Backing Up Macintosh Files on a NetWare Server Jill Johnson Technical Support Engineer Novell Walnut Chreek Abstract: This AppNote addresses the issues involved in backing up Macintosh files stored on a NetWare file server. It covers Novell's backup products as they relate to Macintosh files, and looks at some third#party solutions as well. Disclaimer Novell, Inc. makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contents or use of these Application Notes (AppNotes) or of any of the third#party products discussed in the AppNotes. Novell reserves the right to revise these AppNotes and to make changes in their content at any time, without obligation to notify any person or entity of such revisions or changes. These AppNotes do not constitute an endorsement of the third#party product or products that were tested. Configuration(s) tested or described may or may not be the only available solution. Any test is not a determination of product quality or correctness, nor does it ensure compliance with any federal, state or local requirements. Novell does not warranty products except as stated in applicable Novell product warranties or license agreements. Copyright { 1991 by Novell, Inc., Provo, Utah. All rights reserved. As a means of promoting NetWare AppNotes, Novell grants you without charge the right to reproduce, distribute and use copies of the AppNotes, provided you do not receive any payment, commercial benefit or other consideration for the reproduction or distribution, or change any copyright notices appearing on or in the document. Contents Introduction 41 Structure of Macintosh Files 41 Macintosh File Backup Issues 42 Losing the Resource Fork 42 Hidden Files and Directories 43 Using ResEdit to Recover Damaged Files 44 Novell's Macintosh#Aware Backup Solutions 45 MACBACK 45 Streaming Tape Backup VAP 45 NBACKUP 46 SBACKUP 47 Third#Party Backup Solutions 48 Emerald Systems 49 Mountain Computer 49 Cheyenne Software 49 Conclusion 50 Bibliography 50 Acknowledgments 50 Introduction Recently, Novell Systems Research published an extensive report entitled #Network Backup" that covered many of the issues involved in backing up NetWare networks. This Application Note is an addition to that report. It shows how Macintosh files saved to a NetWare file server fit into the world of backups. This information should clear up the confusion some Novell customers have experienced in backing up NetWare file servers that include Macintosh support. Structure of Macintosh Files Macintosh files require special consideration during a backup of a NetWare file server because they are structured differently than DOS files. Each Macintosh file may have a data fork and a resource fork. A DOS file, by contrast, has only a data fork (see ). The data fork is an unstructured, finite sequence of data bytes. The resource fork of a Macintosh file, which differentiates it from a DOS file, is accessible through the Macintosh Resource Manager. The resource fork contains specialized data used by an application, such as menus, fonts, icons, application code for an application file, drivers, and the data structures for mapping them within the fork. While AFP (AppleTalk Filing Protocol) is designed to consider both forks as finite#length byte sequences, it includes no special rules relating to the structure of the resource fork. : Structure of a Macintosh File Either or both forks of a given Macintosh file can be empty. Non#Macintosh clients (such as DOS, OS/2, or Windows machines) that consider a file to have only one fork use the Macintosh file's data fork. By contrast, files created by a DOS workstation and used by a Macintosh client will have an empty resource fork supplied by the Macintosh Resource Manager, because a resource fork, though unintelligible to DOS, is required by the Macintosh operating system. As a result, a DOS workstation that has gained access to a file created by a Macintosh may not be aware of the existence of the file's resource fork and will probably not use the resource fork. Macintosh File Backup Issues Losing the Resource Fork If you back up a NetWare file server without taking Macintosh issues into consideration, your backup will include only the data fork portions of the Macintosh files on the server. If you then restore files from this backup to the file server, all the Macintosh files will be visible to all the clients but inaccessible to the Macintosh clients. In fact, those Macintosh files will appear as DOS files displayed with the icons for DOS files (see and ). This occurs because the resource fork and Finder information of the Macintosh files are lost. : Macintosh Files Before Backup : Macintosh Files Appear as DOS Files After Bad Backup If you try to launch a Macintosh application or access a Macintosh file