CommNet Disaster Recovery - How To

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Recover the CommNet Server in the Event of a Disaster

Building a Standby CommNet Server Using Log Shipping

Recover the CommNet Server in the Event of a Disaster

The following procedures assume that you have planned for disaster recovery as described in Planning for Disaster Recovery of the CommNet Server.

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

To recover the CommNet Server computer:

Use the following procedure to recover the CommNet Server to the same computer or to a different computer.

  1. Rebuild the CommNet Server computer.
  2. From the CommServe computer, Stop Services on Windows for CommNet.
  3. Using the CommServe Disaster Recovery Tool, Restore a Disaster Recovery Backup.
  4. From the CommServe computer, Start Services on Windows for CommNet.
  5. If the software is restored to another computer or to the same computer with a new name, perform the following steps on all the CommCells that were registered in this CommNet Server:
  6. Synchronize the CommCell in the CommNet Browser to obtain up-to-date information about the CommCell.
 

Building a Standby CommNet Server Using Log Shipping

If the CommNet Server is installed in the primary production environment, a standby CommNet Server can be built as described in the following sections.

Requirements

Review the following requirements before setting up the primary and standby CommNet Server and the Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine on separate computers:

Procedure

Setting up the Primary CommNet Server
1. Install the CommNet Server software on the primary CommNet Server computer. See Deployment - CommNet Server, for more information.
2. Install the SQL Server iDataAgent on the primary CommNet Server computer. (Client 1 of CS1 in the above illustration.) See Deployment - Microsoft SQL Server iDataAgent for more information.
Setting up the Standby CommNet Server
3. Install the CommNet Server software on the standby CommNet Server computer.

Make sure that all the updates installed in the primary CommNet Server are also installed on the standby CommNet Server

See Deployment - CommNet Server, for more information.
4. Stop all Services on the standby CommNet Server.

You cannot have services running on both the primary and standby computers.

 See Services for more information.
5. Install the SQL Server iDataAgent on the standby CommNet Server computer. (Client 2 of CS1 in the above illustration.) See Deployment - Microsoft SQL Server iDataAgent for more information.
Setting up the Standby CommNet Server Database
6. Using the SQL Server iDataAgent, perform a full backup of the SQL database in the primary CommNet Server and restore it to the SQL Server in the standby CommNet Server. The database must be in the standby state after the restore.
  • See Start a Full/Incremental/Differential Backup for step-by-step instructions on performing a full backup using the SQL Server iDataAgent. This can be found in the Backup - Microsoft SQL Server section.
  • See Restore a Single Database Without Browsing for step-by-step instructions on restoring data using the SQL Server iDataAgent. This can be found in the Restore - Microsoft SQL Server section.
7. Using the SQL Server iDataAgent, schedule frequent backups of the Transaction Logs in the primary server. It is recommended to schedule backups every 30 minutes.

Schedule a restore of the transaction logs to be run after each backup. The database must be in the standby state after every Transaction Log restore.

  • If possible, choose a disk storage policy for performance reasons.
  • Make sure to periodically verify the scheduled jobs to ensure that the transaction log backup and restore complete successfully.
See Start a Transaction Log Backup for step-by-step instructions. This can be found in the Backup - Microsoft SQL Server section.

See Also:

Warm Database Restore for more information on the performing this type of restore.
Switching the CommNet Server from Primary to Standby in Case of failures
1. If the primary CommNet Server is still active stop all services on the CommNet Server computer. See Services for more information.
2. In the standby computer, using the SQL Server Management Studio, bring the CommNet database online. See the SQL Server Management Studio help for information on bringing the database online.
3. In the Standby CommNet Server, start the services. See Start Services on Windows for step-by-step instructions.
4. Open the CommNet Console and re-apply the permanent license associated with the standby CommNet Server. See License Administration for more information.
5. Perform the following steps on all the CommCells that are registered with this CommNet Server:
  • From the CommNet Browser, open the Cell Registration dialog box, select each CommCell then click Modify.
  • From the Modify CommCell dialog box, type a new CommNet interface name in the CommNet Interface Name box.
  • Click OK.
  • After all the cells have been changed, click Close from the Cell Registration dialog box.
See Register a Cell for step-by-step instructions.
6. Synchronize the CommCell in the CommNet Browser to obtain up-to-date information about the CommCell See Synchronize Cells for step-by-step instructions.
7. Disable all scheduled job and kill running jobs associated with the SQL Server iDataAgent in the primary CommNet Server.  
Switching the CommNet Server Back From Standby to Primary When the Failure Condition is Cleared
1. Stop all services on the standby CommNet Server. See Services for more information.
2. In the standby CommNet Server, using the SQL Server Management Studio, backup the CommNet database and create a .dmp file. See the SQL Server Management Studio help for information on creating the dump file.
3. In the primary CommNet Server, using the SQL Server Management Studio, restore the CommNet database. See the SQL Server Management Studio help for information on restoring a database.
4. In the primary CommNet Server, start the services. See Start Services on Windows for step-by-step instructions.
5. Open the CommNet Console and re-apply the permanent license associated with the primary CommNet Server. See License Administration for more information.
6. Perform the following steps on all the CommCells that are registered with this CommNet Server:
  • From the CommNet Browser, open the Cell Registration dialog box, select each CommCell then click Modify.
  • From the Modify CommCell dialog box, type a new CommNet interface name in the CommNet Interface Name box.
  • Click OK.
  • After all the cells have been changed, click Close from the Cell Registration dialog box.
See Register a Cell for step-by-step instructions.
7. Synchronize the CommCell in the CommNet Browser to obtain up-to-date information about the CommCell See Synchronize Cells for step-by-step instructions.
8. Enable all schedules including the Backup Schedule for the SQL Server iDataAgent.

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