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NovaNET 11
Professional Network Backup. Simple, Fast and Reliable.
NovaNET™ is designed to provide a single answer to all small and medium business network backup and data protection requirements.
Complete Network Protection
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For over a decade, NovaNET has been helping businesses of all sizes recover from complete data loss and disasters. NovaNET has been recognized by several industry leaders for its advanced design, powerful features, intuitive interface, flexibility and ultimate scalability.
Universal Support
When it comes to data protection for small-to-medium business, NovaNET is the one solution for server and PC desktop backup. NovaNET provides seamless cross-platform support for Microsoft Windows, Linux and NetWare. This unique advantage decreases the learning curve associated with multiple applications and provides a single solution which is powerful, yet consistent and simplified.
In addition to broad platform support, NovaNET protects open files including leading databases and applications such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server. Also, with the increasing popularity of Network Attached Storage (NAS), NovaNET supports a broad class of NAS solutions, including those built on Microsoft Storage Server 2003.
Intuitive Backup and Recovery
Backup, and more importantly, recovery, shouldn’t be complicated or cumbersome. NovaNET provides intuitive wizards to guide you step-by-step through installation, setup and every aspect of the backup and recovery process to ensure the protection and restoration of your critical business data.
With Disaster Recovery options for servers and workstations, NovaNET provides a broad range of recovery options with the capability to fully recover complete system environments or just a single file.
Scales to Suit Any Environment
Built for businesses with growth in mind, NovaNET can scale from a minimal configuration supporting a single server with a locally attached backup device up to an enterprise environment with multiple domains, OSs, workstations, servers and storage devices. NovaNET employs a building block architecture centralized around a central Master Server component, and from this foundation, support for additional servers, workstations, backup devices and critical applications can be added individually as required.
Unmatched Flexibility
With NovaNET’s distributed architecture, backup devices can be located anywhere on the network to suit your personal requirements and administration of all backups can be controlled from any server, workstation or browser.
With NovaNET’s flexible licensing technology, you have the ability to redesign your network infrastructure at any time without additional software investment. NovaNET provides the perfect solution for businesses wishing to migrate to a new or mixed OS platform. Each license has built in support for each OS and the same license key will activate the platform that best suits the existing or newly planned environment.
Innovative Automation
NovaNET facilitates the management of storage media with an automated media rotation and tape library support. NovaNET automatically detects new devices allowing the instant integration into your backup routines. NovaNET offers a Self Tuning Logic (STL) which ensures maximum backup and recovery performance for optimal usage of software and hardware resources.
Best Valued Packs for Small Business Needs
NovaStor has further expanded and enhanced its most popular edition of NovaNET. The introduction of Value Packs makes composing your software solution easy as ordering from a take-away. NovaStor offers small business owners the best value packages to meet their business needs with unbeatable prices in the marketplace, building on NovaStor’s reputation for delivering value.
For example, NovaNET Master Server Value Pack Combo A includes the Standard Master Server for scalable single server backup. Additionally, users can choose one of the most popular plug-ins/options for NovaNET. NovaStor offers protection for SQL, Exchange, a Bare Metal Disaster Recovery Plug-in and many customized options. Combos B and C are designed for a multi-server environment. Covering a Master Server Starter or Enterprise Pack plus two plug-ins/options NovaNET’s Combos B and C serve the data protection needs of most business’ completely.
Shorter Backup Windows
NovaNET includes a unique distributed architecture and intelligent storage management design, including fault tolerance, software compression, and comparative data verification. This provides the ability to backup to and restore from devices anywhere on the network simultaneously, dramatically reducing the time needed to backup even the largest systems.
In addition, NovaNET’s highly parallel data movement operations and dynamic load balancing features deliver backup and recovery performance that is second to none. During a backup or recovery operation, NovaNET can read and write multiple concurrent data streams between the source data and target device(s) taking advantage of today’s high-speed devices with multiple I/O streams.
Advanced Schedule Management
Utilizing NovaNET’s scheduling feature lets you plan days, weeks, months and even years ahead. Autoloader/ Library support and background backup operation assure regular backups for complete data security. Predefined schedules included with the application make preventing data loss easy. The automatic tape rotation manager ensures full data recovery and access to historical files.