after a faulty backup, you will receive an error message (see ). : Error Message Received When Trying to Access a Macintosh File After Bad Backup Hidden Files and Directories When you are backing up Macintosh files, you should also consider the many hidden files and directories created on the NetWare server when NetWare for Macintosh is installed. If these files and directories are corrupted or not backed up properly, both the Macintosh files and the NetWare for Macintosh system files may be lost. One such hidden directory created on the NetWare file server is the Desktop directory. Each Macintosh client maintains a hidden Desktop file that contains information for use by the Macintosh Finder. For file server volumes (as opposed to client volumes), AFP provides an interface that replaces the Macintosh Finder's direct use of the Desktop file. This interface is necessary because the Desktop file is designed for a single#user, stand#alone environment. The AFP interface to the Desktop database can be used transparently for both local and remote volumes and can be shared by multiple users. The Desktop database on a file server holds information that the Finder specifically needs to build its unique user interface, in which icons represent objects on a disk volume. The Desktop also associates applications with particular icons, stores the icons' bitmaps, locates the corresponding application when a user opens a document, and holds text comments associated with files and directories. Macintosh applications usually contain not only an icon that is displayed for the application itself but also other icons displayed for the documents that the application creates. These icons are stored in the application's resource fork and in the Desktop database. The Desktop database associates these icons with each file's creator and type, which are stored in part of the file's Finder information. Using ResEdit to Recover Damaged Files As you can see, if the resource fork information is lost, the Macintosh file itself is lost. Data files can sometimes be recovered using a program from Apple Computer called ResEdit. ResEdit is a graphics#based application for manipulating the various resources in a Macintosh file. Be forewarned, however, that manipulating files incorrectly with ResEdit can damage files irreversibly. Using ResEdit to get data files back is a time#consuming process. ResEdit by no means provides a supported or workable solution for all instances of lost resource forks on all of your Macintosh files on the NetWare file server. You can not use ResEdit to restore application files, only document files. Keeping in mind all these provisos, here is a procedure for recovering a lost resource fork from a damaged Macintosh data file using ResEdit: 1. Make a blank file using the application with which your original damaged file was created. 2. Copy the damaged original file from your server to your Macintosh workstation. 3. Launch ResEdit, and open both the new blank file and the damaged original file. When you open the damaged file, ResEdit will ask if you want to create a resource fork for the file. Choose #OK." 4. Copy the resources from the blank file to the damaged file. 5. Choose #Get Info" in the File menu for each of the opened files and change the damaged file's TYPE and CREATOR fields to match those of the blank file. 6. Save all the changes and quit ResEdit. 7. Open your application and then open the originally damaged file. You should now see a restored Macintosh file. Novell's Macintosh#Aware Backup Solutions Novell offers four different solutions for backing up Macintosh files on a NetWare server: w MACBACK (no longer shipping) w Streaming Tape Backup VAP w NBACKUP w SBACKUP MACBACK The MACBACK utility was Novell's first solution for backing up Macintosh files on NetWare file servers. MACBACK was a NetWare command line utility that archived and restored only Macintosh files to network disks or local drives. MACBACK archived and restored only Macintosh files stored on a NetWare v2.15 file server. To do a complete system backup, you had to use NARCHIVE for the DOS files in addition to MACBACK. MACBACK was a first attempt to resolve the problems of backing up Macintosh files, but it was not very reliable. It also forced system administrators to back up their file servers twice, once for the Macintosh files and once for the DOS files. MACBACK's most noticeable difficulty occurred when you backed up any Macintosh applications resident on the file server. A Macintosh application has a 0#byte data fork, and MACBACK couldn't restore files with 0#byte data forks. Streaming Tape Backup VAP The Streaming Tape Backup VAP will back up and restore all files from a v2.12, v2.15C, or v2.2 file server. The VAP runs on either a file server