Recover from server hardware failure: Lots and lots of red lights are blinking on the front of your server. Red lights on this server are never a "good thing." Careful examination reveals several lights you never even knew existed, at least until now. Welcome to server hardware failure! Fortunately, Windows Server 2003 provides some tools to help you recover from hardware failures. You need to be able to correctly identify the problem and choose the proper tool or tools to respond with.
Two of those were mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, the Windows Startup Disk and the Recovery Console. Others include a good backup, a good System State Backup and a good ASR backup set. Still others are starting the system in Safe Mode, and using the Last Known Good Configuration.
If your system fails to start, you may be able to start it in safe mode. When starting in safe mode, Windows uses default settings and minimum device drivers, no network connection, the mouse driver and the video in video graphics adapter (VGA) mode. The idea is to remove all the "frills and extras" and let the system come up with very basic settings allowing you to troubleshoot. Some things you can do are change server settings, diagnose problems, remove newly installed software or hardware, install a service pack or other software patch or possibly reinstall the operating system. If the machine starts, you know the problem is something beyond the basic settings. If you have just added or changed something in the system, safe mode can be used to allow you to remove it or reverse the change you made.
Safe mode is entered by pressing F8 to display the advanced startup options during system boot. You have three options for safe mode. They are described in the following table. All three create a log file.
Option Description Example Use: Safe Mode Loads only basic devices, drivers and services required to start and operate the system. You suspect a recently installed application or driver is causing a problem.
Safe Mode with Networking Same as Safe Mode, but also adds networking support You need to verify networking is working properly, and/or you need access to the network to obtain files.
Safe Mode with Command Prompt Same as safe mode, but with a command prompt instead of a graphical user interface. You must use command-line troubleshooting tools. This mode will sometimes allow access when others fail.
The startup option Last Known Good Configuration allows you to use the registry and device configuration of the last successful system login which Windows saves at every successful login. This option gives you the ability to quickly recover from an incorrect driver or setting. The Last Known Good Configuration is updated each time Windows is started in normal mode and a user logs in and is authenticated. If you shut the system down without logging in, you do not overwrite the Last Known Good Configuration.
Last Known Good Configuration can be used to resolve startup problems. If you get a stop message or a message that one or more services failed to start immediately after a change, you can restart the computer without logging in, then select Last Known Good Configuration. You can then reverse the change just made, and try to correct it.
Note: It was mentioned earlier that the Last Known Good Configuration is only overwritten when starting in normal mode and logging in. If you were to start your system in Safe Mode and log in, but were unable to correct the problem, you could reboot and use the Last Known Good Configuration. Safe Mode does NOT overwrite the saved settings.
The Recovery Console is a tool that provides you with a command-line console on a system that is having a software problem that prevents the system from starting. It also allows you access the drives on your system. It loads a minimal version of Windows Server 2003. This allows you to possibly repair a system component that is keeping the system from starting without a complete reinstallation of the operating system.
When the system is started with the Recovery Console, you can enable or disable device drivers or services, read and write files to a local hard drive, format a hard drive, repair a boot sector or create a new boot sector or master boot record. The Recovery Console will allow you to work with a drive even if it is formatted with NTFS, and recognizes and enforces the NFTS file and folder permissions.
When using the Recovery Console, you must log in with the local administrator account and password. If it is installed, Recovery Console is one of the advanced startup options on a system. If it is not installed, or the system cannot access the partition the Recovery Console is installed on, you can run it from the operating system CD. Start the system from CD, then when prompted to repair or install, select repair.
Here are some general guidelines for using the various disaster recovery tools provided by Windows Server 2003.
Tool Suggested Use:
Safe Mode Use when a problem causes your server not to start normally. Using the minimal services it operates with, you can determine if a recent change or other configuration issue has caused your problem, and correct it.
Last Know Good Configuration Use for cases of incorrect configuration. You can reverse your most recent driver or other system changes since your last successful login, then boot normally and correct the issue.
Backup/Restore Always have a good set of backups that protects your data and system settings. Restore (or restoring a shadow copy) will allow you to replace a missing or damaged file, or roll back to an earlier version of the file. Also, before some major system change or high risk operation, it is a good practice to make a system state backup (if the system files will be effected) or a copy backup (if data is effected) to allow you to recover (if necessary) to the point before the operation occurs. If the operation goes bad, you can use that backup to restore the state before you started. (Usually the time you really, really, really need such a backup is the time you didn't make one. Murphy's Law, and all that.)
