---------
*INSTALL*
---------
To install the NovaBack program, simply insert the distribution
disk in floppy drive A or B, then type A:INSTALL (or B:INSTALL) at
the DOS prompt, then press ENTER. You may also attach to the floppy
drive first, then just type INSTALL at the DOS prompt, then press
ENTER.

The INSTALL program has been included to install the NovaBack
program files. It also functions to check for and set up proper
system configuration (depending on your Host Adapter Card) in the
CONFIG.SYS file on your BOOT drive.

If for some reason you have problems with the INSTALL procedure
completing properly (no problems have been reported so far), OR if
you are a more experienced user and would prefer a manual method to
install files, the following procedure may be used to install your
program files:
  Use the command, <source_path>\MKNOVABK <target_path> to install
the files.
  
For example, if the INSTALL disk is inserted in Drive A, and you
wish to use a C:\NOVASTOR directory for the NovaBack files, you
should use the command: A:\MKNOVABK C:\NOVASTOR

Be sure the proper drivers are called out in your CONFIG.SYS file.
These drivers (with the exception of IBM brand system and those
installing Qic 36 / Qic 80 drives) are supplied by the manufacturer
and required to be ASPI compatible.  If you are in doubt as to
whether your SCSI controller is ASPI compliant, you should contact
the manufacture for further information. Also, you should verify
that the driver you are using is current.

Scheduler
---------
The driver 'NSD.SYS' is required in the CONFIG.SYS to use the
scheduling feature in NovaBack, which allows for automatic backup
at a pre-designated time of day. The  form of the following line
must also appear in the AUTOEXEC.BAT:
  COPY <source_path>\BACKUP.SCD NOVASCHD 
   Option: /F  :For Lantastic Users (Will beep if not included)
An Example is "COPY C:\NOVABK\BACKUP.SCD NOVASCHD".  BACKUP.SCD is
a schedule data file that is created when you create your schedule. 
NOVASCHD is a memory location where schedule data must be copied.

Note: The scheduler will launch a job by executing a command at a
DOS prompt.  For backup, we provide two utilities, BKP.EXE (Backup)
and BKVER.EXE (Backup & Verify).  You may type their names by
themselves from the Novaback directory to get a list of parameters.
Examples of their use are: "BKP {SRDHY} C:"  or "BKVER {G2V} {G2V}
(ProcName.BUP)".  The *.BUP files are created with Novaback during
the Select files for Backup.  RST (Restore), TAPEU (Utilities), &
BVER (Verify) may also be used.

--------
*TSETUP*
--------

Novaback is designed to automatically sense the make and model of
tape drive(s) that is/are connected to your computer system and
properly configure itself accordingly.  However, there are some
occasions where you may need to customize the way that Novaback
communicates with a tape drive.  Specifically, you might have a
tape drive that supports more than one density, or a tape drive
that provides data compression capabilities.  Because Novaback is
self configuring, you are not normally able to alter the density or
compression mode of your drive.  This limitation can furnish a
major barrier when interchanging data from one kind of hardware to
another.

Almost all of the newer model tape drives support multiple
densities.  All of them automatically switch to the correct density
upon tape insertion. Foe example, the Exabyte model 8505 tape drive
has the ability to store 10 gigabytes on a 112 meter tape.  It also
has compatibility with four different densities in order to be
compatible with all of the older model 8mm drives.

The EXB-8500 and EXB-8505 drive cannot automatically switch modes
for you when you are creating a new tape.  It can only use its
default setting (which is usually set for the highest density by
the factory).  This means that an EXB-8500 normally generates a 5
gigabyte tape, and the EXB-8505 generates a 10 gigabyte tape. 
These tapes can't be read by the older EXB-8200.  As a matter of
fact, if you try it, the EXB-8200 will respond with an error
claiming that a defective tape was inserted.

When you use Novaback to generate tapes that are planned for
transport to another system, you need to investigate the type of
equipment that is being used at the destination site.  Their
equipment must be able to read tapes created on your tape drive. 
If they are using older hardware, they may encounter a problem
reading your data because the tape is too sophisticated for their
equipment.  The solution is to force your higher capacity tape
drive to run at a lower density than its maximum.  This change in
density requires a special effort on the software's part.  In order
for Novaback to generate an 8200 density tape in an EXB-8500 or
EXB-8505 drive, Novaback must first select a different mode of
operation.  Novaback normally generates tapes in the drives default
density unless specifically told to do otherwise...via the TSETUP
program.