Expert Technical Support
Our expert assistance is available to curb downtimes, providing an even better return on investment for your data security. NovaStor aims to provide our customers with reliable software that they can depend on, but for times when assistance is required, standard technical support is offered via email, our web site, online chat, and phone. Fee based Priority technical support as well as maintenance and upgrade protection plans are also available.
FAST & SIMPLE | |
Backup Wizard | An intuitive wizard allows even untrained users the fast automation of network backups |
Restore Wizard | An intuitive wizard allows even untrained users to quickly restore last data |
Multi-Stream | Excellent performance and high speed achieved by parallel data streams and dynamic load balancing |
1-Button-Restore | A plug-in creates a bootable CD for restoring the complete system with one click |
Tracking | Full tracking of backups to allow easy selection of data to be recovered, including specific versions of files |
Direct Backup to Disk | Ensures optimal backup performance by providing ability to backup directly to and restore from disk regardless of data volume |
Bootable Image | Create a bootable image for complete, quick, and easy system recovery without reinstalling the operating system or applications |
SECURE | |
Media Encryption | Integrated and easy to implement software encryption allows users to quickly and easily select one of three |
Disk to Disk to Tape | Seamlessly backup data to disk for fast backups/recoveries and additionally copy to tape for security and disaster protection |
FLEXIBLE | |
For all platforms | NovaNET™ suits your IT-environment. The software secures data as well under Microsoft Windows |
Modular Design | Data security with NovaNET™ grows with your enterprise. You can seamlessly scale any entry solution |
Free choice of location | Flexible integration of storage media from any location within the enterprise network |
Scheduler | A highly flexible scheduler makes it simple to customize automated backup to suit any need |
Add-ons | Native data protection for popular applications such as MS Exchange Server and MS SQL Server |
System Requirements |
| Pentium or higher CPU, 256 MB RAM required, 512 MB recommended, minimum 400 MB free disk space, 20 GB recommended for Master Server, Internet Explorer 6 or higher |
Operating Systems |
| Windows Server 2003 Standard / Enterprise / Storage Server SP 1/R2 (32/64 Bit), Windows Server 2003 SBS SP1, Windows 2003 SBS SP 1 (32/64 Bit), Windows XP Professional SP 1, 2, Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server/SBS/Professional SP4 Windows Vista Home Basic/Home Premium/Business/Enterprise/Ultimate (32/64 Bit)* Linux RHEL 4 AS, ES, WS SP 1, 2, 3 (32/64 Bit), Linux RHEL 3 AS, ES, WS SP 1 - 8 SLES 10 (32/64 Bit), SLES 9 SP 2, 3 (32/64 Bit) Netware 6.5 / Netware 6.5 SBS SP 3, 4a, 5, Netware 6 / Netware 6 SBS SP 4, 5 *Support for disaster recovery currently not available. |
InfoWorld Reviews NovaNET
NovaNet extends backup ease to enterprise-scale networks - THE BOTTOM LINE: VERY GOOD!
Tucows Awards NovaNET Five Cows
Reviewers at Tucows again rave about NovaNET Network Backup Software, this time for the Windows version!
»"NovaStor is my recommendation for everybody who accounts not only for data availability but also for a thousand other responsibilities." «
Margaret A. Field - Technology Coordinator, DuPage Children’s Museum
» NovaNET worked great at backing up Windows and Netware files. It was fast and thorough. It even backed up the DOS partition on the Netware servers. I like the backup wizard and backup control panels very much and I've done several full backups and partial restores, ALL without problems. Throughput was excellent because of NovaNET's distributed format (an 'agent' on each server).
With NovaNET, I did not have to mess around with all the TSA problems that plague ArcServe. NovaNET could do multiple jobs from multiple servers to multiple devices. ArcServe6 Enterprise is limited to a single backup server with a single tape device. I like the Backup Wizard and Backup control panels very much. I've done several full backups and partial restores, ALL without problems. «
William D. Moore - Network Analyst, Academic Technologies Dept., Ashland University
» Hi:
Just to let you know that I have converted my demo! Love your software...works as advertised, and is really quite simple to use! I've used lots of different backup packages over the last 18 or so years, and believe it or not, I "found" your software by chance.
While doing a search for backup software to replace ArcServeIT, I found many different links. Your software was the first on the list that backed up to tape. However, once I tried it, I became a fan.
Good job!
