Disjoining NBU Server from Domain

[Sacha_Brown]

I am planning an Upgrade of NBU 6.5.4 to 7.0.1 to different OS. It is currently installed on a server 2003 32 bit server and i want to install it on a server 2008 64 bit. In the Upgrade process i would like to have backup going on as usual. I would take a catalog backup of old server to import into new server so it means the new server needs the same name and IP address. Can disjoining the old master server from the domain to apply the same name and Ip address to the new server affect the old server when it is joined back to the domain? will the settings and configurations still be working as before? the idea is to have backup being run as normal while the new server is being configured.

Hope Im not confusing anyone.

[RiaanBadenhorst]

Hi,

What is the master servers current name, or at least how is it installed, shortname or FQDN. You can check it in the registry or run bpgetconfig and look at the very first enrty SERVER = xxxxx

If its the shortname, then simply install the new master with the same name, keep it off the domain, install netbackup with the same software version and patch level. While you're doing this your old server can still be running. Zone the master to the same tape library and tape drives as the old server. NetBackup doesn't really care if its part of a Windows Domain or not.

Then, shutdown the old server, and perform the steps as listed in this note http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH77447

The note says to use the same IP address, but you can simply update DNS to reflect the address of the new server, its up to you. At this stage you still don't have to be joined to the domain, once again, up to you whether you disjoin the old server now, and join the new one, or whether you finish the migration and delete the old entry in AD later. Once you're sure its working, you can join the domain.

There will obviously be some time when backups are not running during this process but this cannot be avoided.

[Sacha_Brown]

Hi Riaan,

Thank you for the useful information. One thing I'm a bit puzzled about is how can the new server function if it is not on the domain? I'm new at this so you have to excuse me.

You seem to have alot of experience with NBU. How long does the upgrade process usually take. The reason I'm asking this is whether I should keep the old server up and running or just go ahead with the upgrade without backup for at least a night.

Did you ever encounter this?

[RiaanBadenhorst · Accepted solution]

Hi,

NetBackup doesn't need to be in a domain, remember, NetBackup is platform independent. You can install it (the master/medias) on Linux or UNIX, and still backup all your servers. In such an instance its obviously not a part of the domain.

So, to start, prepare the new server, different IP, same name, and leave it in Workgroup. If its going to conflict with Netbios names in your domain, stick it on a subnet that the rest of the servers can't get to. For the installation it must just be able to resolve itself. So use hosts file entries.

Install netbackup and do all the rest as I described earlier (and in the technote). The note deals with migration, i.e. 6.5 to 6.5 and changing the platform. This whole process shouldn't take more than a few hours depending on how big your catalog is. Once its up, do the necessary changes so its part of the domain, do some backups, browse the catalog to see everything is visible. Maybe even do a few test restores.

Do you have any media servers aside from the master?

Once you're satisfied the migration went fine, you can run this configuration for a while before doing the upgrade. If its not fine, shut it down, and power on the old server. Analyse what went wroing.

Then plan for the upgrade. There are a few notes to work through, check this link http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH74584

Take some time to go through all the key notes and general checklist steps. This will take the most time, the upgrade is quite quick (hour or so).

Regarding your question about leaving the old one running, the answer is no. At the time of migration, the old server must be shutdown. Reason is just before you shut it down the note says to do a catalog backup, this backup grabs the list of all the backups you've done up to that point, and puts it on tape. You'll restore this on the new server. If you run backups after the catalog backup, they'll not be contained in the catalog backup you'll be restoring on the new server. The new server wont know about them, and wont be able to restore them. So not much use.

Unless your environment is running flatout 24hours a day, you'll have time to perform these activities in the day time (with enough time to roll back if you encounter issues)

Hope that helps!

[Sacha_Brown]

Thank You so much. You've cleared up alot of concerns. One thing I'm not familiar with is the zoning of the master server to use the same tape library. I am doing some reading on that right now. If however you have and literature can you please lend a hand...:)

Thank You again

[RiaanBadenhorst]

Hi,

Sorry, not familiar with the HW part.