Re: SBS 2003 Mirror OS Drive Question

I apologize for not being as "Educated" as I should be. Some of us just do
not have the resources to go through all the schooling that one should. I
have 3 grandkids that I have to support, and doing that eats up most of my
time, not to mention my finances. If you do not want to help me out that is
fine, I will get it figured out one way or the other. That is how I have
worked for the past couple years.

I was able to get the drive changed to Dynamic and attempted to create the
mirror. When I went to bed it was resyncing, but when I got up this morning
there was an error and no mirrored drive. Attempting to run again, but if
that does not work I am going to advise my client to start fresh. Thanks for
your input.--
Thanks for your help.


"Cliff Galiher" wrote:

Let me be blunt (and no, you aren't gonna like my answer)

If you do not have time to do the job right (or call in a specialist) then
you shouldn't proceed *at all.* Leave the system as-is, reschedule with the
client, take the time to learn the product, and do the switch-over later.
It'll even give you time to research inexpensive RAID cards and get them
into a better solution.

As far as having a backup goes, it is UNTESTED. Based on your other thread
asking how to back up exchange, I am not at all confident that your backup
is reliable, and unless you've had to restore it already, you can’t claim
with certainty that it is either. Those are the facts. You'd be best
served leaving the system alone until you *can* verify your disaster
recovery plan....because losing customer data is a great way to lose a
customer...permanently.

Which brings me to my last point: This is a great forum for IT Admins or
consultants when they "get stuck." It happens to all of us. But it is no
replacement for educating yourself on a product. How the disk management
snap-in works? Basic server admin stuff there, and not SBS specific. How
to back up exchange? Again, basic Exchange knowledge there, and again not
SBS specific. If you are in the business of supporting computers, and I can
presume you are as you called the server's owner a "client" in your original
post, then you need to invest in your business. Buy some books. Take some
classes. But it is not wise to come here and ask for free education from
those of us who *have* invested time and money in improving our skills so
you can increase your profit margins. You'll find that many people, not
just me, take an unkind view towards those people that engage in such
activity.

So that is my advice and help on this continuing situation. Stop what you
are doing, revert, educate, and then proceed. It is the *only* way you can
truly give your clients the service they deserve.

-Cliff


"Northwest Upgrades Plus" <andyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(donotspam)> wrote in
message news:BD4711EE-283E-457B-944A-EFFE94FAA0F3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
So are you saying I do not want the disk to be dismounted? I do not have
time
to call in a specialist. I have to have this back tommorrow morning. I
have a
full backup, so if anything goes wrong I can always go back to that. I
would
just rather not have to go that route.
--
Thanks for your help.


"Cliff Galiher" wrote:

It is time for you to call in a specialist. You can learn from them, but
going this alone is heading towards disaster.

-Cliff


"Northwest Upgrades Plus" <andyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(donotspam)> wrote in
message news:E6C1C9EE-022C-4476-B3C2-621D79BBA244@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Before I continue I figured I better ask this question. When I go to
convert
the OS *** to Dynamic, It states that the File System will be
dismounted.
Is
this wat I want to do???? Please advise.
--
Thanks for your help.


"SuperGumby [SBS MVP]" wrote:

OK (been distracted with another project so maybe I'm not paying as
much
attention as I should).

But you're not gonna use hardware RAID (heck, for the cost of a SCSI
RAID1
controller you _should_) so your end result will be dynamic disks
anyway.

Change the current HDD to dynamic type. I've never know this to fail
but
standard caveat, 'have a good backup...' and of course, YMMV.
Establish RAID1 of your existing partition(s) to the new drive.
follow on about removal of the old and RAID rebuild to the 2nd new,
additional space as new partition.

--
SBS remote support services. (Fees apply)
mickm at mickmalloy dot dyndns dot org
"Northwest Upgrades Plus" <andyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(donotspam)> wrote
in
message news:63FF12B0-21AD-4F0C-9830-0C84F9B22C9F@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Not sure that you read the entire first post. Their is currently
only
one
drive with the OS on it, so if I remove it, here is only the data
drivess
that are installed. Is a solution still viable via software?
--
Thanks for your help.


"SuperGumby [SBS MVP]" wrote:

OK, my assumptions got the better of me when I assumed this was
hardware
RAID. Your solution is EASY. Your drives are already dynamic.

