NOVELL FILE SERVER BACKUP

The most important aspect of administering Novell

1. Introduction
2. Schedule of Backups and Tasks
3. Automatic Backup
4. Manual Backups
5. Restoring Files

Introduction

--LSO is responsible for backing up the cul-personnel, the cdrom1 and the cul_cdrom1 file servers. Backups are done to a tape drive connected to the an IBM PS/2 on the file server rack.

We use SYTOS Plus as the backup software. To access the software, go to the PS/2 DOS Prompt and change to the c:\sy directory. Type SYTOS and press the Enter key.

An unattended FULL backup occurs once per week at midnight Sunday. An incremental backup happens Monday thru Thursdays at midnight. The most recent backup is carried off site by the Head of Micro-Net Support. The previous weeks FULL backup is located next to the server in the rear of the stack.

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Schedule and Tasks

Automatic Full Backups

--Full server backups occur on Sunday evening at midnight. Because the backups are spread across many tapes, it is necessary to finish the backups on Monday morning. Someone should arrive on Mondays as early as possible. Turn on the screen on the IBM PS/2. You should see a message in yellow indicating that the drives must be switched. If this is not the case, the backup did not start and you will need to determine the cause.

Put in a new tape and label the tapes correctly with date and sequence number, i.e. 1 of 4. Continue to switch tapes until backup is complete. It should take about 2 hours.

After the Dos Prompt appears, type date to be sure the date is correct. Usually, the date is incorrect and needs to be reset. This anomoly occurs because the Backup is suspended and the system date shows the date the bakup was started.

IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT THE DATE BE RESET CORRECLTY

Insert a new tape from the front of the stack that will become the nightly incremental backup tape.

Before leaving on Fridays, be sure to take out the weekly incremental tape and insert the next tape from the front of the stack that will become the #1 tape in the full backup set.

Automatic nightly incremental backups

occur Monday thru Thursday at midnight. Generally, you will not need to do anything until Friday when you must exchange this tape for the #1 tape of the next FULL backup set.

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Automatic Backup

--A full backup occurs Sunday evening, an incremental create occurs Monday evening, and an incremental append occurs Teusday thru Thursday.

If you wish to create another automatic backup procedure, edit the current procedures to use as a model and create another.

You may change the current procedures by editing them. For example, to add another file server to the backup, edit the procedure and follow the example using a new drive letter. On the IBM/PS 2, you would also need to change the autoexec.bat file to attach to the new server and add the appropriate drive letter. In fact, you need to attach to the server and map the new drive letter before modifying the backup procedure.

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• Manual Backup

  --You might wish to do a manual backup. For example, a user is updating a program on the server that they admininster. They want to be able to go back to the state the app was in should the upgrade fail. Further, they may need to keep that backup for a week or even longer. Tape is ideal for this scenario.

  Go into SYSTOS. Choose Backup. Tab to new procedure and press enter. You will need to choose the files and/or the directories and then RUN the procedure. Be sure you remember to put in a new tape.

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• Restore Files

  --Hopefully, you will never need this procedure. You may do a full restore of a server or restore only certain directories, files etc.

  In SYTOS, choose Restore and create a new procedure. Full restore procedures are already defined should you need to restore a full server. You will need to choose the files/directories and press Enter.