NetBackup Master server upgrade and hardware refresh

[CadenL]

Hi

Can someone tell me if the below (hgh level) approach for a hardware refresh and NetBackup upgrade will work.

The current environment is NetBackup 7.6.1.2 master server with two 7.6.1.2 media servers. All backups to to tape via  shared tape library. There are no disk backups or MSDPs. All NetBackup servers are running on Windows 2008 R2 OS

I want to refresh the hardware and run Windows 2012 R2 for the master server and also to upggrade to 8.x

Here's my plan:

Install windows 2012 R2 onto the new hardware and give this server the same name and IP as the oringla server - the server will not be connected to the network at this time

Install NetBackup 7.6.1.2 onto the new server hardware

I deactivate the two media servers, take a catalog backup to USB drive on the existing master netbackup server and then shutdown all the servers (no backups run during the day and so it won't be partway through any backups)

Restore the catalog onto the new server hardware whilst it is still off the network - Will it need to communicate with the two media servers to compete the catalig restore? 

I then do an inplace upgrade of this new server from NBU 7.6.1.2 to NBU 8.x (again it is still not on the network) - Should this complete ok?

I then attached the server to the network and start all the netbackup servers.

The master server will now be running Wndows 2012 R2 and NetBackup 8.x

The media servers will be powered on still running 7.6.1.2 but the master will now be 8.x (whereas before they were powered down it was running 7.6.1.2 - Should this be ok?

I then plan to upgrade the media servers in place (they don't need a hardware change) to 8.x to match the master server.

Many thanks

[RiaanBadenhorst]

Notes in line

Install windows 2012 R2 onto the new hardware and give this server the same name and IP as the oringla server - the server will not be connected to the network at this time <<connect it to the network, use different IP and same name, but keep in workgroup and use hosts file during installation. When you're ready for cutover, shutdown old server and update the new one's IP address, and optionally put it in the domain.

Install NetBackup 7.6.1.2 onto the new server hardware <<Fine

I deactivate the two media servers, take a catalog backup to USB drive on the existing master netbackup server and then shutdown all the servers (no backups run during the day and so it won't be partway through any backups) <<Fine

Restore the catalog onto the new server hardware whilst it is still off the network - Will it need to communicate with the two media servers to compete the catalig restore? <<Fine, but it will be on the network now with same IP and name as old one.

I then do an inplace upgrade of this new server from NBU 7.6.1.2 to NBU 8.x (again it is still not on the network) - Should this complete ok? <<Fine

I then attached the server to the network and start all the netbackup servers. <<N/A allready on the network

The master server will now be running Wndows 2012 R2 and NetBackup 8.x <<Fine

The media servers will be powered on still running 7.6.1.2 but the master will now be 8.x (whereas before they were powered down it was running 7.6.1.2 - Should this be ok? <<Fine

I then plan to upgrade the media servers in place (they don't need a hardware change) to 8.x to match the master server. <<Fine

[CadenL]

Hi Riaan

Many thanks for your information. I think I should now be ok with this, but I have one further question.

So, in my situation, I was planning on building the master server off-site - hence why not connecting to the network in the earlier steps. I can get the catalog backup files downloaded to my remote site (hence why a disk backup and not tape) but I'm unable to connect the master server to the newtork. I would then ship the new master server to site and hopefully it's just a case connecting to the network and powering on.

Working on the basis that I can get a copy of the catalog backup but can't connect the new master server to the correct network, would my steps work?

many thanks Caden

[RiaanBadenhorst]

Hi,

Its should work but it might struggle if there is no network at all i.e no IP address online, even if it can't connect to anything. I would make sure you can atleast cable (loopback if need be) and have an IP online so it can refer to a hosts file and connect to itself when doing DB related functions.

[CadenL]

Thanks

That's great. I can get it onto a network - it'll just be a local network and not the same network as the media servers. so it won't be able to contact the media servers as any time during the catalog recovery or upgrade to 8.1.1 as I don't have any routing between these two networks.

So if part of the catalog recovery requires it to test communication to the media servers or again if ot needs to contact the media servers when upgrading from 7.6.1.2 to 8.1.1 then it will fail. But from what you're saying, it sounds like it doesn't need to do this.

thanks again