============================================================================= Fastback Plus for OS/2 Version 1.02 README.TXT 6/2/95 ============================================================================= Thank you for purchasing Fastback Plus for OS/2. This file contains some last minute information concerning the installation and use of Fastback Plus for OS/2. Fastback Plus for OS/2 supports the following version levels of OS/2: Version 3.0 Warp release (and all associated FixPaks up to and including 005) Version 2.11 release. Version 2.10 release. Version 2.10 with 2.11 Service Pack. Version 2.0 with 2.10 Service pack ONLY. SECTIONS: ========= 1. Installation 2. Fastback Objects 3. Fastback Plus 4. Creating Recovery Disks / Crash Recovery 5. Fastback Procedure 6. Floppy Support 7. QIC Support 8. SCSI support 9. Network Drives, Hard Drives, Removables 10. Setting CPU Priorities and Buffer Allocation 11. Contacting Technical Support ================ 1. INSTALLATION: ================ 1.0 - New install procedure for version 1.02 --- Included in Fastback Plus for OS/2 version 1.02 is 2 separate install programs. You should decide which would be more appropriate for your uses and select run the proper one to execute the install. Here is the procedure for each of the programs: INSTALL.EXE: INSTALL.EXE will perform the following: A first time install of Fastback Plus for OS/2, or an install over a previous version of Fastback Plus for OS/2. INSTALL.EXE will preserving your existing procedures and device objects, but it will erase all history files out of the history folder, unschedule all scheduled backups, and clean out all previous Fastback Plus for OS/2 references out of the OS/2 ini files. UPDATE.EXE: UPDATE.EXE will perform the following: It will only install if it finds a previous version of Fastback Plus for OS/2 installed on the system. It will also preserve all existing procedure and device objects. All history files and scheduling information will also be preserved. 1.1 - Note on the Install Procedure --- The installation of Fastback Plus for OS/2 REQUIRES that your machine be rebooted to prepare for the last phase of the install. However, though INSTALL will ask you for a confirmation to SHUTDOWN at the end of the first part of the installation process (this is required to load our DEVICE DRIVERS and our environment settings), you do not need to shutdown immediately. Before doing so you may switch to other applications, command shells, etc., and close those applications, saving any open files as needed. You must then confirm the shutdown and, when the system reboots, double click on the Fastback Install Icon on the Desktop to complete the installation. Rebooting after this step is not necessary. Fastback will be loaded and ready to use. 1.2 - Installing on Networks. --- Although Fastback Plus for OS/2 is fully compatible with Netware for OS/2, IBM Lan Server, and Microsoft Lan Manager, do not attempt to install Fastback Plus for OS/2 to a network drive.* Central to the operation of Fastback Plus for OS/2 is one, or possibly two, device drivers which need to be installed to complete the installation and for Fastback Plus to run. For this reason, Fastback must be installed LOCALLY. * (EXCEPTION: If you have a diskless workstation that uses boot proms on the network card to connect to the network, then you may install FB/2 on a network drive.) 1.3 - Naming the Fastback installation directory. --- Fastback Plus will not allow you to install to an HPFS extended directory name. In other words, you must install Fastback Plus to a directory name that is FAT-compliant. Fastback Plus will have no problems with backups or restores from or to HPFS and FAT volumes, but the Fastback device drivers, required for Fastback Plus' operation, require that standard FAT directory naming be used when installing. NOTE: You will be unable to rename the Fastback directory after Fastback Plus has been installed. 1.4 - Changes made to the CONFIG.SYS. --- When Fastback Plus for OS/2 installation completes, your CONFIG.SYS file will have been backed up to a file named CONFIG.FBP. Below is a list of the changes made to the CONFIG.SYS file: i. The Fastback DLL directory (eg: C:\FASTBACK\DLL) will be added to the LIBPATH statement. ii. The Fastback HELP directory (eg: C:\FASTBACK\HELP) will be added to the HELP environment variable. ii. FASTBACK.SYS is the central device driver required by Fastback Plus and will also be added to the CONFIG.SYS. (eg:DEVICE=C:\FASTBACK\DLL\FASTBACK.SYS) iv. If SCSI support is required, the OS2SCSI.DMD driver (already loaded on your system by OS/2) will be added as a BASEDEV statement (eg:BASEDEV=OS2SCSI.DMD) if it is not there already. If you chose SCSI tape at install time you will also see a DEVICE entry in the CONFIG.SYS similar to DEVICE=C:\FASTBACK\DLL\FBSCSI.SYS. 1.5 - Uninstalling Fastback Plus for OS/2. --- Because Fastback Plus for OS/2 modifies the object hierarchy of OS/2, it is very important that, should you need to UNINSTALL Fastback Plus, you should follow these steps: i. Be sure to FIRST run INSTALL from your distribution diskette (or from your /fastback/dll directory), and select "REMOVE" to proceed with the removal process, which