Server + - Server+ Q for Beginners :)

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Server+ Q for Beginners :)

namrak

2002-09-26, 6:36 pm

Alright, back again with another question.

The Fonz has since moved on to a server administrator role from his job on Happy Days. At Ron Howard's film studio, the Fonz backs up all the data from the servers as part of his responsibility. After a couple of months, the studio decides to run through their annual disaster recovery process.

After running through a full tape restore it becomes apparent that something is very wrong. How could this be? The Fonz checks the backup logs everyday for any errors.
Choose a likely cause that would explain why this happened.

A) backup notification was set only for failures
B) a virus residing in the system prevented
proper tape backups
C) the backup application was incompatible with the server operating system
D) the read-write head in the tape drive is broken
E) Ron Howard has always resented the Fonz since Happy Days and so, set him up to fail from the beginning

twister166

2002-09-27, 5:58 am

You have me stumpped on this one...
Standard backup should include a backup and verify if time slot permits. So, if the verify fails it should be in the log, but the log appears to be ok.

A. Backup notification is a management function does not impact actual backup function.
B. This is a posibility, depend on how the virus are attacking the tape backup app, log may not show error.
C. Well, if app is incompatibale, then the log should indicate fail. Then again it may not...
D. If the head is broken, then no backup will be done, log failed backup.
E. Is likely, not would not be on the test.

I would pick B for now...

dickrwh

2002-09-27, 8:22 am

I'm anxious to read the answer to this one since it is hard to believe a system would not have an up-to-date virus system and it is hard to believe that the backup software is not compatible with the nos. None of the other answers seem even remotely possible since a broken read or write head wouldn't allow any verify operation (and certainly any tape backup would verify).
Is this similar to a real question? It might help if we had more of a description of what went wrong other than "something went wrong."

twister166

2002-09-27, 8:33 am

quote:
Originally posted by dickrwh
Is this similar to a real question? It might help if we had more of a description of what went wrong other than "something went wrong."

Oh yeah, it is close to the real questions...

namrak

2002-09-27, 11:04 pm

And the answer I was looking for is (A) as I was looking at it from a management perspective like Twister had thought about. Server+ focuses on good practices by server techs which include checking backup logs for both successful and failed backups as well as verifying backup tapes.

Answer (D) with the read-write head being broken would register as an error and a technician would be notified. Answer (E) is usually my 'humor' answer and in this case, its wrong. Answer (B) and (C) are not likely to have happened as dickrwh alluded to. Unfortunately, I should have given just another hint or two as to what I was looking for. In other words, I worded the scenario a little too ambiguously and could have at least mentioned something about an updated antivirus app running in the background.

I'll try harder next time to come up with a better scenario. Sorry guys.

twister166

2002-09-28, 10:59 am

you did not specify where is the backup log. If you would mention that the backup log Fonz was looking was a SNMP rather than the backup application's log. I was assuming that Fonz was looking at the BackupExec's backup log which it should report if the backup was good or not. The SNMP may not report the backup log though...

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