Best Practice File Server Migration on EV8 (Cannot upgrade EV)

[Retro_Kid]

Hi there.

Ok... We're in the process of replacing our end of life physical servers with a brand new VMWare / HP Leftland SAN solution.

Currently running Enterprise Vault 8. The consultant i have employed would prefer EV 9 - but i cannot upgrade as we are an SQL Server 2000 house and after the costs involved with this project, cannot upgrade my SQL Server.

Currently i have four seperate file servers called KGLA03, KGLA05, KGLA06, KGLA07. EV works fine.

I want to migrate the file servers to a new Virtual File Server - KDVSRV03. (ie, bring all my file shares together under one server).

How on earth do i move my file server's file across.

Is there a documented process that i can refer too, to move my EV stub files and my non EV archived files across in one swoop. Obiously running the process four times from each of the file servers.

I can't restore backup - server name is changed.

I can't copy the files manually - as by defauly FSA pulls them back but i don't have capacity.

Reading up on FSAUTIL seems to indicate the utility only deals with the stub'd files and not the non stub'd files.

Been working with servers for 14 years, but can't fathom out the best way to do this. I'm investigating myself because i thought my consultant could deal with all but seems hesitant without EV9 being in place.

Any help would be apprciated.

Many Thanks.

[Mike_Yee]

There isn't a one swoop way to do it so you'll have to use a combination.  This is actually documented in the whitepaper here: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH147519

In short, you'll need to use the FSAUtility -m option to move archived files (including placeholders) then follow that up with something like robocopy to get the active (non-archived files).  See pg. 8 of the referenced whitepaper.

As you've noted, any copy or move operation on the file system would trigger a recall of archived items, therefore, it is preferred to run the FSAUtility -m first and then run the robocopy operation.

Which service pack of EV 8 are you on?  It should be noted that in EV 8 SP3 there were performance improvements and checkpointing improvements so it'd probably be best to make sure you were running the latest EV 8 SP.

[Retro_Kid]

Thanks Mike

I'm on 8.0 SP3 - so all well there.

As my file servers all connect to one EV server, with one vault store, on reading that document it would seem i could use fsautility -pm rather than fsautility -m? Or is fsautility -pm an EV9 upwards only function?

[Mike_Yee]

Yes, the -pm option would be better to use because it doesn't move the archived content so it's faster, however, it is an EV 9+ option for FSAUtility so it's not availalble with the version you are on.

[Retro_Kid]

Mike

My consultant working on this has discovered something of interest in Appendix A at the back of Symantec Whitepaper 147519

APPENDIX A – Renaming a File Server

If the fileserver needs to be renamed or if it needs to be moved to another domain, changes will be required within Enterprise Vault to allow archiving and placeholder access to continue.

1. Stop all Enterprise Vault Services on all EV servers.

2. Perform a backup of the Enterprise Vault Directory database (in case of issues you need to be able to restore to a previous good state)

3. Change values for the following columns in respective tables in the Directory Database:

(table showing changes to be made in Directory DB Database Table)

Note that there may be more than one reference to the old file server in the ArchiveFolder table. All references to the old file server name need to be modified to that of the new file server.

4. Start all Enterprise Vault Services on all EV servers.

5. Open Enterprise Vault Administration Console

6. Run the File System Archiving synchronization task: Site -> Enterprise Vault Servers -> Tasks -> File System Archiving Task -> Properties -> Synchronization -> Synchronize

7. If Reporting is enabled, follow the following steps: a. In the Vault Administration Console, right click on the file server target and select properties. Then click on “Reporting Data Collection” tab. b. Check “Enable data collection for FSA Reporting” c. Select database for reporting d. Run the reporting scan

Question is - is this a suitable way of doing file server move instead of fsautility -m ?

[JesusWept3]

Maybe you could look at this and see if its suitable?
http://www.quadrotech-it.com/products/fsa-migrator/

[Retro_Kid]

What he is basically doing - and has tested this with a share - is modify the database directly to replace old server name with new server name

So any references to old server name are replaced with new server name - seems to work, and archive explorer is working ok?

Any gotcha's here i should be aware of?

That product looks nice JesusWept - Looking at site for a cost just now

[Wayne_Humphrey · Accepted solution]

Hi Retro Kid,

If you wish you can contact me ditect and I can help you should you need any futher assistance on FSA Migrator.

wayne.humphrey@quadrotech-it.com