will reverse any changes which were made to OS/2 Presentation Manager. This will not remove the Fastback Plus statements from your CONFIG.SYS but it will delete all of the installed files that are not currently being used by Fastback Plus and OS/2. (The DLL subdirectory of FASTBACK will remain locked, even after the "REMOVE" process is run, until the path "C:\FASTBACK\DLL", or its equivalent, is removed from the LIBPATH statement in the CONFIG.SYS and the machine rebooted, as in Step ii. You will be unable to delete the Fastback Plus for OS/2 directory until then.) ii. Manually edit the CONFIG.SYS and remove "C:\FASTBACK\DLL" or it's equivalent from the LIBPATH line of the CONFIG.SYS, and any other entries, including the HELP= and DEVICE= entries found there, as noted above in "1.4 - Changes made to the CONFIG.SYS," then REBOOT. iii. Since you are no longer loading the device drivers that Fastback Plus needs, you will now be able to delete the remainder of the Fastback Plus directories, and subsequently, any remaining Desktop objects. 2. Fastback Objects: ==================== NOTE: For detailed procedures on using Fastback Plus' drag and drop methods refer to the file DRAGDROP.TXT on the installation diskette or in your Fastback Plus folder. 2.1 - After Install. --- After install, you will notice that a new TEMPLATES folder has been created in the Fastback Folder. This contains the Templates for the user interface, devices, and procedures that make up the Fastback Plus for OS/2 environment. Should problems occur with one or more objects, you can simply delete (shred) the problem object and pull a new object from the Fastback Plus Templates folder to replace the one you deleted. You will also find this feature helpful since you can easily create multiple objects for devices or procedures to represent specific functions, or to allow for different settings. These objects can be moved and stored wherever you prefer. 2.2 - Device Objects. --- If your system has multiple SCSI tape drives, it would be preferable to have a separate object for each tape drive or System Device to allow ease of use. For SCSI tape drives, simply drag another object from the "SCSI Tape" template in the Fastback Plus Templates folder for each additional SCSI tape device, and select the intended tape device for each object in the HARDWARE page of the object's settings notebook. You can even have multiple objects for EACH tape device, if you wish. Just rename the object to a unique and appropriate name for its function. Perform these steps for any other device for which you need to create an additional object. 2.3 - Rebuilding the Fastback Templates Folder. --- Should one or more of the templates in the Fastback Plus templates folder be deleted or corrupted for some reason, a very simple method exists to rebuild it. The main OS/2 Templates folder on your Desktop has an interesting feature: when you open it, it issues a command which recreates all templates which do not exist or have become invalid. This also applies to the Fastback Templates folder. To recreate the templates in the Fastback Templates folder, simply open the OS/2 Templates Folder on your desktop. When you return to your Fastback Templates folder, your Template icons will have returned. 3. Fastback Plus Object ======================= 3.1 - For migrating DOS users. --- If you have ever used the DOS or Windows versions of Fastback Plus, you will feel right at home after clicking on the Fastback Plus Object. This action provides you with a menu driven interface similar to the ones found in the DOS or Windows environments; the terminology will be basically the same, unless OS/2 terminology is more appropriate for a particular function. There are also HELP buttons in each window, where appropriate, should you need assistance or further explaination, and a "Fastback Information Line" (FIL) at the bottom of the main window, which describes each selected menu item briefly to help guide you around the menu. 3.2 - Where is my drive? --- Go into the Fastback folder and select the Fastback Plus Object. Under the "Backup" menu, select "Backup To". What you should see listed are the names of each of the device icons that appear in the Fastback folder. Suppose that you don't see your B: floppy drive listed here, or a second tape drive, or even a Syquest or Bernoulli. What do you do? i. Close Fastback Plus and open the Fastback Templates folder and drag a new object for the missing device into the Fastback Folder. ii. Open the settings page of the new object and select hardware (or PATH in the case of a System Device object). iii. Select the drive, type of drive, media, settings, or path that you wish to use, depending on the options available for the particular object you are creating. iv. Turn to the General page and change the title so that you will recognize this as your drive object. v. Start the Fastback Plus object again and select "Backup To". You should now see your new drive object in the list. 3.3 - Backup Estimates. --- When Fastback Plus generates an estimate of the size, time and media required to perform a backup, it does so in the following manner: FB/2 collects the file and extended attribute (EA) sizes from the list of files which you've selected for backup, makes its calculations based upon these numbers, and estimates compression to calculate the estimated number of disks or tapes required. While viewing this estimate, keep in mind the considerations as outlined in MOREINFO.TXT. In general, though, the estimate is fairly accurate. 