restoring sbs 2000 from backup...

Discussion:

(too old to reply)

BradinMuskoka

2010-02-13 03:13:01 UTC

Our SBS 2000 server failed and some components had to be replaced. I then
installed win2K server on it (not sbs) just to get the machine running so I
could then do a restore of teh c: drive from my recent full backup using
symantec backup exec. I was able to restore it no probs and when finished
needed to be rebooted of course. Unfortunatly, it did not boot now symply
indicates a "drive configuration error". I suspect this is likely due to the
fact that the current ide raid 5 configuration may be just slightly different
than it was previously due to some new components having to be replaced. The
drive letters are the same for the two logical drives configured, and the
raid properties (# stripes, blocksize etc... etc..) are the same but the
actual logical disk sizes may be slightly different and I am not 100% sure
what the old ones were exactly... arghhh!

I think that if I can restore the entire c: drive from my backups BUT
somehow exclude the portion of the registry files that house the
hkey-local-machine "hardware" and "system" registry hives (and whatever other
files I may need to keep intact to boot successfully) , I may have success in
getting it to boot because it would be booting using the new RAID
configuration settings instead. I think that all I need to do is to keep the
existing portion of the registry that relates to the current disk
configurations - and that should be in that registry hive - I think!

Has anyone had to do this type of thing before? Am I on the right track
here? I really do not want to have to attempt to configure this machine from
scratch again and I need to get this DC and our Exchange database back up
quickly!!!

Failing this, is there a chance that I could simply install the base win2k
server with Exchange 2000 and required components and not have this SBS
machine be a domain controller at all?? My problem is that we have a member
Win2K3 domain controller in our environment as well, and I will run into
problems if I have to configure the SBS machine from scratch - as it will not
let you configure using the same domain name...

ANy help would be most appreciated...

Thanks, Brad

Thanks, Brad

Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP]

2010-02-13 15:05:40 UTC

Permalink

Brad:

Unfortunately, Most of us have forgotten most of what we knew about SBS 2000,
but the basics of the backup /restore sequence should not have changed that
much.

For SBS it is simple really, and not dependent on the drive size. Install
Windows (only) *from your SBS CD*, install the last known Service Pack to
bring the base install version of NT Backup and related .dll files up to
the same level, restore your entire SBS backups to the same volumes you were
using, usually C for the system and programs, D for everthing else. That
should do it.

The only requirement that I am aware of is that the volumes be at least large
enough to hold the data, as SBS 2003 and before was a file level backup.

Regarding your othe question about the Server 03 in the mix, it is not clear
if it was/is a DC or not, as you indicate member server. If it was not a
DC, then it has no AD info, and will not be a replication partner. If it
is a DC, then the AD and such will /should be the same as the SBS, so long
as your backups are within the tombstone period.

-
Larry
Please post the resolution to your
issue so others may benefit
-
Get Your SBS Health Check at
www.sbsbpa.com

Post by BradinMuskoka
Our SBS 2000 server failed and some components had to be replaced. I
then installed win2K server on it (not sbs) just to get the machine
running so I could then do a restore of teh c: drive from my recent
full backup using symantec backup exec. I was able to restore it no
probs and when finished needed to be rebooted of course.
Unfortunatly, it did not boot now symply indicates a "drive
configuration error". I suspect this is likely due to the fact that
the current ide raid 5 configuration may be just slightly different
than it was previously due to some new components having to be
replaced. The drive letters are the same for the two logical drives
configured, and the raid properties (# stripes, blocksize etc...
etc..) are the same but the actual logical disk sizes may be slightly
different and I am not 100% sure what the old ones were exactly...
arghhh!
I think that if I can restore the entire c: drive from my backups BUT
somehow exclude the portion of the registry files that house the
hkey-local-machine "hardware" and "system" registry hives (and
whatever other files I may need to keep intact to boot successfully) ,
I may have success in getting it to boot because it would be booting
using the new RAID configuration settings instead. I think that all I
need to do is to keep the existing portion of the registry that
relates to the current disk configurations - and that should be in
that registry hive - I think!
Has anyone had to do this type of thing before? Am I on the right
track here? I really do not want to have to attempt to configure this
machine from scratch again and I need to get this DC and our Exchange
database back up quickly!!!
Failing this, is there a chance that I could simply install the base
win2k server with Exchange 2000 and required components and not have
this SBS machine be a domain controller at all?? My problem is that we
have a member Win2K3 domain controller in our environment as well, and
I will run into problems if I have to configure the SBS machine from
scratch - as it will not let you configure using the same domain
name...
ANy help would be most appreciated...
Thanks, Brad
Thanks, Brad

BradinMuskoka

2010-02-14 16:18:01 UTC

Permalink

Hi Larry. Thanks for the response... I just want to confirm a couple things
and ask a few more questions...

