Migrating Networker to new hardware and OS + upgrade to 18.2

You way is following the recommended procedure.

You can also copy the important (database) directories but such needs experience and a deeper product knowledge.

 

To answer your questions:

1. Will the new server have to have the same name as the old? Will it have to have the same IP?

    -  It must have the same hostname (FQDN)

    -  It should have the same IP

    -  It will have a different SID and you must apply for new licenses/auth codes depending your licensing

       method.

2. Are there any problems restoring the Networker backup from Windows Server 2012 to Windows Server 2016?

     Not that I am aware of.

 

Hi Dominic,

I also want to migrate the networker server from Windows 2008r2 to Windows 2016 and upgrade to 18.2.

Can you help me with the documents that your referring for this?

Warm Regards,

Jit

Jit, I just used the Networker 18.2 admin guide. You can find it on the DellEMC website. Networker 18.2 is not supported on Windows Server 2008 R2, so you may have to upgrade to a lower version first, then migrate, then upgrade to 18.2. Support can probably advise you what the best path is.

The IP change is what you need to deal with - this will at least affect your license. But this is a minor issue.

Changing the hostname is not supported as a 'standard' solution because the metadata is still tight to the old hostname later. And of course all the resources and scripts also need adjustments.

However there might be a possibility together with EMC support. Please get in touch with them for verification.

 

We kept the name and IP the same.

So what is the result?

 

What we tended to do was using a temporary ip address on the new server while building it. You can have its hostname already be the same as the original server (as long as you are not doing something like updating dns and things like that that might cause a resolving clash or another).

 

Once you have a bootstrap backup from the original nw server system, you should shut it down (or disable its nic) and have the new server have the original ip address (at least the ip address that is coupled to the name as being shown by nw like with nsrwatch for example), configure within nw only the one backup device that contains the latest nw bootstrap backup and initiate a recover.

As it wasn't stated what kind of backup devices you are using, you would have to assign the new server the same devices if they are provided via a san over fiber.

If it is ddboost, then the new server only needs to be able to connect and resolve the data domain systems.

After the nsrdr is performed, and you restarted the nw services it should be fine.

In the past the nw licensing was coupled to the hardware id (so combination of ip address and mac address if memory serves me well), we ourselves currently only use capacity based licenses. For those only hostname and ip address need to be provided. So if that doesn't change, I don't think anything is required wrg the licensing after the migration. But as said that might depend on the license method currently used. You were running nw9.2 so I assume you were no longer using a legacy licensing method?

Windows 2008 R2 was still supported up until nw18.2.0.3, so if you use that version on the old and the new system, it should work (regardless of 2008 r2 now no longer being supported).

Once migrated, you can perform further nw upgrades as win 2016 is supported up until the latest releases.

 

 

I have NW 19.3 on Windows 2008 R2 and I have a requirement to change IP address and hostname.

 

I guess that's maybe going to involve Dell support to achieve :?

You better do. There are 2 issues here:

  -  NW 19.3 is not supported for Windows 2008 R2

  -  The new hostname which has globally to be replaced in all NW resources and especially in the NW media index.

 

Well - it is not an upgrade if you change the hostname. It is a host transfer and this is never easy if you think about it. Only true db servers which might be subject to a host transfer have built in routines for an administrator. But a 'stupid' backup server .... can just be recovered easily.

The other method is that you keep the old server for recoveries only and start with a fresh install. NW does not consume a license for recoveries.

But let us see what support will recommend in your case. Please keep the group informed.

 

Thanks for the information.

I seem to remember 2008R2 was supported when v19.3 was first released, I guess no longer as MS have dropped it but I'm not worried about that so much as it was Dell who recommended that version due to our v9.x install hitting a bug and constantly crashing.

The fact all resources and media index need modification is a concern and doesn't sound as though it's very friendly to upgrade at all.

I will report back with my findings.

 

Apologies I am not using 2008 for NMC/Server. It is Windows 2012R2.

HI Team,

I would like to know if you successfully migrated the old configuration, data to the new server as I am planning to do the same.

old server : NW 19.2, OS: Windows 2012 and Libraries added for backups

New server : NW 19.9, OSL Windows 2022 

I tried searching the KBs etc but there is no article describing the migration plan. All I had was disaster recovery documents. 

Please let me know how you achieved your requirements.

Thanks,