3.4 - Selective Restores. --- When using the Fastback Plus user interface for selective restore from a multi-volume backup, a certain procedure must be followed. After restoring the history file, Fastback Plus will know which particular volume or volumes contain the files you have selected for restore, so that when the restore operation begins, Fastback Plus can prompt for the correct volume without the necessity of reading through each volume. For this to work, you should: i. Set the "Restore From" device. ii. Retrieve the history file for the backup you wish to restore. When the list of files on the volume comes up, it is important that you select a history file (a history file does _NOT_ have a numeral extension) to retrieve and not a data segment. iii. Select the appropriate backup set (refer to user's manual for these steps). iv. Select "Choose Files" from the Restore menu. v. After choosing the files you want to restore, DO NOT exit Choose Files, but instead, select the "Go" button (on the button bar, it's the button with the arrow pointing to the right, like on a stereo cassette player), which will send you directly to the Restore Progress window. vi. Click the Restore button which appears on the right side of the Progress panel. vii. Fastback Plus will begin the Selective Restore, prompting for the appropriate volumes, and ending the operation when all the selected files have been restored. 4. Creating Recovery Sets / Crash Recovery ========================================== For information on creating Recovery Disks and Recovery procedures after a crash please refer to the file RECOVERY.TXT located on the installation diskette. 5. Fastback Procedure: ====================== 5.1 - Chooser View --- The "Chooser View" is the window that you get when you double click on the icon labeled Fastback Procedure. It lets you choose files and settings for your backups. Simply click on the + or - buttons in the tree shown on the left to expand or collapse that portion of the tree, and double-click on any directory or drive letter to select all files in that drive or directory, as well as all files in all directories beneath it, inclusive. You can also individually select/deselect files on the right side by the same method. In fact, you can grab selected (Ctrl+click) groups of files, or selected directories, or directories with selected files in them, onto a backup device object in the Fastback Folder, and the Backup Progress window will appear for you to begin your backup of these files. This Chooser View works the same for Backups or Restores if called from the Fastback Procedure Object or from a History file Object, which will be found in the History directory, in the Fastback directory, after a backup is completed, or a History file is Restored. 5.2 - Settings Notebooks --- All the same options found in the Options button on the Chooser View are found in the settings pages of each object. The only thing you cannot do from the settings pages is actually select files to backup or restore. 5.3 - Scheduling Procedures --- Procedures can be scheduled at specific days and times throughout the month by selecting the button which looks like a DayTimer, at the top of the Procedure's Chooser View window. When you open this Scheduler Window, you need only select the Week(s), Day(s), Frequency, and time which the backup procedure you've created will run, confirm the next scheduled run at the top of the window, and then OK to close the scheduler and close the Procedure by selecting the button which looks like an Exit Door. The procedure will then run at the selected time(s). To check that the procedure is scheduled, you can open the Fastback Plus Schedule folder, and you should see a shadow of your corresponding procedure; the procedure should also be cross-hatched in all folders. 6. Floppy Support: ================== Due to the baseline philosophy of OS/2, access of diskette drives is much different from the logistics that Fastback Plus for DOS uses. Fastback Plus for OS/2 ties in to the existing DASD support of diskette drives, rather than bypassing it. Because of this, you may notice irregular behavior of diskette drives while backing up (to diskette). When Fastback Plus begins backing up, the diskette will begin getting polled for the existence of a diskette. This will be evident by a flashing of the diskette drive access lights about once per second. Do not be alarmed by this behavior, as it is normal for the operation of Fastback plus. System Device (System Default) Using a diskette drive as a System Device is a different method. This requires that your diskettes be formatted, and will write compressed backup segments to the path specified on the Hardware page of the Settings Notebook for the System Device Icon. This method should be used if you wish to "port" data from one machine to another, and the target machine has a head alignment difference with the source machine. The system device can be used with any logical drive letter, not just diskette drives. (See part 8, below, "Network drives, Hard drives, and Removables" ) Because of this, should OS/2 detect a write fault (unformatted sector, unmarked bad sector, etc), you could have an annoying problem. To prevent this, ensure that you have enough preformatted diskettes available when using this object as a target device. 