Using BEMCMD and Active Directory Recovery Agent (ADRA) with V11d Build 7170

[Tim_Whitehead]

Has anyone managed to turn on the following Backup Job option using BEMCMD and the AD Restore Agent using V11D Build 7170 :-

"Enable the restore of individual objects from Active Directory backups"

Background : I use BEMCMD to run my job setup, then my jobs, instead of doing anything with the GUI.

First, I run this to make sure BE is set up as I want it every time (this can be called from Full or Differential backup jobs) :-

bemcmd -v -w -o300 -do:DO_BACKUP_AUTOVERIFY      -dv:1

bemcmd -v -w -o300 -do:DO_BACKUP_COMPRESSIONTYPE -dv:1

bemcmd -v -w -o300 -do:DO_BACKUP_OPENFILEMETHOD  -dv:2

bemcmd -v -w -o300 -do:DO_DB_ALERTHISTORYDAYS    -dv:7

bemcmd -v -w -o300 -do:DO_DB_JOBHISTORYDAYS      -dv:180

bemcmd -v -w -o300 -do:DO_DB_JOBLOGDAYS          -dv:180

bemcmd -v -w -o300 -do:DO_DB_REPORTDAYS          -dv:30

bemcmd -v -w -o300 -do:DO_DISASTER_ALTERNATEPATH -dv:d:\Mgr_IDRFiles

bemcmd -v -w -o300 -do:DO_LOG_SUMMARYLEVEL       -dv:3

Then, I run the actual backup job with this (in this case, it's a Full backup, but a Diff is pretty much the same idea) :-

bemcmd -v -w -o300 -do:DO_BACKUP_TYPE -dv:0

bemcmd -v -w -o2 -j:"Mgr Full Backup A" -d:MgrTapeA -pr:Highest -s:c:\*.*,d:\*.*,e:\*.*,f:\*.*,l:\*.*,\\(serverName)\System?State\*.*,\\bymccrsst0099\Shadow?Copy?Components\*.* -m:"Mgr Full Backup Set A" -mp:0

This all runs from a simple scheduled job in W2K03 SP1 - no messing with the GUI.

However, the option for "Enabling the restore... Active Directory..." doesn't seem to have a command line equivalent. Even if I tick the option in the GUI, it doesn't seem to be used by my batch job, so my System State restore doesn't allow me to select AD objects for restore.

If I run a job created in the GUI, it's no problem, I can restore AD stuff from the System State backup.

Does anyone have any idea how to set this option using BEMCMD...?

The command line help, manuals, Web-trawl etc doesn't spit anything up in this area...

Tim.

[Ben_L_]

I couldn't find the switch for this either.  I sent an email over to some of the guys that handle BEMCMD, hopefully they will be able to clue us in.

[Tim_Whitehead]

Ben,

Super - thanks !

Tim.

[Tim_Whitehead]

Actually, I wonder if it's the way I'm doing the backup of System State using the path \\(ServerName)\System?State\*.* that's causing the problem...?

I'll investigate... Tim.

[Ben_L_]

Well the word I just got was that BEMCMD does not support GRT technology at this time.  That's all they would tell me.  So I would suggest going to http://engweb.symantec.com/enhancement/ and suggesting this enhancement.

Sorry

[Tim_Whitehead]

Oh well, never mind. Thanks for your help, Ben, in chasing this down.

At least I can move on knowing that it's just not possible - not wondering if I might have missed it...

I was about to add that my test didn't improve matters. I remembered why I specified the System State backup in this way - Page 8 of the BE Command Line Guide says so...

I noticed though, that the Selection List that was saved in BE by the job statement didn't have "System State" ticked (presumably due to a clash with \\(Servername)\System?State).

So, using reverse logic, I created a Selection List in the GUI that DID have it ticked, and ran it using BEMCMD, as follows :-

bemcmd -v -w -o2 -j:"Mgr Full Backup Test 2" -d:MgrTapeA -pr:Highest -sl:TTWTestList01 -m:"Mgr Full Backup Set Test" -mp:0

The result...? Still no ability to do a brick-level AD restore.

Now I know for sure why...!

Anyway, thanks again for your help - I did fill in the enhancement form as you suggested, so I'll keep my eye on future release notes - just in case...!

Bye for now,

Tim.