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Netbackup Upgrade

BalajiP
Level 3

Hi All,

Our current Netbackup master server is at Windows Server 2003 -32 bit. Netbackup version is 7.0.1

We have a plan to upgrade the master server to Netbackup 8.1


Considering the compatibilities, we have thought of the following steps:

1)First upgrade the Netbackup version to 7.5.
2)Take catalog backup.
3)Install fresh Windows Server 2008 -64 bit on the same server.
4)Install Netbackup 7.5 on the 2008 OS.
5)Do full catalog recovery to the server.
6)Upgrade netbackup to 7.7/8.0.
7)Upgrade OS to server 2012
8)Upgrade Netbackup from 7.7/8.0 to 8.1


Please advise whether Netbackup 7.5 is supported on Windows 2003- 32 bit, as the first step we plan to do is to upgrade netbackup to 7.5.

Also, please advise if all of the above plan of actions will help us reach our goal.

Thank you.

15 REPLIES 15

Marianne
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Any reason why you no longer want to go ahead with your previous plan ?

NBU 7.5 master/media server is supported Windows 2003 32-bit.
OS SCL over here: https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/doc/NB_76_OSSCL

About this step :

3)Install fresh Windows Server 2008 -64 bit on the same server.

You cannot install 64-bit OS on 32-bit architecture.

Best to provide a new server with current hardware and specs to suite later NBU version resource requirements.

You will also need to add catalog recovery step inbetween these steps:

7)Upgrade OS to server 2012
8)Upgrade Netbackup from 7.7/8.0 to 8.1

Thank you Marriane for your reply.

Our current setup is:

Master server OS: Windows Server 2003 32-bit

Netbackup Version: 7.0.1

Our previous plan was:

1) Take Catalog backup (netbackup version 7.0.1)

2) Install fresh OS server 2008 64-bit on the same server.

3) Install Netbackup 7.0.1

3) Restore NBU 7.0.1 -(Windows Server 2003) catalog in   NBU 7.0.1 -(Windows Server 2008).

4) Take catalog backup

5) Upgrade Netbackup to 7.7/8.0 and so on.

 

 

The reason we are no longer going ahead with previous plan is because we could not find 7.0.1 maintenance release software.

We could find 7.0 software package in VEMS but not 7.0.1. We could find 7.5 package in VEMS. Hence considering the compatibility with Windows Server 2003- 32 bit, we decided to upgrade to 7.5 first.

 

""About this step :

 

3)Install fresh Windows Server 2008 -64 bit on the same server.

 

You cannot install 64-bit OS on 32-bit architecture.""

 

We checked with our Windows Team and they confirmed that Windows Server 2008 -64 bit  can be installed on the same server(2003 -32 bit) and that it does not have any dependency on the hardware.

 

Could you please throw more light on this.

 

Thank you.

Mouse
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I might help you out a bit. 7.0.1 is a maintenance release hence not on VEMS. You can find it here, first hit in Google http://www.veritas.com/docs/100002890

I'd go with your original plan.

nbutech
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I would agree with going original plan.. this would be much smoother

Marianne
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Seems we have not answered this question:


@BalajiP wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

 

We checked with our Windows Team and they confirmed that Windows Server 2008 -64 bit  can be installed on the same server(2003 -32 bit) and that it does not have any dependency on the hardware.

 Could you please throw more light on this.


64-bit OS can be installed if the server hardware is 64-bit.
You can verify with 'systeminfo' on the master server. e.g. 
System Type: x64-based 
Processor(s): ??  Processor(s) Installed.
[01]: Intel64 .....

 

 

Thank you all.

Our current system information:

System Manufacturer:       HP
System Model:              ProLiant DL580 G4
System Type:               X86-based PC
System Directory:          C:\WINDOWS\system32

It shows System Type as  X86-based PC. We are going to do a fresh install of Windows 2008 R2 64-bit. I have checked again with our Windows team. Thay said, we cannot upgrade the server from 2003 32-bit to 2008 64-bit, but we can do a fresh install of 2008 R2-64 bit on the same server.

