Upgrade question for 7.5 RedHat OS

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Hello all,

I'm planning an upgrade to NetBackup 7.5.  My current environment is NetBackup 7.1 running on RHEL 4. Single server (combined master/media).  

So I noticed in the installation guide that RHEL4 is no longer supported.  I need to be on RH 5, update 4.  I was looking forward to a nice simple upgrade, but this complicates things.  Any suggestions on the path?  Should I build a new server and migrate?  Or do an in-place OS upgrade?

Thanks

Bill

[revarooo]

Bill,

>> Should I build a new server and migrate?  Or do an in-place OS upgrade?

your choice on this. Whichever you would find simplest. Building a new server will involve additional hardware, so if you don't have that there would be a potential additional cost to your company.

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Thanks for the reply.  We have spare hardware.  I was wondering about the complexity and risk of each solution.

I've never done an in-place RH upgrade, and I wasn't sure of the reliability and any other special NetBackup caveats.

For building a new server, it wasn't clear to me in the Install Guide how to migrate from one platform to another.

[Marianne]

Use this TN to migrate:

Using catalog backup and recovery to transfer NetBackup catalogs between UNIX or Linux master servers as part of a hardware refresh
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH77448

So, install OS, using the same hostname, install same NBU version and patch as old server, backup catalog on old server (I found STU using NFS mount with catalog backup and DR file in same folder easiest), recover catalog on new server, unsure all is fine for a day or two, then upgrade.

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Thanks Marianne, very helpful!  

So same hostname, but different IPs is okay during the process?  

Could you provide a little more detail on this: "found STU using NFS mount with catalog backup and DR file in same folder easiest)"

I haven't yet read the Disaster Recovery Guide about restoring the catalog, so I apologize if that's covered there.  

[Marianne]

Yes, IP address can be different, but you need to ensure that DNS and/or hosts files in environment is updated with new IP address.

I performed a similar migration for a customer some time ago. Customer provided disk on NFS share which we mounted on old master.
I created a disk storage unit for this mountpoint, changed STU in policy and also pointed DR file locatation to this mountpoint.

We ran catalog backup and confirmed that images and DR were written to the NFS mount and unmounted.

When we were ready to recover catalog on new server, we mounted the NFS share to the same path/mountpoint and performed full catalog restore.

We deleted all devices for the master that were recovered and re-ran device config wizard.
(Tape library was in the meantime zoned to new master.)

Tape backup and restore can also be used. DR file must be copied to new server.
(As per steps listed in Troubleshooting Guide)