Migrating Files from Novell

[Richard Tubb]

Hi,

I'm due to migrate around 9GB worth of files from an aging Novell 4.11
server (HDD's part of a RAID5 setup) to a new Windows 2000 Server setup
(single HDD setup).

Initial thought on how to do this is simply to install Netware Client on the
2000 Server, and transfer the files across the LAN (2 machines connected to
a Switch, no other PC's present).

However, the 9GB worth of files consists of hundreds and hundreds of small
(90K and less) files and from experience, this causes a major overhead that
can leave a copy operation taking many hours.

Any suggestions on how to get that 9GB of data to my new 2000 Server in the
most efficient manner? As the Novell server utilises a RAID5 setup, simply
attaching the disk(s) directly to the 2000 server and copying the files is
not really an option.

Would be grateful for any advice offered.

Regards,

Richard Tubb.
www.netlinktrading.co.uk

 

[Guest]

Even if the Novell volume could be transferred to the MS server, MS couldn't
read the disk.

So you are replacing a fault tolerant server OS with a non fault tolerant
server configuration? That seem wise to you?

Since you don't mention a backup server it would appear your only choice is
as you outlined with the NW client and coping the files. Otherwise I would
backup the data and restore it to the MS server.

 

[Richard Tubb]

Hi Joshua,

Thanks for your response.

Although it's not applicable in my case (as I am using a RAID5 setup with
many disks) you might be interested in the software "Captain Nemo" that
apparently allows Novell volumes to be used directly from Windows simply by
attaching the physical disk drive. See http://www.runtime.org/captain.htm
for more details. I've never used the s/w but it does look interesting.

Back to my problem - the data is being migrated to a Windows 2000 server
(non fault-tolerant) purely for use in an archive capacity. The old Novell
server will then be mothballed. I just needed to provide access to the data
for an individual on a different site to the Novell server who very
occasionally needs access - a huge rack server seemed overkill for this!

The Novell server did use an arcane version of ArcServe to backup data to
tape. I will look into the tape backup restore option if the file copy
scenario appears to take forever.

I'll let you know how I get on!

Regards

 

[barry]

Hi,

I'm due to migrate around 9GB worth of files from an aging Novell 4.11
server (HDD's part of a RAID5 setup) to a new Windows 2000 Server setup
(single HDD setup).

Initial thought on how to do this is simply to install Netware Client on the
2000 Server, and transfer the files across the LAN (2 machines connected to
a Switch, no other PC's present).

However, the 9GB worth of files consists of hundreds and hundreds of small
(90K and less) files and from experience, this causes a major overhead that
can leave a copy operation taking many hours.

Any suggestions on how to get that 9GB of data to my new 2000 Server in the
most efficient manner? As the Novell server utilises a RAID5 setup, simply
attaching the disk(s) directly to the 2000 server and copying the files is
not really an option.

Would be grateful for any advice offered.

Regards,

Richard Tubb.
www.netlinktrading.co.uk

9gb isnt a lot. why not jsut script it and do it overnight if it takes a
few hours

 

[Richard Tubb]

Hi all,

Thanks for your responses to this.

The data is now transferred. I used the method of installing the Novell
client on the Win2k Server, mapping a network drive and copying the data
across that way.

The transfer via normal drag'n'drop in the Windows GUI seemed to be taking
forever! So I stopped it and kicked off the copy again using RoboCopy
through a DOS prompt - this time the transfer seemed a lot faster. I can't
say for sure whether this method would always be faster, but it seems
Robocopy deals with small files a lot quicker than Windows would. Definitely
recommended after my experience. The transfer still took many many hours,
but completed with no errors.

Hope that helps anyone else in my situation in the future!

Regards,

Richard Tubb.
www.netlinktrading.co.uk