brainstorming on upgrade to 7.7.x

[manatee]

NBU 7.6.0.3

as we are moving to SQL Server 2014 with AlwaysOn (AG), it has been suggested that i upgrade from 7.6.0.3 to 7.7.3 in order to have support for AG. this is just thinking out loud (might also help others) so if you have anything to say please feel free to chime in.

as my master/media server is implemented in a physical blade server (running RH Linux 6.x), there is no p2v tool available to allow me to create a virtual machine so that i can duplicate the implementation exactly. my only option is to start from scratch for Linux.

now here comes the problem, if i'm going to start from scratch i will not be able to duplicate exactly the same environment as my existing installation. what i can probably duplicate is how NBU was installed. in this regard, i'm checking DR option for NBU. in that case, even if i can restore all the backup policies, i might get different behaviours. well whatever so long as i get the end result which is a successful backup.

a different scenario is to do fresh install for everything. since i will be using a VM (is it advisable to implement master/media in a VM?), should i install Linux also or Windows? of course for NBU i will use 7.7.3 version in this new installation. at this point, i will only have to restore the backup of policies and test them as is.

what you think?

[manatee]

i see i cannot recover the master/media server AND the catalog to a different OS as per the NBU troubleshooting guide.

new OS scratch that. must be the same OS as the current server. but the NBU version can be the latest one and restore the catalog and backup policies?

[manatee]

so seems i need to restore to the same NBU version too.

my restore test server then would be: same OS and same NBU version as the current master/media server. then after testing that catalogs are restored and backup policies still working, will have to upgrade to 7.7.3

[Marianne]

Some documentation: 

Using catalog backup and recovery to transfer NetBackup catalogs between UNIX or Linux master servers as part of a hardware refresh 
http://www.veritas.com/docs/000041077

Requirements:

1. The version of NetBackup installed on the old and new hardware must be the same release update of NetBackup (e.g. if the old master server is running NetBackup 7.6.1, install NetBackup 7.6.1 on the new master server).
2. The master server must not be a storage server for SharedDisk storage.
3. The host name of the old and new hardware must be the same.
4. The type and version of O/S on the new master server does not matter provided it supports the version of NetBackup used on the old master server.  For example this procedure may be used to replace a Solaris 9 Sparc master server with a Solaris 10 X64 master server.

[manatee]

thanks.

i have a concern for number 4. as per the troubleshooting guide, exact path must be used when restoring the catalog so the type of OS used matters (i.e., unix to unix; windows to windows).

[Marianne]

Correct - this TN is for Unix/Linux only as the paths are similar (same OS family). 

There is another TN for Windows to Windows: 
Using catalog backup and recovery to transfer NetBackup catalogs between Windows master servers as part of a hardware refresh 
http://www.veritas.com/docs/000041076

And another for migration between OS families (e.g. Linux to Windows):
How to migrate the NetBackup catalog information from one platform to another (UNIX to Windows or vice versa), rename a Master Server, cluster an existing Master Server, or merge multiple NetBackup domains.
http://www.veritas.com/docs/000026956 

[manatee]

very nice. but requires a Veritas consultant or outside help. :(

i was thinking we could do it by our team.

thanks for the TN.

[Michael_G_Ander]

A solution could be to use AIR/nbreplicate to populate the catalog on the new master if you have the backups on deduplication storage.

Going to Virtual be aware of the limitations it imposes on the media server part and make sure the VM have the needed resources, have seen a lot of Master/Media VM systems giving errors which turned out be lack of resources.

[manatee]

AIR concept seems pretty advanced for me. at the moment, i just need to upgrade to 7.7.3 and at same time exercising my DR skills for NBU.

thanks for the heads up.

[Michael_G_Ander]

Then you probably would have to do a hardware refresh by catalog restore with the limitation on OS that gives.

You will have to be able to move to catalog backup to the new server, here I usually use basic disk as it makes the copying easy.

[manatee]

after perusing all available TNs for this exercise, my list is now the following:

1. to use CentOS 7.x for the new/test server because as per the TN, support for RHEL 6.x have stopped
2. to use NBU 7.6.0.3 on the test server which will then be upgraded to 7.7.3

downloading the CentOS iso now and will prep the VM tonight. will do full catalog backup also.

[Marianne]

PLEASE check OS SCLs - 

NetBackup 7 Operating System (CL) : http://www.veritas.com/docs/000040842
NBU 7.7 OS SCL: http://www.veritas.com/docs/000025229 

CentOS has never been supported as Master server, only media servers....
RHEL 6  x86-64  is still very much supported as master server with 7.6.x and 7.7.x.

[manatee]

oh i misread that part. didn't noticed it. thanks.

can you please tell me, on page 31, regarding Oracle Linux 6.x to me it seems BMR support is conflicting as footnote 1 says it is not supported yet footnote 4 says support began at  7.5.x

my current config have NBU master/media/BMR server installed in same server.

[Marianne]

Are you now considering Oracle Linux as new master?

I agree - the footnotes are rather confusing. 
I would personally not consider this OS as Master.

Why not stick to RHEL?

[manatee]

actually, i'm rather confused what i'm running now. this is from the server "release" file:

[root@ovmmanager admincmd]# l /etc/*release
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 32 Jun 21 2012 /etc/oracle-release
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 55 Jun 21 2012 /etc/redhat-release
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 14 Nov 20 2012 /etc/system-release -> oracle-release
[root@ovmmanager admincmd]# cat /etc/redhat-release
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.3 (Santiago)
[root@ovmmanager admincmd]# cat /etc/oracle-release
Oracle Linux Server release 6.3

so which one am i actually using? RHEL or Oracle Linux? i'm going for the latter.

[Marianne]

Have you spoken to your Linux admin yet? 

[manatee]

yes and it is definitely Oracle Linux 6.x

btw, how do i view only my threads that have no solutions yet? at the moment i am going to each thread to see if it's been solved or not.

[Marianne]

When you click on your own profile, you will see a tab 'Latest Posts'.
Select it. At the bottom, you will see a red button 'View All'. 

The list that is produced will have green ticks on the right if the posts have been solved.

[Marianne]

I am surprised to see that you marked this post as Solution..... 

Knowing that CentOS is NOT supported as master server??? 

[manatee · Accepted solution]

doh! was in a hurry.

this is my steps:

1. to use Oracle Linux 6.x for the new/test server because as per the TN
2. to use NBU 7.6.0.3 on the test server which will then be upgraded to 7.7.3