Basic Disaster Recovery Walk-Through

Version 1.6 – 12/12/08

Overview

This guide is meant to outline the basic procedure used to perform recoveries using CommVault Simpana 7.0 at a disaster recovery site. It recommended that you read the Disaster Recovery section of the Official Galaxy documentation which covers this topic in much more detail. This can be found on the documentation CD that came with the Galaxy Software package, and is also viewable on the Maintenance Advantage support website at:

See the last section of this guide for links to the official documentation.

Licensing Considerations

When the CommServe is rebuilt or installed at the DR site you will have to consider the license key that you will need for the install. Here are the following scenarios:

  • You should install with the built in 30-day evaluation license. Your license will come back once the CommServe database is restored.
  • If the DR CommServe has a different IP than the production CommServe or if this is a permanent Hot-Site, you will need a DR license. Please contact your sales representative to obtain this license. Otherwise you MUST use the same IP address that the production server was licensed with or the services will not start.

Pre-Install Considerations

  1. Make sure you have your Galaxy CD’s and necessary updates or Service Pack.
  2. Make sure that you have the latest CommServe DR backup at your DR site.
  3. Make sure that the CommServe’s Network Interface is set to either the Production CommServe’s IP address or the IP address in your DR License. You can verify this by running IPCONFIG at the command prompt.

Procedure

  1. Install the CommServe at the DR site.

You must select ONLY the CommServe at this point; other components can be added later.

When asked to Apply a License, make sure to choose an Evaluation License (Your permanent license is contained in the CommServe DB and will be restored with the DataBase in Section 3 below):

  1. Install Galaxy Service Pack and Hot fixes to same level as production or as close as possible. If you are not sure, install the latest Galaxy Service Pack for your version.
  1. Restore the CommServe database. Follow the procedure below:
  2. Copy the ER Backup Set to a local drive on the system (UNC paths, Mapped drives or CDROM discs will NOT work).
  3. Stop the Galaxy Services.
  4. From within the <Galaxy>/Base directory run theCommServeDisasterRecoveryGUI.exe
  5. Browse to the DR backup set and select the commserv_FULL.dmp file. Submit this restore request.
  1. Change the SQL install paths if necessary and restore the database. The paths will show the OLD database location, you need to point this to the current SQL Instance location on your machine (the path must exist).

  1. You should get the database successfully restored message.
  2. Next click on the Name/License change tab. Check the box next to CommServe Name Change. The old name and current name should appear in the text boxes. If the names aren’t exactly the same, you should submit the name change now by clicking on the Submit button. If the names match exactly, you can skip this step.

  1. Next click on the Post Recovery tab. You should check the boxes next to Mark all tapes exported and delete all active jobs. Hit the submit button.
  1. Close the CommServeDisasterRestoreGUI and start the Galaxy services.
  2. The CommServe database should now be restored and ready to use.
  1. Open the CommCell Console and disable data aging and the scheduler by following the instructions below:
  2. Right Click on the CommServe and select Properties.
  3. Choose the Activity Control tab.
  4. Uncheck Enable Scheduler.
  5. Uncheck Enable Data Aging.

  1. Hit OK.
  2. Kill any active jobs in the job controller window of the CommCell Console.
  1. Install the MediaAgent. Follow the steps below.
  2. If this will be on a separate system from the CommServe, verify that there is network communication to and from the CommServe and that hostname resolution is working properly. Set up hosts files if necessary. The network must be functioning properly before you perform the install.
  3. Verify that the OS can see the library hardware and that all appropriate hardware drivers are installed and functioning.
  4. Run the Galaxy setup and install the MediaAgent.
  5. Configure the DR Library when prompted.
  6. Applylatest Galaxy Service Pack and Hot fixes.
  7. Verify the MediaAgent is Online in the CommCell Console GUI. You can check this under Storage Resources -> MediaAgents -> <machine name> -> Properties -> Control tab. Status should be “Ready” and Offline Reason “Not Applicable” (see screen shot below).