And thanks for the opportunity to try it before we bought it. «
Michael Walsh, IT/Network Manager
»About to put in an order for [Virtual Tape] for NovaNET 9, it is a phenomenal piece of software. I love it. «
Julian Smith
»I'm new to Linux so I was concerned about being able to install NovaNET on our Linux server. After downloading your fully functional trial version, typing ./install and following your documentation it was a cakewalk. Wow that was easy. That's what convinced me to get my manager to buy it. «
Gary Whitehall
»I like it's flexibility between Operating systems on a network. Overall it seems to work quite well and have recently purchased a copy for one of my clients through a local supplier. Overall, I find it to be an excellent product and your downloadable evaluation allowed me to fully evaluate the product before recommending it to my clients. [...] Overall, a great backup solution for mixed networks. «
Anonymous
»I can attest that NovaNET itself is a very good backup solution for NetWare. I've run ArcServe 5-6.6IT, and Backup Exec 7-8.5, and none come close to NovaNET's clean install, speed and elegance. It just works. I'm just thrilled that I can come in to work and not have a crashed server because of a backup product. Plus, NovaNET really does use an autoloader intelligently... I insert the number of tapes my rotation scheme needs, it does the rest. No muss, no fuss. That is the primary reason we switched to NovaNET. One thing is for sure, we will definitely stick with NovaNET until something better comes along (if ever). Backup Exec cannot even utilize an autoloader in a usable fashion, so that's out for us, and ArcServe is so unbelievably unstable that I will never go back to it. «
Jim Michael, Novell Support Connection Sysop
»I personally think it is the best backup product available for NetWare! «
Gerard Toscano, Service Team, BJ Murray Inc.
»Faster, cheaper and runs on every platform. ArcServe 6.6 nor Backup Exec 8.5 function correct in a pure IP environment. The software I have been testing and that is functioning correct in a pure IP environment is NovaNET. I have tried it and I'm really impressed by it. «
Marc Blanchaert, Toyota-Europe
»With the release of NovaStor’s NovaNET backup software, NetWare users have access to one of the most advanced data protection (products) available on the market today. «
Rich Running - Director of Marketing, Novell, Inc.
»Recovering from a complete failure can be as easy as booting up your system or pushing a single button on your tape drive. «
Thom Duncan - Senior Editor, Novell Developer Information
»I am surprised at the support & follow-up that NovaNET gives, truly a pleasant change. «
Dan Garza, Trust Tax Services of America
»NovaStor’s backup software just works. Backups are consistent and restoring data is very easy. Still, every now and then I have a question. The clear and thorough manual answers most of them, but if not there is still the NovaStor support team ready to help. «
Margaret A. Field - Technology Coordinator, DuPage Children’s Museum
»We're testing NovaNET now and overall it seems to work well. Very easy to set up with the added plus of support for Windows/Linux/NetWare out of the box. I think it's a better solution for small businesses that need reliable backups without a lot of bells & whistles. «
Mike Curtin - English Teacher/Web Master, Fordham Preparatory School
»I have decided to go with NovaNET. It seems that ArcServe may be more than what I need. I have one server and only certain workstations to back up. «
Mark Ritter, FlashNET Communications
» Hi,
Just want to take a moment to commend Aziz Jama. He was very helpful in resolving an issue I was having with NovaNET. I called in near the time your tech support closes (7 pm) and ended up resolving the issue after 8 pm. Jama never said anything about it being after hours and was very thorough and helpful.
Broadly speaking calling tech support can be a frustrating experience. However, I can say that Jama's efforts are greatly appreciated and that I think it reflects an attitude of excellence throughout NovaStor.
Thanks again, «
Sean Kilgore, IAT Services
» I just wanted to tell you how wonderful Craig was in helping me with my NovaNET problem. He walked me through configuring my server and it works much better than it ever has in the past.
Please let Craig know what a great job he is doing.
Thanks, «
Vernon Stout
» Good News!!!
With FAK(?) option turned off I can finally do a full restore!!! I'm going to cut another tape and do a restore to another computer just to make sure that I can get to the data some way. Then I'm going to throw out the tapes and buy brand new ones (these were used off E-Bay).
You guys were great!! Timely response, great support, great follow-up. Too bad Dell and Microsoft and the other big boys can't take a page out of your book.
I may send you the tape any way just to try and understand what happened here. Once again, thanks for the help.
