Host Server crashed

I am doing a recovery of the web site after my server crashed over the last weekend.  Its probably as simple as powering it back up again, but its proving to be a trial as I no longer have access to the machine and rely on someone from my old job to go in there and turn it on.

Once I have access to the site again, I will take photos/files off - or just start things over again.

All email and blogs will be hosted using google whom I am sure I would not have the same hassles with an 8 year old desktop PC acting as a server going to sleep every now and then when there is a power failure :)

Deep Creek Camping Trip October 2009

Ten of us headed out to Deep Creek Conservation Park and camped out at the Cobbler Hill campgrounds over the long weekend. I headed up with Mike in the trusty yellow GGG truck.

It was very busy, and arriving on the Friday at 2PM, Mike and myself grabbed what was basically one of the last spots in the entire park with a firepit. For that matter, it was one of the last sites in the whole place regardless.

We staked out our spots and started setting things up.

The other guys arrived from around 5PM onwards, with the majority after 7PM.

Campfire is essential! I think Mike and Adrian combined brought about 3 or 4 ton of wood.

The views and weather were fantasic!

Still its good to be home and to have a hot shower. Last camping trip to Deep Creek was about 9 years ago - I hope that next time isn't as long a break.

VSS_E_UNEXPECTED_PROVIDER_ERROR with SnapManager for Exchange

I have a client with a NetApp StoreVault S550 system. After a series of issues with SnapManager for Exchange not working with the latest .Net service packs, we were able to have reliable ongoing snapshots for Exchange.

However, just this week, I started to get the following notifications that an error was occuring:

From SME:

Backup SG [First Storage Group] Error: VSS API Error Description: VSS_E_UNEXPECTED_PROVIDER_ERROR

At the S550 console:

Fri Jul 3 21:18:01 CST [app.log.err:error]: EXCHSVR: SME Version 4.0: (111) Backup: SnapManager for Exchange online backup failed. (Exchange Version 6.5 (Build 7638.2: Service Pack 2)) Error code: 0x8004230f, VSS API Error Description: VSS_E_UNEXPECTED_PROVIDER_ERROR

Basically the error is occuring because the volume limit for snapshots had been reached (max 255). I was curious as to why this would be occurring as old snapshots should have been deleted. Checking the status from the console showed however that autodelete was disabled.

S550*> snap autodelete EXCHSRVRexchange_log
showsnapshot autodelete settings for EXCHSRVRexchange_log:
state : off
commitment : try
trigger : volume
target_free_space : 20%
delete_order : oldest_first
defer_delete : user_created
prefix : (not specified)

The following command enables autodelete:

snap autodelete EXCHSRVRexchange_log on

Settings now:

S550*> snap autodelete EXCHSRVRexchange_log
showsnapshot autodelete settings for EXCHSRVRexchange_log:
state : on
commitment : try
trigger : volume
target_free_space : 20%
delete_order : oldest_first
defer_delete : user_created
prefix : (not specified)

The console then shows a series of autodelete tasks running to clean up the 4 months of excess snapshots for this volume. However, here is the kicker - if you run the snapshot process again, autodelete actually deletes the latest snapshot just created.

So turn autodelete to off once more and verify operation - it turns out that on the same volume, the was a SQL LUN with SM for SQL also having an issue. As a result, there was a stack of snapshots being taken with no actual data in them - with SM for SQL not finishing a backup job, in a very rapid fashion the volume hit the 255 snapshot limit and now SME wouldn't work, let alone the SQL SM. The SQL issue was a database that refused to index properly and crashing SnapManager for SQL. With that fixed, SM for SQL started to work also.

Seems operational for now - will need to keep an eye on things to see if all is good. Remember - leave autodelete off!

3rd Annual Inter Club Dyno Day - March 14th

Well it has come and gone... The 3rd Annual Inter Club Dyno Day - presented by the SA chapter of the PGA.

It was another outstanding success. Dan as usual delivered a superb effort of organizational skills, and Mikey on the BBQ worked tirelessly all day. Plenty of other chipped in too, like Cam and Paul, and catching up with a stack of friendly people made it a top day.

Pics can be found at www.dynoday.info/dynoday2009

The Chiko Roll

The Chiko Roll or CHIKO Roll is an Australian savoury snack developed by Francis McEncroe, a boilermaker from Bendigo, and first appeared at the Wagga Wagga Show in 1951. It was inspired by the Chinese egg roll and spring rolls and was designed to be able to be eaten with one hand whilst drinking a beer with the other. The Chiko roll consists of boned mutton, celery, cabbage, barley, rice, carrot and spices in a tube of egg, flour and dough which is then deep-fried. The wrap was designed to be unusually thick so it would survive transport to Football matches. It was originally called a "Chicken roll" despite not containing any chicken then later renamed "Chiko Roll".

Wow.