1) We use Backup Exec to backup our data and as such the backup I have is
not an NTbackup set. In light of this, do I still need to worry about
bringing the os up to service pack 4?? To run the restore, I need to install
a backup exec agent first (once win2K has been installed) and then do a push
restore from the backup exec management server.

I have done this a few times but it always fails at boot up with a drive
configuration error (before the loading Windows 2000 Server screen even
appears) - leading me to believe that some of or all of the hidden boot files
being restored need to be excluded as part of the c:\ restore because they
do not mesh with the current drive configuration on disk... Thoughts? Could
it be as simple as an incorrect boot.ini file screwing things up?

2) Yes, this is where it gets dicey because I configured this other win2K3
server as a backup domain controller several years ago now - and yes it does
have a copy of the active directory database and is providig our network with
DNS services as we speak. WHen I configured this I recall having to upgrade
my sbs 2000 active directory schema so that it could replicate etc... with
the win2K3 domain controller - due to the differnt versions of AD. I also
seem to recall having an issue with some AD attributes being "mangled" too...
I was jsut worried that if I have to do a complete rebuild of my SBS machine,
it will wind up replicating an empty AD structure to my "replication partner
machine" and render our domain dead... I guess as long as I use a completely
different IP address and machine name thiough - it should be fine...

3) If I have to completely rebuild my SBS server, how do I use the same
domain name while another AD replication partner is still on the network??
Can I configure it using a completely new domain name and then somehow join
it to the original domain then refresh the AD structure from my replication
partner???

4) THe other option question I have is this... Can I install just win2K
server on this machine and then Exchange from the SBS cd's ,without having to
have this machine even be a domain controller???? As such it would just be a
win2k server running exchange. With another DC on the network already running
AD services,I wouldn;t need to install AD on this machine to support exchange
would I??? THis is the option I may consider if I can't restore my backups
properly - I may just get away from SBS 2000 altogether and when we have the
cash - look at SBS 2008 instead...

Thanks, Brad

being able to restore my backups is really what I need to do - otherwise I
am into a lot of work!!!

Post by Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP]
Unfortunately, Most of us have forgotten most of what we knew about SBS 2000,
but the basics of the backup /restore sequence should not have changed that
much.
For SBS it is simple really, and not dependent on the drive size. Install
Windows (only) *from your SBS CD*, install the last known Service Pack to
bring the base install version of NT Backup and related .dll files up to
the same level, restore your entire SBS backups to the same volumes you were
using, usually C for the system and programs, D for everthing else. That
should do it.
The only requirement that I am aware of is that the volumes be at least large
enough to hold the data, as SBS 2003 and before was a file level backup.
Regarding your othe question about the Server 03 in the mix, it is not clear
if it was/is a DC or not, as you indicate member server. If it was not a
DC, then it has no AD info, and will not be a replication partner. If it
is a DC, then the AD and such will /should be the same as the SBS, so long
as your backups are within the tombstone period.
-
Larry
Please post the resolution to your
issue so others may benefit
-
Get Your SBS Health Check at
www.sbsbpa.com

Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP]

2010-02-14 18:52:11 UTC

Permalink

Brad...

See more info in line.

But you did not say if the controller was one of the components that had
to be replaced. If that is so, your backup may not be seeing the drives
on reboot? Yes/ no?

Also you did not say if the RAID was a hardware or software config.

If the mobo is the same, you might try a standard ATA drive, or whatever
controller is native to the mobo, as the drivers would be in place in the
backup version, and the restore should be uncomplicated by the existance
of a RAID. Once you get the system to boot, it should find the (perhaps)
different controller and add it to the list so you could then backup that
instance and then restore to the RAID.

Remember that hardware raid simply looks like a single drive to the OS.
The OS knows nothing about the underlying drives and could care less.

-
Larry
Please post the resolution to your
issue so others may benefit
-
Get Your SBS Health Check at
www.sbsbpa.com

Post by BradinMuskoka
Hi Larry. Thanks for the response... I just want to confirm a couple
things and ask a few more questions...
1) We use Backup Exec to backup our data and as such the backup I
have is not an NTbackup set. In light of this, do I still need to
worry about bringing the os up to service pack 4?? To run the
restore, I need to install a backup exec agent first (once win2K has
been installed) and then do a push restore from the backup exec
management server.

Ok... I would still use SBS CD1 for the base install. As for questions regarding
how to use BE, best you use their support team or forums.

