Changing hardware on a 3.12 sever

Moving a 3.12 server to new hardware.

This is a pretty common occurrence. A hard drive that's been outgrown, the need for faster hardware -- any number of reasons could motivate you to do this. Over the last 5 years, I've done it a few dozen times.

In an ideal world, you would simple use your server-based, Netware aware backup program to backup the data, then replace the drive, install Netware fresh, and restore from the tape backup. I've done this as well, using both Cheyenne's ArcServe and Seagate's Backup Exec, and when everything works right, it works wonderfully.

However, the world is not ideal. Many networks have no backup procedures at all, and many small networks are using workstation based backup programs which do an adequate job of preserving data, but don't know squat about extended Netware information, Bindery contents, or directory trustee assignments.

Preserving Extended File Information.

If the volumes on your server have additional name spaces other than LONG or OS2, using a server-based Novell aware backup program is the only way that I know of to migrate the files and maintain all the file's information. The XCOPY command in Windows95, and the COPY command at an OS2 command prompt, will preserve name space information for the OS2 (NW3.12, 4.0x, 4.10) and LONG (NW4.11) name spaces.

There are some great software tools on the Novell Consulting Netware Tools Page.

One, called TCOPY, will copy trustee information from one server to another.

The Novell Netware Toolbox gives you some great command line functions at the server, and are worth a look, although they all come with their own set of limitations.

The procedures outlined on this page are for use in this imperfect world, and are not for migrating from Netware 3.1x to 4.11.For that, either do an in-place upgrade, or use the Netware Upgrade Wizard, which can be found at (http://www.novell.com/intranetware/upgrade/wizard.html). I made some notes on the upgrade wizard later on this page.

This guideline comes with all the usual warnings about how your experience may vary, and I'm not responsible if anything should go wrong, etc. I've had good luck with this procedure; the only thing that may get bollixed up is print queues. Be sure to test them after the move.

You will need the Novell NBACKUP utility. If it is not already on your server, you can download it from Novell's web page. Go to http://support.novell.com and do a file find for NBCKUP.EXE. The file is about 315K long.

NBACKUP doesn't run well on Windows95 machines; I'm not sure where the blame lies, exactly -- I just go to a DOS machine to to the work. A Win95 machine that you've started in COMMAND PROMPT ONLY mode might work as well; You'll just need to load the network drivers (LSL, MLID, IPXODI, NETX) by hand. I say might work as I've not tried it.

IF JUST THE HARD DRIVE IS BEING REPLACED

Make a backup of your data. In fact, make 2.
Log into the server as SUPERVISOR or equivalent.
Run BINDFIX. Save the *.OLD files in the SYS:SYSTEM directory to a floppy.
At your workstation, create a directory called NBKPDATA. Extract all the files from NBCKUP.EXE that you downloaded from Novell to this directory. This includes NBACKUP.EXE, NBACKUP.HLP, SEL$DIBI.*, and a few others.
Run NBACKUP. Tell it to backup to DOS devices.
Set the working directory to C:\NBKPDATA.
Set the options for backing up the BINDERY and the TRUSTEES and HIDDEN files to YES.
In the blank for "files to include", tap ENTER. On the screen that appears, you are expected to create a file name mask. Hit INSert, and type *.$%^ (or something else that you know *doesn't* exist. What will happen is that NBackup will scan the entire server, saving bindery and trustee information along the way. However, no files will get backed up, saving time, since you gave it a bogus file spec.
Press ESC and begin the backup. When prompted, tell NBACKUP to put the data in C:\NBKPDATA.
You have now backed up just the bindery and the trustee directory assignments for this server
If you have room, XCOPY the contents of the server to a workstation hard drive, JAZ drive, or what ever. Otherwise we're relying on the tape(s) you made in step 1. Make sure to use the options /S/E with XCOPY. If you have OS2 name space load for Win95 machines, do the XCOPY from a Win95 station.
Install the new hard drive in the server; install Netware 3.1x as usual, and copy all the system and public files. MAKE SURE TO GIVE THE SERVER THE ORIGINAL NAME.
MANUALLY load and bind the network card drivers at the server. From the NBACKUP workstation, Log into the 'new' server as SUPERVISOR (no password).
Run NBACKUP, and use the restore options. When prompted for working directory and backup location, use C:\NBKPDATA. Press ESC and let it go. This will restore the bindery, and will create an empty directory tree on the server. The important point is that the directory entries will have the trustee information in them. NBACKUP will not restore trustee information to a directory that already exists.
XCOPY the data from the workstation or removable drive to the server, or perform a restore from tape.

