Problems restoring Lotus Notes Databases

[rmgcook]

I have Arcserve v11.1 with the Domino backup agent installed, running on a W2003 server. Backups run fine, as do restores of general files. However, restoring Notes databases always fail in a matter of seconds. The following error is written to the log:

E8601 25/02/2005 11:37:33 Failed to connect agent. (AGENT=\\<servername>\dbanotes@<dominoservername>/, EC=DBagent does not exist.)

Any ideas? I've logged a call with CA and Ive got no where at all!!! help!

 

[rmgcook]

Oh - When I run the job there is a tab for the computers username/password, and a second "DBAGENT" tab, to put similar info in - but to be honest I have no idea which username or password this is referring to??

Server is running Domino v6...

 

[davidmichel]

I recommend digging out the ARCserve CD and browsing to the Docs directory and then read the Notes DB Agent manual.

 

[ABOzIT]

I have exactly the same problem! Yes, I have read the manual and it's no help.

What I did notice though was a slight difference in the sever names. Our Domino server is called AUMELDMS01/FEA and in Arcserve the Domino server is shown in the server tree as Lotus Domino Server - AUMELDMS01/FEA. When I tried to run a backup the error in the log stated the agent name as \\AUMELDMS01\dbanotes@AUMELDMS01\

Note that the "FEA" is missing off the end of the server name.

OK, so me thinks "Let's have a look in the Registry on the Notes server" Making a backup of the registry first of course!!

Under HKLM\SOFTWARE\ComputerAssociates\BrightStor ARCserve Backup\DSAgent\CurrentVersion\agent\ I notice the entry dbanotes@AUMELDMS01/FEA

Inside this key is an entry called "name" (this was Lotus Domino Server-AUMELDMS01/FEA)and another called "PreviousInstanceName" (this was blank)

So, as an experiment I renamed the "name" key to "Lotus Domino Server-AUMELDMS01/" and "PreviousInstanceName" to "Lotus Domino Server-AUMELDMS01/FEA".

I then renamed the key (removed the "FEA" bit at the end) to HKLM\SOFTWARE\ComputerAssociates\BrightStor ARCserve Backup\DSAgent\CurrentVersion\agent\dbanotes@AUMELDMS01/

Confused yet??

I then tried a restore and it worked!! The manual mentions something about not changing the Domino server name otherwise you need to specify it in the "PreviousInstanceName" in the registry.

The strange part of all this is that I've never changed my server name. The only changes I've made is upgrade Arcserve from V9 to V11.1

Just in case you are now totally confused, basically, all I've done is rename the server name for the agent and put the old server name in the PreviousInstanceName entry.

I haven't tried doing a backup yet but I'll get back to you if I have issues.

Hope this helps you out.

Cheers!

 

[ABOzIT]

Oh, by the way, I don't need to specify any user name or password in the "DBAgent" tab when doing the restore.

 

[rmgcook]

I have this sorted now - but in the end I had to get Arcserve Tech Support to dial into our server, they spent a couple of hours applying patches and changes quite a few things - sorry I cant remember exactly what. But this sorted it in the end. All I can say is it wasn't straight forward, if you have maintenance for your arcserve I'd use it and get them to look at your server remotely.