Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Cluster Server Integration

DHCP and DNS

For online ASR, DHCP must be additionally configured, though Microsoft cluster network interfaces

must be configured with static IP addresses. DHCP must enable DNS Server, which resolves exactly all

involved servers into correct full-qualified hostnames. E.g., online ASR will even fail if only the domain

is different.

If DHCP and DNS fail, the ASR offline restore mode is executed.

Restore Modes

Data Protector attempts automatic media management operations during ASR, which is called online

mode. If the Cell Manager is inaccessible, the offline mode is executed.

Note: The recovery of the cluster-aware Cell Manager is always offline.

Online

The online mode requires full access to the Cell Manager.

Offline

If the Cell Manager is inaccessible, the offline mode attempts to start the media agent including

robotics support.

Local

If the online and the offline mode fail, Data Protector executes the local mode. All local devices are

scanned and offered in an additional window. In this scenario, it is very helpful to verify the correct

device and its hardware path with the latest hardware documentation.

Process Flow

The following example describes the process flow with all required steps for a cluster-aware Cell

Manager configured with two nodes. It is assumed that the active node is completely lost including the

shared disks, e.g. that a virus or bad program deleted all volumes with its data. In this case, ASR

would restore the disk signatures and partition layouts of all cluster disks. Then, Data Protector would

restore all critical volumes (quorum and Data Protector “DPSHARE”). After ASR has finished, non-

critical volumes must be manually restored.