Veritas NetBackup™ Appliance Upgrade Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): Appliances (3.1.1)

Guidelines and best practices for upgrading NetBackup appliances

This topic describes the guidelines and best practices that you should follow anytime you plan to upgrade appliance software.

Use the following information to help prepare for an appliance upgrade and to help avoid situations that can prevent a successful upgrade.

  • Make sure that your appliance environment currently uses software version 2.7.1, 2.7.2, 2.7.3, 3.0, or 3.1. Only these versions support a direct upgrade to version 3.1.1.

  • Starting with software version 3.1, you can perform upgrades from the Appliance Management Console. Appliances that use software versions 2.7.3 and 3.0 are also supported for upgrades through the console, if the appropriate EEB is installed before the upgrade. After you review all upgrade guidelines and perform the required pre-upgrade tasks, refer to the Veritas Appliance Management Guide for the upgrade procedure.

    Note:

    The Appliance Management Console does not currently support upgrading appliances (nodes) in an HA setup. You must use the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu to upgrade these appliances.

  • Always perform a full disaster recovery (DR) backup before an upgrade.

  • To make sure that there is enough space for the upgrade, delete all previously downloaded release updates, client packages, and client add-ons from the appliance before the upgrade. As a best practice, always remove downloaded packages after all appliances and clients have been upgraded.

    If the appliance that you want to upgrade has ever had appliance version 2.6.0.1 installed, it requires a different method for client package removal.

    See Pre-upgrade tasks for appliance upgrades.

  • Follow the same upgrade order for appliances as for traditional NetBackup upgrades. Always begin by updating the master server appliance, then upgrade all media server appliances.

  • If you have multiple media servers to upgrade, you must perform the upgrade process on each individual media server.

    Appliance media servers (nodes) in an HA setup are updated one at a time. Both nodes must use the same appliance software version. Once you have upgraded one node, you must upgrade the other node immediately.

    See About upgrades for NetBackup Appliance HA setups.

  • If a traditional NetBackup master server is used with a media server appliance, that master server must have the same NetBackup version or later as the media server appliance. For example, before you upgrade a media server appliance with NetBackup appliance version 3.1.2, first upgrade the NetBackup software on the master server to version 8.1.2.

    See About corresponding NetBackup software versions .

  • Make sure that the NetBackup master server is active and running throughout the duration of an appliance media server upgrade. In addition, make sure that the NetBackup processes are started or running on both the master server and the media server.

    Note:

    Only NetBackup services should be active during an upgrade. All jobs must be stopped, suspended, or prevented from running during an upgrade.

    See Pre-upgrade tasks for appliance upgrades.

  • If you have enabled the STIG feature on an appliance and you need to upgrade it or install an EEB on it, do not plan such installations during the 4:00am - 4:30am time frame. By following this best practice, you can avoid interrupting the automatic update of the AIDE database and any monitored files, which can cause multiple alert messages from the appliance.

  • NetBackup clients must use the same or an earlier software version as the appliance. Clients cannot run at a later version than the appliance. For example, a client with NetBackup version 8.1.2 can only be used with an appliance server with version 3.1.2 or later. Client add-ons must also be the same as the client version.

    See About corresponding NetBackup software versions .

  • Use a compatible version of the NetBackup Administration Console to manage the NetBackup services.

    The NetBackup Administration Console is backward-compatible. A patch release (x.x.x.x) console is compatible with a major (x.x) or minor NetBackup release (x.x.x) that shares the same first and second digits.

    For example, the 7.6.1.2 console is compatible with a 7.6 NetBackup server. However, a NetBackup 7.6.1.2 console cannot administer a 7.5.0.7 NetBackup server. The following table shows various examples:

Table: Backward compatibility for the NetBackup Administration Console

NetBackup Administration Console version

NetBackup server version

Supported combination

7.7.3

7.7

Yes

7.6.1.2

7.6

Yes

7.6.1.2

7.5.0.7

No (second digit does not match)

7.5.0.7

7.5

Yes

7.1.0.7

7.5

No (second digit does not match)