Chapter 4 - Disaster Recovery for StreetTalk for Windows NT
To ensure that you will be able to successfully recover from a disk failure or other disaster that causes a loss of data, it is necessary to plan for recovering from such a disaster. One of the key steps to a successful recovery from a disk failure is being in possession of up-to-date, accessible, and complete backup media for all your servers and clients that contain data that you cannot afford to lose. This section contains essential information for ensuring that you have the information you need to recover from a serious disk failure.
For additional information on preparing and recovering from a disk failure on a StreetTalk for Windows NT server, refer to Legato NetWorker Disaster Recovery Guide, which is included with the NetWorker product.
1. Follow the instructions in the Legato NetWorker Administrator's Guide for instructions on how to use Legato NetWorker to create a full backup of your network.
2. Assemble the information listed below for every NetWorker client on your network, and store it in an accessible location:
- Size of each disk and disk partition
- How each partition is formatted, that is, NTFS or FAT
- Operating system and version, as well as which ServicePacks are installed
- Drive, with path, where the operating system was installed
- Drive, with path, where NetWorker was installed
- Whether NetWorker client or server is installed, and what NetWorker patches are installed
- IP address
- Subnet mask
- Gateway
- WINS address
- Host name, domain name, and name of the DNS used
- NIC information: IRQ, I/O, and Terminator setting (On or Off)
The procedures below explain how to obtain the information listed above.
Obtaining Diagnostics Information
The Diagnostics report contains information regarding a Windows NT server's memory, service statuses, video display, IRQ ports, devices, environment, and other related information.
To Obtain a Diagnostics Report
1. From Administrative Tools, select Windows NT Diagnostics.
2. Select Print Report from the File Menu.
Locating Partition Information
1. From Administrative Tools, select Disk Administrator. The Disk Administrator window displays your disk partitions with detailed information:
- Drive designation
- Format (FAT or NTFS)
- Partition size in MB
Locating TCP/IP and Domain Information
1. From Control Panel, select Network.
2. Click the Protocols tab.
3. Select TCP/IP Protocol and click Properties.
4. From the Adapter drop-down list box, if there is more than one adapter, highlight the one that applies to the NetWorker server.
5. Note the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway.
6. Click the DNS tab. The DNS property sheet displays.
7. Note the host name, domain name, and search order information.
8. Click the WINS Address tab.
9. Note the primary and secondary WINS server addresses, and note which checkboxes are selected.
10. Click OK and close the Control Panel.
The severity of your disk failure dictates how comprehensive the recovery process needs to be. A complete recovery process entails the steps listed below. You will need to assess the severity of your data loss and determine if you need to complete all the steps or just some of them.
1. Reinstall the original Windows NT operating system from the release media and reinstall ServicePacks that were on the system.
- A complete reinstallation of the operating system involves reinstalling all operating system files and recreating the previous configuration files.
- A partial reinstallation of the operating system involves partially restoring the operating system files, and then recovering the system configuration files from your NetWorker backup. A partial restoration is the most efficient method. When you do a partial restoration with NetWorker, your server, clients, and devices are reconfigured exactly as they were prior to the disaster.
Reinstalling Windows NT also includes configuring IP addresses and hostnames, as well as restoring the file system configuration.
2. Reinstall the original NetWorker software and NetWorker patches that you previously installed.
Note: If the NetWorker software is not located on the same drive as the Windows NT system, you must install patch NT440009.EXE or greater from the Legato web site (www.Legato.com).
3. Reconfigure device drivers and media device names for the NetWorker server.
4. For NetWorker servers, recover file and media indexes using bootstrap information. (See "Reinstalling NetWorker Server."
5. Re-enter Enabler codes and Authorization codes.
6. Recover the registry and the Backup Suite for StreetTalk files.
The Backup Suite for StreetTalk files are in the nsr\bin directory and consist of:
bfsasm.exe
bmsasm.exe
browser.cnt
browser.hlp
dialogs.cnt
dialogs.hlp
ebrproc.exe
ebrrecov.exe
liblocst.dll
libnsrst.dll
librapst.dll
librpcst.dll
lgtost01.dll
stasm.exe
svcasm.exe
strecov.exe
strecov.dll
uguide.cnt
uguide.hlp7. Reboot the server.
