[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference netcad::hub_mgnt

Title:DEChub/HUBwatch/PROBEwatch CONFERENCE
Notice:Firmware -2, Doc -3, Power -4, HW kits -5, firm load -6&7
Moderator:NETCAD::COLELLADT
Created:Wed Nov 13 1991
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:4455
Total number of notes:16761

3704.0. "Recovery manager concerns" by MQOOA::mqsp04.mqs.dec.com::YDAIGNEAULT () Thu Jul 11 1996 17:21

	
	Hi, here is few comments regarding Recovery Manager v1.1:

	after working and get familiar with the product in our lab, I 
experience the minor following problem: when starting Recovery Manager from 
the starting menu (Windows 95), the grey frame from the presentation panel 
remains on the screen, this problem does not occur when the application is 
started from the application menu in Multichassis manager.

	I would like also to discuss about the fact that the product is not 
flexible when it comes the a full restore of the backplane and chassis in 
order to recover the LAN interconnectiona: what I mean is the station holding 
the configuration files has to be directly connected to the IP services module 
and that module must be a "dummy" one, ie: DECrepeater 900TM, DECrepeater 90FS 
etc... if not, the module get reseted and the procedure failed.

	Also, I am concern about recovering configuration in remote 
DEChub900...

	These are not negative comments because the product works great when 
you are aware of its limitations, but I believe there is room for improovement
and that is what I would like to discuss... or maybe there is someting that I 
missed or don't understand.

	The limitations mentionned above make the product difficult to sell to 
a customer having  only DECswitches and PORTswitches in his configuration for 
an example.  
		
	I am using the V100_32.ZIP version.

						Thank you, Yves Daigneault,
						Network services.
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
3704.1Addressing your Recovery Mgr concernsNETCAD::GILLISWed Jul 24 1996 13:3245
Item #1 (splash screen border left on Windows95 display)
-also seen and PTR'ed by system test last week; lookin into. Will let
you know.

Item #2 (flexibility, in-band restrictions)

Out-of-band restores are the recommended method, and would also free you
of your in-band restrictions. In the online help, hit SEARCH, then
FIND help topic "Restoring PORTswitch and Repeater Internal LAN Port Groupings"
for an explanation of why PORTswitches cannot be in the connection path
between the nms and the IP Service module, nor should they be used as the
IP Services module.

A DECswitch-family device CAN be used as the IP Services module, but you
may need to increase your retry counts in the agents file. As the DECswitch
family of devices are bridges, a restore operation causes topology change
notifications over the bridge links. Depending upon which DECswitch device
and which physical port on the front panel of the DECswitch your nms is
attached to, your delay could be insignificant or as high as three minutes.
A quick explanation of this follows.

"Gotchas" with In-band restores using DECswitch900 EF/MX 
as IP Services modules
----------------------
If the DECswitch has an FDDI port, its MAC address is used as the MAC address of
the whole bridge. If your point of attachment to the nms is to the front
panel FDDI port on the DECswitch, there should be very little or no delay. If
your point of attachment is to an Ethernet port, it has a different MAC
address than the FDDI port, and is treated like another bridge in the 
topology. Therefore, Recovery Manager traffic won't get forwarded between
the FDDI and Ethernet links until the spanning tree
listening/learning/forwarding states have elapsed.

The above "gotchas" can be complicated and are specific to devices. The
DECswitch EE has Ethernet as its only physical media type, and won't
have this forwarding delay problem, for example. 

This information caused us to declare that a "dumb" repeater be used
as the IP Services module, to avoid complication and connection delays.

Good question!

John Gillis
Recovery Manager developer

3704.2More on Recovery Manager In-Band Restore ConsiderationsNETCAD::GILLISThu Jul 25 1996 13:214
See Note 3744 for even more detailed information.

John Gillis
clearVISN Apps - Recovery Manager