Preparing to perform a SubTree Move (Moving a partition)

  • 7001609
  • 10-Oct-2008
  • 27-Apr-2012

Environment

Novell NetWare 4.x
Novell NetWare 5.x
Novell NetWare 6.0
Novell Directory Services
Novell eDirectory

Situation

Preparing to perform a SubTree Move (Moving a partition)

Resolution

Before looking at avoiding/eliminating possible move sub tree problems, it would be helpful to understand what is going on behind the scenes during a move sub tree operation. Partitions involved:  
Source Parent Partition
Destination Parent Partition
Source (Moving) Partition

1.  The Master replica for the Source Partition sends a StartMoveTree request to the Master of the Destination Parent Partition.
2.  Destination Parent Master sets replica and partition state to Move State 0.
3.  Destination Parent Master sends reply back to Source Master with replica ring list.
4.  Source Master sets replica and partition state to Move State 0.
5.  Source Master builds a list of servers involved with the move (including backlink servers)
6.  Source Master sends a lockpartition request to Source Parent Master.
7.  Source Parent Master sets replica and partition state to Locked.
8.  Source Master sends a move tree obituary attribute to notification list servers (as noted in step 5) and sets flag state to notified.
9.  Source Master sends a create subordinate reference request.
10.  Subordinate Reference replicas are created on servers that need them.
11.  Source Master sends an end move tree request to the notification list servers and sets the obituary flag to state to purgeable.
12.  Source Master sends a clear partition state request to Source Parent Master and Destination Parent Master.
13.  Source Parent Master and Destination Parent Master clear partition states and set replica and partition states to on.

To avoid/eliminate possible move subtree problems:
1.  Perform a complete health check (Solution Document 3564075 - NDS Health Check Procedures) on all three partitions involved with the move:  Source Parent, Destination Parent and Source (Moving) Partition.
2.  Make the Notification List:
Servers in the Source Replica Ring
Servers in the Destination Parent Ring
Servers in the Source Parent Replica Ring
Servers listed in the BACKLINK attribute on the partition root object of the server that holds the master replica of the Source Partition.  
On the Master replica server, load DSBROWSE | Tree View | | | Select the BACKLINK attribute and view details for a list of the servers in the backlink list.
3.  On the Source Partition Master, use DSREPAIR to repair selected network addresses for the servers in the Notification List (DSREPAIR | Advanced Options | Servers known to this database | | Press ENTER | Repair selected server's network address).
4.  Verify communication between all of the servers in the Notification List.
5.  Add replicas prior to the move subtree operation.  All three replica rings should be identical and all should contain either master, read/write or read-only replicas - no subordinate reference replicas.  Also, the replica rings should be reduced as much as possible.  Important:  Add replicas one at a time, verifying that the operation is complete before trying to add another replica.
NOTE:  Adding the replicas manually will resolve the following issues: It involves one partition versus three possible partitions Creates one replica at a time vs multiple replicas at a time Avoids the necessity of creating subordinate references.
6.  The server containing the Master replica of the Source (moving) Partition should not reside in the Source Partition.  If it does, it can be moved to another server (DSREPAIR | Advanced options | Replica and partition operations | High Light the parition | Select Designate this server as the new Master replica on a server that does not reside in the container being moved..

Additional Information

Formerly known as TID# 10062770