promote an existing networker client to server

[lnbnatera]

hi,

is it possible to promote an existing networker client to server without loosing the save sets of the client?

i cannot find any documentation which discusses this idea of moving a networker server. the instructions found in the tech bulletin (moving the networker server to a new unix host) assumes that the desitination server is an entirely new one.

thanks,

 

[NWNinja]

Hi lnbn0507!
That would not be recommended, as you will need to keep the hostname of the old server for a number of reasons. So moving the server to an existing client would mean renaming the client to the old server name (keeping th same ip is also recommended). However, you can ofcourse keep the client definition and set up remote access on it. You should then be able to do directed recovers of the data to another host.

Cheers!
Maverick

 

[lnbnatera]

hi,

what do you mean by "remote access"?

thanks

 

[NWNinja]

The Remote access field on the client definition. Add a user and a hostname (user@host) to give that user on that machine access to perform directed recovers of the old client.

Cheers!
Maverick

 

[lnbnatera]

> However, you can ofcourse keep the client definition and
> set up remote access on it. You should then be able to do
> directed recovers of the data to another host.

what do you mean by keep the client definition? isnt it that when the server is transfer, the client will loose all its associated save sets since the clientid of the old server will be used for the new server?

 

[NWNinja]

Ok, let´s see if i can explain myself a bit more. If anybody has any suggestions, please feel free to correct me. =)

Adam is the current server, and Calvin is the client you want to promote to a server. You will need to rename host Calvin to Adam, and also give it Adam´s ip adress. With "rename" i mean on OS level, not in NetWorker Admin. This way, the host id should remain the same as well as the client id (which i *think* is based on the hostname and ip). You will not need to touch/alter the client definitions in NetWorker Admin in any way. You will ofcourse need to take the current server offline.

Then, install the server package on the new host (old host Calvin, which should now be namned Adam) and either just copy the mm, index and res folders from the old server, or do a mmrecov which should work fine.

Since the old client Calvin still has it´s definition in NW Admin, you will still have access to all the savesets, but the host does not exist anymore (we renamed it to Adam). So, we need to give another host access to the backed up data, and this is where the Remote access comes into play. Just add user@hostname in the Remote access field of the old Calvin definition, and that user on that host can perform a directed recover of Calvin´s old savesets to the "hostname" machine.

You should make a note of the hostid and clientid of the old server, so you can compare them to those on the new host. They *should* (and need) be the same.

Hope this makes it a bit more clear, and i hope it´s accurate.

Cheers!
Maverick

 

[NWNinja]

Also check out this Technote:

http://softwaresupport.emc.com/support/resolutions/dmfrmresolutionview.asp?id=67467

Cheers!
Maverick

 

[lnbnatera]

hi NWninja,

i have no choice but to transfer the networker server to a new host with a "new hostname" and "new ip address.

 

[NWNinja]

Ok, take a look at this technote from EMC. Unfourtunately, i cannot link directly to it as it requires you to login in order to view it.
----

Moving a server to another machine with a different hostname where, old-server will be a client of new-server and continue to use it's indexes and save sets

=====================================================================
IMPORTANT: Rehosting a NetWorker Server
=====================================================================
If you need to transfer the server software to another computer (or transfer the computer to another IP address), the authorization code is invalidated. You must get a Host Transfer Affidavit from Legato Customer Service, complete the form, and submit it to Legato. You will receive new authorization codes, which you must install within 15 days, or the NetWorker software becomes disabled.

----------------
Important
----------------
Before starting the NetWorker software on the new server, you must remove the server software from the computer you transferred it from, or shut down that computer's nsrd daemon. If you start the nsrd daemon on another computer with the same enabler or authorization code, you will receive a copy violation error message and the software will become disabled.

====================================================================================


Task 1: Back up the NetWorker Servers as follows:
----------------------------------------------------

1. Make a full Back up of the Source Server.

2. Before removing the NetWorker software from the old-NetWorker-server, save all indexes and bootstraps as level full on a single tape for the default pool. If the old-NetWorker-server was previously setup to use a pool other than the default to save the indexes and bootstrap, temporarily disable that pool. Put one instance of each client in a group called "TEST" to do a full backup of indexes of all clients and bootstrap. To save the indexes and bootstraps, enter the following command:
# savegrp -l full -O -G TEST (Group name is case sensitive)

3. Retrieve the latest bootstrap information from the old-NetWorker-server. (Note: The bootstrap notification information is required to run the mmrecov command). For further details, refer to "Bootstrap Notification" in the NetWorker Administration Guides for Windows or Unix. .

Task 2: Move the NetWorker Software from One UNIX Server to Another as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Shut down the old-NetWorker-server and the new-NetWorker-server. (From here the old-NetWorker-server will be offline since you re using the same hostname for the new-NetWorker-server).

2. Change the hardware devices (jukebox) from the old-NetWorker-server to the new-NetWorker-server. Make sure to configure the hardware devices for the operating system platform.

3. Restart the new-NetWorker-server.

4. Install the NetWorker software on the new-NetWorker-server and apply all applicable NetWorker patches. For detailed installation instructions, refer to NetWorker Installation Guide appropriate for your operating system and the NetWorker software version.

5. Start the NetWorker software and then configure at least one tape device for use during running the mmrecov command.

6. Load the bootstrap tape as follows:
a) Manually insert the volume containing the bootstrap using the jukebox control panel.
-OR-
b) Run the nsrjb command as follows:
# nsrjb -nlv -S (slot) -f (device-name)
Where (slot) represents the slot number location of the bootstrap tape.

Warning!: Do not use the nwadmin GUI to mount the bootstrap volume before the media database is recovered from the bootstrap.