or a bridge and can back up or restore to any server on the internetwork running the versions of NetWare listed above. This product uses console command line options at the file server or bridge to back up and restore. One major restriction is this product works only with a PC#36 controller board. Many people aren't aware of this product due to this restriction. When restoring Macintosh files, you will have to rebuild the Desktop after running RESTORE if both of the following are true: w You have restored AFP files to a different volume than they were backed up from. w The volume to which the files were restored does not contain the application that uses the restored files. These conditions would also cause you to lose the comments associated with each file. To rebuild the Desktop do the following: 1. Restart the Macintosh workstation using the Finder (not MultiFinder). 2. Log in as Supervisor from this Macintosh client. 3. When you mount the server's volume(s), hold down the Command#Option keys on the Macintosh keyboard. 4. You will be prompted to confirm that you wish to rebuild the Desktop on the server's volume(s). Answer #Yes." The Finder will then traverse the file system on the file server's volumes and update the contents of each Desktop directory (at the root of each volume) with the current location and document icon for each Macintosh application. NBACKUP NBACKUP was developed to resolve MACBACK problems and to make backups a one#step process. NBACKUP backs up and restores both Macintosh and DOS files from NetWare v2.15, v2.2, and v3.x file servers. You must run NBACKUP from a DOS workstation and adhere to certain procedures in order to get the desired results. Some NBACKUP issues are covered here, but you should check your NetWare manuals for further details. With NBACKUP, you can only restore a backup of a server's files to the same type of NetWare system from which you made the backup. For example, if you back up a NetWare v2.15C system with Macintosh VAPs v2.0, it must be restored to a NetWare v2.15C system with Macintosh VAPs v2.0. NBACKUP backs up your NetWare file server primarily to DOS devices, but it does support a few non# DOS devices. The table shown in lists the most current available drivers. More third#party companies will undoubtedly introduce drivers to support NBACKUP. : Backup Devices Supported by NBACKUP Multiple versions of NBACKUP exist. Each version supports different drivers as well as different NetWare versions. NBACKUP is included with the NetWare operating system and should be used only with the version of NetWare with which it is shipped. NBACKUP's interface uses the standard NetWare menu structure. NBACKUP does not allow you to restore files and directories to a different location from where they were backed up. SBACKUP SBACKUP is Novell's newest solution for backing up NetWare file servers. SBACKUP is a NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) for a NetWare v3.11 file server. SBACKUP allows you to back up files using DOS, Macintosh, OS/2, and NFS name spaces. SBACKUP includes more drivers for tape drive units than NBACKUP does, supports two additional types of name spaces (OS/2 and NFS), and can be run from the server console while still accessing other servers on the network. New device drivers, developed for Novell by Cheyenne Software, Inc., are included with NetWare v3.11, supporting more than 50 third#party hardware backup devices. For backing up Macintosh files, these devices include Adaptec, Future Domain, and Bustek controllers. A second NLM is associated with SBACKUP. The TSA.NLM allows SBACKUP to access multiple servers, in addition to the server where SBACKUP resides. In , FS3 is a NetWare v3.11 file server running the SBACKUP.NLM. Because the TSA.NLM is loaded on the other servers on the network, SBACKUP can back up servers FS1, FS2, and FS3 all from FS3's server console. The TSA.NLM is currently available only for NetWare v3.11 file servers. : Using TSA.NLM to Access Other Servers During Backup Currently, SBACKUP cannot redirect Macintosh files during a restore. If Macintosh files or directories are restored to a different directory or volume than the original backup source, the Macintosh files lose their Macintosh names and are displayed with the DOS name space convention of eight characters. The Macintosh files also lose the comments associated with the file in the #Get Info" field. The redirection feature will be included in future releases of SBACKUP. Third#Party Backup Solutions A number of vendors' software and hardware solutions provide an alternative to Novell's solutions. The vendors mentioned are by no means the only vendors that support backing up Macintosh files on a NetWare file server, nor are the product evaluations comprehensive. One