Post by BradinMuskoka
I have done this a few times but it always fails at boot up with a
drive configuration error (before the loading Windows 2000 Server
screen even appears) - leading me to believe that some of or all of
the hidden boot files being restored need to be excluded as part of
the c:\ restore because they do not mesh with the current drive
configuration on disk... Thoughts? Could it be as simple as an
incorrect boot.ini file screwing things up?

Is there anymore info available about the "drive configuration error", or
is that it? A more verbose error message would be helpful.

The usual progression would be to configure the new drives in the controllers
bios to be the same config as before regarding partitions/volumes, boot on
the Windows CD, press F6 to load the controllers drivers, and install windows.
I remember some really strange errors about that time where some version
of Windows would not install properly if there were two drive in the system,
so I might try just configuring and restoring the system partition and restarting
SBS in safe mode to avoid errors about stuff missing on the other drives.
If you try that, let us know how that goes.

For any dificulty with the boot.ini, you can look at it after the base install,
record the boot order, and then boot on the windows cd after the install
and view the boot.ini again. It can be edited at that point.

Post by BradinMuskoka
2) Yes, this is where it gets dicey because I configured this other
win2K3 server as a backup domain controller several years ago now -
and yes it does have a copy of the active directory database and is
providig our network with DNS services as we speak. WHen I configured
this I recall having to upgrade my sbs 2000 active directory schema so
that it could replicate etc... with the win2K3 domain controller - due
to the differnt versions of AD. I also seem to recall having an issue
with some AD attributes being "mangled" too... I was jsut worried that
if I have to do a complete rebuild of my SBS machine, it will wind up
replicating an empty AD structure to my "replication partner machine"
and render our domain dead... I guess as long as I use a completely
different IP address and machine name thiough - it should be fine...

Assuming you have made no changes to the AD, the restore of the SBS should
have no effect on the other DC. Assuming you have to install from scratch,
you will have to demote the other DC and join the new domain with this box,
the same as all the stations in the previous domain.

Post by BradinMuskoka
3) If I have to completely rebuild my SBS server, how do I use the
same domain name while another AD replication partner is still on the
network?? Can I configure it using a completely new domain name and
then somehow join it to the original domain then refresh the AD
structure from my replication partner???

Names are for our (humans) use. The computers pay no attention, they use
the Security ID, or SID, so the DC on the old domain won't know anything
about the new SBS that is being brought up, unless you try to use it IP address.

Post by BradinMuskoka
4) THe other option question I have is this... Can I install just
win2K server on this machine and then Exchange from the SBS cd's
,without having to have this machine even be a domain controller????
As such it would just be a win2k server running exchange. With another
DC on the network already running AD services,I wouldn;t need to
install AD on this machine to support exchange would I??? THis is the
option I may consider if I can't restore my backups properly - I may
just get away from SBS 2000 altogether and when we have the cash -
look at SBS 2008 instead...

SBS is a package deal. You start with the base OS, then you add the other
server apps. You cannot, either by license or just because, install the
version of Exchange that comes with SBS on a non SBS box.

BradinMuskoka

2010-02-15 04:56:01 UTC

Permalink

Hi Larry,thanks for teh great responses... I'll try to reply to them as best
I can...

Yes, it is hardware raid - using a CERC/ATA 4ch card. The controller
actually was not one of teh components that had to be replaced. What happend
was that a drive in the raid array failed a week ago, the the power supply
failed less than 7 days later and on teh same day my new drive arrived (go
figure...) Not only that,the BIOS battery dies - which is where I ran into
problems - because then I had to reconfigure the entire raid array. I
configured it the way I thought it had been but I think the Dell partitions
are not exactly the same as they were from Dell's factory so that means that
each of teh logical disks inteh raid array are slightly different sizes. I
also added a 4th "hotswap" drive to teh array as well...

On Friday, I had started an SBS install from scratch on the machine
(thinking I had not tto many options other than that at this point) but had
not quite completed the full install. I had gotten as far as creating the new
domain name etc... etc...

Today I thought I'd go into the office and try a restore of the C: drive as
it was prior to the machine going down. So, I did this and EXCLUDED the
hidden system files... boot.ini,msdos.sys, io.sys etc... etc... It said that
it restored completely and I was able to reboot the machine this time without
a drive configuration error (sorry, that is as verbose as the error got...
pretty sad for sure...) I thought I was away tio the races fr a minute when
it booted up jsut fine!! However, at the login screen, I noticed that is
still ahd the new domain name and everything else there.When I logged
in,indeed it appeared to be the same as before I even did the restore!!! It
had the same new IP address, same newmachine name,same new domain name etc...
etc... I looked in c:\ and discovered that all the files had definately been
restored - but obviously not everything got overwritten!!! I suspect that
none of the registry and active directory stuff got restored at all... I
thought I would try a "SYstem State" restore but that also restored the boot
files - and I was unable to uncheck them - so I really couldn;t do that...