7. QIC Support: =============== 7.1 - Drives Supported --- At time of release, Fastback Plus for OS/2 has been tested with, and will support, QIC drives by the following manufacturers: Colorado Memory Systems Jumbo 250 Colorado Memory Systems Jumbo 120 AIWA Archive XL-80 Archive XL-40 Archive 5540 Archive 5580 IOMEGA 250 Mountain FileSafe 8000Plus Summit 120 Summit 250 Conner 250 NOTE: FB/2 DOES NOT support the PARALLEL PORT, Travan, or "extended" QIC formats of any of these drives at this time. Fastback Plus for OS/2 DOES supports the FC-10, FC-20, and TC-15 controller cards produced by CMS; we DO NOT support the controller cards of any other manufacturers at this time, however. If you use one of these cards, you must first open the SETTINGS NOTEBOOK for the QIC Tape object that is created in your Fastback Folder. The only valid DMA channels are 1, 2, and 3. You must configure your CMS card to run at one of these DMA's. Refer to your Fastback Plus for OS/2 user's manual for configuration instructions. 8. SCSI Support: ================ 8.1 - SCSI Cards Supported --- The following SCSI adapters have been tested successfully with Fastback Plus for OS/2: Adaptec 151x Adaptec 152x Adaptec 154xB Adaptec 154xC Adaptec 154xCF Adaptec 164x Adaptec 174x Adaptec 274x Adaptec 284x AMI Fast Disk Buslogic 445 Buslogic 542 Buslogic 545 Buslogic 742 Buslogic 747 DPT Smartcache III Future Domain 850 Future Domain 950 Future Domain 16x0 Future Domain 16x0 SVP IBM INT-4b, SCSI-III Trantor SCSI (Parallel and PAS-16) Ultrastor 14F Ultrastor 24F Ultrastor 24FA Ultrastor 34F Any SCSI adapter which supports the IBM SCSI command specification via OS2SCSI.DMD should operate properly with Fastback OS/2. The following card(s) DO NOT support this specification and are therefore unusable by Fastback Plus for OS/2 at this time: Future Domain 7000EX 8.2 - SCSI Tape Drives supported --- The following SCSI Tape drives have been tested successfully with Fastback Plus for OS/2: Archive Viper 2060 Archive Viper 2150 Archive Viper 2525 Archive Python 4320 Archive Python 4322 Archive Python 4350 Colorado Memory Systems PowerTape PT-25 Colorado Memory Systems PowerTape PT25E Exabyte 2501 Exabyte 4200c Exabyte 8200 Exabyte 8205 Exabyte 8500 Exabyte 8505 Exabyte 8500c HP 35470A HP 35480A IBM 3421 Model 023 Sony SDT-4000 Sony SDT-5000 Tandberg 3600 Tandberg 3620 Tandberg 3800 Tandberg 3820 Tandberg 4100 Tandberg 4120 Tandberg 4200 Tandberg 4220 Tecmar QT-250 WangDAT 1300 WangDAT 2600 Wangtek 5099 Wangtek 5150 Wangtek 5250 Wangtek 5525 Wangtek 51000 Wangtek 6130 NOTE: The Tecmar QT-250 (Wangtek 5150) does not operate properly with certain types of MicroChannel SCSI adapters. It does function properly on all other types of system busses tested, however. 8.3 - Bulk Erasing 4mm and 8mm Tapes. --- Often bulk erasing a tape is used as a security measure to wipe out any confidential data on a tape. These tapes are usually thrown away afterwards. Make sure not to accidentally use one of these tapes. They will usually crash the tape drive, maybe even crashing the SCSI card. If the card locks, the operating system will often lock next. 8.4 - Transferring data between drives. --- Not all drives are created equal. Many tape drives use the same tapes but they do not always create tapes that are interchangeable. For example: The Exabyte 4200c is a 4mm DAT drive that uses compression when it writes to the tape. The Sony SDT-4000 is also a 4mm DAT drive that uses compression, but it can not read the data created on the Exabyte because they use different compression techniques. 8.5 - Fastback does not see my SCSI drive. --- Should Fastback fail to "see" your SCSI drive, then there are some possibilities that could correct your problems. -The SCSI device is locked. Shutdown OS/2 and your machine and turn off any external SCSI devices. After pausing about 30 seconds, power on all external SCSI devices and power on your CPU. The Fastback Plus SCSI driver, FBSCSI.SYS should load. -The SCSI Bus is improperly terminated. Improper termination of the SCSI bus can result in unpredictable behavior from no identified devices to multiple shadows of one or more devices to system lockups. Does the device work correctly under a true DOS boot? If not, then it is probably a hardware/termination problem. Check your controller card and device's documentation. -A SCSI device ID conflict exists. Check the SCSI ID of each installed device to be certain that no conflicts exist. 