I'd like the e-mail address of your President so I can forward a copy of this message to him. «
Lew
»My 8.5 installation is sustaining 406 Mb/min backup rates running W2000 on a dual Xenon PC with a DLT8000 connected via SCSII 160 LVD to 64 bit PCI board. This is the fastest rate we have encountered. Great software. «
Steve Hostetler
»This is an outstanding and very easy to use program. I had absolutely no problem whatsoever installing and using this product and will purchase within the week. This program is worth every dollar you spend on it. «
K. M.
» We have been using NovaNET for a couple of months now. It has been faultless. We tested many different backup/DR products before we settled on NovaNET, as we hold claims information totalling hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of our clients and so have an above average exposure to litigation in the event of data loss.
NovaNET is the best buying decision we have made this year without a doubt. Thank the development team on our behalf.
Regards «
David Copper, Technical Director, UKNet Select Limited, David Copper
» I enjoy the ease of using your NovaNET software for backing up our servers. I enjoyed it so much that we purchased four licenses for this product and one for the Open File Manager for our new servers running Windows 2000. The area which really made me decide was the ease of your support personnel when I had my original questions on the product. They were very polite in answering the question and making sure I had a good understanding of how the product worked.
Thank you for coming out with such a good product. «
Fred Brownlow
» We downloaded NovaNET demo version today and had it backing up our six SQL servers from our central backup server in less than an hour. No tricky configuration - not even a re-boot required - couldn't be simpler. You were our fourth option as we we nt for the big names first - really wish we had not wasted so much time on the others to be honest. The whole interface is intuitive and there are lots of well thought-out features. If it is reliable over the testing period we will definately purchase.
Excellent price too, which is important for a small company like ours. Speed is excellent compared to the competitors products we tested too! What's the catch eh?
Cheers «
David
»NovaNET is an excellent product. «
M. T.
» Dear NovaStor,
WOW! I have to tell you that your NovaNET Alliance is super. It will not take me 30 days to decide on purchasing it. For the most part, your product comparison chart was enough to sell me. Actually installing it and witnessing it 'deliver' was all I needed to seal the deal. It does what you say it does.
Fast and easy install on NT 4.0, Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Linux (Redhat 7.2). This is some really sharp software. Your pricing is dirt cheap in comparison to EVERY other solution I have looked at. You are as little as 25% of what some of the othe rs are charging for Windows/Linux solutions. I'm not encouraging you to raise your price. I'm praising you for providing such a fine solution for such a reasonable price.
Thank you!! «
B. K.
» In regards to the NovaNet Evaluation, we have advised the client to purchase the software and he has done so. As a matter of fact he received the package a few days ago and is pleased with both the service, cost and the efficiency of both the product and Novastor's service. I would like to extend also my thanks, In my opinion I believe your product is better then Both BackUp Exec and ArcServe It. I have been dealing with both products for a very long time, (Since NetWare 3.11, DOS, Windows 3.x and NT 3.5) and I must say that I am pleased with your product and service also. I will recommend your software to anyone that has a network. I am also very interested in using your product for our office which is, (as of last week), completely Linux! I am interested in how we could resell your product to our clients.
Thank you, «
Joseph Cohen and Louis Dubin
» I received your "Thank You" package today. Impressive. The plaque has been placed on my wall. I'll be sporting the NovaNet shirt when I go to Novell BrainShare in two weeks, so you get a little bit of free advertising from me. I certainly hope that (name omitted) decides to go with NovaNet, it certainly is easier to use than your competitors products.
Good luck «
Benjamin N. Hare
» Technical support was excellent and prompt. I liked the product. (NovaNET)
Thanks! «
Utsav Agarwal
»I've spent the past three days trying to get ARCserveIT 6.6 to work. I downloaded, installed and pulled a backup with NovaNET in under ONE HOUR! Sign me up, give me a quote. I want to buy your software and I also want to speak with a sales rep. Call me back ASAP. «
B. H.
» Thanks, I have completed my evaluation of your NovaNET enterprise backup software, and I wish to report that I have been extremely impressed with your software and its capabilities. I used the software during the evaluation period to perform daily backups of several non-production linux servers, using Red Hat 7.1 on a 100baseT network.
I was most impressed with the ease of installation, but I did run into one technical problem, when I attempted to run/install the installation routine complained about a library file not being found or the proper version. Using a symbolic link I was able to get the install routine to run correctly, after that I encountered NO Problems. I even had the opportunity to perform a complete system restore from one server to another, and bring that server up on a reboot, with no errors, or complaints from the O.S.