8. Recover StreetTalk for Windows NT software and data. Any other data on the machine can be restored at this time as well. Do not recover NetWorker software at this time because it was recovered in steps 2 through 5 above.
There are several procedures you must follow when recovering from a disaster on a StreetTalk for Windows NT server. They are described as follows:
1. Recovering a StreetTalk for Windows NT Server
2. Reinstalling NetWorker Client
3. Reinstalling NetWorker Server (including How to Recover the Windows NT Registry Information and Client Indexes)
4. Procedure to Allow Access to the Z Drive
Recovering a StreetTalk for Windows NT Server
1. Fix or repair your hardware. The new or repaired disk must be the same size or larger than the damaged disk.
2. Locate the network information listed in step 2 of "Creating Adequate Backups" earlier in this section.
3. Reinstall Windows NT from the release media. Use the same version that was installed when the disk failed.
During installation you can partition your drives but they will be unformatted. Only the drive on which you are installing Windows NT will be formatted according to the drive designator and format (FAT or NTFS) that you specify.
Note: Installation automatically formats drive C:\ as a FAT format drive because that is where the Windows NT working files are placed during installation. You will be able to convert to an NTFS format later in this process.
4. Be sure to use the following configuration during the installation:
- Recreate all of the file systems that were previously on the machine. They must be the same type that they were before (NTFS, FAT, or HPFS).
- Install the server as a Stand Alone computer. (Do not install as a Domain Controller because restoring the registry will do that).
- Install the machine into a Workgroup, not a Domain.
5. Reboot the machine after reinstalling the operating system. Log on as the administrator.
6. Run Disk Administrator. From the Tools menu select Format. Format the unformatted partitions back to their original format.
7. If your Windows NT operating system is installed on drive C, you are prompted as to whether you want the FAT format for drive C converted to an NTFS format.
If you are installing Windows NT 3.51 and the operating system is not installed on drive C, convert the format from a FAT format to NTFS format using the CONVERT command to reformat it. From the Winnt\System32 directory, enter the following command:
CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS /V
8. Install and configure the correct SCSI controller and tape device drivers.
9. If a Microsoft ServicePack was installed, reinstall the same ServicePack. Reboot the machine after reinstalling the ServicePack, and log on as Administrator.
Note: If you use ServicePack 4 with Windows NT 3.51, a patch is required to recover correctly. Before you recover the data from the machine, apply the Microsoft patch for ServicePack 4. The patch is documented in Microsoft `Q149857 MoveFile_Delay_Unitl_Reboot' and is available from ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/fixes/usa/nt351/hotfixes- postSP4/SM ss-fix.
The primary difference between restoring as a server or a client, is, when restoring a client, you do not need to restore indexes.
1. Reinstall the NetWorker client in the same directory as before. Ensure that you are installing the same version of NetWorker that was installed on the damaged disk.
2. Install NetWorker patches, if any need to be installed. See "Locating and Installing Legato NetWorker Patches" in Chapter 1 of this guide.
3. Open NetWorker User.
4. Click Recover. The Recover window displays the directory tree for the online index.
5. Select all directories except the root directory and click Mark. Be sure to mark the Registry directory.
Allow NetWorker several minutes to complete marking all directories and subdirectories from the root directory.
6. Locate the \Win32app\nsr directory. Select the nsr directory and click Unmark. (The nsr directory contains the configuration files.)
7. In the nsr\res directory, highlight the Servers file and click Mark.
8. If you have a mail service on your StreetTalk for Windows NT server, locate the VnsData\BMS directory. Select folder.db and click Unmark. (The remainder of the directory should remain Marked.)
A new folder.db will be created during the service startup process. This is necessary because folder.db may have been damaged or marked as open during the disk failure.
9. On the Options menu choose Recover Options. The Recover Options dialog box appears.
10. Select Overwrite the Existing File.
11. Click OK and click Start.
12. To review any errors, open the NetWorkr.log file.
13. Shut down and restart your NetWorker client.
Your NetWorker client is successfully restored.
