Restoring from Tape

[dwhitlow]

I have a client that is having problems with restoring from tape. I can backup and restore from a file just fine. But when I restore from tape, the system stops responding until the restore is complete. It completes the restore, but while it is happening, no one can access the system. They are using an extenal HP 40/80 DLT1 SCSI drive.

 

[tfg13]

There could be a couple problems that are occuring. Do you know what the usage the processor is at when the restores are running? Do you know what software is being used for the backups/restores?

 

[dwhitlow]

Oops...

They're using Server 2003, and ntbackup. I can only assume the processor is maxed. Can't get it to show anything once you click on restore until it is finished.

 

[tfg13]

I've heard many stories about how ntbackup has maxed out the processor. Does the processor get maxed out during backups as well?

 

[dwhitlow]

Nope. Backups seem to run just fine.

 

[tfg13]

Is there anything in the logs stating it's having problems?

 

[dwhitlow]

Not a thing.

 

[hcasaol]

I have the same exact problem. I don't know if the CPU is maxed out or not as well. The Server just stops responding and all users cannot access data or email from the server.

We have Dell PowerEdge 2600 with and internal DLT tape drive. Has anyone found a solution to this problem? This is unacceptable.

 

[hcasaol]

I ran a restore again, but this time I kept Task Manager open to watch the CPU usage. It averaged about 30% Usage during the restore so it wasn't maxed out. Still had the problem of the server not responding though. Does anyone know what's going on?

 

[tfg13]

When you say the server is not responding, what do you mean? Are people trying to get to resources on the server when the restore is going? Are you trying to do something on the server while the restore is going?

 

[dwhitlow]

People are not able to access resources on the server. I also lose my RDP connection until the restore is completed.

 

[tfg13]

I'd pretty much say this is par for course, as the restore is trying to obtain exclusive rights to the server.

 

[hcasaol]

Is that true? Can someone tell me difinitely that Windows 2003 is supposed to stop responding when you do an NTBackup Restore? If that is so, ntbackup is a horrible program. I used to use Computer Associates ArcServe for backups and I never had a problem restoring. With NTBackup I have to wait till after hours to restore even the smallest file because if I do a restore during the day it disrupts everyones work.

 

[tfg13]

I haven't used NTBackup for quite a long time due to some of the issues it caused me. In some cases, during backups it would "freeze" my server. When I finally went with Veritas, my issues went away.