The following sections describe the process for using the TSETUP
utility to customize the way that Novaback communicates with your
tape drive.  By changing the tape drive's density setting within
TSETUP, you can control the density of output tapes and maintain
compatibility with the destination's older hardware.

To begin the TSETUP program, switch to the drive and subdirectory
where you installed the Novaback program and type:

     TSETUP

Upon starting, the TSETUP program reads a file in from the disk
called DRIVES.INI.  This data file contains specific information
about your computer system's tape drives.  If this is the first
time that TSETUP is run, the DRIVES.INI file doesn't exist yet.

TSETUP displays a list of configured tape devices on the screen. 
This screen allows you to add, configure, and remove tape
configurations for the Novaback program.

Adding a New Drive Configuration
--------------------------------
To add a new tape drive configuration, press the F2 key.  Novaback
immediately scans your system hardware and displays a list of all
the tape devices that it finds.  In order for TSETUP to recognize
a tape drive, it must be turned on and connected to the system. 
The list displays the tape drive's unit address, its make and
model, and a description.  If you have more than one tape device,
use the UP, DOWN, PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys to move the highlight
bar to the desired selection and then press ENTER.

Modifying a Device Configuration
--------------------------------
The device configuration screen allows you to customize the
different tape drive settings for each specific hardware device. 
The screen gives you the option of changing the device name,
description, block type and density.

Name
----
The name field is required throughout the TPU program to identify
the tape configuration.  Each device that you configure in TSETUP
must have a unique name.  Its a good idea to keep the name short
whenever possible.

Description
-----------
Enter a description of the tape device configuration here.  The
description field is optional.  Its contents are not used anywhere
in the TPU program.  This field is commonly used to provide any
specific information about the tape drive configuration that
doesn't belong in the name.

Drive Density
-------------
The drive density field is used to specify a density.  On tape
drives that have multiple densities, you can press ENTER and cycle
through the different options.  For example, to change an Exabyte
8505 drive and make it write tapes in an EXB-8200  compatible
density, press F2 until 8200 is displayed here.  If you have a tape
drive that has built in hardware data compression, use this field
to toggle the compression mode on and off.

For drives that support multiple densities, such as the Exabyte
8505, a quarter inch drive, or a 4mm DAT with compression,  it's
recommended that you add a different configuration for each
density.  Each configuration must have a unique name.  Adding a
separate configuration for each density allows you to easily select
the desired density from within the Novaback program.  Novaback
will display a list of all the configuration names and allow you to
pick the density of your choice.


Saving Your Custom Tape Configuration
-------------------------------------
When you are satisfied with the tape drive setting, press F10 to
save and return to the initial TSETUP screen.  Press ESCAPE if you
decide to cancel the changes and return back to the initial screen
without saving the changes.

Application
-----------
Once you have made what ever changes you deem necessary, run
Novaback and push "F4" from the main menu.  Highlight the currently
installed drive with the cursor using the arrow keys.  Push the
"Enter" key and your alternate drive will appear in the highlighted
area. If you see the same drive entry, no changes may be necessary. 
Push "F10".  
 

-------
*TAPEU*
-------
This is a command line program to rewind, format, or erase a tape.
The parameters are processed by the program in the order in which
they are given.  This allows parameters to be setup to perform a
sequence of functions on different tapes if desired.  These
parameters  may be submitted in a batch file and (if you really
care to) a batch file may invoke other batch files.

        The program will return the following codes indicating the
success of the requested functions.

        0       All functions completed ok
        1       No tape unit found
        2       Error initializing tape unit
        3       Tape cannot be formatted
        4       Error formatting DAT tape
        5       Error formatting QIC tape
        6       Erase tape error
        7       No command line parameters
        8       Batch file not found
        9       Invalid parameter

        The valid parameters are:

        /U:n  Set tape unit address to be accessed to 'n'
        /F    Format a QIC tape or format a DAT tape to default   
              partition size (16m)
        /F:n  Format a DAT tape with partition 1 = 'n' megabytes
        /E    Erase a tape (erased to end of tape)
        /L    List available devices
        /S    Set silent running.  No messages are sent to stdout.
        /R    Rewind tape
        /J    Rewind and Eject Tape
        /B:file_name  Get parameters from a batch file

Note that erase end of tape is NOT automatically proceeded by a
rewind.  To be sure that the entire tape is erased, precede the /E
with a /R.  This allows erase to be used from a known position on
the tape without rewind, if desired.

