Failed Backup Exec Upgrade from 15 FP5 to 16

[jerrypanski]

I tried to upgrade my first Backup Exec 15 FP5 server to Backup Exec 16 and had many issues. I am not sure what went wrong but I just want to share my experience for anyone else who may come across the same problem since it took me over 5 hours to fix.

During the upgrade from Backup Exec 15 FP5 to BE 16 on a Windows Server 2012 R2 box, the upgrade failed. Looking in the logs, showed the following error:

V-225-204: Could not start the SQL server SERVERNAME\BKUPEXEC with service name of MSSQL$BKUPEXEC ***To search for information about this error, click here

V-225-210: Unable to connect to SQL Server SERVERNAME\BKUPEXEC. ***To search for information about this error, click here

Going to any of the referenced articles, provided no solution. At this point, I noticed many issues.

1. The Backup Exec services would not start.
2. The SQL Server (BKUPEXEC) service would not start.
3. SQL 2008 R2 had been removed and SQL 2014 SP2 had been installed successfully though Backup Exec rolled back to version 15 FP5.
4. Running a repair on Backup Exec failed with the same SQL error above.
5. Running an uninstall on Backup Exec failed with the same SQL error above.
6. The SQL Server (BKUPEXEC) instance in services still pointed to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.BKUPEXEC\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe" –sBKUPEXEC. Going to that path showed an almost empty folder since this was a SQL 2008 R2 folder which has now been removed. This explained why the services wouldn’t start.
7. The SQL logs at: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\120\Setup Bootstrap\Logs showed an inactive instance: BKUPEXEC.INACTIVE with instance ID: MSSQL12.BKUPEXEC with features: Database Engine Services and SQL Server Replication. Running the SQL 2014 setup and clicking on Tools/Installed SQL Server features discovery report also showed the instance name.
8. Trying to do a conventional uninstall of SQL 2014 using the control panel only removed the setup support files. The SQL Browser and SQL Writer both showed status: Skipped.
9. Trying to run a repair of SQL 2014 showed: “Instance Name BKUPEXEC for product Microsoft SQL Server doesn't exist. Specify a valid instance name.” However, in the same log, it showed the inactive instance name as being discovered.
10. Trying to install SQL 2014 over the existing instance name was not allowed because it said it already existed and to choose a new instance name.

At this point, I was left with a non-working Backup Exec 15 server and a corrupt SQL instance.

I opened a case with Veritas. They collected a bunch of information using the Quick Assist Tool and several hours later got back to me pointing me to TECH64345. Unfortunately, the article did not pertain to this situation.

At this point, I went to google and stumbled upon this link: http://www.sqlservergeeks.com/sql-server-upgrade-fails-the-instance-id-mssqlserver-is-already-in-use...

I ran this command using the SQL 2014 setup files: setup.exe /action=uninstall /instanceid=BKUPEXEC  /features=SQLEngine,Replication

After running that, SQL 2014 was removed from the control panel, the SQL Server Browser and SQL Server VSS Writer were gone from services and the SQL Server 2014 Setup Discovery Report showed no instances. I rebooted the server, however I was still left with SQL Server (BKUPEXEC) and SQL Server Agent (BKUPEXEC) services.

I went back to the BE 15 FP5 installation media and browsed to \BE\WinNT\Install\SQLExpress and ran SQLEXPR_x86_ENU.exe which is the SQL Server 2008 R2 setup. I followed the steps in TECH87111 to manually install a named instance of SQLExpress for Backup Exec.

Basically the steps include: Install the database services, install a named instance: BKUPEXEC, use Local system as the service account and set it to Windows Authentication mode. The first time I tried that, I had a problem because it said that the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.BKUPEXEC\MSSQL\Data already contained databases. I quit setup and then renamed this folder from Data to Data2. I then re ran setup and it was successful. SQL 2008 R2 was installed with the instance name of BKUPEXEC.

Now that SQL was fixed, I had to fix Backup Exec so I ran a repair. The first time I ran a repair from the control panel, it went through the entire process and then failed because it couldn’t find the original installation media. Unfortunately it doesn’t allow you to browse for a new path. I mounted the ISO and then ran setup from there and chose repair again. This time it got to the end but failed with the message that the bedb_dat.mdf and bedb_log.ldf located in \Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\Data were for the wrong version of Backup Exec so the repair couldn’t complete. I guess the files must be from the failed BE 16 upgrade and didn’t rollback. Fortunately, during the upgrade they make a backup located under the Data folder called DataBackup followed by the date and time. I copied the two files from that folder overwriting the two in the Data folder and ran a repair for a third time. This time everything was successful. All services were now running and I opened the console. I did lose all my configuration and job history but didn’t care at this point. Last night I received a successful backup so I’m happy.

Thank you.

[rogiwara]

Thank you!! Solved my problem.