Restore system state to a different server???

[hillda01]

Hi,

I use ArcServe 11.5 sp3 and get a full back up of our servers including system state and sql... What I want to do as a DR test is to restore the whole server but to a server with a different name... I'm confident in restoring the files and sql database's but cant see the option to restore the system state to a server with a different name in arcserve...

Does anyone know if this is possible or not?

Hope someone can help...

Regards

Dave

 

[Cyklops]

after you restored a complete server including the volumes and system state and rebooted the system (which is required) the restored server will be the original server as it was at the time of the backup. You can only achieve this when you shut the original server down and then restore the testmachine. Better option is to create a test environment when things are allowed to fail if you want to setup a DR procedure.

regards

 

[hillda01]

Hi this doesnt really answer my question...

what im looking to do is restore the system state from one server to a different server with a different name through ArcServe.

I understand when the server is rebooted that the server will take on the name of the server from the system state back up...

Regards
Dave

 

[GSC]

If your Server is called Server1 and you want to restore it then it will still be called Server1 after the restore is finished. If you want to rename your server to Server2 then that will have to be done AFTER the restore is complete. As Cyklops states:
"You can only achieve this when you shut the original server down and then restore the testmachine. Better option is to create a test environment when things are allowed to fail if you want to setup a DR procedure."


I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,
GSC

 

[Speedline]

I think I understand what he is asking, I was wondering the same thing myself. I'll see if I can clarify.
I have a server called Server1 that I am backing up. I have the system state and a few directories that get backup up nightly. Now, Server1 bursts into flames one night. I replace the server and install the OS, calling it Bob. When I go into ArcServe to restore the system state and the files, I have the option to restore to the original location or a location of my choosing. Because Server1 does not exist at the moment ( Bob will become Server1 after the restore and a reboot ), how do I tell ArcServe to restore to Bob?

 

[Speedline]

After looking through the restore options, it looks like it won't let you restore to a different server if Arcserve sees that the original source is still active.

 

[hillda01]

What I dont get is how you can restore the system state to a server that is named differently to the original...

Or if it is even possible....

 

[Speedline]

Yeah, I've been trying to do the same thing. I wanted to test our backups for a revised disaster recovery plan and it doesn't look like there is a way as near as I can tell. If I find out anything else, I'll post it here.

 

[Speedline]

So, I finally got around to doing this but it was a bit of a pain. I couldn't restore to a server with a different name, it wouldn't let me. This is what I did.

1 - Made a full backup of the target server (I was using a non essential server for this, it runs the hold music for our phone system)
2 - Place my test system and image it, make sure to name it the same as the original server. This could not be done with the test server on the network, so I had to isolate the backup server and the test server using a switch.
3 - Install the client on the test server.
4 - Restore from the server. Use the original location setting for the destination.

After the reboot, it looked good. Hope that helps, it's kind of a pain to have to do it this way though. I was going to test it with a VM, but the name thing kind of screwed up that idea.