Bulletproofing the GroupWise Directory

The following practice is not widespread, but it is definitely worth mentioning. This idea came about when a customer's primary domain WPDOMAIN.DB file went bad. The idea of going to backup just wasn't all that pleasing because of all the changes made in the system since the customer performed the last backup. The customer needed to re-create the primary domain from a secondary domain.

The system maintenance feature, Replace Primary with Secondary, is a lifesaver, but it raises an important question: How do you guarantee the integrity of a secondary domain database, ensuring that you'll have a fail-safe backup if your primary domain goes bad?

Here is a way to do just that:

1.	Create a special-purpose secondary domain, for example, a domain called BACKUP-PRIMARY-DOMAIN. Host it somewhere in your network, in close proximity to the primary domain. Ideally, it should be on a separate server, but on the same LAN segment as the server hosting the primary domain. You need to disable others from connecting to this WPDOMAIN.DB file with ConsoleOne. You do this by tricking all domains into thinking that this secondary domain is at a different UNC path than it really is. Steps 2 and 3 help you do this.
2.	While connected to the primary domain, change the UNC path to the secondary domain BACKUP-PRIMARY-DOMAIN to make it invalid.
3.	Restrict eDirectory object rights to this domain so that only a few people have such rights.
4.	Establish MTA-to-MTA links so that only the primary domain can speak to this domain.
5.	Establish a TCP/IP link between the two domains.

Tip

To connect to the BACKUP-PRIMARY-DOMAIN domain, you need to choose Tools, GroupWise System Operations, Select Domain, and then manually attach to the WPDOMAIN.DB for this domain. Right-clicking and choosing Connect won't work because the UNC path to the BACKUP-PRIMARY-DOMAIN is incorrect.

The system now has, in effect, a fully replicated version of the primary domain database, which is only about one minute out of sync with the primary domain. Should the primary domain database become irretrievably corrupted (in the case of a major disk failure, for instance), you have a secondary domain database that is the best possible candidate for use in a Replace Primary with Secondary operation. Just connect manually to WPDOMAIN.DB for the BACKUP-PRIMARY-DOMAIN and then perform the Replace Primary with Secondary system maintenance routine that was outlined previously in this chapter.