ADSM-L

Re: ntuser.dat backup on Windows 2003

2004-05-09 17:09:18
Subject: Re: ntuser.dat backup on Windows 2003
From: "Stapleton, Mark" <mark.stapleton AT BERBEE DOT COM>
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Date: Sun, 9 May 2004 16:02:01 -0500
>Von: TSM_User [mailto:tsm_user AT YAHOO DOT COM]
>On Windows 2003 it appears that a user that is currently logged on does
not
>have their ntuser.dat file backed up under adsm.sys like Windows 2000
and
>Windows XP.
>
>Was eliminating this done for a specific reason?  Or is the profile
data
>backed up differently on Windows 2003?

From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of
Stefan Holzwarth
>No way to do that with TSM at the moment.
>We use a presched-cmd for backup of that data with ntbackup

There's a little more to this issue...

TSM uses the operating system's own utilities to back up files that are
normally open, and would thus be unavailable for backup. For Windows NT
and Windows 2000 open files are performed by using TSM's open file
backup service, which involves caching the file's information to a
temporary file so that the original file would be closed long enough for
the backup to occur. Windows NT and 2000 support such caching; I suspect
that NTBACKUP probably backs up open files in just such a way.

Now, enter Windows 2003. Win2003 does not support caching of open file
transactions for backup purposes; instead, it uses the Windows' volume
shadow service (VSS), which keeps a copy of specified files on an
alternate location on the hard disk; this copied file is what would be
backed up during a TSM client session. Unfortunately, TSM does not yet
support VSS, and therefore at this time TSM does not support open file
backups of Windows 2003 clients. (There has been a fair amount of
discussion of this matter in this list the last few months.)

As Stefan indicates above, the workaround is to use a Windows utility
(NTBACKUP) to back up any open files. My only addition to his suggestion
is to run the NTBACKUP as a postschedcmd, not a preschedcmd. There has
been a history of NTBACKUP sessions occasionally hanging; such a hang
would prevent the backup from completing successfully. Profiles and
system files do not change that often; running the NTBACKUP as a
postschedcmd does not leave much of a hole in the case of a necessary
restoration, and would allow a successful TSM backup no matter what the
state of the NTBACKUP session.

I'm off to Minneapolis to teach a TSM class tomorrow!

--
Mark Stapleton