NetWorker: Upgrade Windows operating system - Best Practices for Protecting the NetWorker Server

Summary: The process outlined in this KB details best practice for protecting NetWorker during upgrades of the Windows operating system of a NetWorker server.

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Instructions

NOTE: NetWorker support does not perform operating system or software upgrades. For guidance, see the NetWorker Installation documentation under https://www.dell.com/support/home/product-support/product/networker-family/docs. If you would like assistance with the upgrade process, contact your Dell Site Account Manager or Sales Rep to engage with the Dell Professional Services team.
 

PRE-STEPS

1. Perform a "Server Protection" backup job from the NetWorker Management Console (NMC) or NetWorker Web User Interface (NWUI). 
2. Collect the bootstrap details and run the following command from an Administrator command prompt on the NetWorker server: 
mminfo -B
NOTE: The bootstrap device should be a ddboost device, tape device, or AFTD device that is separate from the NetWorker server. Bootstrap backups should not be performed to the NetWorker server's local system.

3. (Optional) If the NetWorker server is a VM you can also create a snapshot of the NetWorker server prior to performing the operating system upgrades.
4. (Optional) Create zipped copies of the following directories. These copies can be stored on another drive or remote server:
  • ..\Program Files\EMC NetWorker\nsr\index
  • ..\Program Files\EMC NetWorker\nsr\mm
  • ..\Program Files\EMC NetWorker\nsr\res

SUGGESTED STEPS

1. On the NetWorker server, open an Administrator command prompt and stop NetWorker services:

net stop nsrexecd /y
taskkill /F /IM nsr*
taskkill /F /IM save* 

2. Open services.msc, open the NetWorker service properties for each of the NetWorker services installed and Disable them. This prevents services from coming up during system reboots which may occur during the operating system upgrades.

services.msc
If the NMC is installed, you should also see:

NMC services
Depending on what NetWorker packages are installed some of the above services may not be listed. 

4. Perform the operating system upgrades.
5. Once the operating system upgrades are complete and all upgrade related reboots are performed go back into services.msc and reset the services startup options (as shown above).
6. Perform another clean reboot and allow the services to come up with the operating system.
7. Once the server has been rebooted confirm that the NetWorker services are running in services.msc or with the following commands (admin command prompt):

tasklist | findstr nsr
tasklist | findstr nwui      <--- Only if NWUI server is installed
tasklist | findstr gst       <--- Only if NMC server is installed

 

 Any file/folder copies or VM snapshots created prior to upgrade can be cleaned up as per your discretion. 

Additional Information

NetWorker Documentation and Downloads:
Location for NetWorker Documentation
Location for NetWorker Downloads

NetWorker Disaster Recovery:
NetWorker: How to get your Current Bootstrap Location?
NetWorker: How To Recover the NetWorker Bootstrap
How to recover a bootstrap using nsrdr
https://www.dell.com/support/contents/en-ca/videos/videoplayer/networker-example-of-running-nsrdr-to-recover-a-bootstrap/sdqnioox-w4
Documentation for NetWorker - Disaster recovery 

Affected Products

NetWorker Family, NetWorker

Products

NetWorker Series
Article Properties
Article Number: 000216214
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 17 Aug 2023
Version:  1
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