Preventive Maint.... 1

[tekieVB]

What type of preventive maintenance do other people do on Novell Networks?

I ask customers to do the following at least once a month.
Purge Volumes
Reset Server
DSRepair

Also, check backups everyday if I don't have it setup for remote notifications.

Any other ideas anyone can think of? Is there anything specific to NetWare 5 or 6 that you recommend?

 

[marvhuffaker]

First of all, you shouldn't have to reset your server like that every month.. That's not maintenance, it's a waste of time. Plus it's insane. Netware servers don't require reboots and they actually run better after they've been up a while because they self-tune (to a certain point)..

And I don't like to run DSREPAIR unless I have a reason.

A better thing to do is run a health check once a month, and if you have problems then look into it and find out what the deal is. You can get full details on how to run a health check on Novell's knowledgebase.





Marvin Huffaker MCNE, CNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting, Inc.

http://www.redjuju.com/support

 

[terry712]

agree
i dont even like purging unless
1. it's a dedicated groupwise volume
2. if purgeable space is excessive - ie greater than 20%

you really just want to get the health check tid - you could even get this stuffkey automated - sure this is on cool solutions somewhere - although i prefer manually as it's quick

usual kind of thing
check against stuck obits
check time sync
check no unknown objects
etc

i would agree with marv with dsrepair - i dont like the full unattended repair
fair enough it's normally ok but you dont take out and strip your car engine every month when you just need to check the oil

 

[LawnBoy]

I don't purge unless I need the space.
I don't run dsrepair unless I need to.
I NEVER reboot unless configuration changes require it.

My Netware servers don't 'crap out' like some other unnamed OS's do.

 

[TheLad]

You mean Microsoft? For what it is worth, I totally agree with everything that has been said. NetWare servers can be up for months and even years before they need a reboot or any sort of manual maintenance.

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"It's true, its damn true!"
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[tekieVB]

I appreciate everyones feedback.

So if you don't reboot, purge, or dsrepair - what do you all do for preventive measures? I have about 25 - 30 smaller customers that run one or two NetWare Servers.

I don't see some of these customers more than a couple of times a year and my concern is if I don't have them do anything - something minor could build up to something major.

They can't read logfiles because none of it makes sense to them. These are not tekies, they are managers or some office position that have been given the task of server maintenance. The larger customers have IT Staff on hand that can understand logfiles and know when to call me.

I don't want to automate these tasks with cron jobs. I leave instructions with the individuals to show them how to do it and what the results should look like. If the results are not what we expect than to call me.

Doing something is better than doing nothing.

 

[marvhuffaker]

That right there should tell you how great NetWare is.... Imagine that, you can stick a server in the closet, have only non-technical people on staff, and you don't have to go visit them more than once a year or so because the thing just runs and runs and runs.. Do you realize how much money your clients are saving by running NetWare as opposed to MS? That's what NetWare is all about!

The only thing I can recommend is that you tune the servers so that they run optimally.. For example, do some research on "Directory Cache Buffers" and bump the MIN and MAX up so that the server caches more and the performance is better when your users access files.









Marvin Huffaker MCNE, CNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting, Inc.

http://www.redjuju.com/support

 

[LawnBoy]

Doing something is better than doing nothing.

Not necessarily. I certainly don't work with as many servers as some of the consultants around here (Marvin and Terry, for example) but from what I've seen, Netware doesn't develop problems over time. I have crashed servers by fooling with stuff I hadn't researched properly, but left alone my servers just run and run and run.

 

[tekieVB]

Point Taken........

Thanks.

 

[TheLad]

If it 'aint broke, don't fix it.....

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"It's true, its damn true!"
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[iolair]

I usually don't mess with my servers either. Unless we have a power outage - sometimes (I live in the Southern US) we'll have a thunder storm that will take out power on the weekend for longer than our UPS can last. Monday I'll get in and find the power went out. (Usually, if power goes out at work, it doesn't at home, and vice versa, but it's never consistent). If I get errors, I will dismount the volumes and run vrepair to fix any errors, But, that is all.

Iolair MacWalter