Question : Resize SYS Volume and Pool

Hello all...

Our main server is running out of space on SYS.  It is a Netware 6.5 server with the following disk/pool/volume attributes:

SYS Pool - 4 Gb
SYS Vol - 4 Gb

DATA (the other volume on the server)
Pool - 250 Gb
Vol - 250 Gb

When we initially setup the server, as noted, the Pool size is the same as the Volume size.  This was just inexperience on our part.

We now, however, have to increase the size of SYS (we have about 500 MB free).

Any suggestions as to how to move/shift stuff around?

- Are there any 'built in' utilities in Netware to help us with this?
- Can 'ServerMagic' assist us with this?
- Are we looking at a 'backup to tape, delete, recreate, restore' scenario?

Thanks,

TN

Answer : Resize SYS Volume and Pool

- Are there any 'built in' utilities in Netware to help us with this?
Nope
- Can 'ServerMagic' assist us with this?
Unlikely
- Are we looking at a 'backup to tape, delete, recreate, restore' scenario?
Not neccessarily...

If ServerMagic was as good with Netware partitions as PartitionMagic is with FAT/NTFS you'd be laughing. Unfortunately it's not. Portlock Storage Manager would make fairly quick work of this and is mile faster than standard file based backup/restore. It's more an imaging product like Ghost or Drive Image

http://www.portlock.com/products/storagemanager/

and although it's $400 a pop, it's a product that should be in every Netware admin's CD wallet. Makes it as simple as:

Do a full backup with your normal backup software
Set the DATA volume quota to what you want as the new pool size - important, see below
Reboot and Boot off Portlock CD
Image the 2 pools to a handy USB2 hard drive, or via ftp to another server with plenty of space
Delete volumes and pools on server (don't delete C: obviously!)
Restore SYS; it will let you specify a new pool/volume size as part of the process
Restore DATA; it will only allow you to shrink it to the quota you specified (this is the only way you can shrink pools with Portlock)
Reboot, Done.

Obviously I've used the words "delete" and "pool" in the same sentence above, so having a solid backup is a must. I've never had a Portlock go wrong, and I've done hundreds, but I find paranoia helps you stay in a job.

We also schedule Portlocks (can be done live) of our DOS/SYS volumes once a month for disaster recovery purposes. That in conjunction with standard tape backups of data volumes creates a pretty strong fallback.