If the NetWorker indexes and configuration files were destroyed, you must recover them to your NetWorker server. To perform this procedure, you must know the most recent save set ID number. The name of the backup media and the save set ID are located in the documentation you assembled when preparing for a recovery. If you do not have the save set ID, follow these steps:
1. Install the NetWorker software as usual.
2. If you need to install any NetWorker patches, do the following:
- Turn off the NetWorker services.
- Download the patches and corresponding Readme file, and install patches for the NetWorker server and client.
- Restart the NetWorker services in the order listed in the Readme file.
3. Configure the backup devices.
4. From the DOS prompt, locate the Win32app\Nsr directory.
- If you do not know the save set ID, run Scanner -B on each backup tape to generate a report of the index so that you can locate the latest bootstrap information. For example:
Scanner -B \\.\Tape0
where .\Tape0 is the device name
5. Run mmrecov to recover the NetWorker server media index (save set) and configuration file. You will be prompted to enter the following information:
- The name of the device you plan on using
- The latest bootstrap save set id
- The starting file number (if known)
- The starting record number (if known)
The res directory that contained your configuration files was restored as res.R.
6. To complete the recovery of the configuration files, stop the NetWorker Backup and Recover Server services in the correct order.
Sequence for Stopping NetWorker Services
1. NetWorker Backup and Recover Server (NetWorker Servers only)
2. NetWorker Remote Exec Service
3. NetWorker Portmapper Server
Note: To start NetWorker services, start the services in the reverse order from that listed above.
4. Rename the original \res directory to \res.org, and rename the recovered Res.R directory to res.
5. Restart NetWorker Backup and Recover Server service by using the Windows NT Service Control Panel.
6. Open NetWorker Administrator and click on the Devices Icon. The list of configured devices appears.
7. Right-click on the name of the device and select Operations.
8. Verify that the tape is mounted.
9. Verify that the NetWorker configurations are correct. Click the Set Up Server icon.
10. Close NetWorker Administrator module.
11. Remove the res.org directory.
You can now recover the Windows NT Registry information and client indexes.
How to Recover the Windows NT Registry Information and Client Indexes
When NetWorker backs up the Windows NT Registry, the backup contains the Registry, Registry keys, and subkeys. When you recover the Registry, all of the backed up Registry information, including keys and subkeys, is included. During the recover process, the Recover Status window displays so that you can monitor the progress of the Recovery operation.
1. Open the NetWorker User program.
2. Click Recover.
3. To recover all directories except the root, select and mark all directories beneath the root directory. Do not select and mark the root directory.
4. To recover the Registry, be sure to mark the following directories in the Registry directory:
- Default
- Sam
- Security
- System
- Software
5. Select the nsr directory and click Unmark.
6. Open the nsr directory, and Unmark the following directories or files:
- index\server-name file
- mm
- Res
7. From the Options menu, choose Recover Options.
8. In the Recover Options dialog box:
- Select Overwrite the Existing File
- Click OK
9. Click Start.
10. Reboot the server after Recover finishes.
11. Log on as Administrator. This step is optional, but doing so enables you to verify that StreetTalk for Windows NT is restored.
Note: You will be unable to use your local Z:\ drive because of a problem with the client workstation related files. See "Procedure to Allow Access to Z Drive," which follows.
The server is now restored to its previous state.
Procedure to Allow Access to Z Drive
1. Log out of all applications.
2. From the StreetTalk for Window NT release media, run Setup.
3. Choose Custom installation.
4. Unmark all components except StreetTalk Client Workstation. The only component being installed is StreetTalk Client Workstation.
5. Continue the installation as usual.
Backup and Restore of Open Files
NetWorker does not back up open files that are marked as non-shareable. We recommend you use Open File Manager by St. Bernard Software to back up your open, non-shared files.
NetWorker will back up open files if they are shareable (not opened with exclusive access). However, if the open shareable file is an active database at the time of the backup, there is no guarantee that the file backed up does not include any partial transactions. For example, assume that NetWorker is in the process of backing up a large database file and is currently reading a block of data from the middle of the file. If a database transaction occurs that affects a block of data that NetWorker has already backed up and a block not yet backed up, the backup copy of this file may include only a portion of that transaction.
Open File Manager by St. Bernard Software can alleviate backup problems with open shareable and non-shareable files. For this reason, we recommend Open File Manager when backing up StreetTalk for Windows NT.
