Networker

Re: [Networker] Migrating from Win32 (x86) to Win64 (x86-x64) - Results

2013-06-12 11:06:44
Subject: Re: [Networker] Migrating from Win32 (x86) to Win64 (x86-x64) - Results
From: Michael Leone <Michael.Leone AT PHA.PHILA DOT GOV>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:59:56 -0400
I thought I would share my results of my doing a migration from a Win32 to 
Win64 server. I mostly followed the set of steps specified by the 
Procedure Generator.

Mostly means:

- After installing NW on the new hardware, I attempted to connect using my 
NMC, mostly to add my tape library, so I could run mmrecov. The NMC 
couldn't connect - I kept getting timeouts. Luckily for me, my NMC 
connects to 2 other NW servers, and on those screens, I (and TS) saw 
messages about "conflicting NSR peer information". So (on my NMC) I had to 
delete the NSR peer information, before the NMC would attempt to connect.
(See: https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-20085  on how to correct that)
- Once I did that, my NMC was able to connect. But now my NMC did not have 
permissions to access the server the way I needed it to. So on the NW 
server, I had to add the NMC and the NMC user, to the authorized list for 
the NW server.

nsraddadmin -u user=system,host=<NMC-IP>
nsraddadmin -u user=administrator,host=<NMC-IP>

I had to add both, so that the administrator sign in on the NMC had rights 
to do things (mount tapes, label, add library, etc).

- then I did the usual "mmrecov" procedure
- Then I shut down all NW services, and copied over the "\nsr\index" 
folder from the old host. I'm running on Windows, so I used the "Rich 
Copy" utility from MS, which is a GUI wrapper on their "robocopy (robust 
copy)" utility. Very fast - be sure to specify 10 Directory threads, so it 
will copy more files at once.
-Then, when it came up, I had to delete the old tape library definition 
that came over from the old NW server (the SCSI ID changed, so the old 
definition wasn't actually connecting to anything). I had to add the 
drives to the proper media pools, etc
- I will have to get all new auth codes. For some reason, all the licenses 
say they will expire in 15 days (June 27); I thought I would have more 
time. It's just tedious, as I have a LOT of license registrations to 
re-entry with new auth codes (61), since the hostid changed.

So my biggest draw back was that deleting of the NSR perr info (which I 
wasn't expecting), and doing the "nsraddadmin" - which I had never done, I 
always added administrator users to a NW server using the NMC. But I 
couldn't use the NMC until I had added the users via command line).

Otherwise, besides the amount of time waiting for all the index files to 
copy over (around 200G), it wasn't too hard, and the Procedure Generator 
steps were all clear (except for the couple small issues above).

Oh, and I didn't add the Windows registry key to enforce persistent names. 
This new server is Win2008 R2, and the old one is Win2003. And I *think* 
they have resolved the issue where the tape device names could change on 
reboot. If it does happen, I will add the key then.