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Before upgrading from 2010 R3 to 2012 need to know if existing RALUS agents will still be able to backup

bboyrian
Level 2

We currently have several 2010 R3 Backup Servers. 1 Central Administration Server at our Head Office and 14 Managed Media Servers spread out geographically.

I am setting up a new 2012 server which I would like to take over the role of the CAS server and will also operate as our backup server to our NetApp SAN using NDMP. The existing CAS server would then just become a MMS until such time we are in a position to decommission it post migration activities as part of a server virtualization consolidation project.

I need to know what the steps involved are to achieve this, but most importantly we currently use RALUS to in our 2010 environment and I need to know if by moving to 2012 whether it will allow me to continue to backup those servers that are using the RALUS agent using the existing 2010 R3 MMC servers which would be managed by the new 2012 CAS server?

Any input or answers on the above welcome

5 REPLIES 5

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Check the SCL for 2012 carefully against the RALUS option as if the operating systems on your RALUS boxes are no longer supported then you may not be able to create and/or edit jobs on the CAS even though the MMS is still running a version of Backup Exec that does support it.

 

Also you mention your MMS will eventually be decommisioned as part of a virtualization project. Please be aware that running media servers inside of virtual machines does have limitations around the ability (or in fact lack of ability) to use physical storage devices via forms of Pass Through - as such SCIS/SAS/USB attache tape devices and USB attached hard disk targets will have problems if virtualizing your media server is your plan.

bboyrian
Level 2

Thanks I have now logged a case with Symantec Support regarding continued RALUS compatibility/function to be certain before moving ahead. This is my main concern as we still have some legacy ssytems and requrie the RALUS functionality so I need the 2010 MMS's to run alongside the new 2012 CAS until we  come up with another solution for them that deosn't involve moving to NetBackup.

Good point regarding the new server and virtualization. Fortunatley the new 2012 CAS will be physical and attached to a library with LTO6 drives via FC for tape backups but will manage the NDMP backups through connection to the SAN (NetApp 3250). I will decom the existing 2010 CAS server only once other servers on the LAN have all been virtualized and it is no longer required and when the CAS role has of course been moved to the new 2012 server. The remote MMS backup servers will remain physical and on 2010 R3 using the RALUS agents to backup the legacy Solaris/LINUX servers for the time being.

 

I wanted to see if anyone else has done similar or has first hand experience of this scenario to help clarify the issue in addition to whatever I manage to get back from technical support.

 

 

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

I suspect very little, if any, testing has been done against submitting or editing jobs for a legacy RALUS installation from a 2012 CAS managing a R3 2010 MMS. If I am correct I doubt if the initial levels of support will be able to give you an answer. BTW in this case my use of the word legacy is specific to a potentially no longer supported Linux/Unix operating system, not specifcially the older agent which should work as long as the operating system it is installed on remains supported.

One other thought - whilst a rolling upgrade is supported - this kind of assumes that you have a 2010 R3 CASO with a 2010 R3 MMS and are upgrading the CASO to 2012. I am not sure you can build a 2012 CASO (ESO) and add(or move) a 2010 R3 server to it as an MMS as this is not technically a rolling upgrade.

bboyrian
Level 2

If I don't get a clear answer I will probably opt to build a new CAS server as 2010 R3 and migrate the existing one to it demoting it to a MMS server. Then eventually decom the MMS server and do an in place upgrade of the new 2010 R3 CAS server to 2012. I would think this would then be a rolling upgrade and I could still leave anad manage the remote 2010 R3 servers as is, with the view to upgrade them at a later date once I can work around the RALUS issue, e.g. it no longer being supported as a feature in 2012. 

bboyrian
Level 2

For reference the Symantec official technical support response : 

- Symantec does not recommend to have two different versions of Backup Exec in CASO and MMS environment, all the Backup Exec server should be either on BE 2010 or BE 2012 with same patch level.

- Yes, you can Backup Linux server with RALUS of BE 2010 as Backup Exec 2012 is compatible with it. However you will get exceptions in the job stating to upgrade the remote agent.