CommServe Disaster Recovery Tool - How To

Topics | How To

Start the CommServe Disaster Recovery Tool

Restore a Disaster Recovery Backup

Perform Cluster Migration

Start the CommServe Disaster Recovery Tool

To start the CommServe Disaster Recovery Tool:

  1. From the Windows Explorer, navigate to the <software installation path>\base folder.
  2. Double-click CommserveDisasterRecoveryGUI.exe.

    If you run the restore on a CommServe machine with other platforms installed, e.g., MediaAgent, iDataAgents, you will be prompted with an error message. You must run the Disaster Recovery Backup Restore on a CommServe-only machine.

Restore a Disaster Recovery Backup

Before You Begin

To restore a Disaster Recovery Backup:

Restore the CommServe Database (Restore Database Tab)
This section must be completed for all restore operations. 
1. From the Windows Explorer, navigate to the <software installation path>\base folder.  
2. Double-click CommserveDisasterRecoveryGUI.exe. This will launch the CommServe Disaster Recovery Tool.  
3. In the Restore Database tab, click the Restore DB checkbox to enable the recovery.   
4. Enter the SQL Server user account credentials in the Destination SQL Server Info fields.  
5. Specify the restore options:
  • Select Restore All Databases From Folder to restore multiple databases from the specified folder containing the dump files.
  • Select Restore Single Database to restore a single dump file containing the database.
  
6. If necessary, click the Browse (...) button for Restore Path to change the target location of the files from the Restore DR DB file as dialog box. To change the target click a row in the Physical File Name column and type the new location and then click Find and Replace. For more information, refer to Disaster Recovery Backup Files.
7. In the Restore file field, type or browse the name of the Disaster Recovery Backup file or folder where the dump files are located.

If necessary, enter another name for the database to be restored in the Overwrite Database Name field.

The CommServe Database can be restored with a different name for viewing purposes only. Functionality of the database requires it to be restored with the same name.

Note that when browsing for files, it may take a minute for the corresponding fields to be populated with the selected file path.

For more information, refer to Disaster Recovery Backup Files.  
8. You can have an e-mail sent to a user indicating that the restore operation has completed. The mail server must be configured in this dialog box.
  • Specify a valid Mail Server to be used for e-mail messages.
  • Select the port number in the Port field. The default Mail Server port number is 25.
  • Specify a valid e-mail address in the Sender field. This e-mail address will be displayed in the mail generated from the software.
  • Specify a valid e-mail address in the Recipients field. This e-mail address is that of the recipient that will receive an e-mail message indicating that the restore operation has completed.
  
9. If only restoring the CommServe database, click OK to perform the restore.

If restoring the CommServe to another computer with a different name and IP address, go to Change the Name of the CommServe. If it is not necessary to change the name of the CommServe (and activate the license), go to Perform Post-Recovery Operations. If restoring SRM components, continue with the next step.

 The CommserveDisasterRecoveryGUI dialog box will display the restore event information logged in the bottom windowpane. This will include the restore operations for:
  • CommServe

Change the Name of the CommServe (Name/License Change Tab)
This section is only applicable when restoring the CommServe to another computer with a different name and IP address. 
10. Select the Name/License Change tab, and select the CommServe Name Change option. The system automatically displays the old and new names of the computer.

Continue with the next step.

  

Activate the License (Name/License Change Tab)
This section is only applicable when restoring the CommServe to another computer with a different name and IP address. 
11. From the Name/License Change tab, select the Activate License option, and then browse and select the appropriate license file.  
12. Click OK to execute the restore operations. The CommserveDisasterRecoveryGUI dialog box will display the restore event information logged in the bottom windowpane. This will include the restore operations for the:
  • CommServe
  • CommNet Server Database (if applicable)
  • SRM Server Database (if applicable)
  • CommServe Name/License Change (if applicable)

Perform Post-Recovery Operations (Post Recovery Tab)
13. Select the Post Recovery tab, and select the one or more of the following options:
  • To mark your tapes exported after the recovery, click Mark all tapes exported.
  • To set a new email server for the new CommCell, click Set new e-mail server, and enter the email server. If you do not want to use an email server, click the option, then set the field to null.
  • To set a new email address for all CommCell users to use for the new CommCell, click Change all user email address to, and enter the new email address.
  • If you wish to disable the MediaAgent, click Disable MediaAgent.
  • To reset the index cache timestamps, click Reset index cache timestamps. This will reset all index cache timestamps, enabling the CommServe Disaster Recovery Tool to verify if an index cache label (ICL) file exists, and if not, automatically create one.
  • To use the same exact index when restoring the Disaster Recovery Backup data, click Enable exact index restore.
  • To update the CommServe database with the proper installation information, which will prevent conflicts with automatic updates and scheduling, click Update Windows Version for CommServe.
  • To disable all the scheduled tasks in the CommServe, click Disable Schedules.
  • Click Disable Update Caches so that all clients designated as update cache computers will no longer distribute update(s) to their associated clients. If configured for automatic updates, clients will receive their updates from the CommServe Update Cache.
  • To reset all update information for the CommServe Update Cache, click Reset Update Info for CommServe. This will remove leftover update and service pack information from the source database for the CommServe Update Cache, resetting the status of the baseline.
  • To reset the CommServe Cache location to the default location, click Reset CommServe Cache Location to Default. This will remove any specific path information added for the cache location, and revert to the default path directory. 
  • After performing the CommServe database restore, the current deduplication store must be sealed. Select Seal Dedupe Stores check box to seal the deduplication store.

    This will prevent any synchronization issues between deduplication database and CommServe database.

  • To create database objects in the CommServe database, click Create CLR Functions. This will re-create common language runtime (CLR) functions after the CommServe database is recovered.
  • To disable all activities at the CommCell level, click Disable All Activity.
  • To suspend all the jobs running in the CommServe, click Suspend Running Jobs.
  
14. Click OK to execute the post-recovery operations.

 

 The CommserveDisasterRecoveryGUI dialog box will display the restore event information logged in the bottom windowpane. This will include the restore operations for the:
  • Post-Recovery
15. If restoring CommNet or SRM Server Databases, skip this step.

Open the Service Control Manager on the CommServe computer and start the services.

  

To migrate to or from a clustered environment:

Perform Cluster Migration
This section is only applicable when restoring the CommServe from or to a clustered environment.  
1. From the Cluster/Non-Cluster CommServe DB Migration tab, select the Cluster/Non-Cluster CommServe DB Migration checkbox.  
2. If restoring from a clustered environment to a non-clustered environment, select Setup CommServe DB To Non-Cluster.  
3. If restoring from a non-clustered environment to a clustered environment, select Setup CommServ DB To Cluster. And then specify the names of the computers/nodes in the cluster.  
4. Click OK to execute the cluster/non-cluster migration operations.