Take drive0 (the first of your software RAID1 set) out and place it
in
an
antistatic bag on the shelf. DO NOT adjust the RAID in software.
Ensure you can boot from drive1. The system should come up clean
with
a
missing member to the array.
Shutdown and put one of your new drives in, on a higher SCSI ID
than
the
remaining drive, start up, rebuild the mirror(s) to the new drive,
allow
time to complete.
Shutdown, remove your 2nd original drive, boot off the new drive.
Shutdown, add 2nd new drive (at a higher SCSI ID again) repeat
rebuild.

This should result in the existing partitons being copied to the
new
drives,
use the additional space as new partition(s) and move stuff out of
the
original partition(s).

For most of the time the system will be available. I'd probably do
the
2st
drive replacement tomorrow morning, rebuild during the day, do the
2nd
replacement and rebuild either that afternoon or the next day.

The 1st drive you took out is your fallback point. Should anything
go
wrong
you remove all drives, put drive0 back in, boot.


--
SBS remote support services. (Fees apply)
mickm at mickmalloy dot dyndns dot org
"Northwest Upgrades Plus" <andyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(donotspam)>
wrote
in
message news:32DD4124-6664-4DCC-B753-510A69D6765B@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
They use Backup For Workgroups, not the SBS Backup software. It
has
a
pretty
good disaster recovery option, so I will most likely go that
route.
I
have
to
use Software mirroring, as they do not have a RAID controller.
All
that
is
available is the Adaptec SCSI controller card. Once again, they
are
on
a
TIGHT budget. Thamks for the help.

( I just dit not appreciate the first comments in Cliff's post)
--
Thanks for your help.


"SuperGumby [SBS MVP]" wrote:

I don't really think Cliff's comment was as harsh as you may be
taking
it.

The DR route (method 3) doesn't actually take a long time. You
only
need
install the base OS from SBS, and your current Windows SP, not
all
CD's
and
fully configured.

Some HDD suppliers have 'drive imaging' software, mainly
designed
for
workstation OS's but in fact OS agnostic.

Are you using SBSBackup or some other backup program?

--
SBS remote support services. (Fees apply)
mickm at mickmalloy dot dyndns dot org
"Northwest Upgrades Plus" <andyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(donotspam)>
wrote
in
message
news:C2FF0FB0-02A9-4B17-8EE4-466F287AECC8@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yes, But I would have to reinstall SBS 2003 and then the
backup
software
and
then do the restore. What 3rd party SW do you recommend for
SBS
2003? I
have
used Drive COpy before, but if I am not mistaken it does not
support
SBS.
Thanks for the help, unlike Chris.
--
Thanks for your help.


"SuperGumby [SBS MVP]" wrote:

I'd probably build a new array as an additional RAID1 and
either:

(officially unsupported by MS) Use some form of drive
copy/image
program
to
get the existing partitions across to the new array OR
(MS Supported but involves changing to 'dynamic' type) Use
software
mirroring to RAID1 between the arrays.

The 3rd method is actually the best, allows full testing of
your
disaster
recovery plan (to same hardware). Perform full backup, shut
her
down,
throw
in the blank drives, create your array, restore.

--
SBS remote support services. (Fees apply)
mickm at mickmalloy dot dyndns dot org
"Cliff Galiher" <cgaliher@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:et$of0l5JHA.1096@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The snarky answer is: Shouldn't you have had a plan in
place
*before*
selling a client a solution?

The real (and short) answer is: It depends entirely on your
RAID
controller. Some allow this, some don't. You'd be best
served
referencing
their documentation.

-Cliff


"Northwest Upgrades Plus"
<andyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(donotspam)>
wrote
in
message
news:13B06C3D-6740-436A-8F96-C95F3E952E15@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
OK, So here is the situation. After years of trying I have
finally
been
able
to convince my client to mirror their SBS 2003 Standard
Operating
System
drive. They currently have 1 Ea. 36 GB 68 Pin SCSI drive.
They
will
be
replaced with 2 Ea. 72 GB 68 Pin SCSI drives. My question
is
this:
Is
it
possible to create a mirror and copy the old OS drive to
the
new
Mirror,
or
perhaps create the mirror with one of the new drives and
the
old
OS
drive
.

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