Unable to restore W2K3 backup data

[Peter]

Server is IBM X-Series X3650 MT 7979 with IBM ServerRaid 8k/8k-l
controller and Adaptec SCSI Card 29320 LPE Ultra 320 SCSI. E5320 Xeon
Processor @ 1.86GHz, 4 GB RAM

OS is Windows 2003 SP2 Standard Edition with all Critical Updates

Backup Unit is external HP LTO Ultrium Drive

NTBackup is used for regular backup and everything *appears* to backup
OK

We recently went to restore some data and NTBackup restore hung on the
message "mounting media" once the file(s) to be restored had been
selected.

Driver Version for the Adaptec SCSI Controller is 7.0.0.6 (latest
according to Adaptec)

HP LTO Ultrium driver is v1.0.5.2 (latest according to HP)

So if we can't restore, our backups are worthless. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Peter

 

[Anteaus]

RE: Unable to restore W2K3 backup data

The "Removeable Storage" database on 2000/2003 server is a notorious source
of trouble, and it's odds-on your problem is here. Since this feature is only
of any real use with tape autoloaders, I dearly wish Microsoft would provide
the option to dispense with it. But, they don't.

Removeable Storage is found in the compmgmt.msc applet.

I would be inclined to remove any references in Removeable Storage to the
tape in question and re-catalog it. Take the tape out and write-protect it
before you do so.

The other option is to see if you can find someone with a similar drive to
try a restore.


"Peter" wrote:

> Server is IBM X-Series X3650 MT 7979 with IBM ServerRaid 8k/8k-l
> controller and Adaptec SCSI Card 29320 LPE Ultra 320 SCSI. E5320 Xeon
> Processor @ 1.86GHz, 4 GB RAM
>
> OS is Windows 2003 SP2 Standard Edition with all Critical Updates
>
> Backup Unit is external HP LTO Ultrium Drive
>
> NTBackup is used for regular backup and everything *appears* to backup
> OK
>
> We recently went to restore some data and NTBackup restore hung on the
> message "mounting media" once the file(s) to be restored had been
> selected.
>
> Driver Version for the Adaptec SCSI Controller is 7.0.0.6 (latest
> according to Adaptec)
>
> HP LTO Ultrium driver is v1.0.5.2 (latest according to HP)
>
> So if we can't restore, our backups are worthless. Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks
>
> Peter
>

 

[Peter]

Re: Unable to restore W2K3 backup data

On Apr 2, 7:03 am, Anteaus <Ante...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> The "Removeable Storage" database on 2000/2003 server is a notorious source
> of trouble, and it's odds-on your problem is here. Since this feature is only
> of any real use with tape autoloaders, I dearly wish Microsoft would provide
> the option to dispense with it. But, they don't.
>
> Removeable Storage is found in the compmgmt.msc applet.
>
> I would be inclined to remove any references in Removeable Storage to the
> tape in question and re-catalog it. Take the tape out and write-protect it
> before you do so.
>
> The other option is to see if you can find someone with a similar drive to
> try a restore.
>
>
>
> "Peter" wrote:
> > Server is IBM X-Series X3650 MT 7979 with IBM ServerRaid 8k/8k-l
> > controller and Adaptec SCSI Card 29320 LPE Ultra 320 SCSI. E5320 Xeon
> > Processor @ 1.86GHz, 4 GB RAM
>
> > OS is Windows 2003 SP2 Standard Edition with all Critical Updates
>
> > Backup Unit is external HP LTO Ultrium Drive
>
> > NTBackup is used for regular backup and everything *appears* to backup
> > OK
>
> > We recently went to restore some data and NTBackup restore hung on the
> > message "mounting media" once the file(s) to be restored had been
> > selected.
>
> > Driver Version for the Adaptec SCSI Controller is 7.0.0.6 (latest
> > according to Adaptec)
>
> > HP LTO Ultrium driver is v1.0.5.2 (latest according to HP)
>
> > So if we can't restore, our backups are worthless. Any suggestions?
>
> > Thanks
>
> > Peter- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thank you for the suggestion. I think I've resolved it, The "restore"
function works differently in W2K3 than it did in W2K insofar as, if
the "correct" tape was not inserted in W2K, the OS gave an error
message. In W2K3 it just sits there saying "mounting media"... for
hours if necessary.

Once we worked this out, we went through every tape in the Library
listing until the correct one was inserted. A right pain - but it
eventually worked

I've since modified the ntbackup batch file to give each tape a unique
name based on the time/date of backup as follows:
:: Set backup date & time
for /f "tokens=2 delims=/ " %%f in ("%date%") do set day01=%%f
for /f "tokens=3 delims=/ " %%f in ("%date%") do set month01=%%f
for /f "tokens=4 delims=/ " %%f in ("%date%") do set year01=%%f
for /f "tokens=1 delims=:" %%f in ("%time%") do set hour01=%%f
for /f "tokens=2 delims=:" %%f in ("%time%") do set minute01=%%f
set backupdate=%year01%%month01%%day01%_%hour01%%minute01%
:: run backup
%windir%\ntbackup.exe ...etc... /n "%backupdate%"

I know... I should have done this in the first place!

Thanks

Peter

 

[Anteaus]

Re: Unable to restore W2K3 backup data


Unfortunately, even if tapes are religiously labelled that doesn't seem to
make it entirely reliable, as I've found out. Several times in backups I've
had it refuse the correct tape for no identifiable reason, then re-running
the exact-same backup batch file again, it (inexplicably) accepts the tape
this time.

I've even had it demand "Insert the tape named FRIDAY!" on a Tuesday. The
batch-file was unquestionably telling it to do otherwise. Work that one out.
It seems as if there must be some kind of persistence in the backup
parameters, such that old commands sometimes 'resurface' for no apparent
reason. Either that, or Friday's session never closed properly. But if so,
why did it not affect Monday's backup?

I'm beginning to realise, having recently migrated to it, that the W2003
backup subsystem is even more buggy than that of W2000. (Which in turn was a
lot more buggy than NT4's..) Not only that, the scheduler service ain't
exactly reliable either. :-/

Third-party software is probably the answer, though the cost (and
complexity!) of this tends to be excessive for small sites. If I could find a
solution with a sensible price and good stability, I'd use it.

"Peter" wrote:

> Thank you for the suggestion. I think I've resolved it, The "restore"
> function works differently in W2K3 than it did in W2K insofar as, if
> the "correct" tape was not inserted in W2K, the OS gave an error
> message. In W2K3 it just sits there saying "mounting media"... for
> hours if necessary.
>
> Once we worked this out, we went through every tape in the Library
> listing until the correct one was inserted. A right pain - but it
> eventually worked
>
> I've since modified the ntbackup batch file to give each tape a unique
> name based on the time/date of backup as follows:
> :: Set backup date & time
> for /f "tokens=2 delims=/ " %%f in ("%date%") do set day01=%%f
> for /f "tokens=3 delims=/ " %%f in ("%date%") do set month01=%%f
> for /f "tokens=4 delims=/ " %%f in ("%date%") do set year01=%%f
> for /f "tokens=1 delims=:" %%f in ("%time%") do set hour01=%%f
> for /f "tokens=2 delims=:" %%f in ("%time%") do set minute01=%%f
> set backupdate=%year01%%month01%%day01%_%hour01%%minute01%
> :: run backup
> %windir%\ntbackup.exe ...etc... /n "%backupdate%"
>
> I know... I should have done this in the first place!
>
> Thanks
>
> Peter
>