Restoring Operating System Partition

[Drone]

I have a Symantec Backup Exec 2010 Server Windows 2008.  The OS failed on that box. I have a full backup (snapshot) of the C drive (Operating System location). I want to restore that backup using that box (it is the only tape drive I have).

Can I install a new OS and Backup exec software on that box and overwrite itself? (I think not).

or

Can I move the tape drive to another machine and restore it that way (I do not have a Backup Exec Agent).

or

Am I screwed?

[CraigV]

Hi,

1. Install the OS on the server in question and patch it.

2. Install BE 2010 on it and patch to the same level.

3. Restore the data, followed by the System State. Restart the server and all should be working.

If you are able to move the drive to another server, then do so as you might get fewer clashes with files being accessed by the OS (doubt it, but you never know!).

Thanks!

[Drone]

Forgot one last piece of information:

 This server also houses an Oracle application. My concern is that there are DLLs registered in the windows\system(32) directory.

Will Backup Exec permit me to Overwrite the Windows directory to ensure that all supporting files are restored? 

[pkh]

When you restore the C: drive and the system state, and then reboot, you should get back the server as it was during the time of the backup.

If you have the .dr file, you can use IDR to help you speed up the recovery process.

For more details, read the Preparing for Disaster Recovery section of the the Admin Guide for how to recover your server.  There is also a chapter on IDR.  The Admin Guide can be found in the BE installation directory.

[Colin_Weaver]

Did you do a system state backup as well as the C: drive backup - OR ONLY the C: drive backup?

If you did not do both then you may not have enough for a DR restore but will be able to recover files that were not considered part of System State. Note: In some instances program binaries (i.e. perhaps the Oracle services themselves), might be classified as part of the system state. Application service registration within the operating system is definitely part of the system state - so without a system state backup I would guess that you will have to re-install Oracle.

With regards to Oracle did you do an actual Oracle Backup or were you relying on the backup of the file system alone. If you did not do an Oracle backup at very least you will only get back a crash consistent version of the database however worse case scenario is that Active File Exlusion (AFE) my have applied and you have never backed up the Oracle data.

Of course if Oracle was on a different drive and that drive still exists (and you did not have a System State backup so have to re-install Oracle), then you may have other options for recovery (but may need to talk to Oracle for best option.)