Bottom Line, I like your software, and I appreciate your giving me the opportunity to properly test your software in my Red Hat 7.1 Linux environment. I will make a recommendation that we purchase an enterprise copy of your software for use in the future.
Thank You. «
Richard Payne, Internet Systems Admin., Cadd Net Inc.
» Hi!
Upon conclusion of the evaluation of your NovaNET software we were quite impressed with the results and purchased an unlimited copy of NovaNET to replace our outdated ADSM system. «
John Wranovis
»1) I downloaded the Netware version because the bu program that ships with v5 is unreliable. Novanet has been completely reliable and the client has purchased it. The only complaint is that there is no easy way to check the logs as we don't have email set up inside the office (it's only 7 stations).
2) I downloaded the 6.6 Workstation version because Arcserve/NT and Seagate Backup Exec are both too cumbersome. NovaBack is just right, and has been completeley reliable ever since tech support told me to whack the built in Win98 tape drivers. This client has also purchased it.
3) Sher Linder (customer support) was very understanding and quite helpful after I screwed up and purchased the NT-only version of NovaBack. Everything was straightened out in record time, and saved me from looking like an idiot :) Thank You Very Much!
In short, after much fishing about for a decent backup solution (I think I've tried everything looking for something robust without being cumbersome) I have settled on NovaNet/Back as my standard and will push it at every opportunity. «
Andrew
» Hello Novastor,
I cannot pass up this opportunity of thanking you guys for creating a very nice, effective and robust type of a backup software - NovaNET.
It has been two times now that I got corrupted database not because of Novastor itself but because of a badly configured operating system. Two times I had problems and two times also I got back the database too and our backup system into perfect shape...easily, without problems.
Keep it up guys and rest assured that you have my recommendations.
Godspeed!«
R. J. C. B.
» I just wanted to say that I was impressed with your software. You have been sending me all sorts of e-mails wanting to know how it's going. I was so impressed, I purchased the Alliance package. I like the fact that I can back up both NT machines, and Netware systems as well. Thanks for a great product. «
Jesse Angel
» How is our NovaNet 8 evaluation going? Let me tell you. I have been looking for over a year and evaluated quite a number of similar applications to run on our Linux system. NovaNet 8 was the only one that worked with not one problem. Sold!
We sent a corporate check in last week, we are just waiting for the activation code. We also purchased InstantRecovery 2.0 which has also worked great. I am very pleased to see quality Linux O/S applications being developed.
Thank you,«
R. H.
» After becoming seriously frustrated with the backup software we had been using, we found NovaNet 8 to be a simple and highly reliable backup solution for our Novell and Linux environment. «
Jason Alderfer
»Excellent. Thank you for your prompt response. Your technical support continues to be top-notch. «
B. S.
» NovaStor ist meine Empfehlung für alle, die nicht nur für Datenverfügbarkeit, sondern auch noch für tausend andere Aufgaben verantwortlich sind. «
Margaret A. Field, Technical Coordinator des DuPage Children’s Museum
How do I find out about service packs, new releases and updates?
NovaStor publishes a Company Newsletter, NovaNews, on an approximately semi-monthly basis. Our company newsletter is the best way to stay in touch with the company and all the latest developments, plus learn tips and techniques and more.
Can multiple users schedule a backup at one time, i.e. at 11:00p?
Yes, multiple users can send or schedule a backup at the same time. Priority goes to the tape drives at the local machines then it's first-come, first-served.
I have upgraded my NovaNET license, do I need to reinstall from scratch?
No, rather than reinstalling NovaNET, use the update license option from the install menu to upgrade NovaNET.
Should I know anything special about installing NovaNET on a Linux Redhat 5 computer?
The following description will step you through the process of getting your Redhat system up and going in no time:
1. Step:
Install by running direct file ./nnlincin from your media
2. Step:
Copy libstdc++.so.5 from a RedHat Enterprise 4 installation over onto /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5 on the RedHat Enterprise 5 machine.
3. Step:
If you need the XWindow interface then copy /usr/X11R6/lib/libXft.so.1.1 from a Redhat Enterprise 4 installation onto the same folder on the RedHat 5 machine, if the directory does not yet exist then create it, and make a symbolic link from this file to libXft.so.1 and place this link into the /usr/local/novastor/novanet/v10.00-sp3a/lin/x86 folder or /usr/local/novastor/novanet/v11.00/lin/x86 folder if you are using NovaNET 11.
