Upgrade From NB 7.0 To 7.1 On Solaris Sparc64

[4444Sparx]

Greetings All..First time post...

I have been tasked with doing the upgrade to 7.1 from 7.0 on Solaris Sparc64...My first run failed miserably and I had to restore 7.0.  The tarball package didn't unpack cleanly and I didn't catch it...

Anyways..here we go again...My question is the first time I ran the pkgrm for the Netbackup package, it was prompting me to remove drivers -- scared me because this didn't seem like an upgrade but a full out removal...The option did finally come up where I was prompted y or n on whether this removal was part of an upgrade...

Anyways, I am assuming to accept any defaults on when the package is removing?? When there is no default, do I just remove everything, including the old solaris drivers ?  None of this was documented in the upgrade guide, which seemed like it was dumbed down a bit..

thanx,

Curtis

Edmonton, Canada

[Marianne]

Preparation is key to successful upgrade.

Start with the Upgrade Portal TNs: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH74584. There is also a link to the Installation and Upgrade Checklist on SORT as well as a Known Issues section with links to the Late Breaking News TNs.

Carefully read through the upgrade section in the Installation Guide: http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC3647. You will for example find the following on p. 78:

■ Remove the current NetBackup server package by using the appropriate command:

      For version 6.0: pkgrm VRTSnetbp

      For versions 6.5 and later: pkgrm SYMCnetbp

      The following prompt appears:

      Are you doing this pkgrm as a step in an upgrade process?

■ Enter y.

[Mark_Solutions]

Check out this under the late breaking news section - the downloaded installer does not un-tar correctly so you need to use a different method:

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH154080

[4444Sparx]

This is correct..the problem is that there are a number of other prompts BEFORE that deserve some explanation, and I was hoping somebody who went through the upgrade could comment...There is no treatment of these uninstall prompts anywhere in the documentation, and there probably should be a lower level detail doc on this...Being prompted to uninstall system drivers for a package uninstall does not leave me feeling warm and fuzzy -- or at the least, being given an explanation or a default answer at the time of the prompt

[4444Sparx]

thanx...already got that...I did get the package to untar clean using gtar...there also seems to be issues on package download corruption based on the browser you use, at least for me...IE and Mozilla gave me problems with the 7 patch whereas Firefox didn't

[Mark_Solutions]

So which system drives did it ask you to uninstall - cant say i remeber seeing such a message when doing upgrades

[Marianne]

I have done more upgrades on Solaris than I can remember.

pkgrm will not remove 'system' drivers. It will just remove NetBackup drivers, such as sg driver. The new NBU version will install new version of driver.

Previous version upgrades sometimes failed to remove /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/driver/snapctl10_x during pkgrm and had to be deleted manually for pkgrm to work.

Did you maybe copy the text output (or did a screenshot) of the particular driver(s) that needed to be removed?

[4444Sparx]

You are correct Marianne...This is helpful, thank you...I am attempting the upgrade tomorrow...If I am unsure, I will just remove whatever pkgrm is prompting me to remove...I believe the key is just making sure that 'y' is selected when prompted for this removal being part of an upgrade...I think that is what saved my bacon last time when I had to reinstall NB 7 

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

PLEASE remember to do a Hot Catalog backup before you start the upgrade.

I don't know of any long-term NBU user who has NOT experienced a failed upgrade at least once in their lives.... 

If you can, log all actions, for example the logging that can be enabled when using 'putty'. Also make a note of the installation log name/location when you start.

Always good to log a 'pre-emptive' support call with Symantec. A lot easier to call when you have a case ID.

GOOD LUCK!!!

[4444Sparx]

"pre-emptive support call with Symantec" --- that is pure genius!!  Symantec support is not the most dynamic I've ever dealt with...god forbid Symantec ever gets bought out by Oracle 

[Andy_Welburn]

Indeed, we'd never find anything on the support website/KB!! Hang on a minute.......

[4444Sparx]

Success!  Thanx for calming my nerves Marianne and being here to help!  Really appreciate it

Curtis