Chris Bennett wrote at about 16:32:03 +1030 on Sunday, November 22, 2009: > Hi All, > > I'm hoping to catch the eye of some clever combined BackupPC/Windows > admins that can tell me what I'm trying to do will not work, or can > help me to understand why what I'm doing isn't working... :) > > In a test environment, I'm trying to perform a file-level backup of a > Windows 2003 R2 server using BackupPC, along with any additional > metadata required, in order to perform a bare metal restore in the > future. > > The backup procedure I'm using is: > - Cygwin 1.7, rsync 3.0.6, OpenSSH on Windows server > - backup via rsync method from BackupPC > - dump of file acl's using fileacl and subinacl > - ntbackup of systemstate to c:\systemstate.bkf > - performing VSS snapshot and backing the logical mapped drive via > backuppc > > Recovery procedure tested so far: > - new VM/hard disk > - partition / make active / NTFS formate via Win2003 Recovery Console > - copy data via Linux rescue cd to NTFS volume (from backuppc > recovered zip file) > - re-apply filesystem permissions via a second virtual machine (map > the VMWare .vmdk file to a working Win2k3 machine, then restore > acl's via fileacl or subinacl (tried both)) > - run fixboot / fixmbr from Windows recovery console > > Booting the system results in: > STOP:c0000218 {Registry File Failure} > The registry cannot load the hive (file): > \SystemRoot\System32\Config\DEFAULT > or its log or alternate. > It is corrupt, absent, or not writable. > > I've also tested a straight cygwin/rsync between VSS snapshot, and a second > drive accessible in the source Windows machine, and applying ACL's, > installing > boot loader, and then trying to boot from that second drive, with the same > results. > > Is this a case of not possible? I've seen enough references to performing an > ASR restore followed by a file-level for data, and that is a possibility for > my > final solution, but I'd like to konw if a purely file-level + required > metadata > is possible. > > I'm yet to work out how to perform a system-state restore without an already > working system too - that may be another way to make the system bootable > after the above restore procedure. > > I do know that a Repair Install of Win2k3 R2 does bring the system back to > life, but that seems so invasive on the file-level restore. > > Any responses / advice / feedback would be much appreciated. > > Regards, > > Chris Bennett > cgb
I'm very interested in this topic since I have been spending a lot of time developing my "shadowmountrsync" routines which attempt to automate the backup part of your approach outlined above. So far I have robustly implemented startup of shadows and backup of acls (using subinacl and/or getfacl). Couple of questions: 1. What is 'fileacl' and how is it better/worse than subinacl? (which seems to backup all the ACL info (vs. the limited getfacl capabilities) 2. What does the "ntbackup of systemstate" add? If I understand that better, I would be happy to add it as an additional option to shadowmountrsync. Please keep me informed on your progress on getting bare-metal restores to work. I am very interested in getting this all working. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july _______________________________________________ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki: http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/