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Backup Exec Upgrade from 2012 to 2014

adam_at_the_tub
Level 2

Hello,

I am planning on upgrading our current Symantec Backup Exec server to 2014 from 2012 and I need to ensure a couple items before proceeding as my downtime window is limited on the servers that have agents on them. 

1.  If I upgrade the server in advance (a few days before my downtime window) will the backup agents still be able to communicate with the new installation and continue with backing up?  Will any new backup configurations that I create on the new backup exec work properly with the older agents?

2.  If I push out the agents from the newly upgraded backup exec server (in advance of the downtime window) will the servers automatically reboot or is there a way to do this and force the servers to not reboot?  And if the servers do not reboot will they still work with the newly upgraded backup exec server software?

Please let me know if this makes sense, just want to cover all bases.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

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pkh
Moderator
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1. BE 2014 will work with BE 2012 agents, but you will not get all the enhancements that comes with BE 2014. This arrangement should be a temporary one. 2. Always plan on rebooting your servers after a major upgrade, there may be modules/processes which cannot be updated when the machine is on. There is a way to delay the reboot, but I would not advice this. Without a reboot, you may face problems which will not be there if a reboot is done

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pkh
Moderator
Moderator
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1. BE 2014 will work with BE 2012 agents, but you will not get all the enhancements that comes with BE 2014. This arrangement should be a temporary one. 2. Always plan on rebooting your servers after a major upgrade, there may be modules/processes which cannot be updated when the machine is on. There is a way to delay the reboot, but I would not advice this. Without a reboot, you may face problems which will not be there if a reboot is done

adam_at_the_tub
Level 2

Thank you for your answers.

Just a few more questions...

1.  How long does it take to upgrade the software from 2012 to 2014 (roughly).  The server that I am upgrading it on is a dedicated W2K8 64-bit with 32GB RAM and a XEON E7 processor.

2.  How long do the agents take to upgrade on the servers? (roughly)

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified
1. Half an hour?. I find really time the upgrade 2. Less than 5 minutes

lmosla
Level 6

Roughly the media server upgrade from 2012 - 2014 takes about an hour, of course there is to many variables to predict accuratly. 

and the agents (pending no network issues or other unpredicable events) about 10 min.

Jambo86
Level 2

I will be upgrading from Windows 2008 R2 to Windows 2012 R2 and from Backup Exec 2012 to Backup Exec 2014. There are many backup sets in my BE database. I want to make sure that they are not lost during the upgrade. So:

1. Should I upgrade BE before the OS or the other way around?

2. Is there are literature that Symantec has published that I should read before doing this upgrade?

Thank you for your help...

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

The TN below should work for you, but just apply it to the same server...

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=tech67768

Thanks!