thing to keep in mind is that these vendors' hardware solutions won't necessarily work with Novell's software backup solutions (for example, NBACKUP or SBACKUP). For this reason, when Novell releases a new operating system and you upgrade your file server(s), the third#party vendor may not immediately offer a backup solution compatible with the new NetWare release. If you need to use another vendors' hardware with Novell's NBACKUP or SBACKUP, you will have to obtain a driver from the vendor. In the case of SBACKUP, you will have to find out whether that vendor's hardware will work with the standard Cheyenne driver. These vendors' solutions were not evaluated with the new releases of NetWare v2.2 or v3.11 operating systems. Please check with the vendor for those solutions. Another consideration is that many vendors' backup units and software are certified by Novell to work with NetWare. This certification may have restrictions. IMSP test procedures do not include backing up Macintosh files. Also, merely because a product is not officially #NetWare Certified" doesn't mean it won't work with NetWare. The best advice is for the buyer to beware. Make sure the vendor of the backup system understands the need to back up Macintosh files and the issues involved. Also, even if a vendor supports backups of Macintosh files on a NetWare server, not all versions of the vendor's products may include this support. Emerald Systems Emerald offers two versions of their software that will back up Macintosh files on a NetWare server: EmSAVE and EmQ. EmSAVE runs from a NetWare DOS client, while EmQ must be installed on a NetWare file server. EmSAVE has some of the limitations that NBACKUP has; EmSAVE v3.0 can't redirect AFP files, and will generate errors if you try. For example, the error #Cannot Redirect AFP directories or files [EM0246]" will be generated. The documentation for Emerald's product explains that this error means #Redirecting AFP file during a restore operation is not a supported function in this version of the Emerald Systems application." Emerald's software has a Windows#type interface, which makes backing up and restoring the different files and directories intuitive and easy to carry out. Mountain Computer Mountain's FileSafe backup utility is another solution for backing up Macintosh and DOS files from a NetWare server. FileSafe allows you to redirect backed#up Macintosh files to different directories. Hidden files are also easily handled. FileSafe's interface is not Windows#like, but it is menu#driven and easily mastered. Be sure to note that not all Mountain hardware and software products work with Macintosh files. For example, Mountain's MM series software will not back up Macintosh files, but Mountain is currently developing a version that will. Cheyenne Software ARCserve is one of the few server#driven backup applications evaluated. The version for NetWare v2.15 with Macintosh VAPs is a bit awkward because the backup administrator must be able to work at the server console and on a workstation at the same time to make efficient use of the product. The version for NetWare v3.11 with NetWare for Macintosh v3.0 is more efficient because you can back up from the server console directly. ARCserve uses the NetWare menu style and, like FileSafe, can redirect Macintosh files to different subdirectories. Conclusion The more types of workstations and operating systems are introduced to NetWare networks, the more complex backup issues will become. Hopefully this Application Note has cleared up some of the confusion surrounding Macintosh files and how these files are structured, along with how the operating system handles this structure. There are many books and reports available that can give more detailed information about the various topics touched on here. The Bibliography lists references for further information about network backups, Macintosh files and the Macintosh operating system, and other related topics. Bibliography Inside Macintosh, Volumes I and II; available from Apple Computer, Inc. and Addison# Wesley Publishing Co., Inc. Inside AppleTalk by Gursharan S. Sidhu, Richard F. Andrews, and Alan B. Oppenheimer; available from Apple Computer, Inc. and Addison#Wesley Publishing Co., Inc. #Network Backup," available from Novell Systems Research through the Novell AppNotes Hotline (801) 429#7550. Acknowledgments We extend special thanks to the following vendors for loaning backup units and software for testing. Emerald Systems 4757 Morena Boulevard San Diego, CA 92117 (619) 673#2161 Mountain Computer, Inc. 360 El Pueblo Road Scotts Valley, CA 95066 (800) 458#0300 Cheyenne Software, Inc. 55 Bryant Ave. Roslyn, NY 11576 (516) 484#5110 Editor's Note: The author accepts written feedback at FAX (801) 429#5511.