Run TAPEU with no parameters to get a summary of valid parameters
and return codes.

If silent running is not specified, error messages will be sent to
stdout.  If no errors occur, no messages will be output.


------------
*IBM DRIVER*
------------

IBMASPI.SYS - Device driver for IBM host adapters

May be loaded as:
 DEVICE=<source_path>\IBMASPI.SYS

For example: DEVICE=C:\NOVABK\IBMASPI.SYS

One or more of the following options may be required depending on
the hardware conditions and model of IBM.
     /N     = Specifies Native Mode (Imbedded Controllers).
     /Pxxxx = Specifies the Port.

--------
*QIC 36*
--------
The ONLY host adapters that are supported are Everex and Compex.

May be loaded as:
 DEVICE=<source_path>\ASPI36.SYS /P130 /D1 /I3

For example: DEVICE=C:\NOVABK\ASPI36.SYS /P130 /D1 /I3

where
     /Pxxx = Specifies the port address of the card.
     /D1   = Specifies the DMA.  DMA channel one is currently the
             only supported option.
     /Ix   = Specifies the interrupt.


-----------------
*Troubleshooting*
-----------------
This portion of the document outlines procedures for quickly and
accurately troubleshooting problems occurring with Novaback and a
SCSI tape drive.  It outlines the basics for troubleshooting system
conflicts and resolving issues ranging from   "No tape unit found"
all the way to full system lockups.  Of course success isn't always
guaranteed, but over 90% of non-instructional problems (user
errors) can be solved by following this guide.  Even when you get
a weird problem, or something that you know doesn't make sense, use
this guide as a starting point, so you can eliminate the basic
stuff and get it out of the way.  Also, in the event of a serious
problem you can cruise through these steps to quickly determine
whether or not there is a hardware problem.


SCSI ID
-------
Check the SCSI ID on the tape drive.  As a general rule, 
stay away from SCSI ID 0, 1, or 7 for a tape drive.  In the event
of a problem, you should change the SCSI ID if it its on 0, 1, or 
7 . . . even if it was working before!  Why?  These SCSI id's are 
reserved.  SCSI id's 0 and 1 are usually hard disks, and 7 is the
id of the host adapter.


SCSI TERMINATION
----------------

This can be tricky so do not confuse termination with term power. 
This is another step that shouldn't be skipped . . . even if
everything was working fine before! What is termination? 
Termination is the installation of 
either resistor packs, external plugs, or DIP switches on SCSI 
devices and host adapter cards to eliminate bus impedance
mismatches and improve data transmission reliability.  Most host
adapter cards are terminated with 3 resistor packs, which measure
about 1 1/4 inches long, 3/8 inch high, and 1/8 inch thick.  These
are inserted directly into the printed circuit card.  All internal
SCSI devices have terminating resistors installed in them when
shipped.  External SCSI devices are generally shipped without
terminating resistors. 
 
So what does all this mean?  Well proper termination means that 
there are only two devices on the SCSI chain are terminated, the 
first device on the bus and the last one.

Note:  External SCSI drives are just internal drives that are 
installed into a shoebox case.  If the drive is removed from the 
case, you can look at the termination on it.  Whoever assembled 
the case should have removed the termination from the internal
drive. Its common to see situations where this doesn't  happen. 
Its good practice to check the internal termination on external
drives whenever problems occur.

Example A:
You have a single SCSI card an internal tape drive (and no other 
SCSI devices attached to the card).  Both of them should be 
terminated (remember that SCSI cards are also SCSI devices; hence 
the name host adapter).

Example B:
You have an internal SCSI card, internal SCSI hard drive, internal 
SCSI tape drive, and internal SCSI CD-ROM drive. The termination 
must be removed from two of these devices.  Which ones?  Well, you 
must remove it from the devices in the middle of the chain.  Look
at the SCSI ribbon cable in the computer.  The ribbon comes off the
controller and goes to the first device in the SCSI chain, (hard 
drive), then to the next device on the chain (tape drive) and 
finally to the last device in the chain (CD-ROM).  In this example,
the hard drive and tape drive are in the middle of the chain, so 
they need to have their termination removed.

