Major problem restoring backup to a HP ML110 G6 server with B110i raid chipset
Please, someone help me out.
I'm using Acronis Backup and Recovery 11 SBS to take an image of one server and restore it on to an identical make/model server (HP ML110 G6).
- Backup of original identical server has been made successfully.
I am well aware of the issues with Acronis restore NOT working with the HP B110i RAID chipset and followed the instructions supplied. The trouble is, they do not work.
- Tried WinPE disc with integrated B110i drivers. FAIL. Error message when booting regarding the driver.
- Tried BartPE disc with integrated B110i drivers. FAIL. (Corrupt driver message. Yes I have tried different versions). In fact, this chap had the same problem as me:
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.admini…
He ended up buying a new RAID card in the end. This is not an option for me, besides Acronis should ensure their product works on this system - they have known about it for ages now.
Can some one from Acronis Support go and buy the HP ML110 G6 server in RAID 1+0 configuration, get a restore disc to work with it and post the step-by-step instructions on how to get it to work?
Otherwise I need to demand a refund as the Acronis product will not work on this system.
There is a thread here of a guy with Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 who managed to get it working in the end. Perhaps someone here could translate the solution to work with Acronis?
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=288377
Or shall I just ditch Acronis and buy Paragon instead?
Please help as the amount of time spent on simple restore process has been ridiculous.
Thanks in advance.
Maybe the latest drivers fail to work?
Going to try the driver version listed here and will report back later today.
http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/mos…
Download the Easy Setup image version : 2.30 (b) from HP Web site.
Extract the image (580134-024.iso).
Go to the location: 580134-024.iso\compaq\drivers\w2008x64\hpahcisr .
Now three files will be seen:
hpahcisr.cat
hpahcisr.inf
hpahcisr.sys
Extract these three files to a folder hpahcisr on the computer (Create a folder with the name hpahcisr), etc.
Hi Sharkit
The forum is not an official support method for Acronis but rather an open community for users to share and help each other. If support from Acronis is required it’s best to contact them direct and some details can be found on the following KB: http://kb.acronis.com/content/8153
In regards to your problem you face, it sounds like you will have to create a WinPE boot CD... One thing to keep in mind when creating this CD is to match the device drivers to the version of WinPE you are using... let me explain...
If you are using WinPE 3.x this is based on Windows 7/2008R2 kernel so Windows 7/2008R2 drivers must be used when including them with this CD (It does not matter if you are running Windows XP on your host system, so please ensure you use the correct driver files for the WinPE version you are currently building your boot CD with). That’s the most common cause for drivers now working I’ve found so hopefully it’s useful to you.
Hello Sharkit and Datastor,
Thank you very much for your comments and I appreciate your kind assistance Datastor.
Sharkit, let me provide you with additional assistance please.
I am sorry for not replying sooner but if you need technical assistance please contact our Support team directly. I have checked our internal resources and we do not have any known issues similar to the one you experience. We will need to investigate it.
If you have additional questions or require assistance with your case feel free to contact me directly.
Thank you.
Hi Anton,
Thanks for replying to this thread. I have sent you a message and hopefully you can help me resolve this problem and we can post the solution on here/Acronis knowledge base.
Hello,
I am having the exact same issue with the exact same hardware. I am cloning an ML110 G6 to a second one. Please keep me in the loop in the discussions. This is somewhat urgent.
This problem has exsisted for YEARS!!!! Highly unprofessional that users have to jump through hoops to restore backups that use a Raid card B110i that ACRONIS has failed to support for this long. HP Servers all use this as the internal embedded card. Since HP is the number one supplier of Servers this card should be made to work. I have waited over 3 releases for this. Each time promises that it will be fixed in the next release have failed to become true.
I am researching Norton backup products now because I can no longer maintain my faith in this product line. It's a shame because it is a superior product but doesn't support the number 1 brand of servers. I do not want to have build a special disk (bartpe or WinPE). Acronis should do this. That is why I have given them thousands of dollars.
Someone at Acronis should care enough to respond to my posting personally. But I have been waiting for a response via the sales chain that never came.
Frustrated user... or likely to be former user.
My workaround was to use the built-in Windows 7 backup/restore function to mirror to another machine that was waiting with a clean install. Obviously not all versions of windows will have this function and this solution was only specific to a Win operating system.
I tried the WinPE CD with stand-alone Acronis but this did not work on the B110i as it would error out loading the drivers and complained about 32bit despite being 32/64 combo drivers from HP.
This frustration from Acronis has taught me to always test the backup and restore feature of the software you're using before deploying it. If something had actually happened my Acronis made image backups would have been useless.
This whole senario has been bashed and trashed for a long, long time. WinPE is not the answer. Never has been. Acronis you need to get back to the basics. Intrim updates of bootable media with updated drivers. Why are you so reluctant to do this? Everyone's download to the bootable media in their accounts pretty much pount to the same file. You could make one update and keep 1,000 customers happy. Why do you insist on making life so miserable for everyone?
What is even more amazing... irritating is that Ghost 9.0 from 2004 works just fine.. DOS based and no driver even needed.
I don't need to hear about the differences, etc.. I know why Ghost works...
