Moving archives to new server and storage

[dKitKat]

Hello there!

I am new to EV, so would really appreciate your help...

We are currently has 2-node file server clusters (Windows Server 2003) which are being archived using EV 7.0 SP5. The files are stored in a 2 Gbps FC SAN box, and the volume size is about 1.5 TB. This volume is getting full now, so we are going to build a new 2-node file cluster (Windows Server 2008 R2) and a new 8 Gbps FC SAN box with plenty of disk capacity.

The EV is doing the archiving using the file cluster's physical server names, however users are accessing files by using virtual server names which are different than the physical node names.

What is the best way to perform this move?

I found the following thread https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/move-file-servers but it's not clear to me yet. Hopefully someone can elaborate it further.

It seems the only way is using FSAUtlity tool, however in the above mentioned thread it was said that EV 2007 (7.5) does not support Windows Server 2008 R2 as the target, so my EV 7.0 most likely does not either.  Does an upgrade to EV 8 or EV 9 required prior to the move?

[Maverik]

If I undertand you correctly then I would say yes it would be required.

[Mohawk_Marvin]

If you look through the compatability charts:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/resources/sites/BUSINESS/content/live/TECHNICAL_SOLUTION/38000/TECH38537/en_US/compatibility_charts.pdf?__gda__=1288690455_ef5d5d4a2cb3d06ec1f016f21de54f63

Then yes to archive from 2008 clusters you will need to upgrade. Also to move plaveholders you must use FSAUtil which is improved (massively) in more recent versions of EV.

[dKitKat]

So, the choice is either to use Windows Server 2003 file cluster or upgrade to EV8 / EV9 ...

Let's assume I built the new Windows Server 2003 file cluster.  Can I use the following steps:

- use robocopy to copy un-archived files from the old file cluster to new file cluster

- add the new file cluster in the EV7.0

- use FSAUtility to move the placeholder

I think FSAUtility will recall archived files, copy it to the new file cluster, and then archive them back. Am I correct? If yes, then I have disk capacity issue in the old file cluster.. and it will be slow also as data will travels over the LAN.

Is the following scenario possible at all:

- copy / mirror the volume from the old SAN storage to the new one, by using its storage level mirroring function

- somehow 'tell' the EV7 server to recognize the placeholders