I have one more query. The netbackup upgrade guide recommends having four CPU cores for Netbackup 8.1.
We backup around 4 TB + of data every week with one month retention. We have NIC speed of 1Gbps.
Will two CPU cores work fine in the case of our  environment(which is small)?

Below is the System info:

Capture.PNG

Marianne
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As far as I know X86 means 32-bit hardware.

DPeaco
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The DL360 G5 was EOSL in 2014 and I agree, once you get your hardware platform to a 64-bit architecture, then you can install and run NetBackup 64-bit release. 

Thanks,
Dennis

Thankyou @Marianne and @DPeaco . 

We came to know that the current hardware supports Windows Server 2008 Standard SP1 32-bit only. We are now in trouble. Let me give you a small brief about our requirement:

As the current harware does not allow us to install 64 Bit OS for the upgrade plan, we are trying to find a best possible way to backup Win2012 cleint servers with the existing version 7.0.1.

1. If i install Win2008 32-bit standard version on current hardware, which version of Netbackup we can upgrade from 7.0.1 to backup Win2012 clients? And if we do so with any possibility, do we need to have new licenses?

Please advise the best possible solution.

Note: Customer not willing to upgrade new hardware

DPeaco
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Hello @BalajiP,

We all seem to have our "challenges" in getting our customers to upgrade their hardware platforms as well as their O/S levels and applications. We have many of the same challenges but....if you have upper-leadership backing you and helping you "push" your hardware/software upgrades, it becomes easier to hold those discussions. Someone along the way, needs to stand up and tell the customer that they either upgrade to new hardware and O/S or they only get a "best effort" support for anything that involves the EOSL hardware and software. We've had to take this stance with some of our customers and they are slowly moving to new hardware. Sometimes, we must make it more difficult and more expensive for our customers to remain on 10 year old hardware than it is to upgrade. :) 

Now, getting back to your issue, I would make sure that my master backup server and my media servers are running a current and supported version of Netbackup. This allows you to run older versions of the client backup software while you continue to hold hardware and software upgrades with your customers.

Unfortunately, that's the best thing we can do. That's my thoughts on this issue. ;) 

Thanks,
Dennis

Marianne
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So... let me understand this: 

The customer actually bought new hardware for their W2012 servers, right?

But now they refuse to purchase hardware and software to protect and backup their assets?
They are willing to risk their protection strategy with EOL/unsupported server, EOL/unsupported OS, EOL/unsupported backup software?
I am honestly battling to understand this kind of reasoning....

About support for W2012 - please have another look at the OS SCL that I shared 2 weeks ago - 
W2012 is supported as from 7.5.0.6. If memory serves me right, there was a separate installation package for W2012. 

The master/media server needs to be on 7.5.x in order to backup 7.5 client(s).

Thank you @Marianne

The customer has migrated most of their servers to cloud and backing them up in cloud. There are some legacy servers in on-prem which we need to backup. W2012 client servers were upgraded from w2008 64 bit.
We now have to somehow backup these 2012 servers. We are trying to find the best possible way.

Thank you for your advise. As win 2012 clients are supported in 7.5.0.6, We are now planning to upgrade NetBackup Master to 7.5 and then apply patch 7.5.0.6 without any other change in Server OS.(it will continue to be in Win 2003 32 bit).

We have one more challenge finding the download links for Netbackup maintenance release software 7.5.0.6.  Please help.

Thanks.

Hi All,

I have one more query.

Will there be a need of additional license for upgrade from 7.0.1 to 7.5.0.6.?

Or, the existing license will work fine without the need of additional license?

Please advise.

Thank you.

You don't need to install 7.5 to get to 7.5.0.6. Because 7.5 did not support Windows 2012, 7.5.0.6 for Windows was a full installation that could be installed on a clean system. That's what @Marianne was referring to as a separate installation package.

I can't answer the license question.

Marianne
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I managed to locate the full release for W2012:
https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100029092.html

If you also want to patch the master after 7.5 upgrade:
https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100029085.html

My guess regarding license keys:
It will probably work.