Symposium install

[toolbox212121]

I have a symposium server that has been acting funny lately and was thinking about doing a wipe and a reinstall. A co-worker of mine said that are vendor said its like a 2 day thing that only they can do. I have all the software CDs and a 3.5" disk labeled Upgrade Key(or something like that). What is actually involved in a "rebuild" of a symposium server and can I do it myself? Thanks

 

[GHTROUT]

If I were going to rebuild anything that I suspected might not go well, I would create a ghost image of it first - and if it fails, just image it back. You have nothing to lose then.


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Nortel Resources at GHTROUT.com
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[tekice]

you could always split the raid ..if you have any issues just insert the split raid disks and fire back up....

 

[DFKSydney]

An indication on server rebuild time is to know what the actual server is.

The big prob time wise is that when installing the database (a component of a full install) , the Symp / CC6 states "can take up to 12 Hours" If then you restore from backup, it will give you the same message again.... so up to 24Hrs, just watching a drive work.

I seem to remember that a Stratus server will do it in about 2 hours or so.... a 702 server in many many more.

I would agree with both the above..... split the raid and if possible, get a ghost image.

You are asking if you "can do it yourself". If you are asking the question, my feel would be NO. However, if you have the correct documentation, you can read, and perform the steps as stated unquestioningly, then you may make it.

Remember as well, that the install software etc may have PEPs but sure as the sun rises, they will be out of date. You may need to source these.

Discouraged yet??????

 

[Sympology]

Way we did it many moons ago was simply to build another server 1st and switch it over to configure set up. Then you have the rogianl to plug bak in should it go horribly wrong (just label all your cards / cables)

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

 

[toolbox212121]

Alright you convinced me not to do it. I guess I will pray I get fired or retire before it dies. LOL

 

[nessman]

You back it up nightly I hope. You have a disaster recovery / business continuity plan in place for when it does die, right?

Your co-worker is right... this isn't as simple as reinstalling the OS and throwing on Microsoft Office. It can be an all-day (or longer) affair.

Don't mess with it. Contact your vendor ASAP, get upgraded to the latest and greatest on new hardware and do it right. Otherwise, you risk turning your life into nightmare for a couple of days.

Ask yourself this (or better yet - your company's CFO)... what would they rather do - spend some $$$ up front to upgrade and have it done right. Or wait for the thing to die and lose $$$, risk losing customers, and/or damaging the company's reputation because the call center has been out of service for several days.