Backup Exec 2010 upgrade considerations

[nick-statpro]

Hi,

I have a backup server running BE12.0.1364 with SP3

I want to upgrade to BE2010 which should be no problem.

We also have a number of servers with remote agents connected to the main backup server.

My question is, do i have to upgrade all the agents at the same time as the main server upgrade (and also reboot them) or can this be done at a later date?

Ideally i would like to perform the main upgrade, continue to keep running my backup jobs on the remote agents and then upgrade the remote agents at a more suitable time.

Many thanks,

nick

[RahulG · Accepted solution]

You can upgrade to 2010 . Its recommende that you update the remote agent as well.  Upgrading the remote agent does not require a reboot, reboot is need when you install the AOFO option and if the server are windows 2003 and above you dont really need the AOFO option installed on the remote server as there is VSS which can be used to take snapshot of the open file   .If you do not upgrade the remote agent , the backup might also complete with warning or it might fail, so instead of waiting for it to fail you can upgrade the remote agent

refer the following document

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO11648

Edit @ refer the following doc as well

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH74415

[CraigV]

Hi Nick,

the really important thing to do, which isn't mentioned in those documents, is to grab a copy of the Data and Catalogs folders. Failing to do so can see you lose all your backup information if there is an issue with backups...not a nice way to start the upgrade!

So stop the BE services, copy the Data and Catalogs folders to another location, and stop your AV as well...I've personally had my SQL instance for BE being corrupted by McAfee during an installation.

Then proceed with the upgrade as normal. It is pretty much straight-forward. If you don't upgrade your agents immediately, your jobs WILL fail as the BE 12.0 agent is more than 1 version behind.

Also make sure you're upgrading to BE 2010 R3 which has just been released...

Thanks!

[nick-statpro]

Thanks for the info.

I do have BE 2010 R3 so no probs there. I also run McAfee so will fully disable that before the upgrade.

I will also backup the database and catalogs -  i intend to do a bit of reading on that before i start.

I am not using AOFO so will be able to avoid the reboot... which is a huge advantage for me.

thanks

nick