Note: it's important that you restore the trustees before copying the files back in; NBACKUP will not set trustees on existing directories. So, you have to use NBACKUP to create the "shell" of the directory structure, then populate it with XCOPY

IF THE ENTIRE SERVER IS BEING REPLACED

To do this, you'll need to 'borrow' a second version of SERVER.EXE; We'll be bringing two servers up at the same time, and we want to avoid the copyright broadcasts that 2 Netware servers make when they find a duplicate serial number. It's kinda like an across-the-wire migration, but we preserve the Bindery and trustee stuff. If you can't get a second copy of SERVER.EXE, then you need to use the steps above, as if only the hard drive were being replaced.

1. Make a backup of your data. In fact, make 2.

2. Log into the server as SUPERVISOR or equivalent.

3. Run BINDFIX. Save the *.OLD files in the SYS:SYSTEM directory to a floppy.

4. At your workstation, create a directory called NBKPDATA.

5. Extract all the files from NBCKUP.EXE that you downloaded from Novell to this directory. This includes NBACKUP.EXE, NBACKUP.HLP, SEL$DIBI.*, and a few others.

6. Run NBACKUP. Tell it to backup to DOS devices.

7. Set the working directory to C:\NBKPDATA.

8. Set the options for backing up the BINDERY and the TRUSTEES and HIDDEN files to YES.

9. In the blank for "files to include", tap ENTER. On the screen that appears, you are expected to create a file name mask. Hit INSert, and type *.$%^ (or something else that you know *doesn't* exist.

What will happen is that NBackup will scan the entire server, saving bindery and trustee information along the way. However, no files will get backed up, saving time, since you gave it a bogus file spec.

10. Press ESC and begin the backup. When prompted, tell NBACKUP to put the data in C:\NBKUPDATA.

You have now backed up just the bindery and the trustee directory assignments for this server

11. Before taking the old server down, load INSTALL and edit the autoexec.ncf so that the server has a different name. Restart the old server.

12. Install Netware 3.1x on the new server, and copy all the system and public files. MAKE SURE TO GIVE THE SERVER THE *ORIGINAL* NAME.

13. MANUALLY load and bind the network card drivers at the 'new' server. From the NBACKUP station, log into the 'new' server as SUPERVISOR (no password)

14. Run NBACKUP, and use the restore options. When prompted for working directory and backup location, use C:\NBKPDATA. Press ESC and let it go. This will restore the bindery, and will create an empty directory tree. The important point is that the directory entries will have the trustee information in them. If a directory already exists, NBACKUP will not create it, and will not restore it's trustee information.

15. Attach to the "old" server as SUPERVISOR

To actually move the data, you can:

16. Map a drive letter to the appropriate volumes on each server (old and new), then XCOPY the data from one server to the other.

-or-

16. If you only have the DOS name space loaded, you could use the Novell Server Toolkit (click here for link), and use it's COPY command from the console of one server to copy files from one server to the other.

Some notes on using the Upgrade Wizard

If you are migrating a 3.1x server to a different box, and upgrading to 4.11 in the process, the best tool for the job is Novell's Netware Upgrade Wizard (http:/www.novell.com/intranetware/upgrade/wizard.html). The way the wizard works is you first install Netware 4.11 on the new server, then run the Wizard from a Win95 workstation. It finds the old server and the new server. You drag and drop an object representing the 3.1x server's bindery into the appropriate container on the 4.11 server, and drag/drop volumes as well. The wizard does the rest. It works really, really well, and has enough error checking to keep you out of trouble.

Some pointers about the upgrade wizard:

It comes with some updated 3.1x system NLMs. Make sure you update what's on your 3.1x server with them and re-boot it
make sure TSA is load on both servers before you start. (They are called TSA312 and TSA410 -- names should be self-explanatory)
Double check your groups, users, printers, and printer queues on the 3.1x machine and make sure there are no duplicated names (i.e., you can't have a user named TRAINING and a print queue named TRAINING)

This page was last modified on Mar 4, 1998