Does NovaNET support differential SCSI tape drives and host adapter?
Yes, it does.
Why can't NovaNET see all the other servers and workstations on my network?
NovaNET may not be able to see other computers or servers on the network because NovaNET must be installed on every machine on the network that needs to be backed up. Try installing the software on each computer that access is needed. Also, you may want to check the basic networking system and connections to make sure they are functioning correctly.
Does NovaNET support media rotation?
Media rotation is supported via a scheduling option. You make the job selections as you normally would. When you want to schedule the job, select one of the predefined, or custom, rotation schedules on the scheduling tab.
Does NovaNET support multiple devices?
On the job options tab, select multiple devices in the device list box. When multiple devices are selected, NovaNET will use all devices available concurrently. If the media in a device becomes full, any streams being written to that device will automatically be redistributed to other devices.
Can I restore data to a different file name?
When the file, directory or volume to rename is selected, select the properties tool bar button or use the right mouse button for the context menu and select context. The properties sheet of the selected object is displayed. On the general tab, type in the new name and press Ok.
Can I restore data to another location?
To restore data to another location, within the restore job selections tab, click on the directory or file you want restored to a different location and hold the mouse button down. Drag the object to the new target location. To use the keyboard, use Control-C to copy the object and Control-V to move the object to its new location.
If the target directory is not displayed since it has not been backed up, use the right mouse button on the object, select move, A dialog box will appear with a browse button. Select browse to find the target directory.
Can I restore all the files from a single session?
On the restore selection tab, select the file, directory or volume to restore. Press the select button on the tool bar. The instance dialog box is displayed. Select the date of the instance you want restored. All children having the same instance will also be selected.
Can I determine which files are on a tape?
Select reports from the file menu. For the report type, select the media detail report.
What if my device is not supported?
Most devices have common characteristics. There are only a few manufacturers of tape devices, but many OEMs buy the drives and repackage them into their own subsystems. Some of these OEMs change the SCSI inquiry string so that the device is not recognized by NovaNET.
Please contact NovaStor Support, to determine how to add the device to the list of supported devices.
If I install NovaNET using IPX as the protocol, and then decide to change to a TCP/IP connection, do I have to uninstall and re-install?
No. There is a work around and that is:
(1) Stop the NovaNET Service (2) Edit the file called NNCFG.INI in the NovaNET Subdirectory. There is a section titled "General software bus configuration" and one of the lines states "protocol=ipx". Change that to "protocol=tcp" (3) Save the changes (4) Restart the service
Can I allow users to access NovaNET?
The security features within NovaNET allow shared access to resources like devices, loaders and media. You can setup the security system so users can make their own backups to shared devices without interfering with the main system backups. Also, the administrator can be in charge of the backups, but grant sufficient security rights so that users may restore their own data.
Do I have to login to NovaNET to run a scheduled job?
No. NovaNET will run scheduled jobs as long as it is loaded. You can exit to the login dialog box, or if running as a service, exit the NovaNET interface completely, the jobs will still be run. Unlike NovaNET 4 and 5, scheduled jobs will be run regardless of where in NovaNET you are currently working.
One exception to this is if the job is locked. The job is locked when the properties of the job are being edited. If a job is scheduled to run and the job is being edited by a user, the job will automatically be rescheduled in 15 minutes.
I started NovaNET but my jobs do not run right away. Is there anything wrong?
After first starting NovaNET, no scheduled jobs will be executed for 5 minutes. This allows enough time to edit any job schedules or to remove jobs from the queue before they start running.
How can I determine which files were not backed up?
Edit the properties of a job, and select the logs tab. Select the date of the backup you want to check. Notepad or WordPad are used to view the job log so you can save the log to a file if you want. Note that you only get a copy of the log. If you edit the log, the main log on the storage manager will still be available. You can also have NovaNET print the log directly.
When restoring, I get many alerts. What is wrong?
When NovaNET performs a restore, if you select many devices or leave the device selection in the restore options tab at Network, NovaNET will attempt to fulfill the restore job with all the devices listed or found. If a device does not contain media, or the device contains the wrong media, an alert is sent. This alert is to inform you to put the desired media into the device.