Recovery Console Use if you can't fix your problem with one of the startup options. You can replace files, etc. or attempt other manual recovery steps.
Automated System Recovery (ASR) Use this tool instead of reinstalling Windows from scratch. It allows you to recover all the system settings, etc. that existed at the time the ASR set was made. Use this method as a last resort, as it does format disks. Keep in mind that you will also need a good data backup as the ASR only protects system files and settings.
Pop Quiz Questions:
1. What does the option "Verify Data After Backup Completes" actually do?
2. Outside of Windows Startup Disk and Recovery Console, what are some of the other tools and recommendations provided by Windows 2003 to help you recover from hardware failures?
3. What is "Safe Mode"?
4. What is the Last Known Good Configuration?
5. If you start your system in Safe Mode and log in, which configuration will appear if you need to use "Last Known Good"?
Pop Quiz Answers
1. What this option does is allows the Backup utility to compare the backed-up data and the original data on your hard disk to be sure that the two are the same.
2. Other tools and recommendations include a good backup, a good System State Backup and a good ASR backup set, as well as starting the system in Safe Mode, and using the Last Known Good Configuration.
3. When starting in Safe Mode, Windows uses default settings and minimum device drivers, no network connection, the mouse driver and the video in video graphics adapter (VGA) mode.
4. The Last Known Good Configuration is the registry settings and device configuration of the last successful system login.
5. The Last Known Good Configuration that exists, after you log in while in Safe Mode, remains the configuration that was created at your last successful login while in "Normal" mode.
Restore backup data: In Windows Server 2003, there are two major types of restores, using the Backup Utility and the ASR Restore. The ASR restore was covered in an earlier section. Using the restore feature of the Backup Utility, you can restore files and folders to their original positions or to any disk you can access, restore files to FAT or NTFS formatted volumes or restore System State data. Care must be taken to restore files and folders from NTFS volumes back to another NTFS volume. This will allow you to retain several file and folder features, like NTFS permissions, Encrypting File System (EFS) settings, disk quota information and other settings. You may also lose data. It has been the authors' experience that losing data is NOT usually the desired outcome when performing a restore operation. To restore files and folders using the backup utility, start Backup and select the Restore and Manage Media tab.
In the left pane, select the desired media item, and then select the files and folders you desire to restore.
You then need to designate the location for your restore. In the restore files to box, select one of the following:
• Original location - this replaces the files and folders back to their original locations.
• Alternate location - this allows you to type in or browse to a new location for the files. This option lets you relocate the files, but keeps the original folder structure. All the files and folders will appear in the new location.
• Single folder - this will place all the files into a single folder in the location you designate, but you lose the original folder structure.
files from Drive C: being restored in their original location. Before you click on the Start Restore button, select the Tools menu, then click Options, and select the Restore tab. This will select the restore options for this operation. Select one of the following:
• Do not replace the file on my computer.
• Replace the file on disk only if the file on disk is older.
• Always replace the file on my computer.
Click on OK to accept your restore options, and then click on the Start Restore button to restore your files. System State Data is restored the same way. Select a media set and expand it to reveal the System State Data selection. Select it, and click Start Restore. The restore will begin, replacing the System State files where they need to be placed.
Note: You MUST restore the complete System State, not just a part of it.
Schedule backup jobs: Why schedule backup jobs? Why not let the system worry about making the backup on the schedule you set up, instead of you trying to remember to backup the system as necessary. You can easily automate your backup plan to insure you have the backup sets you need to recover from various problems that may occur.
You can schedule a backup one of two ways:
• When creating a new backup job, or
• Selecting an existing job from the Scheduled Jobs tab in backup.
The Scheduled Backup options are the same as any other scheduled job in Windows Server 2003.
Schedule Option Executes the operation
Once Once at a specific time on a specific date
Daily At the specified time each day
Weekly At the specified time on each of the specified days of the week
Monthly At the specified time once a month
At system startup The next time the system is started
At logon The next time the job owner logs on
When idle When the system has been idle for a specified number of minutes
You will also be asked for user credentials to run the job. Be sure to provide a login and password of a user that has the necessary user rights and permissions, either directly assigned or through group membership.
Deborah Timmons is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. She came into the Microsoft technical field after six years in the adaptive technology field, providing technology and training for persons with disabilities. She is the President and co-owner of Integrator Systems Inc.
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