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Need help to restore backup on sme6.0.1

bluefire

Need help to restore backup on sme6.0.1
« on: October 17, 2005, 10:54:49 AM »
Help!!!   :cry:

I messed up my server a couple of days ago so I reinstalled from scratch and wanted to restore my last backup (from Oct.4th.). A rather big backupfile, I guess - about 2.5 GB, so the problem's probably here, but how to work around it?? I get an errormessage like "You send a request this server could not understand. Invalid (or was it bad?) content lenght"

The only files from that backup that I really need is my emails, since I've copied everything else of importance manually.

Is there any way to get my emails back on the server (and make it aware of them), or is it just bad luck??

Regards,

Offline raem

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Re: Need help to restore backup on sme6.0.1
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2005, 12:44:03 AM »
bluefire

> I....wanted to restore my last....backupfile
> ....about 2.5 GB

I'm assuming you were using the Backup to Desktop function in server manager.
That file is probably truncated as backups larger than 2 or 4Gb (depending on your Windows system), will not be created from the sme server.

You may be able to rescue files from it using WinRAR, just open the archive and manually restore from there. Note that the backup file will not be complete so all data may not be there

If not then "bad luck".
The moral of the story is to test your complete backup & restore functionality to prove that it really works as you expect in a worst case scenario.


A better alternative if your resultant backup file size is larger than 2Gb is to use the backup2ws contrib, and split the file into less than 2Gb chunks, it's all in the panel.

Now with "great fear & trepidation" of being accused of "chastising" people yet again (ha ha), I would say that all of the above answers could be found by doing a search on backup or backup2ws, and making sure you go back in time far enough.

Seach is  a good tool if people can be bothered to learn to use it.
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bluefire

Need help to restore backup on sme6.0.1
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2005, 09:03:28 AM »
>I'm assuming you were using the Backup to Desktop
>function in server manager.

Yup.  :pint:

>That file is probably truncated as backups larger
>than 2 or 4Gb (depending on your Windows system),
>will not be created from the sme server.

Running winXPPro on a 100% NTFS-system. And all the files are in there (I've checked!)

>You may be able to rescue files from it using
>WinRAR, just open the archive and manually restore
>from there...

Well, that's just it! I've found the message files and put them ind the right places, chmod'ed them to the right user etc., but it seems that IMP isn't aware of them. I have replaced the dovelist.uid (or similar), but that doesn't seem to change anything. What have I missed/forgotten??

Anyway, now I've unpacked the backupfile, removed my fotolibrary (I have it backed up elsewhere) and packed it together again. I'm just not sure that the server will accept it, but that I'll know when I've tried it tonight.

Offline raem

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Need help to restore backup on sme6.0.1
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2005, 10:01:51 AM »
bluefire

> Running winXPPro on a 100% NTFS-system. And all
> the files are in there (I've checked!)

There are many files you may have overlooked if you are manually trying to restore.
While Windows XP is capable of creating large file sizes greater than 4Gb, the main issue is when doing Restores. The combination or smb, tar and even browser capability, will prevent proper restores from backup files larger than 2Gb.

Look in the contribs.org FAQ for a list of all files that get backed up and need to be restored. Check they are all in your backuo file.

You will find more detail about the issues by searching on backup or backup2ws.
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