Point to Consider while upgrading AIX which both master and media

[NAYAB]

Hi All, 

I have a question on upgrading a NBU server which is both master and media server, Do i need to consider anything in particular upgrading the same.

Current NBU version on MASTER/MEDIA is 7.6.1 and to be upgraded to 8.0 (I can directly upgrade from 7.6.1 to 8.0 right)

I have a AIX client which has NBU version 6.5.3, May i know if i can upgrade direct to 8.0 ? Or do i need to do any conditional upgrade to 7.XX first ?

Thanks, 

Nayab

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

As long as you are aware of the pre-reqs (e.g. nbwebsvc user) and check compatibilities, all should be good. 

Read through Upgrade Guide, Installation Guide, check for readiness on SORT.

Check HCL for tape driver requirements.

Clients can be upgraded direrectly. No need for 7.6. 
Just confirm compatibilities.

[Mouse · Accepted solution]

For the master server, confirm you are ready by downloading and running the SORT collector from here https://sort.veritas.com/data_collectors

Considering the gap between NBU 7.6.1 and 8.1 there could be additional patches required for AIX to satisfy 8.1 installation requirements, those will be flagged by the collector.

For the client you can upgrade it straight to the latest and greatest version but bear in mind that if your client has databases that are no longer supported by NBU 8.1 client, such as old Oracles etc, you may want to stay on the latest supported version, which may or may not be 8.1. Also it's worth checking if the AIX version that is capable of running NBU 6.5 client is actually compatible with the 8.1 client (I have a bit of doubt about that)

[Marianne]

Please note that you can upgrade directly from 7.x to 8.0.

For upgrade to 8.1, you need to be on 7.7.x or higher.

See the NBU 8.x upgrade portal. 

[NAYAB]

Thank you, i have run through SORT and checking all the pre-requisites. I have downloaded the upgrade package for AIX, will i be using same package for both AIX Master, Media and Clients or it has to be a seperate package for each one of them.

[NAYAB]

From the Upgrade guide is see "(Conditional) If your environment is pre-NetBackup 7.6, and you want to use the guided method of migration because the environment has a large image catalog, perform the actions shown" 

Do i need to perform the guided migration ? I am using NBU version 7.6.1 for Master and Media and i have a mix of clients 7.5.0.5 and 6.5.3. Please advise.

[Marianne]

You need Unix Clients 1 download for all of these clients:
■ AIX
■ HPPA-RISC and IA64
■ Solaris SPARC and X86

The note about pre-7.6 applies to the master server only because this is where the image catalog is stored. Nowhere else.

So, it does not apply to your environment.

[Mouse]

This is not relevant as you are moving from NBU 7.6 to 8.x on the master. 

[NAYAB]

One last question, I have downloaded the new set of license needs to be updated after upgrade but i am not able to differentiate between the Client and Master/Media server license. i see the license list as below.

Ex:- I have 13 AIX Clients so i guess item number 9 & 10 are NBU Client license ??? And all OPT LIBRARY , SHARED STORAGE BELONG to MY MASTER MEDIA SERVER (Same Server for both Master and Media)

1. NETBACKUP OPT LIBRARY BASED TAPE DRIVE XPLAT 1 DRIVE ONPREMISE STANDARD PERPETUAL LICENSE – QTY 2

 2. NETBACKUP OPT VAULT ADDL DRIVE XPLAT ONPREMISE STANDARD PERPETUAL LICENSE – QTY 2

 3. NETBACKUP OPT SHARED STORAGE OPT XPLAT 1 DRIVE ONPREMISE STANDARD PERPETUAL LICENSE – QTY 2

 4. NETBACKUP STD CLIENT XPLAT 1 SERVER ONPREMISE STANDARD PERPETUAL LICENSE – QTY 5

 5. NETBACKUP STD CLIENT XPLAT 1 SERVER ONPREMISE STANDARD PERPETUAL LICENSE – QTY 7

 6. NETBACKUP OPT LIBRARY BASED TAPE DRIVE XPLAT 1 DRIVE ONPREMISE STANDARD PERPETUAL LICENSE – QTY 3

 7. NETBACKUP DEDUPLICATION DATA PROTECTION OPTIMIZATION OPT XPLAT 1 FRONT END TB ONPREMISE STANDARD PERPETUAL LICENSE – QTY 8

 8. NETBACKUP ENT SERVER UX 1 SERVER HARDWARE TIER 2 ONPREMISE STANDARD PERPETUAL LICENSE – QTY 1

 9. NBU_8_0_ENT_CLIENT_XPLAT – QTY 13

 10. NETBACKUP ENT CLIENT WLS 1 SERVER HARDWARE TIER 2 ONPREMISE STANDARD PERPETUAL LICENSE – QTY 13

 11. NETBACKUP ENT SERVER UX 1 SERVER HARDWARE TIER 2 ONPREMISE STANDARD PERPETUAL LICENSE – QTY 1

[Marianne]

NBU Master and Media server use exactly same license - NetBackup Enterprise server license.

You are licensed for 1 Master/Media Server and another Media server:

 8. NETBACKUP ENT SERVER UX 1 SERVER HARDWARE TIER 2 ONPREMISE STANDARD PERPETUAL LICENSE – QTY 1
11. NETBACKUP ENT SERVER UX 1 SERVER HARDWARE TIER 2 ONPREMISE STANDARD PERPETUAL LICENSE – QTY 1

The SHARED STORAGE OPT is for sharing tape drives between media servers and/or SAN media servers (Enterprise Clients)
Enterprise Client could be SAN media server(s) and/or ESX or Hyper-V servers that are backed up with virtual type policies. 

If you have further licensing queries, best to take it up with your Veritas reseller.