partinfo.ppp problem in Arcserve 2000

[rabowsm1]

We recently discovered a serious configuration problem in Arcserve 2000's DR process.

When you use a Arcserve boot cd together with the server specific disk you might be interested in what's written here.

During a Disaster Recovery the DR process at our site failed to create the partitions properly. It became clear this was due to the fact that there's a partinfo.ppp file on both the DR cdrom and the server specific disk. The one on the server specific disk should be the one being used to do the partitioning during the DR. However, we noticed that the file off the boot cd was used.

This isn't a problem if you use one boot cd per server. However, if you use a generic boot cdrom for a bunch of servers (like we do) you might encounter a problem when the partition information is changed but you still use the Arcserve boot cdrom. During the DR process the partinfo.ppp file that's on the cdrom is being used, NOT the one that's on the server specific disc. One would expect that the DR process would use the partinfo.ppp that's on the server specific disk. However, it does not. It uses the read-only version on the boot cd.

Not a problem perse, but beware of this.

 

[vschumpy]

This information is incorrect. During DR the partinfo.ppp is read from the machine specific disk right before the disk partitioning screen appears in text mode. A common mistake is that if you have to load NIC or SCSI drivers manually using F6 during setup that you don't replace the machine specific disk before continuing onto the disk partitioning. This would cause the behaviour you describe above.

Additionally you should ensure that the bootable CD Image is updated post applying AS2000 SP5 and that the patch disk is also updated too. The same applies whenever you apply a service pack, cumulative, or device patch. An image created pre AS2000 SP4 in particular is likely to be more problematic.