Are there any major problems with upgrading to Avamar version 5?

Question

We are currently at version 4.1.1-340, and will be preparing to get the updated hotfix to 4.1.1-400, but we are interested in upgrading to version 5 on both server and client installations. In an email from a tech , it stated that they are having issues with replication issues with version 5 when upgrading from a previous version and that it would be better suggested to wait until March for a general upgrade delivery, or until they come up with a hotfix for the issue.

Here's the thing. We are sort of in a catch-22 at the moment. We are currently using SQL server 2000, and will be upgrading to SQL server 2008 in the near future, but our current avamar client wont backup SQL 2008 data. In the release notes for version 5, though, it states that EMC doesn't support SQL server 2000, so do we or don't we? I mean, if we upgrade Avamar now, we may or may not be able to backup our current SQL data until we upgrade it to 2008. And, if we upgrade Avamar, we may or may not have issues with replication. Regardless, we'll upgrade to SQL 2008, and if need be do dump files, but if they are having issues with Avamar version 5, then maybe we'll need to rethink our strategy. The tech did state, that we could go ahead and get it upgraded to version 5, but that we'd have to jump through some hoops to do it. Is anybody else aware of the issues or who can vouch for them? Anybody in a situation like ours?

Thanks for any help you can give.

clevya · Accepted Answer

Hi,

We are currently in the process of defining all the procedures for server upgrades to Avamar 5.0, so as you were told upgrades are to avamar 5.0 are not yet fully available.

However, you can upgrade your 4.1.1-340 server to the latest 5.0.0-409 client release. This will mean that on the "documents and downloads" page of your Avamar server you will see the the 5.0 clients, so the client to backup SQL 2008 will be available to you immediatly. These new client will work with the 4.1 server.

You are correct there is no 5.0 client for SQL 2000, however you can keep using the older version of the client with the 5.0 server, this will work.

I would recommend updating to the latest client release to have access to SQL 2008, then requesting a server upgrade to 5.0 via an SR with support once they are available in March.

The latest client release is available here:

ftp://avamar_ftp:anonymous@ftp.avamar.com/software/Client-downloads-5.0.100-409/v5.0.100.409-client.tar.gz
ftp://avamar_ftp:anonymous@ftp.avamar.com/software/Client-downloads-5.0.100-409/v5.0.100.409-client.tar.gz.md5sum

Please open an SR with support to get the above installed.

Regards,

Adam

Avamar Exorcist · Answer

There aren't any known issues with replication as far as I'm aware.

Here are some known issues in 5.0.0 build 407

http://solutions.emc.com/emcsolutionview.asp?id=esg110254

The process to upgrade the server so that it can use version 5 clients is documented on the landing page

https://support.emc.com/products/Avamar

If you upgrade the server you don't need to necessarily upgrade every client. You could leave the SQL 2000 clients running the older version of the Avamar software and still back up to a v5 server

If you'd like to upgrade to v5 you can open a support case and one of the upgrade team will schedule an appointment with you

HTH..

Avamar

Are there any major problems with upgrading to Avamar version 5?

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