posted 12-05-2000 06:54 AM               

this is the way i work.

restoring users or mail;
-----------------------

introduction:

there is one disadvantage with groupwise and that is the agenda of a groupwise user.
all the agenda items are stored in the users database. in order to be-able to restore groupwise mail of a user there are a few ways.

1 - userdatabase (userfid.db) is broken

you can restore the userfid.db from backup
and chk & fix the database this would only be a loss of from the time of backup and preserve the agenda.

don't restore the database and remove it. then do a re-create user database and all the mail send to and from the user the mail until it went corrupted it will be restored but the agenda will be lost.

2 - User has deleted all his mail messages
and cleaned out his trash box )

when we want everything back for this user and it is really needed then do this ( a lot of work)

restore to a privat test server the WHOLE postoffice and domain all the files message databases and users databases from backup.

then on a privat network do a (only a hub or so) connect the server and a workstation. then fire up the old postoffice (only postoffice will do) then connect to it and login as the user, archive all the missing items from the user and disconnect.
down everything and connect you workstation with the archive to your production network and login as that user and unarchive all the missing items back to his mail box.

nice eh? this is a bit time consuming but it did what it was needed. as i said i dont know a better way of doing this. i hope novell somyday will have a better solution for this.

i hope i have not told you a story you allready know.

Regards ,

TYrone

.
.

quote:

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Originally posted by Mirre:
Which is the best and most reliable software for backing up the gw databases? For an easy way to restore deleted mail, users, documents and so on. Regular tape backup is a mess when it comes to restoring gw items...!

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posted 12-05-2000 10:49 AM               

When I'm teaching GW this is the main area of concern. I have no experience of ArcServe myself, but I have asked Cheyanne for details, so watch this space....!

posted 12-06-2000 07:04 PM               

You do NOT mean with backing up data

Having a openfile manager that backup up the open files on a gw system. but ACTUALLY to backup and restore groupwise data within the groupwise databases? if that is the case then it would be really revolutionair.

Regards TYrone.

posted 12-06-2000 07:37 PM               

What you don't want is to back up some meaningless filename. What you DO want is to back up a message or a document in the DMS!!!

Like I said, though, I'm awaiting to hear back.

Also, the version of SBACKUP (believe it or not) that comes with NW5 says it can do this, but I've yet to find the TSA.....

posted 12-07-2000 06:44 PM               

Thanks mirre and paul

Regards,

posted 12-07-2000 09:45 PM               

1) The SBACKUP solution. I can't find the GroupWise TSA. Sbackup CAN do it (at least the option is there) but you need a TSA!!

2) ArcServe. I haven't heard back yet.

posted 12-12-2000 08:34 AM               

The BIG problem is that I don't know the name of the TSA!!! (I don't actually thing Novell have written it yet).

The story is....

If you load the SBACKUP W/S console with NW5, one of the "potential" targets you have to back up (along with NDS, WS, File system etc.) is GroupWise. If you try, however, it simply says the TSA isn't loaded. Searching the SBACKUP documentation sheds no light on the matter at all - it says GroupWise CAN be backed up, but not HOW!!! The GroupWise docs are no better :-(( They just go on about GWBACK32 (yuk!)

I did hear from someone that this was one of thos co-operation things between two groups of developers. The NW5 team kept their part of the bargin by putting the front end into SBACKUP, but the GW team have yet to follow suit by writing the TSA (how difficult can it be - anyone like to have a go?)

As to ARCSERVE, I *THINK* that there is an optional bolt-on to do this (beyond the "open files" option) but I'm still investigating.

posted 12-12-2000 10:26 AM               

Paul is right. The GW-TSA from NetWare isnīt availible at this time. Iīve some good experiences with the ARCServe Open-File-Manager. This has the same engine as the Open-File Manager from St. Bernardīs Software. This works good.

posted 12-13-2000 09:02 AM               

It's good to see that my information source is good and that, for once, I'm not talking complete crap!!

Can I ask you to confirm the ArcServe information. Have you just backed up the message store / DMS as a bunch of files (some of which are open) or have you found the alleged bolt-on and managed to do a database backup?

posted 12-15-2000 06:28 PM               

difficult to answer. Iīve backed up the DMS as a bunch of files. Iīve made a test restore at one of my customers. The test restore was successfull. But I donīt know, what happened if the backup is some days old. Iīve never tested this. Here in Germany the Document-Management of GroupWise isnīt used so much. Iīve only one customer which has experimented with the DMS.

Hope this helps.

Holger

posted 12-15-2000 10:31 PM               

DMS uses a blob (Binary LArge Object) to store the documents how can you the backup /restore files within the blob?
wellzz this is what they told me at my gw5 course 2 years ago..

quote:

---

Originally posted by deepthaught:
Hello Paul,

difficult to answer. Iīve backed up the DMS as a bunch of files. Iīve made a test restore at one of my customers. The test restore was successfull. But I donīt know, what happened if the backup is some days old. Iīve never tested this. Here in Germany the Document-Management of GroupWise isnīt used so much. Iīve only one customer which has experimented with the DMS.

