Using the Agent for Lotus Domino › Perform a Disaster Recovery › Perform a Disaster Recovery with Archived Transaction Logging Enabled

Perform a Disaster Recovery with Archived Transaction Logging Enabled

If a disaster occurs and the Lotus Domino archived transaction logging option was enabled, you can recover your Lotus Domino server databases by performing the following steps.

To recover a Lotus Domino server database with archived transaction logging enabled

1. Restore or reinstall your Lotus Domino server program directory.

   You may need to reboot the server.

   Important! Depending on the extent of the data loss, it may be necessary to install and configure a new Lotus Domino server. Make sure the new installation is configured in the same way as the damaged server, with the same directory structure, location, and log directory path, but do not launch the new server at this time.

2. Restore the latest notes.ini, cert.id, and server.id files that you had saved before the data loss.

   You may need to reboot the server.

3. Prepare the log directory (logdir). Verify that the logdir defined in the notes.ini file exists and that it does not contain any old files. Remove any transaction log control files (nlogctrl.lfh) and log files (.txn) from a previous installation.
4. Restore the database files to the Lotus Domino data directory using Arcserve Backup Agent for Lotus Domino, but without transaction log. Do not select the Perform Recovery option.

   Note: Restore the database files under full session backup first, then restore database files under subsequent incremental session backups or restore from the last differential session backup. Ensure that the Perform Recovery option is not selected.

5. Restore the archived log events.

   You can recover the backup files to the last committed transaction in the most recently archived transaction log extent.

   Note: Restore the transaction log files under subsequent incremental session backups or restore from the last differential session backup. There is no need to restore log files under the full session backup.

6. Check the log directory (logdir).
   1. If the log directory is empty, be sure the following parameter in the notes.ini file is set and then go to step 11:

      	TRANSLOG_Recreate_Logctrl = 0
      

   2. If the log directory is not empty, facilitate the creation of a new control file by setting the following parameter in the notes.ini file:

      	TRANSLOG_Recreate_Logctrl = 1
      

7. Restart the Lotus Domino server, and then shut it down.
8. Disable the creation of a new control file by changing the parameter value in the notes.ini file as follows:

   TRANSLOG_Recreate_Logctrl = 0
   

   Note: Alternately, you can also disable the creation of a new control file by removing the following parameter from the notes.ini file:

   TRANSLOG_Recreate_Logctrl = 1
   

9. If you want to restore shared mail, perform the following steps before restoring the shared mail:
   1. Start the Lotus Domino server.
   2. Take the shared mail offline.
   3. Shut down the Lotus Domino server.

   Note: You must shut down the Lotus Domino server before restoring database files.

10. To recover the database files, restore the database files to the Lotus Domino database directory again using Arcserve Backup Agent for Lotus Domino but this time with the Perform Recovery option selected.

    Note: Recover the database files under full session backup first, then recover database files under subsequent incremental session backups only if there are archived log files backed up after that incremental session. There is no need to recover database files under the differential session backup.

11. Launch the new Lotus Domino server.

    When the disaster recovery process is complete, start the Lotus Domino server and execute server tasks and functions.

More information:

Database Instance Identifier (DBIID)