ArcserveIT, BTRIEVE and SP6

[rich...@treasury.qld.gov.au]

We're running ArcserveIT 6.6 with SP4 on NetWare 5.1 servers. After
applying NetWare 5.1 SP6, the servers will run for a few days, then we
get the following two errors on all servers where Arcserve is loaded-

Failed to access: SYS:\PROGS\ARCSERVE.6\DATABASE\ASJOB.DB, 87
Attempting to: Open File Handle Table Full

followed by -

E4205 ARCserveIT database file ASJOB.DB failed on integrity check, [87].

We're pretty sure it's a BTRIEVE related error- BTRIEVE version on all
servers following the SP is 7.51. There's a couple of relevant white
papers on the CA/Arcserve website that suggest increasing parameters in
SYS:\SYSTEM\BTI.CFG. We've used the parameters suggested, then pushed
them right out, repaired and replaced the Arcserver database etc., but
still get the errors.

Anyone come across this before?

Here's our current BTI.CFG.

[MicroKernel]
; MaxFiles=50
; CacheSize=1024
MaxFiles=600
MaxCursors=120
CacheSize=16384
MaxClients=120
BackgroundThreads=25
BalancedTrees=NO
ForceFileVersion=0700
SystemData=YES
MaxDatabases=10
Logging=NO
CompressedBufferSize=5
ExtendedBufferSize=16
MergeSortBufferSize=0
MaxRecSize=16
CachePartitioning=NO
TransDurability=YES
TransLogBufferSize=64
TransLogFileSize=512
SysTransBundleLimit=1000
SysTransTimeLimit=10000
WaitLockTimeout=30
TransLogDirectory=SYS:SYSTEM/MKDE/LOG
Trace=NO
TraceFile=SYS:/SYSTEM\MKDE.TRA
TraceDataBufferLength=32
TraceKeyBufferLength=32
TraceOpsList=ALL
LoadRouter=NO
RouterCommBufferSize=16
Use FileIO Mutex=NO
[Btrieve Communications Manager]
MaxWorkerThreads=15
MaxClients=120

[Database Names]
DBNamesDirectory=SYS:/SYSTEM

[Btrieve Interface]
Embedded Spaces=NO

[Btrieve Communications Manager]
MaxWorkerThreads=25
MaxClients=120

Cheers,

Richard

[rich...@treasury.qld.gov.au]

[Mark Lyell]

Hi Richard,

We have a similar problem on one of our 5.1 servers with SP6 running
ArcServe 7.0. Setting the parameters in bti.cfg appeared to have no affect
and a reboot does not clear the problem.

However, I used the btrmon utility and it showed that 250 out of 250
maximum file handles were being used. In this state the ArcServe database
will not open, and it shows the same after a reboot. If I look at User
Information in BTRmon it shows one user (called LS) with 244 file handles.
If I look at the file that is open for the user it is PRODAUD3.DB in the
system directory - with 244 handles. The question is what application is
using this Btrieve user ?

Does anyone at Novell have any ideas about this problem ?

Cheers,

Mark Lyell

rich...@treasury.qld.gov.au wrote:

--
Mark Lyell
IT & T
Network Administrator
The London Institute
65 Davies Street
London W1K 5DA
United Kingdom

Telephone
020 7514 6182 (Work)
07986 534987 (Mob)

[Andy Borys]

>Setting the parameters in bti.cfg appeared to have no affect
and a reboot does not clear the problem.<

What does BTI.CFG have to do with backing up Btrieve? After all, Btrieve is
just a set of files. We run a tranasctional btrieve system. We get all the
users out of btrieve and back up the database directory. I am using Arcserve
2000 backing up 90gb nightly from a netware 5.1sp6 server to a LTO tape over
fibre with gig nics in the Netware server and backup server. The backup runs
in 2 hours, 45gb per hour. Never a problem. We also restore this data to
test regions and can access the data quite happily. Are you backing up
individual records with an agent?

[Marcel Cox]

rich...@treasury.qld.gov.au wrote:

>
> We're running ArcserveIT 6.6 with SP4

Do you have the post SP4 Arcserve patches installed? Without them,
Arcserve is not stable on Netware versions with recent support packs.

--
Marcel Cox (using XanaNews 1.15.8.3)

[rich...@treasury.qld.gov.au]

Nope, only patched to SP4- will apply the post-SP4 patches and post the
results.

Cheers,

Richard

[Mark Lyell]

Andy,

Thanks for the reply. Perhaps I didn't make myself clear.
ArcServe uses Btrieve for its internal database. Btrieve on our ArcServe
backup server appears to run out of file handles (250+) every so often.
This means Arcserve cannot read its database and backups fail.

I have monitored btrieve using the btrmon tool and the file handles appear
to be related to a single file (one file can have multiple handles). This
prodaud3.db which is used by NLSmeter and possibly other software.

Does anyone know why so many btrieve file handles might be opened on this
file ? Perhaps it is a bug in NLSmeter.

Cheers,

Mark

--

[Jeff Carroll]

Hi, I am having this problem as well at my remote sites. Single server
backing up locally to a DAT changer. NW 5.1 SP5.

What do you mean by post SP4 patches. Are these CA or Novell's patches.

Thanks,

Jeff
<rich...@treasury.qld.gov.au> wrote in message
news:%sPAb.925$og5...@prv-forum2.provo.novell.com...

[rich...@treasury.qld.gov.au]

CA's patches. There's also not a bad document on their site, TEC276419,
that may work for you (but didn't for us). We're still trying to tweak
diffent bti.cfg settings, if we get one that works (before we replace
Arcserve in a couple of months), I'll post it here.