So, what’s the facts? The first one is that the application is not working, and thus, many people cannot work. The server (a Windows 2003 server) is a Dell server backed up with Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery (BESR), a tool that takes drives images so that recovery time is the least, and the last save is available in a network share. I have available too some free resources in an ESX enough to create a new virtual machine to host the server image.

As you noticed, the starting idea was to recover the image  of the physical server to a virtual machine. What I came up with is a new technique to virtualize a physical server, and transform it to a virtual machine. This is thanks to “Restore Anywhere” option available in BESR; in normal restore cases, we will restore to an identical hardware and this option is not needed, but in the scenario I described, the image is going to a virtual hardware. It is good to know that Windows License Product Key will be needed to be able to Activate Windows later on. No need for specific drivers as VMware ones are available by default.

So how we do it?

To be able to “remake” a blank server, BESR comes with a bootable CD that configures the basic information needed to work with the new server : we can configure network interfaces, map network drives,…etc. Once the IP stack is correctly configured (you can issue a “ping” command to the IP used to check if the server is responding) you can use the available wizard to map a drive to the network share hosting the images.

After this basic configuration, you can start recovering the server, or shall I say building the virtualized server. It will take up to 2 hours to restore 50Gb image if the ESX is “normally” used; of course, it may take less time in a test environment. After the first reboot, the server will start configuring the new hardware, this may take up to 15 minutes, so you can go and have a coffee! A question will be asked to you  is that if you need the server to be joined to a domain or you want to keep it in the “workgroup”. It is wise to let it in the workgroup till it becomes available to configure it at your ease.

The server is now up and running; the new virtual server will keep the initial name, applications and so on, but no hardware configuration will remain, neither network configuration. At this point, you can reconfigure your server as you wish.

For me, I was able to backup specific file using ntbackup tool in the new virtual machine and restore them to the original physical server. Please note that if you connect you new virtual machine to the network, and if you keep the same name, it may generate a “duplicate name” TCP/IP error. I bypassed this error by removing any DNS server IP, Wins server IP from network configuration. Also, you will have to disable Netbios naming utilization, so the server will only use IPs to communicate in the network.

I hope you liked this post and found it helpful, and I’d like to thank you for your time.

We saw in a previous article how to save and restore a Windows 2003 system by using ASR. This is a particular method available in Windows 2003 but not in Windows 2000 and older versions.

Based on a live linux 22Mb image, PING offers all needed commands to map a Windows share, mount an NFS partition, and maybe make an FTP image. The included automated dhcp client makes it easy for people not used to linux systems to use PING without any problem.

In the officiel Website we can read more details about its advantages; those I find interesting :

• Backup and Restore the BIOS data as well;
• Either burn a bootable CD / DVD, either integrate within a PXE / RIS environment;
• Possibility to Blank local admin’s password;
• Create your own restoration bootable DVD

and if we compare PING to DOS or Ghost tools :

• Most network cards automatically recognized by the Kernel;
• Most CD/DVD readers automatically recognized by the Kernel;
• You don’t have to run a Ghostcast server to receive images over the network;
• More supported filesystems;
• You can store an image on several CD/DVD (CD/DVD-spanning);
• You can backup and restore BIOS settings too;
• Much much smaller than WinPE / BartPE;

Basic linux commands are also available to run in the text mode. In fact, PING starts a text based assistant to guide the user step by step. It is always possible, if the assistant exits, to start it by using

/etc/init.d/rc.ping

script.

In the example I expose in this video, I start by making an image of a Windows 2003 server to a network share. Then I destroy the existant disk and create a new blank one. Then I restore the saved image to the new disk. Note that source and destination disks may be of different sizes, but necessary the source larger than the destination.

An evident remark is that the tool may be used for any kind of operating system, as it does not look at files level but in blocs one.

Enjoy seeing this video, and I hope it will help!

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PING is available to download in the offcial Web Site.

so let’s start!

Creating the floppy image

To create a floppy image, simply go to hardware edit tab, double click on floppy icon and chose “using an image”; you’ll have the option to create a blank image, that’s what I highlight in the following video.

Now, let’s get into the action!

Performing the backup and restore.

So, now that we have a blank “floppy” to use, let’s start by making the ASR backup. Note that the ASR backup will save most of system configuration files, system state, boot info, registry and so on. Ensure that the .bkf file is saved together with the floppy. The .bkf file may be saved to a network share, or on a second disk attached to the server to restore.

So be able to apply this procedure, you’ll need:

• Windows 2003 CD (or what ever version you use)
• Created ASR floppy with its .bkf file

To perform the restore, we start by booting on Windows CD and hitting F2 when the ASR Restore choice is available. The Windows setup will start as any usual windows setup, but it will ask you soon for the backup file. Once the restore ends, the setup will reboot the server and you’ll be able to use the server as it was at backup time.

I hope you found it useful, and I’d like to thank you for your time.