UC Server Failed, Cannot restore using backups

[dlevasseur]

Our NetVanta UC420 server failed a week or so ago.  The hard drive was shot.  So after installing a new drive and reinstalling the OS and software from the CD that came with it I tried to restore the backups.  Now I should note that I wasn't creating these backups.  I guess in the build process the Adtran Engineers created the backup process to backup to an attached USB stick.  When trying to restore these backup files using the "Recovery" tool in the Windows Server Backup software, it simply cannot see the backup files.  They are all named "backup.zip.1", "backup.zip.2" etc to 10.  I believe they kept a rotating 10 days of backups.  So I'm trying to restore the latest, with no luck.  The Windows utility simply doesn't see the files as being backups.  I've tried unzipping them, changing the extension to .zip, .bak, .bkf  No luck.  I have also tried the "Import" feature of the Client software which fails on any file I select to import.

Any suggestions?  This is a 4.5 on Server 2008 R2.  I'm half tempted to just wipe the whole thing and start from scratch on the latest version, but honestly I have no idea how to configure this thing other than users and was provided no instructions.  We only use it for VoiceMail, so for now we are just using the 7100 to host our VM.

[dlevasseur]

So after some digging, and unzipping of the backup files.  It appears I have 4 database dumps and the ./Data folder

I tried copying over the ./Data folder but then the services wouldn't restart.  I'm tempted to restore the databases and copy the Data folder and see if that will work.  At this point I'm only out time.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

I see you have engaged ADTRAN Technical Support to assist with this issue, but I wanted to list the steps to recover the server from the backup files in this post:

1. Completely uninstall NetVanta UC Server.

2. After NetVanta UC Server has been uninstalled delete UC server folder located in the Program Files (C:\Program Files (x86)\ADTRAN\NetVanta UC Server).

3. Completely uninstall MS SQL.

4. After MS SQL has been uninstalled delete the Microsoft SQL Server folder located in the Program Files (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server).

5. Reinstall NetVanta UC Server and make sure to install the exact same version that was running before.

6. After reinstalling NetVanta UC server, run the Configuration wizard.  In the wizard go through the steps for Product Licensing, Windows Network Integration, Communication Systems, Messaging Systems, and then exit wizard.  Note that you are stopping after Messaging Systems instead of running through the entire wizard.

7. Stop all UC services by right clicking the C:\Program Files (x86)\ADTRAN\NetVanta UC Server\StopAllUCServerServices.bat file and running it as Administrator.

8. Make a copy of the C:\Program Files (x86)\ADTRAN\NetVanta UC Server\Data\System\license.txt file.

9. Copy and paste over the Data folder from the backup drive.

10. After the Data folder has been restored copy and paste the licesnse.txt file from step 8 back to the C:\Program Files (x86)\ADTRAN\NetVanta UC Server\Data\System folder.

11. Go to Start > Run > services.msc and start the SQL Server Agent (NETVANTAUC) service, by right clicking it and selecting Start.

12. Run the database restore tool as outlined in section 3.2.1 of this guide: . Depending on the version of UC you are running there are different restore files that are linked at the top of that guide (version 4.5 or 5.x).

13. Stop SQL Server Agent (NETVANTAUC) service, by right clicking it and selecting Stop.

14. Start all UC services by right clicking the C:\Program Files (x86)\ADTRAN\NetVanta UC Server\StartAllUCServerServices.bat file and running it as Administrator.

15. Open the C:\Program Files (x86)\ADTRAN\NetVanta UC Server\Data\WizardStates.xml file, find the section below, change the 6 (highlighted in blue below) to a 1, and then save and close the file:

Before:
<anyType xsi:type="Pair">
 <First xsi:type="xsd:string">Windows Network Integration</First>
 <Second xsi:type="xsd:int">6</Second>
 </anyType>

After:

<anyType xsi:type="Pair">

<First xsi:type="xsd:string">Windows Network Integration</First>

<Second xsi:type="xsd:int">1</Second>

</anyType>

16. Run the Configuration wizard again.  You will need to know the UC client admin username and password that was used on the previous installation.  Please note these instructions are assuming Active Directory integration.  Inside the wizard go through the Windows Integration portion.  Make sure to select the option to use an existing account.  Then input the service connection point name and the username and password.  Skip the next part of the wizard for creating a service connection point and complete the wizard.  At this point everything will get rebuilt and the permissions set appropriately.

Thanks,

Matt

[dlevasseur]

Thanks Matt for the follow up.  I'm in contact with Support to get pricing on having them just reinstall from scratch the latest version.  We aren't a big company so associating our ~40 user accounts shouldn't take me too much work, it was more that I didn't receive any training on how to set up the server itself.

So I never really paid attention to what version I was running, is there any way in one of the backup files to find the version number?  The CD that came with our system is 4.6.4 but that doesn't guarantee the version that was installed.  I'm downloading it now to try the steps you have outlined above.

EDIT:  Found we were using 4.6.4 on a previous post of mine.  Will try the steps outlined above.

[Anonymous]

To answer your question there is not a way to determine the exact version running before from the files.  The license.txt file contains your key, which we can decode to see what the maximum allowed version is for that particular key, but it does not give the current version.  One thing that may help is looking at the version of the UC client installed on a different PC if one was used separate to using the client on the server itself.  The UC client version must match the server version, so that is usually a good clue.  I'm glad to see you found the version from your old post.

Thanks,

Matt

[dlevasseur]

Thanks Matt.   I was able to use the steps above to fully restore our UC Server.  A couple notes on the steps for my 4.6.4 system in case someone comes along this post:

Step 6: There are a couple more installation tasks between Communication Systems and Messaging System.

Step 11: The service is actually "ObjectWorld"

Step 12: The restore proceedures for direct DB restore are actually outlined in the Server 2003 section, even though I'm on Server 2008

Step 12: During the script run process ALL services are started back up again.

Step 13: Because all services are restarted in Step 12 You'll be asked to stop several other services automatically.  Also, again "ObjectWorld"

Step 15: I didn't do because I'm not using Windows Integration.

Step 16: Same as above.

I'm thinking that since our VM is still considered "down" I might as well go ahead and upgrade to the latest.  Seems like I can always go back using the outlined steps above.

Thanks again Matt!

[Anonymous]

That is great news!  I'm gald we could help.  Thanks for coming back to update the post and to list out differences for 4.6.4.  Hopefully this will be helpful for other customers too.

I wanted to add a couple of comments to explain some of what you observed:

• The starting and stopping of the services were suggested as a safeguard, but thanks for the confirmation of what you saw.
• The database changed in version 5 and beyond to replace OBJECTWORLD references with NETVANTAUC.  That is also why there are two versions of the backup and restore files (4.5 and 5.x).
• Since you were restoring from backup files instead of a complete Windows backup (available in server 2008 R2) section 3.2.1 of the guide was the right place despite it being listed as Windows 2003.

If you upgrade the server don't forget to make sure the Netvanta 7100 and the phones are running the required firmware outlined in the release notes for each AOS version.  Make sure to make a backup copy of the NetVanta 7100 configuration before you upgrade.

Thanks,

Matt

[dlevasseur]

I upgraded to 5.0 as the first step toward 5.4  We only use our UC Server for VoiceMail and in the past TechSupport said that in our situation with just routing the server version shouldn't make much difference.

I was looking for the Backup And Restore Procedures for 5.x but couldn't find anything.  Can I just follow the 4.5 Server 2008 guide?

[Anonymous]

Correct.  The instructions from the guide I linked to previously will also work for 5.x.

Thanks,

Matt