NOVELL TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT TITLE: Partition Manipulation DOCUMENT ID: TID DOCUMENT REVISION: A DATE: 30MAR94 ALERT STATUS: Yellow INFORMATION TYPE: Issue README FOR: NA NOVELL PRODUCT and VERSION: NetWare 4.01 ABSTRACT: This document includes suggestion for NetWare Directory Services. ------------------------------------------------------------------ DISCLAIMER THE ORIGIN OF THIS INFORMATION MAY BE INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO NOVELL. NOVELL MAKES EVERY EFFORT WITHIN ITS MEANS TO VERIFY THIS INFORMATION. HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY. NOVELL MAKES NO EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED CLAIMS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS INFORMATION. ------------------------------------------------------------------ ISSUE Recommendations for Using This Information This is not an official letter from Novell. The following are simply pointers from what I have learned from working with users and nothing more. For this reason, you will not find my suggestions documented in manuals. I would also like to point out that some may feel that my suggestions create extra work that is not really necessary. While I somewhat agree with this statement, my point is that the extra safety incurred by following my suggestions is worth the extra time taken. Also, partition and replica manipulation is not performed that often when compared to the rest of NetWare Directory Services (NDS) management. When it comes to manipulating replica rings or partitions over WANs, a little bit of planning goes a long ways. Checking the WAN Condition when Manipulating Typical Objects In my opinion, there are windows of time in a wide area network in which partition replication is not as robust as typical object manipulation and synchronization. In other words, while I would never bother to check the condition of my WAN when manipulating typical objects, I would first check its condition before manipulating partitions. To do so I would run DSTRACE on the servers that have replicas of the partition that I am manipulating. Avoid Creating Partition or Copying Replicas Through Install First of all, a lot of the problems that get escalated to me could be totally prevented if we avoided creating partitions or copying replicas through install. For that reason, I suggest that you never create a new partition or copy a replica through install. This way if install is aborted or redone, there is no possibility of getting into a situation where NDS inconsistencies exist, or more frequently, locked out because the NDS is busy. If you want to install a new file server into a new partition, first create the partition within partition manager. Then when installing NDS onto your file server, insert it into the current partition. When install prompts you to copy a replica to this server, answer no. At this point, install is complete. Multiple Install Recommendations If for some reason you want to redo INSTALL over and over, use the following procedure: 1. Delete the volume object through NetAdmin. 2. Deinstall NDS from the server. 3. Then delete the server object through Part Manager. Using this procedure, you will be able to reinstall as many times as you would like. Two exceptions where you must create partitions with install are with the first server in a Tree or with a NetWare 3.x upgrade. Master Replicas of New Partitions If the end result that you want to accomplish is to have a master replica of this new partition placed on this new file server, do that through Partition Manager after install. Do not perform any replica operations to that partition until after you have verified through DSTRACE that all copies of that partition have been updated. If any of the file servers that has a copy of the partition on it shows errors, resolve those errors first before performing any other changes to that replica. Those other changes include changing a partition to Master. Over busy WANs, please give it some time for the NDS to update and possibly resolve some errors. Multiple Installs on the Same Server I run into a fair number of users that have been locked out of their NDS database because of doing multiple installs of the same server. When you want to deinstall a server out of a tree, remove all copies of the replica from the server through partition manager instead of through install. After you have verified the replicas have been moved (through DSTRACE), go ahead and deinstall the server in the same manner previously discussed. Broken Trees The biggest cause of updates not occurring and corruption not being cleaned up is a broken Tree. DSTRACE will alert you if you have a broken Tree. If a server is removed without doing a proper deinstall (crashed and you do not want to replace it), double check on the servers that have copies of the partition containing the server (with DSTRACE again), then remove the server with partition manager. Then go into NetAdmin and delete the objects that were contained on that server. Manipulating Replicas without Waiting for a DSTRACE Clean Up If you want the ability to manipulate replicas at a site without waiting for DSTRACE to clean up, have at least two servers per remote site that have replicas. This way, if NDS needs to be removed and reinstalled (hard disk crash, server crash, strange NDS corruption of a master replicas), you have the ability to immediately reinstall without first fixing DSTRACE errors. To do so, follow the steps that I already outlined and do not copy a replica over to the reinstalled server until DSTRACE is clean with all servers involved in the replica ring. This way a newly reinstalled server can immediately access the other servers partition until DSTRACE is cleaned up. Also, make sure that you run DSPAT in all your NetWare 4.01 servers. Hints for Maintaining NDS Never Rename Your File Server Another hint that will help your NetWare Directory Services easier to maintain is to never rename your file server or give it a different internal IPX number. Most people never have a problem renaming file servers; however, when a problem does arise, it can be difficult to resolve. Life is easier if you just do not rename the file server. If you must rename you file server, the safest way to do so is to deinstall your file server out of the tree and reinstall it using the methods previously listed. Never Assign Two File Servers the Same Internal IPX Number Even more detrimental to you NDS tree, is assigning two file servers the same internal IPX number. If you do not like using the random IPX number generated by install make sure, 100 percent, that the IPX number you enter is not duplicated, even for a little while. I have seen damage done to the NDS tree by having duplicate IPX numbers that is not repairable. Do Not Enable Auditing Please do not enable auditing. If you already have enabled auditing, you need to completely disable it. If you need auditing, you will need to upgrade your NetWare Directory Services to version 296. If you see a problem of high utilization on the file servers, along with extremely slow performance, you might be seeing problems associated with auditing. Disabling auditing at this point will not fix the problem, you must upgrade your NDS to version 296.