Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
1 Message
0
69925
Upgrade NX3200 operating system from Storage Server 2008 to Storage Server 2012 R2
Hi All,
First and foremost i am sorry if this is the wrong section as the question is around a Dell NX3200 running windows storage server 2008r2.
I am managing a storage device for a client (Dell NX3200) with 32tb of storage. It is currently 2008 r2 and its intended use is to be a storage repository for Symantec Backup Exec 2012 deduplicated backups. The issue i am currently facing is that the maximum iSCSI partition i can create is 16tb so effectively i need to create 2 partitions. When i create the deduplicated storage pool in symantec it only allows me to create the folder structure on a single partition. This means i am limited to only half of my storage capacity for the backup purposes.
I have read that with 2012 and 2012r2 that utilizing SMB3, this limit is no 64tb for a single partition (I believe that is the number) and will be perfect for what i need it to. The question is what steps do i need to take (if any special) to upgrade/re-install 2012 r2 storage server onto this device.
I have been looking at multiple threads and there is a lot of information around storage server 2012 / r2 but not much information around upgrading a current box with 2008 r2 pre-installed
the questions i have are
Do i just find a copy of storage server 2012r2 and license it accordingly and rebuild the box?
Can i just use a standard copy of 2012 Standard/Enterprise instead of the dedicated storage server version?
Do i need to source install media (Windows Storage server 2012 R2) from Dell itself?
Can i do a inplace upgrade of the pre-installed 2008 r2 storage server to 2012 r2 storage server?\
any information will be greatly appreciated.
DELL-Sam L
Moderator
Moderator
•
7.1K Posts
0
October 28th, 2014 09:00
Hello dhaddad970,
With the NX3200 the OS install is a custom disc for your NX3200. Now since you are currently running win2008/R2 Storage server you would need to get a win 2012R2 storage server NX3200 disc to do the upgrade. Now what some customers have been able to do is to get their own copy of 2012R2 storage server & during the install load the drivers for the PERC controller during the install and get it to work.
When doing an upgrade of the OS you will need to back up your data before changing the OS. Now you could do it without backing it up but that would be a risk that you could not be able to access your data so we recommend even for a reinstall of the same OS to backup all data first before doing the reinstall.
Here is a link to the troubleshooting guide just in case you need it. ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_powervault/powervault-nx3200_User%27s%20Guide2_en-us.pdf
Here is also a link to the administrator guide as well. ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/Common/powervault-nx400_Administrator%20Guide3_en-us.pdf
Please let us know if you have any other questions.