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Networker 7.2 to 8.1
Hi,
We currently run networker 7.2 on a solaris server - just backing up that server. We now have a requirement to encrypt the backups and from what I have found out, you need 8.1 to be able to use encryption.
Reading the doco, you can't upgrade from 7.2 to 8.1, but would need to go from 7.2 to 7.4 or 7.5 and then up to 7.6 and then onto 8.1.
So my question is, if I was to uninstall 7.2 and do a new install of 8.1, would this new 8.1 install be able to read the old 7.2 produced tapes?
Thanks.
bingo.1
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November 5th, 2014 06:00
You have to distinguish between the update for server/snodes and clients.
NW is designed to be able to read old tapes (backward compatibility).
The upgrade path is simply due to the conversion of the NW server's internal databases.
This must be done in the proper order.
Noel_Doyle
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November 5th, 2014 07:00
Ok, since we're so far behind, if we just uninstalled 7.2 and then did a a clean install of 8.1, we'd lose the internal database, i.e. the current config, schedules, email addresses and all that, but would be able to recover files from the old tapes.
Then we'd just have to set up the backup again.
Am I on the right line here?
sechm
79 Posts
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November 5th, 2014 08:00
If you do a clean install of 8.1 (or 8.2 which is released) you'd indeed lose all current config. You'd also lose the index, meaning you would not immediately be able to recover files from the old tapes. You could rebuild the index by scanning the tapes, but this is a very time consuming process. Think hours or even days per tape, depending on what tape technology you are using.
I would not recommend such a move, instead do the stepped update from 7.2 to perhaps 7.4, to 7.6 and then to 8.1.
Noel_Doyle
3 Posts
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November 6th, 2014 03:00
Ok, how about having both 7.2 and 8.1 (or 8.2) on the same server?
So we'd keep 7.2 install in case we need to restore from the old tapes, but have 8.1 doing the new backups.
Is that possible?
bingo.1
2.4K Posts
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November 6th, 2014 03:00
Having two versions on the same host is not possible.
NW also links the directories to /nsr so it is hard to split two NW path instances.
And of course you would need to start the daemons properly.
You can potentially achieve that but it needs some extra effort.
What I suggest is to test the update sequence as follows:
- run a bootstrap backup of your current system on a separate media (i suggest a FTD, not an AFTD)
- take a standalone machine (same name) and install NW 8.1 to the exact same directory.
- copy the FTD directory to the new host
- define a compatible FTD device
- run the NW DR procedure. Let's see whether the system will come up. If so, it would try to convert all databases automatically. Let's see what the final result will be. I estimate the test time will take about 1hr.
crazyrov
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November 6th, 2014 03:00
Why would you do that? Once you have upgraded your NetWorker environment to the latest version the information regarding the old backups will still be available to you. In case you want to take precautions you could keep a copy of the nsr directory in a repository, but i don't think that would be needed.
The stepped update might eat an extra hour or so but its the best way from 7.2 to the latest version.
Keeping 2 instance of NetWorker on the same server is not at all recommended.