Server cloning problems

[organman]

I need to clone my production NW 6.5.3 server to other hardware so that I
can use the cloned server as a lab server.
The server uses traditional NW volumes and a DOS 6 partition, it's a DELL PE
4400 with 3 hard disks configured for RAID 5 (total size 30 Gb).

The other server is also a DELL PE 4400 but has 6 hard disks configured for
RAID 5 (total space 40 Gb), both servers uses the same DELL PERC 3 Di Raid controller.

I've tried to do the clone by using Norton Ghost 8.2 but I can't get the
"new" lab server to start after the cloning, I suspect that this is because
the raid info is stored on the disk themselves and since the source server
uses 3 disk and the "new" server uses 6 disks the raid information gets
corrupted, am I right about this ?

So I need some software that can do the cloning but not corrupt the raid, it will probably have to be aware of the Novell filesystems as NSS ond Traditional volumes.
Any tips for software that can do this ?

Regards
Lars-Gunnar Nihlman

 

[CorruptedLogic]

This may be way off (it's been a long time since i dealt with NW!). How about either mirroring the RAID, then installing in the new server and breaking it, or, some sort of replication over ethernet?...again, i may be talking poppycock..but it may work.

CCNA, CCDP, Net+, A+
Work Smarter, Not Harder....

 

[marvhuffaker]

Does it start to boot the server at all? Or do you get partition errors? If you at least boot the DOS partition, then you are probably having a problem loading the RAID driver. Maybe the slot# is different. Check the C:\NWSERVER\STARTUP.NCF and see if it looks right for what hardware you have.

If you're just trying to clone one server, you're probably going to spend more time trying to 'clone' it than if you were to just build another one.

Also keep in mind that there are MAJOR implications of having 2 identical servers on the same network. Don't under any circumstances let the cloned server touch your production network. I would change the tree name, IP address, Servername, and ServerID immediately to make sure you don't have this problem.

In Large rollouts, usually the cloning process is done to copy the main OS files and configs only. You don't usually have NDS configured on them till after the cloning is complete. Then you put it into the tree and give it its own identity and other NDS stuff.

Marvin Huffaker, MCNE

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[NickFerrar]

RAID info is stored on the disks as well as the controller but if there's a mismatch this should be detected during bootup and you should get prompted which configruation you want to use.

 

[organman]

Thanks for your answers.
But there is something strange here, as you can see I asked this question in April and back then I got several answers.

I then reported that I used Portlock to solve this problem.

Somehow these older answers are gone now.

 

[lb63640]

As a conspiracy theorist, I would blame the secret shadow government for the missing posts

As a tek-tips member, I wonder if they might have been moved to another forum by a member of the moderator staff?