Something nice to say about Microsoft Server 2003...

[hewitt_tech]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ben Scott" <dragonhawk at gmail.com>
To: <gnhlug-discuss at gnhlug.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 11:19 PM
Subject: Re: Something nice to say about Microsoft Server 2003...


> On 7/11/06, hewitt_tech <hewitt_tech at comcast.net> wrote:
>>>  Be sure you create the "Fault Tolerant Boot Disk" floppy or whatever
>>> it's called, so you can boot from the second hard drive if the first
>>> malfunctions.
>>
>> It may not be necessary with Server 2003. The system asked me if I wanted 
>> to
>> boot from the second drive after a cold boot.
>
>  Another possibility is that it's coming from the boot loader on the
> first disk.
>
>  Now, my experience with Win 2000 and FT (Fault Tolerant) disks is
> limited, but I believe Windows 2000 (AKA NT 5.0) is pretty much the
> same as NT 4.0 in this regard.  And here's how it worked in NT 4.0:
>
>  NTLDR reads the BOOT.INI file from the same partition NTLDR is on.
> NTLDR then presents you with the choices listed in that file.  Once
> you've picked a boot choice, NTLDR loads the system files from that
> partition and boots the NT kernel.
>
>  NTLDR knows nothing about FT disks.  It can only see BIOS physical
> disks.  (Strictly speaking, that's inaccurate, but it will do.)  It
> isn't until the NT kernel is running that FT disks become available.
> But NTLDR is read-only, and it can read from a mirror set member as if
> it was a regular disk, and that good enough to get the kernel running.
> (This is the same way Linux boots off RAID, BTW.)
>
>  Now, BOOT.INI can list both mirror set members as boot choices.
> NTLDR will load from either mirror set member that way.  This is
> useful is the first member is damaged and fails to start successfully.
> You pick the other member at boot time and the system comes up with
> one working disk.
>
>  However, NTLDR itself is loaded by the BIOS, and many BIOSes only
> support booting from the first hard disk.  If the first hard disk is
> damaged, that can prevent NTLDR from coming up, which prevents you
> from even getting the choice to boot NT from the other disk.
>
>  So, the "Fault Tolerant Boot Disk" is basically a copy of NTLDR on
> floppy disk (just like GRUB or LILO on a floppy), with a copy of the
> BOOT.INI from the Windows system partition.  If the first hard disk
> goes dead, you pop the floppy in the drive, hit RESET, and pick the
> second boot option.  Or, more likely, you tell the frantic customer
> this over the phone at 3 AM on a Saturday.  :-)
>
>  Google finds more information:
>
> Overview of Disk Mirroring (RAID Level 1) in Windows NT
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=114779
>
> Booting From Mirror After Primary Partition Is Lost
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=113977
>
> Reasons why Windows NT does not boot from a shadow mirror drive
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=167045
>
> How to Recover From a STOP 0x00000058 FTDISK_INTERNAL_ERROR
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=128630
>
> How to Recover Mirroring Windows NT Using IDE Devices
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=141702
>
> Master Boot Record Not Written to Mirrored Shadow Partition
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=117131
>
>  HTH,

Yes, it does help. I built the mirrored drive by first using Acronis to 
clone the original disk to the new mirror disk. I then converted the 
original disk (Basic) to (Dynamic) as described earlier. So I'm sure the new 
secondary disk has an identical MBR to the original disk. The SC430 allows 
the user to turn SATA drives off/on. I need to test this but I think turning 
off the first disk in the BIOS would result in a bootable second drive. It 
would also be trivial to move the SATA cable from the SATA port zero to port 
one effectively swapping the drives. I've got another one of these 430s 
coming in shortly and I'll be able to test all of this. I've decided that 
since I have several clients with the SC430 I should keep one in my office 
(they really are inexpensive) so that I can swap out the system quickly if 
it becomes necessary.

-Alex

>
> -- Ben "I can't believe I remember this crap" Scott
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