In
<c=AU%a=_%p=HIMAIL%l=HALMAIL001-980204222711Z-2164 AT Halmail001.haltek.oz DOT 
au>,
on 02/05/98 at 09:27 AM,
   "Nicholas, Murray, Haltek/AU" <MurrayNi AT HALTEK.COM DOT AU> said:


>Our installation was strictly for SAP R/3 - there were no NT level
>users defined and therefore not too many big issues relating to most
>of the registry.  The interesting part with SAP though is that you
>install once at what ever release level you choose but thereafter
>only ever do an upgrade.  The supplied upgrade media does not provide
>the capability of an install and, furthermore, if you do obtain the
>installation media for you new release, the results of an upgrade are
>not always identical to the "equivalent" installation.  For SAP,
>therefore, it is necessary to be able to restore the executables and
>other directories as of the point of failure.  This process does
>require resyncing of those parts of the registry.

I see.  So this *is* a "foolish" design issue, perhaps more properly
termed "ill-conceived" design.  Dodgy at best, foolhardy at worst.

My solution to this problem would be to isolate the "piss" in the
Windows Toilet (I am quite sure that an application so obviously
shoddily designed as this SAP appears to be must piss and shit all
over the Windows Toilet) so that these files can be "backed up" as
data (ie, included in the "data" backup).

Better yet, this "piss and shit" should be isolated into a seperate
directory and included in the path so that the Windows Toilet can be
kept clean.  You should do this after every update (of SAP) by
resolving the Windows Toilet against a "Service Base" copy of the
Toilet (ie, the Windows Toilet on a machine that has a virginal
install of NT + Service Packs).

Then you need to isolate the registry keys which SAP is using in the
registry.

Unless the designer of this "ill-conceived" application deliberately
used the "Piss and Shit in the Windows Registry to keep the product
unserviceable", all the entries should be easily locable under a
single keyspace, or two.  Export these keys to a file.  Backup this
file with the "data" backup.

Then, commission a virgin server and install NT then the appropriate
service packs.  Restore the data backup (which will restore all the
appropriate application and data files, including the "piss and shit"
into the windows toilet, or to the special "Piss and Shit" directory,
which you can pre-pend to the system path).  Merge the saved registry
keys into the registry.

Voila, complete recovery.  Depending, of course, on how deliberately
the developers of SAP have designed the application to be
unsupportable except for monstrous fees accruing, of course, only to
them.

>I suspect that SAP is not the only application for which this, or
>another similar issue, is true.  The need to merge parts of the
>registry back from a backup does exist.

It is the only one I have ever heard of.  That anyone would willingly
buy an application so obviously ill-concieved in design and so
obviously un-maintainable is beyond me.  Obviously its adoption is a
"management-type" directive based on "the joneses" and the glossy rags
and *not* because it was sound business planning.

Isn't it amazing how 20 minutes of analysis can often reduce a huge
continuity problem to a 40 minute exercize that even an IS Manager
could follow, if properly documented mouse click by mouse click!

>Murray Nicholas
>IT Systems Consultant
>Galeforce Information Services Pty Ltd
>email:  murray AT galeforce.bu.aust DOT com

** "Windows Toilet" is a TradeMark of Symbiotic Software Systems used
to
   describe the propensity for incompetent Windows programmers to
place
   DLLs and modules in the WINDOWS WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 and WINDOWS\SYSTEM

   directory on all Windows Systems -- a fine tradition in
unmaintainable
   and unmanageable software pioneered by Microsoft.

** "Piss and Shit in the Windows Toilet" is a registered Trademark of
   Microsoft and refers to Microsofts Patented guaranteed technology
to
   have EVERY SINGLE windows-based application ship as many modules as
   possible which are copied into the "Windows Toilet" overwriting
whatever
   file is already their by the same name without asking permission
first.
   It is designed to ensure that the installation of every piece of
software
   makes every prieviously installed piece of software no longer
functional.