  1. Next, go to the Index Cache tab and make sure the Index Cache is online. Enable this Access Path should be checked and the Offline Reason box should be blank. If the Index Cache is offline, you can move this to a new location local on the MediaAgent to reset it and bring it online.
  1. Install the appropriate Galaxy Agents on the target client machine(s) that the restore will be performed to:
  2. Check the network configuration before the install as outlined in the previous step. The client, CommServe, and MediaAgent must be able to resolve each other properly.
  3. Install the Galaxy Agent from the CD or Share.
  4. Apply the latest Galaxy Service Pack and Hot fixes.
  1. Mark All Media Exported if it wasn’t done so already in step 3h. This step MUST be done BEFORE you migrate any media to the DR Library. Follow the procedure below on how to do this from inside the CommCell Console:
  2. Right click on a production library.
  3. Select Mark Media Exported.
  4. Repeat for all of your production libraries that are shown in the GUI.
  1. Migrate Media to the DR Library. To do this:
  2. Go to the Storage Policy that is associated with client system that you want to restore.
  3. Select the CopySet of the tapes that you wish to restore from, right click and select Change Data Path
  1. This is a list of media that will be migrated hit OK(Note: you do not have to highlight your media, all of them will be migrated.)
  1. Select the DR Library and its master pool, drive pool, and scratch pool and hit OK.
  1. The media should now be migrated to the DR Library.
  1. If you are using a Library with a barcode reader, you should put the tapes in the DR Library if you have not done so yet. Once the library scan is finished, check the Media in Library and verify that the tapes show up with the correct barcode. If the barcode is not being read correctly, the tapes will show up as new blank tapes and this indicates a problem that must be corrected. There are 2 methods to correct this:
  1. Change the barcode reader settings on the library’s panel so that it reads the same number of digits and adds or removes the suffix correctly. This is the preferred method, especially if this is a permanent DR site. Contact your library vendor if you are not sure how to configure this on the library’s console.
  1. If you cannot perform this change on the library, you can use the Update Barcodes feature of Galaxy. You will need to:
  1. Delete the tapes with the wrong barcode from Media in Library within the DR library.
  2. Run Update Barcodes (from the library level) and change the barcodes so that they will match what the production library saw them as. See link at the bottom of the page for instructions.
  3. Perform a Full Scan on the library again.
  1. Check the Copy Precedence of the media that you want to restore from. To do this:
  2. Right click on the Storage Policy from where the copyset was just migrated and select properties.
  1. Select the Copy Precedence tab.
  2. Make note of the copyset that was migrated and remember the precedence number of the set and whether it is synchronous or selective. This information will be needed in the next step.
  1. Start the restore for the client. To do this:
  2. Browse to the client and expand the list of Agents.
  3. Expand the agent.
  4. Initiate the browse by right clicking on the BackupSet and selecting Browse Backup Data.
  1. On the Browse Options window, enter the time period for the backup data you want to restore.
  1. Hit the advanced button and Make the appropriate changes to the copy precedence settings if necessary. Set this to match the information that you got from step 10c. (This is not necessary if you are restoring from the primary synchronous copyset which is selected by default.)
  1. Complete the steps necessary to start the restore job.

Common DR Restore Issues:

Issue #1 – After browsing data you get an error message “No Data to Restore”.

Possible Solutions:

  1. Index Cache is offline. See step 5g to check and bring the Index Cache online.
  2. The library is not reading the Barcodes on the tapes correctly. See step 9 above on how to check and correct this.

Issue #2 – After browsing data you are requested to put in addition tapes that are not part of the job you are trying to restore.

Possible Solutions:

  1. You are choosing an incorrect browse time. You should be browsing a time right after the End time of the job (2 minutes after is a rule of thumb). In Galaxy 6.1 you can choose to Browse when right clicking on the job in the Backup History which will choose the correct times for you.
  2. You have multiple Subclients in your BackupSet. A browse will always try to show all data in a BackupSet. You can limit the browse to just the Subclient you want to restore by choosing the option to Specify Browse Path in the Browse Options window and entering the content of the Subclient that you wish to restore.
  1. Choose the “Use Exact Index” option under the Advanced button on the Browse Options window. This will force the browse to use the index from the tape instead of the latest one on the MediaAgent.

Links to the Official Galaxy Documentation on:

(This information is also on the DVD – Books Online)

  • Disaster Recovery Planning
  • Restoring the CommServe
  • Restoring the CommServe at a Hot-Site
  • Update Barcodes – How To Update Barcodes
  • Full System Restore – How To Perform a Full System Restore
  • Domain Controller Restore – How To Perform a Domain Controller Restore
  • Full Exchange Restore
  • Full SQL Restore