Task 3: Recover the Bootstrap Save Set to the new-NetWorker-server as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note:
Recovering a very large server index and media database can take several hours.

1. Make sure the NetWorker daemons are running.

2. Use the mmrecov command to recover the media database and resource configuration files
to the new-NetWorker-server.

3. Shutdown the NetWorker daemons

4. Replace the /nsr/res directory with the recovered /nsr/res.R directory. The /nsr/res directory, which contains the configuration files, cannot be reliably overwritten while NetWorker software is running; therefore, mmrecov recovers the /nsr/res directory as /nsr/res.R.

5. Restart the NetWorker daemons. The new-NetWorker-server should now be using the old-NetWorker-server's index, media database and configuration files.


Task 4: Finish the NetWorker recovery on new-NetWorker-server as per:
------------------------------------------------------------------------


If the old_NetWorker_server is to be a client of the new_NetWorker_server then you want to only give temporary permission to the new_NetWorker_server so as it can recover the old_NetWorker_server's (index) save sets for transferring to the new_NetWorker_server.

Expectations with this are:

- you can have the old_NetWorker_server as a client to the new_NetWorker_server.
- the new_NetWorker_server and old_NetWorker_server will have different clientIDs.
- you must use save set recovery to recover the indexes.
- old_NetWorker_server can still recover its old data to the old_NetWorker_server's hardware.

There are two approaches for giving permission to the new_NetWorker_server to recover indexes previously managed by the old_NetWorker_server:

Approach A)
Gives the new_NetWorker_server permission in the old_NetWorker_server.'s client resource within NetWorker, to recover all of the old_NetWorker_server's client index savesets.

or

Approach B)
The old_NetWorker_server is made to be an alias of the new_NetWorker_server. This is configured in the hosts tables, which makes new_NetWorker_server and old_NetWorker_server appear as the same host and ultimately gives new_NetWorker_server permission to recover all the client file indexes using nsrck -L7. (old_server must physically be off the network to avoid network contention until the hosts table changes are reversed)

Details for both approaches follow:

======================================================
Task 4: APPROACH A:
======================================================
Allows Save Set recovery of client indexes by giving permission to new_server to recover all client index save, old_server can remain as a client of new_server

Upon completion of these procedures where the new_server has recovered all the client file indexes (previously owned by old_server), the old_server can continue to be a NetWorker client of new_server and thus, old_server will still be able to browse its old indexes and recover old data.

1. Add the new_server name to the Remote Access field of the old_server's client resource.

2. Using Saveset recovery, recover the indexs from the old-server to the new_server, (you may need, for each client index, to recover multiple savesets starting with the level full and then all level 9 save sets to fully recover an entire index):
recover -S ssid_of_client_index

3. Run nsrck -L6 to rebuild indexes

4. All old_clients indexes are now moved to new_server

5. You may now remove new_server from old_server's "Remote Access" or leave for additional save set recovers of filsesystem data.

Skip Approach B and goto "Task 5: Completing the move process" below.

======================================================
Task 4: APPROACH B:
======================================================
Makes old_server a hosts table alias of new_server

Upon completion of these procedures after the new_server has recovered all the client file indexes (previously owned by old_server), the old_server can continue to be a NetWorker client of new_server and thus, old_server will still be able to browse its old indexes and recover old data.


1. Modify the hosts name lookup file (hosts) by inserting the old_server_name in front of The new_server_name, i.e.

xxxx.xxxx.xxxx.xxxx old_server_name new_server_name new_server_name.org.com

Where the old_serevr_name is the name of the client owning the index savesets, returned by mminfo command:
mminfo -a -q name=bootstrap -r client

On Unix, additionally set the /etc/nsswitch.conf to point to the /etc/hosts files first

2. Run nsrck -L7

3. Once the indexes are recovered return the hosts table (and on Unix, /etc/nsswitch.conf) back.


Task 5: Completing the move process
-----------------------------------------------

To complete the renaming process, do the following, if applicable:

- A hardware change that changes the host ID of the NetWorker server invali.dates the NetWorker license. In this case, you must obtain a new authorization code from LEGATO Licensing. To contact LEGATO Licensing, send e-mail to licensing@legato.com or call 1-650-812-6000, select option 3, and then option 2. To enter the new authorization code, follow the instructions provided by LEGATO Licensing.

- Make any necessary modifications to attributes in the Client resource for the NetWorker server. For example, the Groups, Browse and Retention Policy attributes may require modifications since the NetWorker server hostname has been changed.

- Update references to the original NetWorker server hostname in the pool configuration, label template, and notification
resources.

- Add the new NetWorker server hostname to the /nsr/res/servers file, or for Unix, if not using the servers file, modify the 'nsrexecd -s backup_server' statement in the NetWorker startup script for each NetWorker client. After adding the NetWorker server hostname to the /nsr/res/servers file, you must restart the NetWorker client daemon (nsrexecd).

- If using NetWorker Database Modules with the NetWorker software for backups and recoveries, make appropriate updates. For example:

a) If using the NetWorker Module for Oracle, update the NSR_SERVER environment variable to reflect the new NetWorker server hostname. The NSR_SERVER variable is located in the RMAN script.

b) If using the NetWorker Module for SAP/R3 with Oracle, update the init<ORACLE_SID>.ult file to reflect the new NetWorker server hostname.

c) If using any other NetWorker Module product, refer to the appropriate LEGATO documentation.

- Once done, verify that the indexes are browsable.

- Test backups and recoveries and other NetWorker operations to verify correct operation.
----


I hope that points you in the right direction.

Cheers!
Maverick