Here's the procedure we've documented for rebuilding NT Servers; a few
tests have been done so far, and all seems to be working quite nicely.
Our tests are maybe simplified by the fact we have standardized TOTALLY on
Compaq Proliant's, all with a CD-ROM drive and the Compaq SMART-2 disk
array controller.
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The old "Failed" server and the new "Target" server need not have identical
configuratins, save for the disk-subsystem. If the original server had a
RAID controller, the new server MUST have a RAID controller. If Network
cards are different between the Failed and Target machines,, the correct
network driver will have to installed after step 10.
Ensure that documentation is available on all of the original Volume
sizes and Disk Labels of the failed server.
Configure the hardware using the appropriate tool such as Compaq
SmartStart for Compaq servers. This process is documented in the
existing NT server setup documentation.
Install NT from the distribution media.
This should be a generic install. The HAL updates or NT service packs
are not required. Please note however that the Compaq SSD may still
be require to update the NT drivers to access the disk array.
It is required to install this copy of NT to D: so when asked which
partition to install NT to, two partitions of the appropriate size for
a system partition should be created and NT installed to the second
one. For instance in a server with 256MB RAM, the system partition
would be 1GB so two, 1GB partitions would be created with NT installed
into the second one.
The partition that the temporary copy of NT is installed to can be
left formatted as FAT
Be sure to use the same computer name as the original machine
To speed the process, you can de-select all non-essential options such
as Games, Wallpaper, Accessories, etc.
Enable DHCP during the network portion of the install. This removes
the need to know the original IP address of the machine.
Do not join a domain, instead, join the workgroup RESTORE.
Do not setup a local account when prompted.
Once NT is installed, install ADSM as described earlier in this
document. The only difference is that the target drive will be D:
instead of C:.
At this point, C: will still be in the FAT format so convert it to NTFS
by running the command:
CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS
You should be sitting on the D: drive when you run this command, not the
C: drive.
Create a volume label on the C: drive with the LABEL command. (Labels
are required for ADSM). This label MUST be the same as the original
label on the file system. Case is IMPORTANT
Launch the ADSM client command line and enter the following command:
RESTORE C:\* -REPLACE=ALL -SUBDIR=YES
This will restore the original C: drive
Restore the original registry with the commands
COPY C:\ADSM.SYS\REGISTRY\servername\MACHINE\*
C:\WINNT35\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\
COPY C:\ADSM.SYS\REGISTRY\servername\USERS\DEFAULT
C:\WINNT35\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\
COPY C:\ADSM.SYS\REGISTRY\servername\USERS\ADMINISTRATOR\*
C:\WINNT35\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\
Prior to rebooting, ensure that the C:\BOOT.INI file points to the
correct partition; this should normally be
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT35
where partition 1 is the Compaq System Partition.
Re-boot the machine
Once re-booted, the machine will be up and running with the original
system partition, however the temporary partition on D: will still be in
place. This should be deleted as follows
Run Disk Administrator and delete the D: drive
Then delete the first "free space" partition
Re-create the partitions as standard and format any drives that
contained User Data. Ensure that they are refomatted with the correct
File System
Once the partitions are re-created in the standard fashion, the D: drive
can be restored using the ADSM command
RES D:\* SUBDIR=YES -REPLACE=ALL
If additional drives are to be restored, they should be restored through
the same process.
Once completed, verify the permissions on the root of all paritions..
Tests of ADSM indicate that the default permissions of "Everyone [Full]"
are placed on the root directories instead of the original value.
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