Legato 7.4

[nyck]

My backup server is currently running Legato Networker 7.1.2 and its working like a dream. For some reason management are pushing us to upgrade to 7.4. Can anyone out there give me a reason why I should do this?

My existing backup solution works fine and I cannot see any point to upgrading to 7.4!

 

[605]

Never change a running system! - In general, i completely support this opinion.

Unfortunately, there might be some support issues with the client side programs so that the clients might need an update. On the other hand, the server and SN software should always run at least the same if not a later version. Consequently the only chance is to update the server as well. It must start here.

 

[mblm07]

The fact that it won't be supported may also be a consideration, best efforts only from EMC. no patching. EOL for 7.2.x - 30/06/08 & 7.3.x - 31/12/08

 

[jjack5]

Hi Nyk,

NW 7.1.2 is no longer supported.
NW 7.4 is a big change.
All the rpc are TCP based and the introductions of the new daemons like nsrmmgd , nsrlcpd , nsrjobd require OS system tunings.

Fisrt advice: increase the file descriptors.
On Solaris a custoemr has to increase it to 2048 after migartion from 7.2 to 7.4 to avoid nsrd hangs.

JJ>

 

[nyck]

Cheers for all the advice. Its looking like we are upgrading all our Legato servers EMEA wide to 7.4.x!

So currently I have a 7.1.2 server installed on my V880, can I upgrade to 7.4.x?

Or do I do the following:-

take a copy of the index & res directory
remove legato 7.1.2
install legato 7.4.x
copy back the index & res directories into /nsr

 

[helplegato]

Hi,

when we updated from 7.3.x (buggy version) to 7.4.x on a windows system, support told us that the databases had some changes. So we had to update for database changes.
Just keep in mind a good copy for the old version

thomas

 

[mrberry]

We recently upgraded from 7.2.2 to 7.4.1 and then to 7.4.2. and I wish we did not have to do it.

The upgrade process from 7.2.x to 7.4.x is irreversible as the database structure is different in 7.4.x and the upgrade changes the structure. So in preparation for upgrading I would recommend making a copy of your indexes so you can quickly revert back if you have problem.

I would also recommend making sure you have your licensing in order as you need an upgrade license in order for it to function after the upgrade. If you have VTLs you may need to trade in a physical tape library license for there new VTL style license.

We we forced to upgrade for several reasons:

1) There was is a feature in 7.4.x that allows you to have a different retention policy on a clone from the original backup. We needed this as we did not have space on our VTL to keep retentions as long as we wanted on the physical tapes.

2) We had a problem that we were told was fixed in 7.4.1. It turned out to be something else.

3) 7.2.2 was soon to be EOL.


We have found 7.4.1 to be very buggy and were told the fixes to our problems were in 7.4.2. This was a minor upgrade, but still requires an uninstall and re-install of the Networker packages (our server is running Solaris). We have also found 7.4.2 to be buggy.

The major issues we have had in 7.4.x is with the job database which is new to 7.4.x (not sure if it was in 7.3.x as we never ran that version). There is a problem were occasionally it corrupts itself and EMC support can't tell us why this happens. In fact EMC support has kind of admitted that there is a huge problem with the job database and they don't seem to know how to fix the bug. In order to fix the corruption we have had to stop Networker and remove the database and restart.

The indexes also seem more prone to corruption if Networker is not shutdown cleanly than it was in 7.2.x

Other issues we have had is the removal of LUS driver support in Solaris 10. Networker now uses the Solaris sgen drivers and many of the old sj* commands no longer work. It took a lot of research to figure out how to discover jukeboxes and get get the correct tape drive order. EMC support was not much help, pushing the issue off to everyone else (OS vendor, HBA vendor, tape library vendors etc)

The new version also seems to be more tied to DNS and we had a lot of problems getting Networker to start up fully in our DR testing.

There is also a new web based GUI in 7.4.x (which I believe was introduced in 7.3.x) and they took away the old nwadmin X-based GUI. Although, we have hacked it so that we can still use nwadmin - we use it only for display purposes and do all the configuration in the new GUI. The new GUI has a lot more functionally, but takes some getting use to if you used nwamdin. The nwadmin GUI is better for seeing what activity is going on as the new one is more drill down to look at individual objects.

