Restoring NSF databases to an alternate partition

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How to restore NSF databases to alternate partitions is described.

Before you begin

This procedure assumes the following environment:
Domino Environment
  • Installation directory: /opt/lotus
  • Production Partition Data Directory: /production/notesdata
  • Production Partition Notes User: notesp
  • Production Partition Notes Group: notes
  • Alternate Partition Data Directory: /alternate/notesdata
  • Alternate Partition Notes User: notesa
  • Alternate Partition Notes Group: notes
  • Database to be restored: restoredb.nsf

Procedure

  1. Install an alternate partition if one is not available. See your Domino Server documentation for information about how to install an alternate partition.
    1. Do not configure this alternate partition.
    2. If you are using an existing alternate partition, make sure the server on that partition is stopped.
  2. Configure Data Protection for HCL Domino for multiple partitions:
    1. Run the dominstall program. See Configuring manually with dominstall for more information.
    2. Update the alternate partition Notes user environment as created by the dominstall program.
    3. Update the dsm.opt file so it contains the same settings as the dsm.opt file on the production server.
    4. Verify that you can successfully run the domdsmc q adsm command as the alternate partition Notes user.
  3. Create the following directories as the alternate partition Notes user:
    1. A directory to contain the restored databases. If you are using an existing directory, make sure that the directory is empty.
      For example:/alternate/notesdata/restoredb
    2. A directory to contain the restored log files. If you using an existing directory, make sure that the directory is empty.
      For example: /alternatelog
  4. Create (as the alternate partition notes user) a notes.ini file with the following values: [Notes] Directory=<directory for restored databases> KeyFilename=<directory for restored databases>/server.id TRANSLOG_Status=0 TRANSLOG_Style=1 TRANSLOG_Path=<directory for restored transaction logs> TRANSLOG_MEDIAONLY=1. This notes.ini file can be in any directory of your choice.
    1. If you place the notes.ini file in the alternate partition data directory, save (as the alternate partition Notes user) a copy of the existing notes.ini file.
      For example: mv notes.ini notes.save
    2. If you place the notes.ini file in a directory other than the alternate partition data directory, update (as the alternate partition Notes user) the Data Protection for IBM Domino preferences file, domdsm.cfg by default, to point to the location of this notes.ini file: domdsmc set notesinipath=<directory for notes.ini>
    3. This notes.ini file is used only during this alternate partition restore process. Note, transaction logging is disabled.
      For example, in the file /alternate/notesdata/notes.ini[Notes] Directory=/alternate/notesdata/restoredb KeyFilename=/alternate/notesdata/restoredb/server.id TRANSLOG_Status=0 TRANSLOG_Style=1 TRANSLOG_Path=/alternatelog TRANSLOG_MEDIAONLY=1
  5. Place a copy of the server.id file from the production Domino server, on the alternate server in the directory that is created for restored databases. Change the permissions of the server.id file to be accessible to the alternate partition Notes user.
  6. Perform an archive of the transaction log (as the production server Notes user) on the production server. You can apply the latest updates from the transaction log to the restored database. As the production server Notes user, run the following command: domdsmc archivelog
  7. Restore (as the alternate partition notes user) one of the following to the transaction log directory:
    1. The last archived transaction log file which is the log file to be used in the log recovery procedure. Run the following command as the alternate partition Notes user: domdsmc restorelogarchive
    2. A transaction log file to be restored from an old Logger ID. Use this log file if you are trying to restore and apply transactions for a logged database that used an old Logger ID. Run the restorelogarchive command (as the alternate partition Notes user) with the pick option and choose the log extent.
      For example:domdsmc restorelogarchive logname /pick=showall.
    See Domdsmc activatedbs for a description of when this type of restore might be necessary.
  8. As the alternate partition Notes user, modify the notes.ini file to enable transaction logging: TRANSLOG_Status=1. This is the notes.ini file that is created in Step 4 for the alternate partition restore process only.
  9. As the alternate partition Notes user, restore (but do not activate) the databases you want to recover to their latest state.
    Attention: Warning! Activation at this step triggers the Domino transaction log recovery process which requires considerable processing time. Run the following command as the alternate partition Notes user: domdsmc restore restoredb.nsf
  10. As the alternate partition Notes user, activate the databases that you are recovering and apply transaction logs. Run the following command as the alternate partition Notes user: domdsmc activate /applylogs
  11. You can now do the following tasks:
    • Copy the recovered databases to the production Domino server, or
    • Access the recovered databases through a remote Notes client to copy individual documents.
    • Do not attempt to open or access the restored databases with the alternate Domino server if the databases are to be copied to the production Domino server. If you access them with the alternate Domino server, they require corrections to resolve inconsistencies on the production Domino server.
  12. If the alternate partition is configured and you saved the notes.ini file in Step 4, copy that notes.save file back tonotes.ini to be able to start the server.