For example, you are restoring from a single media but list 4 devices. If the target media is in the third device listed, NovaNET will issue 2 alerts for the first two devices. These alerts can be ignored.
In addition, you do not have to insert the requested media into the device. To fulfill the request, any media required in the job can be placed in the device. NovaNET will then use the media that you actually did put into the device.
To stop this behavior, select a single device or only the devices you actually intend to use.
Does NovaNET support device groups?
NovaNET supports device groups via the parent folders. You can select a particular device, all devices on a controller, all devices on a machine or all devices on the network.
Does NovaNET support media groups?
You can organize your media into media groups via the media folders. To move media in or out of a media group, simply drag the media to a different media location. When selecting target media for backup, select the folder containing the media in the backup options tab.
Can I print the reports or logs under NetWare?
You can print to any local print queue under NetWare. The queue must be local, but the printer does not need to be local. By configuring a remote print server to service the local queue, the print job can be routed to a remote printer.
How do I go about restoring a Microsoft Exchange 2000/2003 database?
The Microsoft Exchange Server connector for NovaNet lets you work with storage groups instead of individual information stores. Each storage group is identified as a single object, which you can back up and restore. In case of any questions please contact our NovaStor Support Team.
During verify or restore, I get a stream sync error. What is wrong?
Usually a bad tape or dirty heads on the tape drive causes this. Try cleaning the tape drive.
Can I use a tape drive located on other workstations?
Yes, but the NovaNET administrator or a user with access control rights to the tape drive must grant you rights to use it. Rights can be granted to either read from the device, write to the device or both.
When I install, I do not see the storage manager I want to connect with.
This can be caused by several problems:
Make sure the storage manager is connected to the network and NovaNET is loaded.
If you are using IPX, make sure your Windows workstation does not use auto frame detection. If you are using Windows NT, do not assign an internal network number unless you have more than one network card or are acting as a router between multiple frame types.
If you are using IP, the storage manager may not be residing on your physical subnet. NovaNET can only find locally connected storage managers automatically. You must enter the network address or host name to see storage managers that do not reside on your subnet.
How do I replace a tape in a rotation group?
NovaNET automatically creates a series of folders and media used with rotation. These folders control the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly tapes. To remove a tape if it is physically damaged, or because it is lost, delete the media from the set. NovaNET will automatically format a new one when required.
To move a tape to an offsite location, create a folder in your home folder. Give it a name like "Offsite Media". Drag the media to this folder. If the tape is required by NovaNET during the processing of a rotation job, it will automatically create a new tape to replace the tape moved to offsite storage.
How do I choose my storage manager database location?
The location of the storage manager database can be very important. On larger systems, to minimize the time required to perform disaster recovery, we recommend the storage manager be located on a dedicated server. This server performs no operations except the storage management processing. Place the devices on the servers to be backed up. If the storage manager server fails, no data is lost and recovery of the server can proceed in a non-critical manner. If any other server fails, recovery can be quickly performed since the storage server is still operational.
On smaller systems, it is acceptable to place the storage manager on the same server as the devices. Recovery does not take much time since the databases are smaller.
Can you give me a rough estimate of what the database zone limitation is?
This is a very tough question to answer, as there is really no limit. However, we can answer that by giving you a practical limit. We suggest no more than 1 Million files in a database zone. In reality, from what we have seen, about 4 servers. However - users may have more than 1 million files and more than 4 servers in one database zone. If that is the case, the product will continue to function. If slowness appears (of server, of backups, of restore, of importing media), that is a good sign you should start thinking about having another zone.
When recovering from a storage manager failure, do I get all NovaNET information back?
Most of the database is restored when selecting to restore the storage manager database. The only thing that will not be restored is the complete log of the job that was running when backing the database up. The reason for this is that the log is not written until after the job has completed. The job is not completed until the database is backed up to tape.
What controllers are supported?
NovaNET only supports ASPI controllers. You must have an ASPI compatible controller and the drivers for the controller loaded for NovaNET to access the device.
What is the advantage of registering the software?
When you register NovaNET, you will receive notifications of new versions being released.
If you register an internet email address, you will receive these notifications via email. In addition, if any critical bugs are found, you will be notified and appropriate patches will be available from our web site.
Can I share the controller between my hard disk and tape drive?
