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Supported scenario?

CadenL
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We have a couple of NetBackup 5230 Appliances running 2.7.3 which replicate between each other across a 1Gb link. One appliance is in Site A and the other in Site B and these work as expected. We now plan to install a 5240 into Site A as a new NetBackup Master\Media server which will eventually replace the 5230 that is also in Site A.

So I want to configure the 5240 to also replicate backup images the 5230 in Site B and will then slowly configure backup jobs on the 5240 to replace those on the 5230 in site A - which will then be decomissioned. The recreation of the backup jobs on the 5240 is likely to take several months to complete.

I have 3 questions:

Will the 5230 in site B be able to have a replication relationship with two different NetBackup masters (both the 5230 and the 5240 in Site A)?

As the 5240 will be running the latest version of NetBackup is this ok to replicate to the 5230 in site B that is only running 2.7.3?

When the 5240 sends replication data to the 5230 in Site B will the data be discarded if it already exists in the MSDP? as the clients the 5240 will be backing up are the same clients that have been backed up (and therefore replicated) by the original 5230 in Site A?

thanks in advance

 

4 REPLIES 4

Michal_Mikulik1
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Even if I did not find any explicit statement about AIR and supported NBU/Appliance version mix, I think it is supported. Otherwise you will have to upgrade all involved MSDP servers at once ot within 1 day for example.

However in case where mix of 8.1 and older versions is used, remember performance impact of MSDP rolling conversion:

https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/doc/125240132-127350446-0/v127995426-127350446

regards

michal

 

 

 

Marianne
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This doc probably answers this question:

 https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/doc/25074086-127355784-0/AIR-127355784

The ability to perform Auto Image Replication between different versions of NetBackup does not overrule the basic image compatibility rules. For example, a database backup that was taken in one NetBackup domain can be replicated to a NetBackup domain of an earlier version. However, the older server may not be able to successfully restore from the newer image.

Marianne
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Let me try to answer all 3 questions:

Will the 5230 in site B be able to have a replication relationship with two different NetBackup masters (both the 5230 and the 5240 in Site A)?

Yes. See supported replication models: 
https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/doc/18716246-129889741-0/AIR-129889741
- One-to-one model
- One-to-many model
- Many-to-many model

As the 5240 will be running the latest version of NetBackup is this ok to replicate to the 5230 in site B that is only running 2.7.3?

Yes - on condition....  See previous post.

When the 5240 sends replication data to the 5230 in Site B will the data be discarded if it already exists in the MSDP? as the clients the 5240 will be backing up are the same clients that have been backed up (and therefore replicated) by the original 5230 in Site A?

Data is never 'discarded'. It will do global dedupe. Unique data is written to dedupe storage and catalog is updated with all of the backup images. 

CadenL
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Hi Marianne

Firstly - many thanks for taking the time to answer this :0)

Just on question 3 - I have a further question that may help me understand the answer you've supplied. So, if I take the scenario that the new 5240 has just been installed and I've just finished setting up the AIR relationship with the 5230 on the DR site. I now start my first backup of a client for the 5240 that will be replicated to the 5230. The backup completes and the next phase of the SLP is replicate to the  DR 5230 - Does the 5240 know what data to send over the link and what already exists within the DR 5230 dedupe pool? Remember that this client backup already eists on the DR 5230 (barring any changed data) as it was previously backed up and replicated by the Prod 5230 before I installed the 5240 as its replacement (hope you can follow that). So I thought the 5240 may just send the full backup image to the DR 5230 as it doesn't know what data may already exist - this would mean the DR 5230 will 'discard' what it already has. You say that data is never discarded, so that implies that 5240 won't actually send the data in the first place - does the 5240 automatically recieve some kind of cached fingerprint database when it forms the AIR relationship so it only sends the unique data right from the very first client backup?

many thanks