Hope this helps.

Holger

[This message has been edited by deepthaught (edited 12-15-2000).]

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posted 12-15-2000 11:30 PM               

Q: Does the Backup Agent for GroupWise for NetWare help with the restore of a deleted GroupWise account or an individual piece of e-mail or an attachment ?

A: Backup Agent for GroupWise for NetWare does not help with a restore of a deleted GroupWise account or an individual piece of e-mail.

Please see Novell TID # 10007473 formerly TID #2931246 "Recovery Technique: Deleted GroupWise Account" available on http://support.novell.com if you need to restore deleted GroupWise account.

posted 12-17-2000 06:34 PM               

NOVELL & Arcserve CHANGE YOUR ACT.

posted 12-19-2000 10:59 AM               

Several posters have commented that DMS isn't used much - ever wondered why? I reckon this is a big part of the reason. As for the stuff about restoring messages, that is disappointing, coz I guess the same will hold for DMS :-((

Tyrone, the BLOBS....

If you think logically, there are fundamentally two ways of performing the backup...

1) Simply take an image of the PO directory structure. This will allow a disaster recovery back to a known good position.

2) Have the backup engine act almost like a client and so backup the information held within the BLOBS etc.

The latter solution has the advantage that a dingle file / message / whatever can be restored within a live system.

To the best of my knowledge, what you currently have to do is to restore the entire PO to a temporary area. Hook a client up to it. Grab the docs / archive the messages to the local HDD. Hook the client to the live system. De-Archive messages / re-import the files.

PHEW!! Life is too short!

I WANT SOLUTION 2 (and so do a lot of others by the look of it). I don't really care whether it's a Novell, Arcserve or anyone else's implimentation, but that is what I want.

posted 12-19-2000 07:41 PM               

I know .... i allways found that backup restore procedure as i mentioned above too very difficult. I hope that novell will realise with gw6 to change.. wellzz if they would release some api's or sourcecodes to modify the databases then we will be saved too. coz i gues company's who make products like cheyenne/arcserve would gladly make the product. but if novell does not release the knowledge.......

TYrone

posted 12-20-2000 03:10 PM               

True

Mirre:

Fundamentally DMS is a very good idea, and I think this thread has shown that backups are at least possible.

Remember DMS will give you the ability to archive the old stuff easily and for anyone to find docs easily. If you are nervous of the GW solution, have you considered a 3rd party one? (Like PCDOCS) Not integraded with email, but....

posted 12-21-2000 12:41 PM               

A lot of students I get who use GW in the real world and who work for solicitors and accountants say they use it. I've never seen it myself, though.

posted 01-05-2001 12:37 AM              

There's also something about restoring users mailboxes, etc here: http://ca.com/virusinfo/groupware.htm

Sorry to hear that Mirre, it sucks :-(

posted 01-10-2001 01:01 AM               

Sorry to disappoint you, but that is actually how you're SUPPOSED to do it!!

What you actually do, is to log in as the user to the backup, archive the mail, login as the user to the live system, and dearchive.

It's better than nothing, but not very elegant!

Anyway, I've contacted a couple of friends who "dabble" in development and we're looking at writing the elusive TSA. The response in this forum suggests that there would be quite a market!! (Don't mail me about it yet - I'll post here IF and WHEN we've got somewhere!

posted 01-10-2001 02:03 AM               

Exiting project! Wish you the best of luck and expecting a stunning software, what the whole tech-novell-world been waiting for! I promise that I will get my customers to buy at least a couple of "licenses" (or whatever it will be called) as soon at it hits the market.
You're great Paul - you know that, right?! ;-)

posted 01-21-2001 09:49 AM              

I believe Bulletproof is due for release Spring 2001 so may be worth holding out for.

posted 01-21-2001 11:39 AM               

We can only hope that it has the abilities that are being toted.

Bleeth,

The only problem I have with gwrestore is that it compares the user DB to be restored and restores all items not found, If I understand its operation properly.

What I don't understand is why this little oversight hasn't been taken care of allready.
You would think that with the incorporation of document management and the rampant use of e-mail as a communications medium that someone might have thought, 'hey do you think someone might want to retrieve a document or message that they accidentally deleted?', DUH!

OK, I'm done.

posted 01-30-2001 02:15 PM              

I implemented a cron based file that executes daily after using toolbox & stuffkey to shut the processes down (i.e. gwapi,gwmta, gwpoa) then it sits still while the backup job takes off with everything not running and then reloads the GW system. It so cool! Works great....Does this daily!