Just pointing out that 2004 to 2011.. advances in technology and still no fix for this!
the last tread is from 12-13-2011 is there an solution right now ?
We have exactly the same problem, i have build the winpe-environment, but i can't load the additional driver from HP
regards
ok, got the solution !!
boot with acronis 11 winpe, download the drivers from HP for the W32-OS Server 2008.
when winpe started, the - load drivers - menu, than load this driver with this HpAHCIsr.inf
Driver - Storage
Version: 6.16.0.32 (5 Apr 2011)
Operating System(s): Microsoft Windows Server 2008 W32
and it works, you see the harddisk
Hope this helps
Regards
A.Huth
NETCONS GmbH
Hi Andreas,
I know this topic is a few months old but can you give me some more information as to how you solved this problem?
I am using Acronis B&R 11 on a ML110G7 server and created a Rescue CD with the B110 raid driver. After booting I can see the drive but they are shown as two independent drives and not one raid volume so I cannot restore the backup...
Tried building a PE3 disk using AIK kit voor Windows 7 and Acronis Rescue Builder (PE2/PE3 option) and included the driver but get error message on booting PE and cannot continue...
Hi Theun
When creating the WinPC boot CD please ensure you are using 32bit drivers and NOT 64bit drivers as the WinPE environment is based on the 32bit Windows kernel...
A common misunderstanding we see with WinPE is people download drivers for there OS installed and not the WinPE OS... (Eg, if you are using the Win7 WinPE build ensure you are adding Windows 7 32bit drivers when creating the disk)... Sorry if this is something you have already done, just wanted to make sure it was not something simple like this.
All the best, and hope you get it working soon!
Just an update for those struggling with this issue still.
I created a WinPE Disk and injected the Windows 2003 W32 (32bit) raid drivers from HP's website into my .wim file successfully using Window's AIK. (Google Article 22815 for ATIH2014 on the acronis website for a how-to)
Sadly I could not build a CD with Acronis on it.
"Acronis WinPE ISO builder" in Acronis 2014 produces the error "Install acronis WinPE ISO Builder on a computer where Windows Automation Kit (AIK) is installed." Windows AIK is installed. I reinstalled AIK and the error remained.
Frustrated I upgraded to Acronis 2015. Selecting Create a WinPE boot CD from within 2015, it does NOT ask you for the location of your custom made .wim like 2014 did but rather instantly builds its own BartPE based image without the ability to add custom drivers.
The bugs and the programming inconsistencies between versions is insane.
I was able to successfully clone using v15 of a competitor's program. Made a custom boot CD from another PC, Adding HP's Windows 2008 x64 raid drivers (hpAHCIsr.inf) as additional drivers, burned it to DVD and voila. 20 minutes I was done.
I stopped struggling a long time ago.
Acronis is keen on selling the backup software but don't care at all if it is impossible to do a restore. An essential part of any backup solution.
They don't even bother to include the drivers or provide their customers with a working recovery cd image.
So when I had to perform the restore I bought a HP P212/zero memory RAID controller and attached the disks to that. Acronis does recognise this controller and I could perform the restore. Again a few hundred € down the drain.
OK, I have finally found a fix for this. DO NOT USE THE "LOAD DRIVERS" TOOL - USE THE A43 TOOL (FILE EXPLORER) TO INSTALL THE DRIVER!!
Get the appropriate HP drivers for your WinPE version. For me under Acronis 11.5, it was the 64 bit driver for Server 2008R2. However, just for fun, I loaded other driver versions and they all took, so I'm not sure it even matters. (Acronis tells you the version of Windows PE you are using at the top right of the window in blue.)
Steps:
- After you download the driver (CPxxxxx whatever), put it on a USB drive, double click it and select "extract", which will extract all of the files in the package.
The HpAHCIsr.inf is the actual driver file, but that is not what you're going to use in Acronis. Look at the files you've extracted and you will see cpqsetup.exe. This is what you need to load the driver file in Acronis using Aconis' built in file explorer!!
Start the Aconis boot disk, plug in the USB drive, and use the A43 tool (file explorer). DO NOT USE THE "LOAD DRIVER" TOOL!!
Navigate to the USB folder where you have the extracted driver files. Double click the cpqsetup.exe file and let it install the drivers for you. ACRONIS WILL NOW SEE THE RAID DRIVES!!
Note: I suppose you can also try to use this technique to simply run HP's driver installation utility (the original exe driver download file) without extracting the individual files, but I didn't do it that way so I don't know if it works. (EDIT: NOPE, IT WON'T WORK!! EXTRACT CPQSETUP.EXE AND USE THAT!!)
Unfortunately, I destroyed my existing RAID and started from scratch before I figured this out. I'm restoring a backup now, and I will provide an update if/when it completes.
I hope this helps someone else avoid the massive headaches I've gone through for the past 10 days.
UPDATE: the process I outlined in my previous post works. You MUST use the cpqsetup.exe file you've extracted, and you MUST run it using the A43 (file explorer) tool.
I was able to fully restore my server backup after loading the B110i driver.
You CANNOT use HP's original exe file (CPxxxxx whatever) to do the driver installation. You have to extract the individual files first, then use the cpqsetup.exe file that was extracted.