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Upgrading Networker Server OS
Hello,
We are currently running Networker server with Windows 2008R2 on physical server. Since Windows 2008 is almost end of support, we need to upgrade our OS to Windows 2012 or 2016. We currently do not have budget to buy a new hardware with new OS. We have few options we would like to consider including virtualize our backup server. Once it is running on VM, we have the capability to use snapshot for rollback in case anything happened during OS in-place upgrade. What do you guys think on running backup server on VM?
Maybe anyone have any idea how to proceed with this OS upgrade?
bingo.1
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October 21st, 2019 23:00
We also run the NW server in an virtual environment and just migrated
1. From physical to virtual 'mode'
2. From Windows 2008R2 to Windows 2016
You just need to keep in mind that you cannot easily recover the backup server himself if the virtual environment has been broken.
The other issue is that you need to be careful when using FC hardware from a virtual environment - this could become tricky.
crazyrov
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October 22nd, 2019 01:00
If you are using the machine only as a backup server why go through the pain of upgrading the converting the machine to VM and upgrading the OS. You can create a new VM with windows 2016, give it the same hostname of as that of the original backup server. copy over the res, mm and index folder to your new machine. Stop NetWorker on the old server and start it on the new one. This of course if a just an overview there are more steps to follow. But this can make all your tasks simpler and faster.
Aegh
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October 22nd, 2019 00:00
Hi Bingo,
If I understand correctly you only upgrade the OS after migrated to virtual machine right?
I'm currently backing up to tape library so planning to use current physical server as the storage node for tape library connection. All the clients are VM hosts backup using nw agent.
bingo.1
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October 22nd, 2019 00:00
Hi Bingo,
If I understand correctly you only upgrade the OS after migrated to virtual machine right?
yes
I'm currently backing up to tape library so planning to use current physical server as the storage node for tape library connection. All the clients are VM hosts backup using nw agent.
such makes sense.
bingo.1
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October 22nd, 2019 02:00
Of course such method is also possible. But you do this, you must have a certain understanding of NW internals. And of course you must be aware that you change more than one major component in a solution.
It depends whether you want to follow a more easy or a more challenging track.
Aegh
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October 22nd, 2019 17:00
Yes, creating a new VM with a fresh Windows 2016 is also an option. I have gone through the document from Networker SolVe Generator and will discuss this internally.
Thanks for the both of you for the inputs
Rzmn
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November 13th, 2019 22:00
Hey Bingo,
I successfully virtualized the backup server yesterday and just found out that NSR server index and bootstrap can only backup locally. Can you share with me how you do this since it cannot backup to remote device on the storage node?
bingo.1
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November 13th, 2019 23:00
????? - Sorry, but this is standard NW behavior since the very beginning! -
In fact the indexes can be stored on remote devices because they are not absolute necessary for a restore - but usually they are backed up with the bootstrap as well (into the same pool).
You must backup the bootstrap to a local device because this is where you need the backup in case of a DR case. You do not want to fiddle around with your more complicated (remote) device setups which you can easily recover when your recover the bootstrap.
Now, I do not know what you have done so far. Maybe you have saved the bootstrap to a local device and staged it later to another (remote) piece of media. This is just one possibility.
How to cure? - that also depends on your license capabilities. The easiest way is to assign a local (A)FTD device and label it for a new pool (I assume that you are now running a new (NW 9.x+) . Then assign the pool to the 'Server Protection' action(s).