database corruption

[seacdwt]

Our alfresco server is failing to start.  I think I've tracked it down to a corrupted db file in "\MySQL Datafiles\ibdata1".  There seems to be something wrong with this file at the OS level as I can not copy/move/backup the file.  When I do, Windows gives some useless obscure error message. "Can not copy ibdata1: Path is too deep"  I've run chkdsk on the drive but it doesn't find any issues.

Our Alfresco admin is no longer with the company and I haven't been able to locate the backups, (if there even are any)  We are not actively using this sever.  My only goal at this point is to retrieve and backup the most recent copies of all documents in the repository.  From what I understand, the ibdata1 database contains only the metadata, the actual files themselves are stored separately.  Is this true?  Is it possible to simply extract the most resent versions of files?

dave

System info:
Alfresco Enterprise 3.1 Release
Windows Server 2003 SP2

[_sax]

I don't know about your database, but if it is indeed corrupted, than you're left with the actual files in Alfresco\alf_data. That path maybe somewhere else, if your administrator changed that location.
See http://forums1.man.alfresco.com/en/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=25158 for details (or search for the file alfresco-global.properties).
By searching for files within a certain range of time, you'll be able to get to those, who are new. The names and filetypes are not obvious, though. Alfresco, as other systems that use this combination of filesystem/database storage, is storing any information including file names and file types in the database.
Even if the database would work, you'd probably be only half there, because of the unknown admin password that left your company with the admin. If you can come this far, here would be a solution for this: http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Security_and_Authentication#How_to_reset_the_admin_password
(But all in all, it doesn't sound like a smart HR decision)

[mrogers]

Why are you trying to back up the raw MySql data files?    As opposed to using mysqldump to export the data.

Does your instance of MySql actually work?   Why do you think its "corrupted", is there some error message from mysql, if so that message may help.   I'm not surprised if you can't copy mysql's data files if mysql is running.   Or equally if the data has become corrupted if its being abused at the O.S. level.

[seacdwt]

I'm not really trying to "backup" the database.  The database is already corrupted and MySQL fails to start.  I see "The MySQL service hung on starting." in the event viewer.

I think there is a problem with the low level file system, maybe a disk failure.  I was only trying to copy the ibdata1 file to try to diagnose the file system issue.

My only goal at this point is to try to recover as many of the documents as possible, with or without the metadata.  ( preferably with )  I'm wondering if there is a "recovery" mode that will rebuild the MySQL db enough to start the server and extract the documents.

I have been able to manually open some of the docs by navigating the "\Alfresco\alf_data\contentstore" directory.  This may work as a last resort but it's less that optimal as all the files have cryptic filenames with .bin extensions. 

We have been through a rather extensive reorg.  There wasn't much thought given to IT support.  I'm just trying to salvage what I can.  Non of the info on this server is business critical, but I'm tying to avoid a complete loss. 

dave

[gnyce]

No offense, but you really need to be looking at a MySQL forum, not alfresco, for this sort of thing.  I believe there would be some options/tools for helping to rebuild/recover mysql dbs, but I would not do that search here - Alfresco uses mysql, so if you can get the db fixed up - whatever the issue - then you should have no problem with getting data out of Alfresco.  Yes, files are stored in the alf_data\contentstore under a date structure… year\month\day\hour\minute\ structure, with a .bin extension, but unencrypted/unchanged otherwise.  Be aware that SWF (flash previews) and PNG (thumbnails) are also stored in this structure.

[stephano]

It is usefull software for copy, delete, long path files.
Please try "Long Path Tool" program.