Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
15 Posts
0
2458
New NetWorker 8.1 Environment Upgrade/Migration
Hi guys,
Right now I'm in the middle of an upgrade of our NetWorker Infrastructure from a 7.6.2 server to an 8.1 one. It's not really an in-place upgrade, its a new backup server with its own storage nodes that should work in the same environment as the old one for some time. The issue is mainly how to migrate several physical cIients from the old server to the new one. I already setup several clients through VADP from our VMware Infrastructure using a new VADP proxy/storage node and everything is up and running OK on that side. But, here comes the issue. I want to keep the old 7.6.2 server up and running for some 'legacy apps' that officially aren't compatible with the new version of NW, mainly let's say Exchange 2003, until its decommissioned, as we have configured the Exchange servers as storage nodes on the 7.6.2 server. So what I'm interested in mainly, is how to migrate the rest of the classic clients, physical servers, to the new server while keeping the old server up and running just for Exchange. What is the best way to do this? Basically if we should be interested on a restore from before the final migration stage we should be able to do it from the old server so a complete database migration shouldn't be necessary, but because of the fact that the clients are already configured on the old server I'm getting some pretty weird errors if I try to backup them up using the new one. (to be fair I don't get the errors on all servers, but I do get the "the client name "x.x.x" is either not valid or does not have NetWorker client 7.5 and above" while trying to browse the save set on almost all of them).
Thanks,
defman1
15 Posts
0
March 17th, 2014 01:00
Hi,
Thanks for answering.
The client version is the one used with the old server, basically 7.6.2 should be the minimum version on all clients.
ble1
2 Intern
2 Intern
•
14.3K Posts
0
March 17th, 2014 01:00
And in what time span do you plan to get rid of legacy stuff? Obviously, you can have your server running 8.0.3.x instead of 8.1.x and then have it updated to 8.1.x once you move away from old servers.
defman1
15 Posts
0
March 17th, 2014 01:00
Hmm..as far as I know NetWorker 8 doesn't support (officially) Exchange 2003. Am I wrong? I know you can use Windows Server 2003 32bit as a Storage Node with it but no support for Exchange 2003.
ble1
2 Intern
2 Intern
•
14.3K Posts
0
March 17th, 2014 01:00
And which NetWorker client are you using? (you mention only version of backup server)
defman1
15 Posts
0
March 17th, 2014 02:00
I was under the impression that the NetWorker Module for Exchange compatible with Exchange Server 2003 is no longer compatible with NetWorker 8.x, is this wrong?
Just a quick overview of the infrastructure:
Old backup server configuration: 7.6.2, Exchange Storage Nodes have NW 7.6.1. Also I have several other storage nodes with 7.6.5 which I plan to decommission as they run on Windows Server 2003 and the hardware configuration is obsolete. Also here are 3 other SNs currently at (7.6.2 and 7.6.5) running Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 that will be eventually upgraded to NW 8.1.0.1 and configured on the new backup server.
New backup server is currently on NW 8.0.3 and also I have configured 2 storage nodes (both NW 8.1.0.1), one mainly for LAN backups and the other is configured as VADP proxy. I have it running NW server at 8.0.3 because (hopefully for a little while) I will still need it to use some Windows Server 2003 32bit SNs. (as we are decommissioning some Windows Server 2003 file servers to a new VNX Unified)
The initial plan was to keep the old backup server running only for Exchange Server 2003 backups. Also the CFI and media database would remain intact on this server if old restores will be needed. We are doing backup to tape and the indexes are kept on a Indexes tape, this is how the old server was configured, now the indexes will be kept on disk and eventually staged to tapes.
The majority of physical clients run NetWorker version 7.6.2.
ble1
2 Intern
2 Intern
•
14.3K Posts
0
March 17th, 2014 02:00
I'm not talking about your client - I'm talking about your backup server.
defman1
15 Posts
0
March 17th, 2014 03:00
I see, so you are actually suggesting integrating the old Exchange 2003 SN's with the new networker server and running it as a best-effort. Yes, this might work, but this also means migration of clients from the old server to the new one, and the issue here is the fact that I already created the clients on the new server (different client ids), so this might be a problem.
ble1
2 Intern
2 Intern
•
14.3K Posts
1
March 17th, 2014 03:00
NMO 4.5 is EOL and I still use it today with 7.6SP5 and NW8 server. No issues. When it comes to old stuff you have 3 ways to handle it:
a) update client side (agent or module or both) and run it despite not on compatibility matrix. This may work just fine in case that this is not on compatibility matrix due to the fact that it was not tested
b) leave it on old version and run it again new backup server version. This should always work because backup software must ensure that backups can be restored so the way to look at this is: you need older OS to restore, you need older agents that work with older OS and they need to talk to newer server. If it works for read it should work for write too (backups)
c) build separate and dedicated environment for oldies-but-goldies
In all 3 cases, you provide backup support as "best effort" as their original vendor no longer supports it nor does your up-to-date backup application. Legacy stuff might be there always, but active protection is pay in the ass. So, what I'm suggesting is to go with b) first instead of c).
ble1
2 Intern
2 Intern
•
14.3K Posts
0
March 17th, 2014 04:00
It shouldn't be because you won't migrate any old data, right? If yes, then yes, you would need to remove those client definitions and restart NSR server (new one) to get rid of the cache and create it with old clientid. This make sense if you plan to migrate some data (like long-term backups) - otherwise just keep on old server until expired (operation retention) and then it is gone for good.
defman1
15 Posts
0
March 18th, 2014 00:00
Yes, exactly, but somehow the problem is that save set browsing doesn't work on the clients I created on the new server. On some of them backups work, but on others it fails with strange errors.
ble1
2 Intern
2 Intern
•
14.3K Posts
0
March 18th, 2014 06:00
I think you should check those on individual basis. I run stuff like win2k machines with 7.5.2 and didn't get any issues against NW 8.0.3.1 server, but perhaps with 8.1.x this has changed. I do not like 8.1.x as to me it is still a bit fresh and too many things are changed inside (more has changed in 8.1 compared to 8.0 than 7.6.x compared to 8.0 so going from NW7 to NW8.1 is not just big step, but rather one which requires good testing before you do it).