Problem with Networker client 6.1.2

[gilsm68]

Please can anyone help me.

We are using Legato and the 6.1.2 client on Windows NT/2000 systems. As anyone else, we hope Legato will restore our servers in case of a disaster.

When I try to restore a complete server, I can only restore the server to the same hostname. Is it possible to restore a complete server to an other hostname ? This is the only way for me to check if Legato can help me during a disaster.

It can't be possible that nobody ever checks the full restore on an NT or 2000 system.

Marc

 

[bommer]

Legato no longer allows for directed recovers of system db system state and system files on Windows 2000 clients. You can only recover back to the original client. This doesn't cut it when your original client is in the tank and you need to recreate on another server. I never got a clear reason for this from support. Maybe its a tactic to drum up sales sales for their Recovery Manager software, which can get expensive for a large shop. Maybe someone else knows why Legato did this.

 

[wallace88]

Actually, it is Microsoft that doesn't support restoring the system db, system state, and system files to another machine; and this is why Legato does not either. There are a number of Microsoft Q articles that says this. i.e. how can Legato support something that Microsoft won't?

It is possible for you to make NetWorker restore the system files to another machine, but that doesn't mean that when you reboot, that it will boot up ok. Remember that the registry contains information specific to the system's hardware. Obviously, if hardware is different, then you're going to have problems.

Disaster recovery is rebuilding the "exact and same" server.

Unofficially, if the replacement machine is not identical to the original, then you'll have to hack the registry after restoring it to get it to load properly.

If you're still interested, the following is a link to Legato's Disaster Recovery Guide.

http://web1.legato.com/infodev/publications/NetWorker/disrec/6.1/disrec.pdf

 

[Chapter11]

I've never known a disaster recovery scenario (either real or simulated) to be performed to the *exact* same hardware. It's unusual for a DR shop to stock the *exact* hardware you're currently using, and if you're DR'ing a single server in-house, chances are the original hardware is toast so you're doing it to another (non-identical) machine anyway.

 

[wallace88]

Well, if you a re talking about an enterprise server that died on you, for example, if the disk crashed, you wouldn't be replacing the entire system just for a disk, right?

When you contract a disaster recovery service, you give them all the hardware specs that you have, and what o/s and critical software you are running, so that in case of a actual disaster, they have the system ready for you to load up.

Would you expect a DR site to to give you a departmental system when you need a enterprise system? What's the point of using a dr site if they don't have a system ready for you to load up?

As I said, it is Microsoft that does not support recovering the registry to a different machine, but people have successfully done it to *the same type* of machine, with same hardware, drivers, etc...

 

[gilsm68]

Thanks for your tips during the last days, I read some
documents about Legato and in the Release Supplement Release 6.1, there was a page (27) that gave exactly the answer I was looking for. It tells: "Directed Recovery of SYSTEM Save Sets Not Supported (LGTpa20718)". It was also the Disaster Recovery Guide that tells the same.
There is also a Disaster Recovery Guide for the old client version (5.3). It tells on page 289: "Directed recovery allows you to remotely recover backed-up data from a NetWorker client and direct it to another NetWorker client within your enterprise.
And this was exactly the thing we did. We installed another system with another ip adres, restored the original system. Disconnected the system from the network and reboot the system. After the reboot we connected the system to a test network (because the restored system will have the same sid as the original). This way of testing doesn't work anymore so How can I test my backups ?
Isn't it strange that Legato introduces the feature Directed Recovery in version 5.3 and disabled the feature in the new release ?
Maybe bommer was right and its a tactic to sell Recovery Manager software.

Marc


In the past, we tested our backups by installing an other system with exactly the same hardware and restoring a complete system to the new system's ip adres. It worked unless some files may be locked by the operating system

 

[blaberl]

In order to restore the server to another host, you would need to have the hostname of the recovery server in the Remote Access Field of the client setup.

When doing the recovery, recover C:\ and registry (or SYSTEM STATE etc) first then re-boot - this assumes your hardware is the same! If it fails to re-boot then you will have to either do a reinstall or repair the registry / system state.. Once repaired then you can recover the data.

Note that this is a directed recovery - on the gui for networker user the option is through a menu. Select the server you wish to recover and then the server you wish to recover to (it will only show servers that you have permissions to recover to).

Let me know if you wich any clarification or further help.

 

[blaberl]

Oops! Sorry! Failed to read the replies!