Our backup servers are Compaq Proliant NT4 Sp6a, Networker 6.1.1, all
clients are also on 6.1.1

Recently, we went through a DR exercise but had problems recovering our PDC.
It turned out that the problem was that the machine supplied by our DR
equipment providers was not exactly the same spec as the original machine.
We were able to complete our exercise because, fortunately, we were able to
recover one of our BDCs.

We requested the company, through whom we obtain the Legato software, to
raise a call to query what restrictions there are when performing bare metal
recoveries. The list may be interested in the reply we received...

>>
        What your customer has seen is correct. In NW 5.5 you could relocate
or
        direct the registry to another machine. In NW 6.0 onwards this
stopped on
        the advice of Microsoft. MS were concerned about people moving the
data from
        one machine to another and making the system unstable and difficult
for them
        to support. In general we assume that people follow MS advice when
        recovering data to another machine.  This is to create a new
machine, load
        OS and Service Packs, load the application and then recover the data
only.
        DR should only be carried out on the same machine. Recovering the OS
to a
        machine that is not the same will cause unpredictable results.

        There are some notes that are in the NetWorker for Windows release
        supplements which I have taken and updated. These words have been
blessed by
        our Product Managers so you can take them as official or use the
printed
        version in the manuals. It is interesting that you have raised this
point as
        I was expecting a note to be put in the next PSAM Bulletin to cover
this.
        Many other customers ask the same question. I hope this is helpful
and
        covers the points you raised.

        Please be aware of the following limitations on all versions of
NetWorker
        from 5.7 onwards

        Directed Recovery/ relocation of SYSTEM Save Sets Not Supported
(LGTpa20718)
        Directed recovery of SYSTEM save sets is not supported, either on
Windows NT
        4.0 or Windows 2000. Also if a user tries to relocate the SYSTEM
save set to a
        different location on the same computer this will overwrite existing
SYSTEM
        STATE or REGISTRY without warning the user.

        Limitations in NetWorker Features on Windows 2000
        The following limitations pertain to NetWorker software running on
Windows
        2000.

        Note: For Windows 2000, the term SYSTEM save sets refers
collectively to the
        SYSTEM
        STATE, SYSTEM DB, and SYSTEM FILES save sets. These save sets were
first
        introduced in NetWorker release 5.7 to support operations related to
the
        Windows 2000 system state, also called the state of the machine.

>>

For those of you that rely on third parties to provide equipment in the
event of a disaster, this could be a significant problem. We are still
looking into the implications for our own DR plans. Has anyone else hit this
problem before, if so, did you achieve a reasonable solution. Given the
potential impact of this change, I'm rather surprised that the opinions of
customers were not canvassed (at least as far as I know), as well as those
of Microsoft.

The prospect of having to re-install every application again, on every
server, when in a DR situation will certainly add a significant amount to
the overall recovery time, especially when large numbers of servers are
involved. One of the solutions we will have to consider is replacing
Networker as our backup solution...


Jim Simpkin
Database Administrator
Euler Trade Indemnity plc
1 Canada Square
London, E14 5DX
United Kingdom
Tel     : +44 (0)20 7860-2918
Fax     : +44 (0)20 7860-2749
E-mail  : Jim.Simpkins AT eulergroup DOT com

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