thanks in advance.

Sorry to be a bother with this, I've not restored this way before, and am working several projects at once.

Tracey

 

[605]

Tracey, you may even use a higher subdirectory name and i guess redirect it to another temp directory. Then move the files from here and delte the rest.

I think this much easier to recover than to rebuild the indexes. But of course you can do this as well and browse later.