I would have to say that we found 7.2.x to be far more stable and robust than 7.4.x.

 

[605]

@mrberry

Sorry to hear about all your problems on which nobody of us can help without further information. However, using NetWorker 7.2.x since a while, you should know that you must run a good index/bootstrap backup as prerequisite to revert an update and that from time to time NW requests update enablers.

The index structure did not change at all - yes, some internal changes and additional attributes have been added in the media index, but NW uses the same structure since version 6.0. However, the resources have changed their structure and new databases (like the jobsdb) have been introduced. So if you say that "the databases become corrupt when you shutdown NW" please be a bit more specific. In fact, NW now shuts down in the proper sequence on UNIX which was not the case in earlier versions.

That NW relies on a good DNS configuration is in fact not new at all - it just checks it a bit more extensive now.

Finally, let me suggest that you download the "Technical Guidance for Upgrades to EMC NetWorker 7.4 Service Pack 2" from Powerlink. It is rather new and contains a lot of information which might help you in your case.

 

[mrberry]

605

I was not really looking for assistance with problems we are having, but rather replying nyck's my experience with upgrading and my thoughts on 7.4.x.

We do run index/bootstrap backup regularly, but it would take so long to recover all our clients that this in not a good option for us to use to revert back to 7.2.x. Yes we could use it in an emergency (and we do use it for our DR exercises), but it is much quicker for us to used a mirrored index file system.

I do not know the internals of the database structure but we were told by EMC support that upgrading to 7.4.x from 7.2.x would cause changes to be made to the databases in such a way that we could not use them if we wished to revert back to 7.2.x.

I did not say that (in your words) "the databases become corrupt when you shutdown NW", what I said was "The indexes also seem more prone to corruption if Networker is not shutdown cleanly than it was in 7.2.x". We have had issues where we have had to shutdown NW (mainly because of the job db corruption) where NW will not come down as some processes do not die, no matter how long we wait and we have had to kill them. Yes, this is not a good thing to do, but we are left with no choice. We never had so many issues of happening in 7.2.x.

The problems with the job db corruption occur when during normal running and we have to shutdown in order to fix by removing the job db so that a fresh (uncorrupted) version is created upon startup. This is the process we have been told to use by EMC support and as previously stated they have kind of admitted that there is a problem that is not fixed.

We also seem to have more DNS issues than we ever had in 7.2.x, but this could also be due to the fact that we upgraded our OS from Solaris 8 to Solaris 10 at the same time we upgraded NW.

 

[jhulbe]

IIRC older versions of Legato wouldn't allow me to copy media list by just selecting and hitting CTRL+C.. in 7.4 I am able to do so.

Also I think our older version servers here auto ping the box or something, so if you have the media listing all sorted out and pulled up it will auto refresh and mix all your tapes back up. Which caused me to have to resort the media listings.

I've had nothing but a good experience with 7.4

Another big thing is older verison i would inventory the host box and it would basically render the software unusable while it inventoried, or ejecetd media..

Now It just goes down into a little queue section and does its work. While still allowing me to navigate through the software.. Cheers for them on that one.

but i'm and end-user, and non-support guy, so ofcourse I love it I don't deal with the problems.

 

[Calippo]

I supported NetWorker for a premium EMC partner for a couple of years. Version 7.1 was pretty good but 7.2.2 was the most solid version. If you can stay at 7.2.2 for a long as possible, please do. An upgrade from 7.1 to 7.2 is straight forward.

If you have functionality justification to go to 7.4 then you must consider that plus of cause the EOL status with the pervious releases.

7.4 is very differant on the AdminGUI.
Some customers loved it but other found it a stuggle.
7.4 certainly has more features an functionality that make it a viable move but only if you would benifit from these.
Make sure you check the support matrix before any upgrade as old versions of apps and old OS's get droped on new releases.

regards

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EMCTA & EMCIE - Backup & Recovery
Legato & Commvault Certified Specialist
MCSE