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Changing Logical Drive Letters on File server, and impact on backup jobs

RobCatron
Level 2
I know this is a noob question.  I have searched the forums, but have not found anything exactly to my liking and would appreciate a few tips.

Currently, I have the following Logical drive letters on our Win2k3 File Server:

C: = Raid 5 internal array and primary storage
D:, E: optical drives
K: External drive
L: External drive
M: External drive

I have added a new Raid 5 array into the server and am going to make it Logical drive letter K:, and therefore am going to "bump up" the current K-M to the next highest letter, and make my new Raid 5 Logical drive K:  I know, I know, this is creating more work - I could make the new letter N:, but my boss does't it want it that way :)

My noob questions are:

How will backup exec react when I change the logical drive letters?  Will it crash out in any way until I get the jobs modified to reflect the logical drive lettering change?

In other words, the file selections on my jobs will no longer be valid.  For instance, I have a nightly backup that backs up certain folders in K:\vol2\, but of course after I change the logical drive letters, that location will no longer exist (it will be L:\vol2\). 

The selections are more complex than that (I backup certain things on different nights to balance out my tape usage), but I think you get my drift.

What would be great would be if there was some .ini file or backup data file in which I could simply close out of Backup Exec (10.x), make my drive changes, modify said backup job ini file/database simply changing the drive letters in the paths, then simply restart backup exec and the changes would be made.

Does any type of job database exist, one that I could change the letters.

Thanks in advance for any tips/tricks

Rob Catron
Lexington KY




1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

CraigV
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Aha...now it makes sense...

Nope, it doesn't remember that change.
I have a test drive attached to my backup server. I selected a folder in it, and closed off Backup Exec. Changed the drive, restarted the services, and the selection list is blank.
So when you make that change, you'll have to select the shares\files\folders again unfortunately. it also keeps what you had initially selected in the inclusions/exclusions list, so you will need to edit it out there.

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CraigV
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Hi,

If you have exclusions in pointing to specific folders on a drive, when you change the drive letter those exclusions will cause the job to fail.
Best bet would be to edit those manually.
What you can do in your selection list is double-check and make sure that what you've selected is still there, although there is no reason for it to change at all. Changing a drive letter doesn't invalidate your selection list, so the only thing I can think of would be your exclusion/inclusion list that needs to be changed.

Laters!

RobCatron
Level 2
Thanks for the assurance, but are you saying in your last section on the selection list -

If I change the drive letters on the system, you make it sound like Backup Exec is smart enough to know that the drive letter changed and it wil change the job to match the change?  You say there is, "no reason for it to change at all"

In other words, in my case.  I currnently have drive K:

some folders on the root of it:

/vol2
/media/
            /photos
            /music
            /install_download

In one of my jobs, "nightly full backup" I am selecting K:\*.* (-photos) to backup to tape
Then on another night, I am backing up the K:\photos folder in another job to a different tape

After my drive letter changes on the server, this external drive K will now be L, and my new array will be K, so the /vol2, /media folder will not longer be on K but L

Perhaps you thought I was copying the data that was on K to the new drive that will be K, but I am not - I am going to use the new arrary for other things.

I know it is confusing to type, but I just wanted clarification. 

Thank you
Rob

Colin_Weaver
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Employee Accredited Certified
If you look in your current backup selection lists - you will see a tab for "View Selection Details" that shows the text display (instead of the graphical display) for what you have selected. This displays theselection list howBackupExec stores and applies it.

 I think that you will find that if your machine currently has multiple drives and you select the whole machine that it has stored the selection  list by drive letter - not by the machine name - this means that if you add any extra drive letters to the system and want to back them up that you will have to edit the selection list to add them in.

However if you replace the drive latters instead of adding then they should still backup without amending the selection list

CraigV
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Aha...now it makes sense...

Nope, it doesn't remember that change.
I have a test drive attached to my backup server. I selected a folder in it, and closed off Backup Exec. Changed the drive, restarted the services, and the selection list is blank.
So when you make that change, you'll have to select the shares\files\folders again unfortunately. it also keeps what you had initially selected in the inclusions/exclusions list, so you will need to edit it out there.

RobCatron
Level 2
That is what I thought I would have to do.  So I am going to jot down all of my job details before making the change, as there will be nothing there (as in your test) when I load Backup Exec online.

My FEAR was that Backup Exec wouldn't load, or think the job was corrupt - in other words, I knew it would fail, and I would have to rebuild the jobs, but I just wanted to make sure I could get back into it without it freaking out.

My other thing was, "Gee it would be really nice if there were simply a txt file or similar in the backup exec folder that stores your jobs in a text format like the other poster stated."  I could then exit out of Backup Exec, make my changes, edit the file, and simply change the drive letters (and not the paths), then bring Backup Exec back online.

So I have a bit of work for myself today - that is ok, job security.

Thanks to all
Rob

CraigV
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Ja, it would make things a lot simpler, that's for sure...maybe that will come in future releases!

Job security is always the safest option =)

RobCatron
Level 2

Ha Ha!  Thanks again.  The job is pretty much done, and it's only a bit past lunch time!  So much for job security :)