BESR and Clustered Servers
What does everyone do for Clustered servers? The following article does not go into a detailed solution http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/293810.htm I know that with IBM TSM, we actually ...
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Best Practices When Using Backup Exec System Recovery in Cluster and SAN Environments
Introduction Backup Exec System Recovery (BESR) supports backing up and restoring Windows Server 2000 and 2003 volumes in cluster and SAN environments. Both Microsoft and Veritas cluster configurations are supported. Below outline's best practices and known limitations when using BESR with these configurations. Creating Recovery PointsBest practices for capturing recovery point’s images with Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 7.0/8.0x in a Windows server cluster environment include the following:· Install Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery on all nodes within the server cluster.· Label all local and shared storage volumes for easy identification from within the Symantec Recovery Disk (SRD). Note that drive letter assignments and volume order may be different from within the SRD than from within Windows.· Ensure that any location to which recovery points will be stored can be accessed from the Symantec Recovery Disk. Take the necessary time to test the SRD and make sure your selected destination is accessible either locally or via the network. If a device is not visible from the SRD environment, consider using the new customizable SRD feature of BESR 7.0x/8.0x to add additional drivers to the SRD driver database.· If you store a recovery point of a cluster node system volume to a SAN shared storage volume, after a failover you will only be able to access those recovery points via the network. Consider the implications of this when deciding whether to store images of cluster node system volumes to SAN shared storage. Restoring Recovery PointsRestoring a Single Node in a Cluster· Before beginning, please refer to your specific cluster software documentation for application specific rules that govern the process of restoring cluster nodes.· Boot the Symantec Recovery Disk on the node to be restored.· Beware that it can be difficult to determine which physical volume to restore to since volume order and drive letter assignments may be different within the SRD than within Windows. If you cannot tell which volume is local to the node you are restoring, shut down the machine, temporarily disconnect any external storage, and then boot into the SRD to restore the volume.· Restore the recovery point of the operating system volume. Be sure to select the option to recover the original disk signature so that original Windows drive letter mappings will be preserved. If the option is available, select the option to preserve the domain trust token.· Boot the server into Windows (if applicable, reconnect any external storage first).· Verify that connections to shared storage are present.· Verify the cluster is functioning correctly. Remember to check your specific cluster documentation as needed.Restoring an Entire Cluster· Before beginning, please refer to your specific cluster documentation for application specific rules that govern the process of restoring cluster nodes.· Take all cluster nodes offline.· Restore one cluster node from the SRD as per the above steps. · Boot the cluster node into Windows, and restore the quorum volume to its original location on the shared storage (note that a Microsoft quorum volume can only exist on a basic disk).· From either the SRD or from within Windows, restore any shared storage volumes (note that this may be easier to do from Windows).· From within Windows, reestablish shared storage connections.· Restore the remaining cluster nodes using the Symantec Recovery Disk.· Verify that the cluster is running properly. Remember to check your specific cluster documentation as needed. Support InformationSupported OperationsIn a server cluster environment for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows 2003, Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 7.0x / 8.0x provides support for the following operations:· Creation and restoration of an active node OS recovery point in a multi-node cluster.· Creation and restoration of passive node OS recovery point in a multi-node cluster.· Creation and restoration of quorum disk volume recovery points. Restoration of quorum disk volume recovery points should be done within Windows, due to volume order and driver letter assignments being unpredictable when booting to the SRD.· The creation and restoration of shared-storage volume images (Note: Proper presentation of the shared-storage volume must be available in Windows Disk Management prior to restore). To achieve this you must perform shared-storage volume recovery within Windows on the active node. Unsupported OperationsSymantec Backup Exec System Recovery 7.0 /8.0x does not support the following operations in Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 server cluster environments:· The creation and restoration of operating system volume recovery points where the operating system resides on a shared-storage volume. · Restoring a quorum volume image to a different drive mapping than the original mapping that existed prior to recovery.· Restoring a quorum volume from the SRD.· Scheduled jobs after a failover. Currently, scheduled jobs do not automatically activate and run on the new active node after a failover. They must be manually re-enabled (or recreated) on the new active node.
