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NetBackup™ Upgrade Guide

Last Published: 2023-11-27

Product(s): NetBackup (10.3.0.1, 10.3)

Upgrade requirements for Windows and Windows clusters

Table: 10.3 requirements for Windows and Windows clusters describes the requirements to prepare your Windows systems for 10.3 installation. Use this table as a checklist to address each item.

For the most up-to-date information about installation requirements, Veritas recommends use of the SORT website. More information about SORT is available.

See About Veritas Services and Operations Readiness Tools.

Caution:

Veritas supports moving the 10.3 catalog with the nbdb_move command to a non-default location on a Windows cluster after installation or upgrade. Before any upgrades, however, you must move the 10.3 catalog back to the default location for the upgrade to succeed. Do not attempt a 10.3 upgrade if the catalog is not in the default location. You primary server is rendered unusable if you fail to move the database back to the default location before upgrade. More information about the nbdb_move is available.

10.3 Commands Reference Guide

Table: 10.3 requirements for Windows and Windows clusters

Check	Requirement	Details
	Operating system	Make sure that you have applied the most current operating system patches and updates, including any security updates. If you are not certain that your operating system is current, contact your operating system vendor and request the latest patches and upgrades. For a complete list of compatible Windows operating systems, refer to the Software Compatibility List (SCL) at the following website: http://www.netbackup.com/compatibility
	Memory	Use the information that is shown to correctly size your server: The SORT website. See About Veritas Services and Operations Readiness Tools. General details on how to size your NetBackup environment. See Size guidance for the NetBackup primary server and domain. Detailed information about planning and tuning your NetBackup environment are available. These details are found in the NetBackup Backup Planning and Performance Tuning Guide.
	Disk space	An NTFS partition. The exact amount of space that is required to accommodate the server software and the 10.3 catalogs depends on the hardware platform. More information about this topic is available. 10.3 Release Notes for 10.3 Upgrades require additional space on the primary drive, even if NetBackup is installed to an alterative location. The primary drive is the drive where Windows is installed. For server upgrades Veritas requires 2.8 GB of free space on the primary Windows drive when you install NetBackup to an alternative drive location. For client upgrades Veritas requires 1.7 GB of free space on the primary Windows drive when you install NetBackup to an alternative drive location. 10.3 catalogs contain information about your backups that become larger as you use the product. The disk space that the catalogs require depends primarily on the following aspects of your backup configuration: The number of files that are backed up. The frequency of your backups. The amount of time that you set to retain your backup data. Veritas recommends that you have a minimum available disk space of 5% in any Disk Storage Unit volume or file system. Note: The value for disk space is for initial installation only. The 10.3 catalog requires considerably more space once the primary server is placed in a production environment.
	General requirements	Make sure that you have all of the following items: 10.3 installation ESD images Appropriate license files More information is available: https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100058779 Administrator account and password for all servers Screen resolution configured for at least 1024x768, 256 colors. Note: To install 10.3 on Windows 2012 R2, Windows 2012 UAC-enabled, Windows Server 2016, Windows 2019, and Windows 2022 environments, you must log on as the official administrator. Users that are assigned to the Administrators Group and are not the official administrator cannot install 10.3 in UAC-enabled environments. To allow users in the Administrators Group to install 10.3, disable UAC.
	Remote and cluster installations	In addition to all previously stated installation requirements, the following guidelines apply to remote installations and cluster installations: All nodes in the cluster must run the same operating system version, service pack level, and 10.3 version. You cannot mix versions of server operating systems. The installation account must have administrator privileges on all remote systems or on all nodes in the cluster. The source system (or primary node) must run Windows 2012/2012 R2/Windows 2016. The destination PC (or clustered nodes) must have Windows 2012/2012 R2/Windows 2016. The Remote Registry service must be started on the remote system. The 10.3 installer can enable and start the Remote Registry service on the remote system. If the Remote Registry service is not started, the installation receives the following error message: Attempting to connect to server server_name failed with the following error: Unable to connect to the remote system. One possible cause for this is the absence of the Remote Registry service. Please ensure this service is started on the remote host and try again. 10.3 virtual name and IP address Have the virtual name and IP address for 10.3 available. You must provide this information during installation. Cluster support changes for media servers You cannot perform a new installation of a clustered media server. Windows Server Failover Clusters (WSFC) The shared disk that the 10.3 Group uses must already be configured in the cluster and online on the active node. Install 10.3 from the node with the shared disk (that is, the active node). Computer or host names cannot be longer than 15 characters. Cluster server (VCS) clusters: All 10.3 disk resources must be configured in Veritas Enterprise Administrator (VEA) before you install 10.3. Cluster node device configuration and upgrades When you upgrade clusters, the `ltid` and the robotic daemons retrieve the device configuration for a particular cluster node from the EMM database. The cluster node name (provided by `gethostname`) stores or retrieves the device configuration in the EMM database. The cluster node name is used when any updates are made to the device configuration, including when `ltid` updates the drive status. The cluster node name is only used to indicate where a device is connected. The 10.3 virtual name is employed for other uses, such as the robot control host. More information about cluster requirements is available. 10.3 Clustered Primary Server Administrator's Guide