I guess I can;t understand why a complete restore of the C: drive would not
have restored /replaced the entire contents in their entirety - thus
replacing the active directory database etc... etc... I don't get it...
Maybe that is a question for symantec though - as you suggested... Maybe I
would ahve had better luck had I simply installed the win2K OS *ONLY* instead
of moving forward with a partial SBS install??? SHould I try doing that
perhaps and then run my restore???

As for what happens if I do actually perform a new complete clean SBS
install... you are saying that I would ahve to "demote" my other win2k3
domain controller and then join it to the new domain... BUT is there a way
that I can import all of the old AD information from that win2k3 domain
controller into the new domain first??? Otherwise I would have to create all
the users, join all the computers to the new domain, create all of my GPO's
etc... etc... the list goes on and on and on and on!!!!

Thanks for your help!!!

Brad

Post by Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP]
Brad...
See more info in line.
But you did not say if the controller was one of the components that had
to be replaced. If that is so, your backup may not be seeing the drives
on reboot? Yes/ no?
Also you did not say if the RAID was a hardware or software config.
If the mobo is the same, you might try a standard ATA drive, or whatever
controller is native to the mobo, as the drivers would be in place in the
backup version, and the restore should be uncomplicated by the existance
of a RAID. Once you get the system to boot, it should find the (perhaps)
different controller and add it to the list so you could then backup that
instance and then restore to the RAID.
Remember that hardware raid simply looks like a single drive to the OS.
The OS knows nothing about the underlying drives and could care less.
-
Larry
Please post the resolution to your
issue so others may benefit
-
Get Your SBS Health Check at
www.sbsbpa.com

Ok... I would still use SBS CD1 for the base install. As for questions regarding
how to use BE, best you use their support team or forums.

Is there anymore info available about the "drive configuration error", or
is that it? A more verbose error message would be helpful.
The usual progression would be to configure the new drives in the controllers
bios to be the same config as before regarding partitions/volumes, boot on
the Windows CD, press F6 to load the controllers drivers, and install windows.
I remember some really strange errors about that time where some version
of Windows would not install properly if there were two drive in the system,
so I might try just configuring and restoring the system partition and restarting
SBS in safe mode to avoid errors about stuff missing on the other drives.
If you try that, let us know how that goes.
For any dificulty with the boot.ini, you can look at it after the base install,
record the boot order, and then boot on the windows cd after the install
and view the boot.ini again. It can be edited at that point.

Brad Pears

2010-02-16 18:46:51 UTC

Permalink

Hey Larry, I was able to get my SBS machine up and running - not completely
clean but Exchange is up so the users are happy that they can now access
their email...

One issue that I have after the restore is that I am unable to access any of
the shares (administrative or other) on this machine using the
\\server\share format but if I use the IP address (\\ipaddress\share) it
will work. Even when I browse the domain from my machine ( I am a domain
admin), and click on this SBS machine in the list, I get the following
error...

"Login error: The target account name is incorrect"

It sounds like it would almost be a forward/reverse lookup issue but those
zones appear to be configured correctly in DNS...

Something did not get configured properly on my SBS machine due to the
restore. Any ideas what I might try??

Thanks, Brad

Ok... I would still use SBS CD1 for the base install. As for questions
regarding how to use BE, best you use their support team or forums.

Is there anymore info available about the "drive configuration error", or
is that it? A more verbose error message would be helpful.
The usual progression would be to configure the new drives in the
controllers bios to be the same config as before regarding
partitions/volumes, boot on the Windows CD, press F6 to load the
controllers drivers, and install windows. I remember some really strange
errors about that time where some version of Windows would not install
properly if there were two drive in the system, so I might try just
configuring and restoring the system partition and restarting SBS in safe
mode to avoid errors about stuff missing on the other drives. If you try
that, let us know how that goes.
For any dificulty with the boot.ini, you can look at it after the base
install, record the boot order, and then boot on the windows cd after the
install and view the boot.ini again. It can be edited at that point.

Assuming you have made no changes to the AD, the restore of the SBS should
have no effect on the other DC. Assuming you have to install from
scratch, you will have to demote the other DC and join the new domain with
this box, the same as all the stations in the previous domain.