Ghosted a RAID5 config successfully - questions on disk signature

[cyberpunk]

FACT : Norton Ghost 7.5 does not support ghosting hardware or software
RAID configs.

FACT : In some cases it may work, but never with software RAID

Also couldn't find anyone on google that had steps or success doing
RAID5, found lots on 0 and 1, but no 5.

So heres what I did.
Built a test server with 3 HD's, RAID 5 config, W2K Server.
Booted with the correct (unaltered) boot disk for the NIC in the
server
Created the image
Changed a few files on the server for testings sake
Ghosted the image back down

At this point I thought I had success. Machine booted to the
following error :

"Windows 2000 could not start because of a computer disk hardware
configuration problem. Could not read from selected boot disk. Check
boot path and disk hardware. Please check the Windows documentation
about hardware disk configuration and your hardware disk
configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional
information."

I researched this error and found Q article Q119467
I followed this article and was still unable to get my machine to boot
off the floppy. I then removed the ntbootdd.sys file and added both
setupldr.bin and ntldr. The contents of my floppy were:

ntldr
setupldr.bin
boot.ini
ntdetect.com

There are 2 ways around the error. You can boot off the floppy into
the OS and edit the boot.ini in C:\, or you can boot off the Windows
2000 CD and go into recovery console and copy the boot.ini off the
floppy into C:\

The reason the boot.ini is bad is because in a SCSI RAID config it
changes the ARC path to something like

signature(806F355)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Winnt instead of

scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Winnt or
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Winnt

Now, I had to use multi to get my server to work, and I can't figure
out why, but what the hell. As long as you take note of your original
working boot.ini before ghosting it is easy to re-write it correctly.

So now my process is as follows:

Built a test server with 3 HD's, RAID 5 config, W2K Server.
Booted with the correct (unaltered) boot disk for the NIC in the
server
Created the image
Changed a few files on the server for testings sake
Ghosted the image back down
booted to the floppy I created ahead of time, edited boot.ini
removed floppy and rebooted
All is good

Now my question - Is there anyway to prevent ghosting from changing
the ARC to reflect signature instead of actual?

Does anyone else have another way they would do any of the steps?

Any other suggestions or solutions?



J

 

[Joep]

FACT : Norton Ghost 7.5 does not support ghosting hardware or software

RAID configs.

Ghost or Symantec? In fact it should be easy to image and restore a hardware
based RAID because the controller should make it completely transparent for
the software accessing the disk *array* if it is one disk or more. It should
show an array as one disk, as long as it does that, imaging is a walk in the
park.

I have been doing this with DriveImage many times.

 

[Eric Gisin]

Where do these facts come from?

Most people have found Ghost works if there is Int13 support. That is always
the case with RAID cards.

The signature() arc path can usually be changed to multi(). Signature won't
survive imaging because the disk signature has changed.

| FACT : Norton Ghost 7.5 does not support ghosting hardware or software
| RAID configs.
|
| FACT : In some cases it may work, but never with software RAID
|
| Also couldn't find anyone on google that had steps or success doing
| RAID5, found lots on 0 and 1, but no 5.
|
| So heres what I did.
| Built a test server with 3 HD's, RAID 5 config, W2K Server.
| Booted with the correct (unaltered) boot disk for the NIC in the
| server
| Created the image
| Changed a few files on the server for testings sake
| Ghosted the image back down
|
| At this point I thought I had success. Machine booted to the
| following error :
|
| "Windows 2000 could not start because of a computer disk hardware
| configuration problem. Could not read from selected boot disk. Check
| boot path and disk hardware. Please check the Windows documentation
| about hardware disk configuration and your hardware disk
| configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional
| information."
|
| I researched this error and found Q article Q119467
| I followed this article and was still unable to get my machine to boot
| off the floppy. I then removed the ntbootdd.sys file and added both
| setupldr.bin and ntldr. The contents of my floppy were:
....
|
| There are 2 ways around the error. You can boot off the floppy into
| the OS and edit the boot.ini in C:\, or you can boot off the Windows
| 2000 CD and go into recovery console and copy the boot.ini off the
| floppy into C:\
|
| The reason the boot.ini is bad is because in a SCSI RAID config it
| changes the ARC path to something like
|
| signature(806F355)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Winnt instead of
|
| scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Winnt or
| multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Winnt
|
| Now, I had to use multi to get my server to work, and I can't figure
| out why, but what the hell. As long as you take note of your original
| working boot.ini before ghosting it is easy to re-write it correctly.
|

 

[Joep]

Hello,

Ghost or Symantec? Ghost is a product made by Symantec.

Yep, I know. I used to work for PowerQuest and some scenarios we were not
allowed to support even though DriveImage could handle it. So this was what
my question was about: is something that can be done but not supported by
Symantec, or can it not be done at all. You stated: Fact ...... , so what
the exact fact?

You'd expect that when an image is restored to the same location it was
taken from, Ghost doesn't have to touch the boot.ini at all.

What exact signature are you referring to?

- Ghost itself 'finger prints' a drive
- The other thing is the W2K DiskManager signature which is kept in the MBR.
It is likely Ghost does NOT put that back when restoring an image. Now
normally this is not a problem although you may see a message appear 'found
new hardware bladibladibla'.

PowerQuest has a support policy as well when it comes to imaging servers ...

--
Joep

Ghost or Symantec? Ghost is a product made by Symantec.
Creating an image with Ghost is easy as you state, blowing that image
down can have dire results. Do you have any insight to the signature
question?

Does DriveImage handle this with no problems?

J



Ghost or Symantec? In fact it should be easy to image and restore a hardware
based RAID because the controller should make it completely transparent for
the software accessing the disk *array* if it is one disk or more. It should
show an array as one disk, as long as it does that, imaging is a walk in the
park.

I have been doing this with DriveImage many times.

[/QUOTE]