	Remote Administration Console host names	You must provide the names of the Remote Administration Console hosts during primary server installation.
	10.3 communication	Make sure that your network configuration allows all servers and clients to recognize and communicate with one another. Generally, if you can reach the clients from a server by using the ping command, the setup works with 10.3. 10.3 services and port numbers must be the same across the network. Veritas suggests that you use the default port settings for 10.3 services and Internet service ports. If you modify the port numbers, they must be the same for all primary servers, media servers, and clients. The port entries are in the following file: %SYSTEMROOT%\system32\drivers\etc\services. To change the default settings, you must perform a custom installation of 10.3 or manually edit the `services` file.
	CIFS-mounted file systems	Veritas does not support installation of 10.3 in a CIFS-mounted directory. File locking in CIFS-mounted file systems can be unreliable.
	Storage devices	Devices such as robots and standalone tape drives must be installed according to the manufacturers' instructions and recognized by the Windows software.
	Server names	When you are prompted for server names, always enter the appropriate host names. Do not enter IP addresses.
	Mixed versions	Make sure to install 10.3 servers with a release level that is at least equal to the latest client version that you plan to use. Earlier versions of server software can encounter problems with later versions of client software. See About compatibility between NetBackup versions.
	Installations on Windows 2012/2012 R2 Server Core/Windows 2016	You can only install 10.3 on these computers with the silent installation method. See Performing silent upgrades on Windows systems.
	Other backup software	Remove any other vendor's backup software currently configured on your system. The backup software of another vendor can negatively affect how 10.3 installs and functions.
	Web Services	Beginning with 10.3 8.0, the 10.3 primary server includes a configured Tomcat web server to support critical backup operations. This web server operates under user account elements with limited privileges. These user account elements must be available on each primary server (or each node of a clustered primary server). More information is available: See NetBackup primary server web server user and group creation. Note: Veritas recommends that you save the details of the user account that you use for the 10.3 Web Services. A primary server recovery requires the same 10.3 Web Services user account and credentials that were used when the 10.3 catalog was backed up. Note: If the 10.3 PBX is running in secure mode, please add the web service user as authorized user in PBX. More information about determining PBX mode and how to correctly add users is available. http://www.veritas.com/docs/000115774
	NetBackup database user	NetBackup 10.2 introduced the requirement for a non-administrative user for the NetBackup database. For Windows, this account must be a non-Administrative user. The account must be on each primary server (or each node of a clustered primary server). For security purposes, do not create an account with administrator or superuser privileges. More information about this account is available. See NetBackup database user.
	CA Certificate fingerprint	(Conditional) For media servers and clients only: If you use a NetBackup Certificate Authority, you must know the CA Certificate fingerprint of the primary server at time of installation. This requirement only applies if you use a NetBackup Certificate Authority. More information is available about the details on the CA Certificate fingerprint and its role in generation of security certificates. https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.000127129
	Authorization Token	(Conditional) For media servers and clients only: In some cases, the installer requires an authorization token to successfully deploy security certificates. More information is available about the details on authorization tokens and their role in generation of security certificates. In some cases, if you use a NetBackup Certificate Authority, the installer requires an authorization token to successfully deploy security certificates. More information is available about the details on authorization tokens and their role in generation of security certificates. https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.000127129
	External certificate authority	For primary servers (including cluster): The configuration of an external certificate authority is a post-installation activity. For media servers and clients: You can configure the ECA during the install procedure or after the installation completes. More information about post-installation configuration is available: https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100044300 For more information, see the 10.3 Security and Encryption Guide and refer to the chapter on external CA and external certificates.

See Upgrade requirements for UNIX and Linux.