You can share between the two, but your performance will be better if the tape drive is on its own controller. The SCSI bus has a limited amount of data that can be transferred. For high-speed devices, the SCSI bus can usually be kept at its transfer capacity. If you do connect the tape device to the same bus, the data transfer rate from the disk is essentially cut in half as well as the tape transfer rate. This is due to the fact that data must be read from the disk into memory, formatted and written back out to the bus to the tape device.
For low speed devices, such as DDS-1 DAT, lower capacity QIC, and Travan, this will not cause a problem. For high-speed devices like the Exabyte Mammoth or the Quantum DLT, this can cause a serious bottleneck.
Also, the high-speed tape drives mentioned above should be connected to Ultra fast, wide SCSI controller. Controllers like the Adaptec 1542 cannot transfer data fast enough to keep the tape device streaming.
Can I restore NT files to NetWare?
Yes, but you must deselect the "native stream format" from the Advanced options button on the backup options tab. This causes data to be written to tape in a generic format that NetWare can understand.
Can I restore NetWare files to NT?
Yes, but you must deselect the same option as above. This causes data to be decompressed before backup since NT does not understand NetWare compression.
Are there any plans to support ATAPI/IDE tape drives on Novell Products?
Not at this time.
Are there any plans to support Lantastic?
If your system is running NETBIOS, NovaNET will not work.
Are there any plans for a version of NovaNET to allow the tape drive and storage zone to be on a server and control from a workstation?
That function is already available in the NovaNET UNL versions. For upgrade pricing, please select "Upgrade" in the "More Buying Options" section above.
Does NovaNET backup files as compressed?
NovaNET will copy files to tape in compressed format without decompressing them first. This significantly enhances the speed of the backup.
Does the Open File Manager work with software packages other than NovaNET?
Yes. The Open File Manager works with NovaNET and NovaNET-WEB.
The ability to automatically run a job before and after a backup job would be very useful (to make sure users are out of certain applications and remove useless temporary files). What Do I do?
Take a look at the Command tab on the machine object. Whenever any files on a machine are to be backed up, you can associate an entry/exit command with the particular machine.
When a scheduled job misses a step and the job is run manually, the tape rotation is out of sync. There should be a way to manually set the next tape in a rotation and have it stick. Will this be addressed in the next release?
We are adding the "Next Tape Set" number, which you can adjust at any time to the scheduling screens. Currently, this field is an internally tracked value for each of the event types (D, W, M, Y) and cannot be seen/modified by the user.
The email notification should have a date sent field. Our Netware SMTP agent isn't smart enough to know to add this if it is missing. This was causing some of our users grief. We have been able to work around this by routing messages through our email gat
We are currently revamping Email support for the next version. This will probably be added at that time. What we are doing is adding support for PCS email (VERY short and to the point email messages) along with "audit" email messages. The audit messages can be setup so that when a users hard disk or directory is backed up, they can be sent a message saying the action taken.
Where does NovaNET show me the barcode number it has saved in its database? If I have a 100 tapes stored off site with only barcode labels how will I tell by looking in NovaNET's database which one to retrieve?
To see the barcode information, run NovaNET, click on Media Tab, right click on the media, and select properties. Click on Media Control, and you'll find the barcode information in the "Media volume tag" field.
When I back up a file over about 2 GB in size, NovaNET reports the size of the file as much smaller than it really is in the file selection screen. Will the entire file be backed up properly?
Yes. Even very large files (7+ GB) do get backed up properly by NovaNET, even though the file selection screen reports the size of such files as substantially smaller than they actually are. You can confirm that the file was properly backed up in its entirety by checking the properties of the media. The size of the data on the tape will properly reflect the actual size of the backup.
If I have 2 nodes in my cluster, do I need to install NovaNET Cluster Plug-In on both servers or just one?
Yes, the NovaNET Cluster Plug-In must be installed on each of the nodes. One license key is good for up to two nodes.
I found a bug in NovaNET. What do I do now?
The best way to report a bug is to send email to support@novastor.com or fill out the Support Form. Provide as much information as possible about the bug. Information that is necessary to reproduce problem, such as keystrokes used, exactly what you were attempting to do, what NovaNET did. The more information you provide about the bug, the better the chance we have at reproducing the bug and correcting the problem.
How do I obtain technical support?
Your first line of defense is through the reseller or distributor. They know the most about your hardware and configuration and can probably answer your question. If they cannot, you may either fill out the Support Form or you can contact us directly at support@novastor.com.
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