I have restored NT workstations and servers many times with both 3.2 and 3.4 
successfully, NOT using IDR ~I've had mixed results with IDR and now I prefer 
the bare system restore method.

The problem with NT not being able to find the kernel and failing to boot after 
a restore lies with the boot.ini file that got restored.  The partition 
information has changed between the rebuilt configuration and the original.  
There are several ways to solve this, but the easiest is to create an NT fault 
tolerance boot floppy with a boot.ini file that points to the current partition 
number where NT has been installed. Once you get NT to boot, fix the boot.ini 
file on the system drive and you're good to go.

The tricks that I use:

1. Install a fresh copy of NT, but do NOT join the computer to a domain; leave 
it as a member of a temporary workgroup.

2. Install the same NT service pack level in use on the failed system.
2a. Nimda paranoia: Now I also install IE 6.0 and then all of the security 
patches so the machine is protected while the restore takes place.

3. Install the Veritas client and patch it to the same level in use on the 
failed system.

4. Restore from last full backup and incrementals.  Be sure to select the 
Overwrite option.

If you're dealing with a database or exchange server, it's more complicated 
than this, but this will still get you on the right track.  This has never 
failed me.

-Neil

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Ahrens [mailto:Jason.Ahrens AT telus DOT com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 11:52 AM
To: Veritas BU
Subject: [Veritas-bu] Bare system recovery (NT)


I have an issue regarding recovery of a complete NT system with NetBackup.

We have a large number of NT systems. Occasionally, through bad hardware or
software, one dies horribly.

The NT guys install NT onto a new system (identical hardware) system,
install the NetBackup client, and do a full system restore. I have just been
told by our NT guys that, when they have to recover such a system, they
cannot just do a whole system restore. If they try, NT complains about the
kernel not being found. They end up having to do a selective restore and
repair. This defeats some of the purpose of have a full system backup.

Surely someone has had to do a complete system recovery, and had it function
correctly. How is it done? Would we have a similar problem on Solaris
systems?

Thanks

Jason

--
Jason Ahrens
Systems Administrator/Backup Specialist
PSINet Canada Inc., a TELUS company
http://www.psi.ca
The Future is Friendly

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