Example C:
You have an internal SCSI card, internal SCSI hard drive and 
external SCSI tape drive.  Remove termination from the middle
device on the chain, which in this case is the SCSI card.  Whenever
you have both internal and external devices attached to your SCSI
card, you always remove the termination from the SCSI card and then
follow examples A and B. If you remember, we stated earlier that
external tape drives do not have termination.  In the above example
C, we need to add termination to the external tape drive.  This can
be done two different ways.  One is to take the internal drive out
of the case and plug in terminators right into its circuit board
(not recommended).  The other way is to plug in an external
terminator on the back of the case.  Most external cases have two
SCSI connectors in the back.  One of the connectors has a cable
going to the host adapter, and the other one should have a
terminator attached to it.
  
If you have a SCSI device that only has one connector on the back, 
you can install a pass-through terminator.  This is a special 
looking terminator that sandwiches itself between the SCSI drive
and the SCSI cable.

Drivers
-------
Make sure that the correct aspi drivers are being loaded in the
config.sys.  If a customer is using an Adaptec card, have them
eliminate AHASHELL.SYS.  Switch them over to Adaptec's aspi
manager. AHASHELL is no longer supported.

Use this list as a driver guide:

SCSI HOST ADAPTER               DRIVER

Adaptec 151X                    ASPI2DOS.SYS
Adaptec 152X

Adaptec 154X                    ASPI4DOS.SYS

Adaptec 164X                    ASPI4DOS.SYS

Adaptec 174X                    ASPIEDOS.SYS            
**Use ASPI4DOS.SYS when card is in standard mode.

Adaptec 274X                    ASPI7DOS.SYS

Always IN-2000                  ASPIDRVR.SYS
Always AL-7000                  AL7ASPI.SYS

AMI 9000X                       ASPIKERN.SYS (up to 2 devices) or 
ASPIHDD.SYS (more than 2 devices)

Bus Logic                       BTDOSM.SYS

DTC 3280                        ASPI3X80.SYS

DTC 3290                        ASPI3X90.SYS

DPT 2011/XX                     DPTDDL.SYS
DPT 2012/XX

Future Domain MCS-7XX           ASPIFCAM.SYS
Future Domain TMC-8XX
Future Domain TMC-16XX
Future Domain TMC-17XX

IBM                             IBMASPI.SYS (provided by Novastor)

UltraStor 14F                   USPI14.SYS

UltraStor 24F                   USPI24.SYS

UltraStor 34F                   USPI34F.SYS


Vanilla Boot  
------------
This is a great step for distinguishing between hardware problems
or software problems.  Basically, you want to boot the system into
a vanilla environment where no other software is being loaded. 
Eliminate everything from the CONFIG.SYS except for the following:

       DEVICE=ASPI4DOS.SYS (or other aspi driver).
       DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
       DOS=HIGH
       FILES=50
     
     Also, rename the AUTOEXEC.BAT to AUTOEXEC.BAX so the system 
doesn't run it when it boots.  If this fixes the problem then 
instruct the customer to add lines back into the config.sys and 
autoexec.bat one at a time so they can pinpoint which line is the 
trouble maker.  If this step doesn't solve the problem, then we
know that there is some type of hardware problem.


Hardware Problems 
-----------------
At, this point, if none of the above have solve your problem, we
can now conclude that there is a hardware problem.  Here's the
common things to look for in the hardware:

Make sure that the drive supports the tape being used.
Try using a different tape. Try cleaning the tape drive with a
cleaning cartridge. Make sure the terminators are not plugged in
backwards. If an external device is the last device in the chain,
make sure that it is powered on (in order for the terminators to be
effective). Try turning off sync negotiation on the SCSI host
adapter card. Try turning off parity on the SCSI host adapter card. 
(Be careful with this one, it can make things worse). Try turning
off disconnect on the SCSI host adapter card. Try slowing down the
transfer speed on the SCSI host adapter to the lowest setting.
Make sure only 1 device (including the adapter) is supplying 
termination power. Remove all but 1 device from the SCSI chain.
Minimize cable length (1 foot). Verify that each SCSI device on the
chain is set to a unique SCSI ID. Check with the manufacturer of
the tape drive for current firmware.

You also should have FILES and BUFFERS set to at least 20. 
If you have any problems using NovaBack, our technical support
staff is available to assist you at (818) 879-4878.  Please have
your manual and orignal disk handy.