9. Network Drives, Hard Drives, Removables: ============================================= These resources can also be used as backup targets using the System Device Object. Peel off a System Device Object from the Fastback Plus for OS/2 Templates folder and drag it wherever you would like to keep the object (eg: Fastback Plus folder, your Desktop). Right click on the System Device Object and open up Settings. Select the hardware tab of the settings notebook - you will see a setting for drive and path. Define a logical drive that points to the network resource which you wish to use as a target. Any device which is or can be defined as a logical drive and file system can be backed up in this manner. NOTE TO USERS OF IBM LAN SERVER V 3.0: It is necessary to use the Lan Requester Service Pack for version 3.0 in order to prevent problems with backup while accessing a Lan Server resource. Should you encounter any problems during backup, contact your local IBM Reseller or Support Center for an upgrade. 10. Setting CPU Priorities and Buffer Allocation: =================================================== 10.1 - SCSI Tape Performance. ---- SCSI devices may require some modification of the priorities and buffer allocation to get optimum performance. These settings can be found on the Priorities page of each device's Settings notebook, as well as the slide switch icon in the Chooser View of the Fastback Plus interface and Procedures. Each allocated buffer is 32k in size for QIC, Diskette, and System Devices, and 64k in size for SCSI devices. (So that if all buffers are used, then a 1 Mb buffer results, except for SCSI devices, which will result in a 2Mb buffer.) Depending on the data throughput of the selected device, you may need to increase or decrease the buffers allocated. 10.2 - Device or Procedure buffer allocation. ---- A potential for confusion exists in the order of precedence between the buffers allocated in the device settings, and the buffer allocation found in the procedure itself. When a procedure is "pointed to" a particular device, the procedure attempts to allocate the buffers as to its own settings, in as much as the device's buffer allocation maximum will allow. For example, the Floppy Device will allow a total allocation of either 4 or 8 buffers ( 128k - 256k ), while the procedure allows up to 32. If within the procedure, you select 16 buffers, and within the device settings for the Floppy Device, you have selected 4 buffers, then the buffers used in the procedure will be set to 8. 10.3 - CPU priorities. ---- Since OS/2 is a true multitasking operating environment, Fastback Plus for OS/2 allows you to set the priority of operations. This provides you with a method to compromise between the backup performance and the the performance of other tasks concurrently running in your environment. It is suggested, in any case, that your backups be set to a low - medium priority, so that the performance of your Workplace is affected by Fastback Plus as little as possible. If your backups are kicked off late at night when there is little or no other tasks running, you may want to put the priority up into the high region, since other tasks' performance may not be an issue. 10.4 - The Default button. ---- As with most settings for objects within OS/2, there are default buttons for the Priority and buffer allocation within the Fastback Procedure. However, this button ONLY sets the priority level, and leaves buffers completely unaffected. The hierarchy of buffer allocation level has no real defaults, since this decision is a result of a comparison between the settings of the Device and Procedure objects. 11. Contacting Technical Support ================================= Symantec provides free 90-day technical support to registered users of Fastback Plus for OS/2. Call the number below for technical support and have the information listed below ready for the technical support representative. Technical Support: (503) 465-8420 Information you should have ready: i. Your name and registration information. ii. The make and model of your system, including hard drive capacity and total installed RAM. iii. The version of OS/2 installed (2.1, 2.1 service pack, 2.11 service pack, or Warp with or without service packs). iv. The make and model of installed storage devices, QIC tape, SCSI tape, optical disks, etc., as well as the make and model of the device controllers. You may also wish to take advantage of our online support options. Symantec offers support for all of its products online on Compuserve, America OnLine (AOL), Symantec's BBS, and Symantec's FTP Server. -On the internet, FTP to ftp.symantec.com and login as "anonymous". Fastback Plus for OS/2 files will be located in the /public/os2/fastback directory. -On Compuserve, GO SYMANTEC at any ! prompt to access the SYMANTEC Forum Menu, where you can select the Symantec Fifth Generation Systems Forum. Or, you can GO SYMFGS to get to that Forum directly. Support for FB/2 is given in section 3, Fastback OS/2. -On AOL, use the keyword SYMANTEC to get to our support forum. Just post a message with your problem, and we will respond promptly. -You can also access the Symantec BBS, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for support: 503-484-6669 at 14.4 - N,8,1 and 503-484-6699 at 2400 - N,8,1. Read the bulletins for instructions on how to post a message requesting support. ============================================================================ End of File ============================================================================