How to Back Up GroupWise Disaster Recovery to another GroupWise Disaster Recovery Server

How do you backup your GroupWise Disaster Recovery system; in other words, how do you backup your GroupWise Disaster Recovery backup?

There are several ways to accomplish backing up your GroupWise Disaster Recovery (GWDR) backup:

 

1.    1. Offsite Reload Server: This option is the recommended option. This option requires the collector model set up to back up your post office and domains. For more information on collector model and how to set it up, please refer to the GWDR documentation.  

     Collector Profiles. Once the collector model is setup, follow these instructions to set up an Offsite GWDR Server

a.    On a new server install a new GWDR server.

b.    Create a directory on the new server where your data will be backed up.

c.    Create a new profile on the new GWDR server, and set it as a Paired profile.

d.    Open the Collector GWDR Web Interface and click on the Profile, and then Configure. Click the Offsite GWDR Server

e.    Go through each of the five steps to setup the Offsite GWDR Server. Be sure it is enabled.

Once the Collector Job starts, it will back up the Post office and/or Domain data, and send it to your main GWDR server and at the same time to the Offsite GWDR Server. 

2.    2. Collector Backup: This option backs up the most recent backup on your main GWDR server and sends it to the secondary server.

a.    On a new server install a new GWDR server.

b.    Create a directory on the new server where your data will be backed up.

c.    Create a new profile on the new GWDR server, and set it as a Paired profile.

d.    Install a collector on the existing GWDR server. For instructions on installing a collector please see the GWDR documentation.

e.    Create a new profile for the collector and make it as a collector profile.

f.     When asked what path to back up, point it to the profile path /connect/current directory (i.e. /reloadbackup/po/connect/current)

Note: It is important that this collector job runs after your main GWDR job so that it can back up and send the most recent data to the new GWDR server.

 

3.    3. Tape Backup: Use the "Tape Backup" feature of GWDR, where GWDR puts all of the backups, including all blob files,  into a TAR file.  That TAR file can then be backed up by a tape backup system.  If the tape backup system cannot work with Linux but can work with Windows, the TAR file can be moved to a server running those operating systems and then backed up. 

 

4.   4.  GWDR to GWDR Profile (recommended for older versions of GWDR)

 The GWDR to GWDR method takes a copy of your most recent backup in the "weeknow" directory (/[path to profile]/backups/weeknow) and copies it over to the secondary GWDR server. This requires having two GWDR servers installed on two different servers. 

By default, it only backs up and retains your most recent backup.  Once it does so, it discards the previous backup on the secondary GWDR server so that only one is present at any given time.  

a.    Export via NFS (linux), or Samba (Windows) your primary GWDR server's parent directory to its backup profiles. For example, if the profiles are under "/data" (/data/po1, /data/po2, /data/dom1, etc), then export "/data".  An "export" on a Linux server is analogous to creating a "share" on a Windows server.  You are "sharing" that parent directory so that the secondary Reload server can "map" (mount) a drive to it.

b.     Create the backup profile.

                                          i.    Launch the Reload administration console. (type reload in a terminal prompt)

                                        ii.    Select: Create | Post Office

                                       iii.    Enter the name of the profile and press ENTER.  Typically, this would be the same name as the profile on the main server you are backing up but it can have any 8-character name you wish to give it.

                                       iv.    Give it a description.

                                        v.     Select a path to store the profile (this is where the backup files will be stored) and press ENTER

                                       vi.      Select the GWDR server address type.  This can be either a TCP/IP or a DNS address.

                                      vii.    Enter the address.

                                    viii.    Enter the export path from step #1 and press ENTER.  This is the full path to the primary GWDR server's parent directory to the backup profiles (i.e., /data).

                                       ix.    Press ENTER at the profile summary screen.

                                        x.    Press ENTER to test the profile. 

c.    After configuring the profile, be sure to disable the SmartPurge feature on the GWDR to GWDR profile since it is backing up your backup and not your actual post office.

                                          i.    From within the main menu within the profile you configured, select  Standard | SmartPurge.

                                        ii.    SmartPurge (Flag Messages Purgeable After Backup:) = disabled

                                       iii.    Pre-Processing (Perform Pre-Processing Routines:) = disabled

This article was originally published in the GWAVA knowledgebase as article ID 2135.