I recently upgraded a Netbackup infrastructure from version 6.5 to version 7.1. Here are some of my observations and advice:

1. Preparation took longer than the actual upgrade of the server. Pre-installation tasks included understanding the architecture of the backup infrastructure including the master and media server, disk-based backup, and ndmp; checking the hardware (processor, memory, disk space) and operating system version were compatible and up to snuff; checking the general health of the running Netbackup software including the devices and policies; backing up the catalog database; obtaining updated Netbackup licenses from Symantec; downloading the base Netbackup software and the patches; joining, unzipping, and untarring software and patches; and other related tasks. Planning and preparation are really the key for a successful upgrade. These activities will save a lot of trouble during the upgrade process.

2. The upgrade process was seamless. On Solaris server, I ran the “install” command to start the upgrade. The process asked for several questions. Some packages were already integrated in the base package such as ndmp, so the program asked for the existing Netbackup ndmp package to be uninstalled. The part that took longer was the catalog database upgrade.

3. Upgrade of client agents was also easy. Upgrading UNIX and Linux clients was completed using the push tool “update_clients.” Windows clients were upgraded using the Netbackup Windows installation program. One good thing though was that no reboot was necessary. Also, I found out that Windows 2000 and Solaris 8 clients were not supported on 7.1, although it will still backup using the old 6.5 agent.

4. For bmr (bare metal restore), there was no need for a separate boot server. All client install included the boot server assistant software.

5. The GUI administration interface is almost the same, except for some new features such as vmware support.

6. The java administration console is so much better, in terms of responsiveness.