CommServe functionality provides centralized management and administration for the entire CommCell group. A failure in the CommServe system can result in the entire CommCell group becoming non-functional. Therefore, it is essential that you plan and build a disaster recovery process to protect your CommServe database and host.
CommServe Recovery Solutions
Based on the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of the organization, you can protect your CommServe databases using one of following methods.
Caution
Do not try to recover CommServe databases by reverting a CommServe virtual machine snapshot or checkpoint. This method might cause data loss.
Disaster Recovery (DR) Backups
By default, the CommServe software runs Disaster Recovery (DR) backup jobs to protect the CommServe production database. The DR backups include the CommServe database and other databases (if installed with the CommServe software). In this method, the databases are backed up to a disk media and moved to a tape media periodically. In the event of an actual disaster, you can use these backed up database dumps from the remote media and recover the CommServe database on the same or new host.
Because no standby CommServe exists, the recovery time objective (RTO) will be considerably long.
For more information, see CommServe Recovery Using Disaster Recovery (DR) Backups.
CommServe LiveSync
You can create one or more dedicated computers as standby or passive CommServe host, install the CommServe software and stage the CommServe database for easier activation of the CommServe host. The databases and logs on the active or production CommServe host are automatically replicated to the standby host at regular intervals. When the active CommServe host goes offline, you can immediately fail over the CommServe functionality and resume CommCell operations on the standby CommServe host.
As this method of recovery involves a standby CommServe host, the RTO will be short.
For more information, see CommServe LiveSync For High Availability Disaster Recovery.
SQL Database Mirroring
Microsoft SQL Server's database mirroring feature is used to keep the databases of the production CommServe host and the standby CommServe host in a near synchronized state.
For more information, see CommServe Recovery Using SQL Server Database Mirroring.
Migrating CommServe to New Hardware
If you plan to upgrade the hardware or operating system for your CommServe host, use the CommServe Hardware Refresh process.