EV Tip: Using FSAUtility to re-create Archive Points

[Trafford]

I recently had a run-in with FSAUtility trying to recreate an Archive point which got duplicated.

I got confused over what was required for the UNC Path part of the command line.

Tech 64969,  states :-   "run the fsautility -a -s "UNCpathname"    OK so what is required for "UNCpathname"

I assumed "the path to the Archive point" and checked in the manual for the syntax

The Utility manual states:-

FSAUtility -a -s UNC_path [-l log_level] [-r]
Where:
■ -s UNC_pathspecifies the path to the required folder, volume, or
file server.

Sounds reasonable, they want the path to the Archive point foder.

I then spent hours running this command line, and getting "invalid UNC path errors" Researching UNC Path specs and syntax etc.

By chance I accidentally ran FSAUtility without any options and got the command help.

Studying this carefully I noticed that for the -a option it says :-

Parameters for -a (Recreate archive points only)
-s <UNC path>         UNC path name of target volume

Whereas for all the other options it says

-s <UNC path>         UNC path name of source folder, volume or file server

Which aggrees with the manual

SO FINALLY what is required for the UNC path for the -a option to recreate Archive Points is

the UNC Path to the VOLUME,   NOT the Archive Point Folder.

Running the command with the path to the volume worked fine, and duly re-created my Archive Point, and allowed archiving to run once more.

I later discovered that EV FSA really operates at the volume level. When the FSA task runs it always scans the entire volume, and acts upon each archive point as it discovers them in the folder tree. In light of this it now seems reasonable that you would specify the Volume to FSA Utility when recreating Archive Points.

What was confusing was the documentation which implied you can specify File Server, Volume, or Folder, which is true for all options EXCEPT for the -a option to recreate Archive Points.

We live and learn!

References:-

Tech64969-   http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH64969

EV Utility guide (9x & 10x) CH18-FSAUtility > FSAUtility Options > Recreating Archive Points

FSAUtility command Help (just run fsautility.exe with no options)