Critical files are required to recover a Lotus Domino Server from disaster - how to protect them. (4047213)

Date - 06/2009
Affected Product & Version - NetVault: Backup 8.1 and later
Affected Module & Version - APM for Lotus Notes/Domino (Version 4.0)
OS Version - Windows 2000/2003, Linux x86/x86-64, Solaris SPARC 8/9/10
Application Information - Domino 6.5/7.0/8.0


Description:
Disaster Recovery of Lotus Domino server requires several critical configuration files to be recovered before the server can be restarted, and before a restore with the Lotus Notes APM can be performed. This solution shows how to protect those files with an automatically triggered File System APM job.


Symptoms:
n/a

To backup ‘critical files’, a standard NetVault: Backup Filesystem backup can be utilized. The example below offers how to set up this job to automatically run via a Post Script. Critical files that need to be backed up for this purpose include:

notes.ini
server.id
cert.id
names.nsf
nlogctrl.lhf
log.nsf

The following steps offer full details on how this can be accomplished.
1. With the Backup window of NetVault: Backup accessed and the Selections
tab selected, double-click on the machine configured as the Lotus Domino Server in order to open it.
2. Locate the File System plugin and double-click on it to open it. From the selection tree that is revealed, continue to open folder items to select the individual files named above.
3. With all of the necessary files selected for a backup, select the
Schedule tab and select Triggered for the schedule type. Input a suitable name for the trigger in the Trigger Name field that appears in the
accompanying frame Schedule Type frame.
4. Assign a suitable name to this job in the Job Title field and save it.
5. In an external text editing software, generate a script that contains the following line (based on O/S in use):

Linux/UNIX-based O/S - “$NV_HOME/bin/nvtrigger [triggername]”
Windows-based O/S - “%NV_HOME%\bin\nvtrigger [triggername]”

6. Save the script with a suitable name as an executable-type file (e.g., as “critical.bat” or “critical.cmd” in a Windows environment or as
“critical.sh” in a UNIX environment). This file must reside in the NetVault: Backup Scripts directory (e.g., “...\netvault\scripts”).

Important:
1. The “$NV_HOME” (for Linux/UNIX) and “%NV_HOME%” (for Windows) values used in this script are NetVault-specific environmental variables that reference the installation directory for the software. It is critical that these variable appear exactly as shown above, or the script file will not function properly (and this backup job will not occur).
2. The aforementioned script must reside in the NetVault: Backup Scripts directory. If this script does not exist in the proper directory, this operation will not function properly.

8. While still in the Backup window, select the Advanced Options tab and locate the Pre and Post Scripts frame. In this frame, select the Use Post Script option and in accompanying field.

9. The job creation process is now complete and this whole system backup can be submitted, barring the setting of any other desired options in regards to the tabs available in the Backup window—Backup Options, Schedule, Target and Advanced Options.

10. Each time this specific backup job is run, the Post Script will be activated and the File System job set up to backup the aforementioned critical files will be run (via the nvtrigger command set in the script).