To minimize the impact on users, restoration of service should be done in a way that causes the least disruption while still bringing the environment back to an acceptable level of service. Your backup and restoration plan should contain criteria for deciding when and how to restore service. In the event of loss of service, use the criteria to determine what is most appropriate for resolving the problem. For example, the criteria should help you decide whether you only need to recover data and/or settings or whether more extensive server restoration is required for one or more servers, pools, or sites.

Note:
To reduce down time and potential loss of data, you should perform the restoration procedures described in this document only if troubleshooting procedures are not effective in identifying and correcting a problem with any individual server or component. Shutting down and restarting servers during troubleshooting should be done in a way that minimizes the impact on other components and servers.

If you need to restore multiple servers, you must restore them in the appropriate sequence. The following table indicates the restoration sequence for each type of deployment. Use the sequence shown, skipping any servers, such as Edge Servers, that are not in your deployment.

Table 1. Restoration Sequence for Servers

Servers Standard Edition server environment Enterprise pool, consolidated configuration

Back-end servers

Not applicable

1

Standard Edition servers

1

Not applicable

Front End Servers

Not applicable

2

Directors

Not applicable

3

Archiving Servers

2

4

Group Chat Servers and Group Chat Compliance Servers

3

5

Monitoring Servers

4

6

Communicator Web Access Servers

5

7

Mediation Servers

6

8

Edge Servers

7

9

Forwarding proxy servers

8

10

Reassigning users

9

11

Restoring domain information

10

12

Use the information in this topic, the procedures in this guide, and the information available in your organization to complete the restoration of service for each database, server, or site that requires restoration. In general, the procedures that you use and the sequence in which you complete them should be determined by which components need to be restored (such as a site, servers, and databases), as described in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Restoration Processes

The following table contains links to the sections referenced in the preceding flowchart.

Restoring Sites

Setting Up Server Platforms

Installing Restoration Tools

Restoring Data

Re-Creating Enterprise Pools

Restoring Settings in Standard Edition Server Environments

Restoring Settings in Enterprise Pool, Consolidated Topology Environments

Reassigning Users

Restoring Domain Information

Group Chat has the following component-specific restoration guidelines in the event of loss of service for the following components: