Hi,
We'd like to install the latest "stable" version of NetWorker Network
Edition for RHEL on a new Linux server and storage node. We have the new
equipment all set and ready to go. These machines have never run NW
before so this will be a fresh install. We're migrating from an old
release (running on Solaris), and I have some questions below.
We've been way behind on this as we didn't have the equipment in place
prior when EMC phased out support for the old release. I've seen a few
posts over the last few months regarding upgrading from old releases so
please hold those tomatoes! I'm looking mainly for advice and/or any
gotchas before proceeding.
First, here are the details for the new and current (old) equipment:
New server
----------
Hardware: Dell PowerEdge 1950
OS: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.4, 64 bit
Memory: 8 GB RAM; dual quad processor (Intel)
Disk space: Lots!
Kernel (`uname -a`): Linux server_name 2.6.18-164.el5 #1 SMP Tue Aug 18
15:51:48 EDT 2009 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
New snode
---------
Hardware: Dell PowerEdge R905
OS: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.4, 64 bit
Memory: 16 GB RAM; four quad processor (ADM)
NIC: 4 GIG LACP Trunk
Disk space: Plenty!
Tape library: SAS attached Dell ML6000 tape library with six LTO-4 drives.
Kernel (`uname -a`): Linux snode_name 2.6.18-164.el5 #1 SMP Tue Aug 18
15:51:48 EDT 2009 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Current server
--------------
Hardware: Sun Enterprise 450
OS: Solaris 2.9, 64-bit
NetWorker: 7.2.2.Build.422 Network Edition
63 client indexes, totaling 21 GB
Media database is 325 MB.
All of /nsr is 16 GB.
Note: we have some indexes that live on two other disks, totaling about
6 GB (16+6=21)
Current snode (1 of 2)
----------------------
Hardware: Dell PowerEdge 6650
OS: Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES release 3, 32-bit
NetWorker: 7.2.2.Build.422 Network Edition
Tape library: LVD SCSI attached StorageTek L80 with eight IBM Ultrium
LTO-3 drives.
Current snode (2 of 2)
----------------------
Hardware: Dell PowerEdge 6650
OS: Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES release 3, 32-bit
NetWorker: 7.2.2.Build.422 Network Edition
Tape library: LVD SCSI attached Quantum M1800 with four SDLT600 drives
(two M1500s stack linked w/ two drives each)
I guess we'll be running the new release in evaluation mode over a few
weeks to test things out. Our current set up features NW 7.2.2, running
with a Solaris primary server and two RH Linux storage nodes. Our plan
was to move the Quantum library over to the new snode and run it on a
separate card from the one(s) that will managing the new Dell LTO-4
tape library and then shut down the old snode (2 of 2). This would be
done once testing of the new server, snode and Dell tape library were
completed. We would keep the other snode (1 of 2) running in parallel
for a quite a while, though, and, of course, those LTO-3 tapes can still
be read on the new LTO-4 library.
My last understanding was that EMC does not officially support migrating
from Solaris to Linux but that many have done so successfully. I would
like to obtain the appropriate media-kit from our Legato rep. and
proceed to read the documentation, do the install and then run some
tests on the new server, library, etc. and, of course, also test
migrating the old database and client indexes from the Solaris box. The
new server will have a different IP name, at least during testing.
Here are some important questions that I have that might not be covered
in the installation notes:
1. What is the most recent version of NW that would be recommended?
We've considered just requesting the latest so we won't have to upgrade
again for a while, but I've seen some negative feedback concerning some
of the later minor releases, but 7.4.4 seemed to be in general favor
with everyone, so wanted to know what media kit to request. I'd rather
be stable and avoid headaches of having to patch or deal with problems
and then another upgrade as soon as the next release fixes that.
2. We considered upgrading the Solaris box first and then doing the
migration to Linux, but we decided against this because if something
goes wrong then we'd be in trouble with our existing backups, and the
upgrade might be irreversible. Seemed better, therefore, to simply
install a whole new release on the new Linux servers, test that and
leave the old Solaris box alone, which we know works. Also, since we're
moving to a whole new OS anyway, maybe using a newer version at the same
time isn't that much more of a hurdle.
Does this sound reasonable?
3. Not sure about little Endian versus big Endian. I know this has been
discussed before, so my thinking was simply to back up all the client
indexes (level=full) using the old server and then restore them from
tape to the new server. Ditto for the media database (disaster recovery,
I guess) and hope that all this should be OS independent. Not sure
whether it was the media database or the client indexes that could just
be copied over? Regardless, since our total disk usage on the old
Solaris server is not that large, I thought maybe I would just recover
the whole thing from tape. Obviously, I will have to scan the tape on
the new server, so maybe I'd use a new tape when I back up the indexes
and bootstrap on the old server so the tape won't contain anything more
than necessary, thereby reducing the scan time.
Does this all sound correct, and is this the recommended approach?
4. As far as an update enabler, since we'd be doing a fresh install,
that would not apply, right? Would there be any concern about recovering
the old Solaris 7.2.2 database on the new Linux server, running the
newer release, because we didn't first upgrade the old Solaris NW
version to a newer version?
5. I'm unclear on how exactly the license keys will work (will talk to
licensing), but I was going to ask for temporary Linux enablers for all
the ones we use now on the Solaris server and then once we're ready to
go production mode, permanently enable those by converting the old
Solaris licenses. Moreover, once we're at that point we'd be dropping
one of two current snodes, so that would free up that snode license, too.
That sound right?
6. What about the host name for the new server once we're ready to start
"real" live nightly backups?
Should we change the old server's host name, back it up from the new
server as a precaution, power it off and then continue running backups
on the new server using the new name, OR change the new backup server's
name to match the old one?
7. Any gotchas or pitfalls we should be aware of in regards to the
migration that might not be explained in the notes?
Thanks!!!
George
--
George Sinclair
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