NBU 7.0, Windows Storage Server, Citrix, EMC, oh my!

Started a new job recently and first thing is diving headlong back into Netbackup. How I miss messing around with downed LTO drives... not. As the year progresses, I hope to upgrade the environment to NBU 7.0, bring in Windows Storage Server, learn much more Citrix and get back into EMC storage administration. I will miss NetApp and hope I don't miss VMware too much as I should be able to get in it and work on it later in the year. More posts as I run into issues...

SQL 2008 MSCS cluster verification error

This error confused me for a while and Google didn't come up with many hits so I thought I write something out there to help others that may hit on this seemingly rare issue. I ran into this problem on my 2nd or 3rd SQL 2008 x64 install on a Windows 2008 x64 cluster and they were running on the same hardware (Dell R900). Only thing I didn't do this time was do the actual install of Windows. I figured how different can someone else install Windows?....

SQL 2008 x64 Enterprise installing on Windows 2008 x64 Enterprise Microsoft Cluster Server.

During SQL install verification, it fails a cluster check even thought you've ran a Cluster Verification on your 2008 x64 cluster.



Rule "Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) cluster verification errors" failed.

The cluster either has not been verified or there are errors or failures in the verification report. Refer to KB953748 or SQL Server Books Online for more information.

Netbackup 5.0 Windows cluster migration

If you are in the same boat as me, Netbackup 5.0 Windows Master Server running on old hardware, you will need to migrate to new hardware before you should upgrade to the latest, in this case Netbackup 6.5.1, version. Here is how I performed the migration relatively painlessly.

First you need the new cluster, see my previous post about installing Netbackup offline. I highly recommend keeping the same Master Server name. If you have a cluster like me, you can have a new cluster name and ip but the virtual Master Server name and ip should remain the same. That is where installing Netbackup offline makes sense. Just use a cheap switch and put in host file entries for everything after you build the cluster online. Make sure your new cluster has every single software needed, I forgot Perl and some modules for Perl on mine. You should work with Symantec support on running NBCC to ensure no catalog issues before migration.

Step 1: Old cluster - Do a catalog backup after you stop all running backups.

Netbackup 5.0 cluster install work around

Following the previous post, in order to install Netbackup 5.0 into the MSCS 2003 with a different default drive we had to change the default program files location in the registry. Microsoft apparently does not support it, but they tell you how to anyway. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933700's title even says so, which is kind of hilarious.

I will change it back after and see if it works, I hope this will not have to happen when we are upgrading to 6.5.

Steps to change the ProgramFilesDir registry value to use the default location for the Program Files folder
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To change the location of the Program Files folder back to the default location, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit , and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
3. In the details pane, right-click the ProgramFilesDir registry value, and then click Modify.
4. In the Value data box, type the default location for the Program Files folder, and then click OK.

NoteThe default location of the Program Files folder is systemdrive\Program Files. For example, if Windows is installed on drive C, type C:\Program Files in the Value data box.
5. Exit Registry Editor.

Netbackup 5.0 Cluster Server move overly difficult

Here is the scenario, Windows 2000 MSCS running Netbackup 5.0MP6 master server and I want to move to Windows 2003 MSCS or VCS 5 running Netbackup 6.5.1 on new hardware while keeping the same master server name. My original plan was to install Windows 2003 on new hardware, install VCS 5, install Netbackup 5, migrate over, then upgrade after a couple of weeks. The hardest part of that plan is to keep the same name while production is still running.

Problem is, Netbackup 5 is only supported in VCS 2.0. No one wants to downgrade to VCS 2.0 in order to upgrade later to 5.0, such a huge jump. So I scrap that idea and going back to 2003 MSCS solution. I setup a MSCS cluster, add in host file entries, plug all the public NICs to a switch and do a cluster install of Netbackup. When I finally get it to work, turns out Netbackup won't install to the drive I tell it to...

The shared data drive is fine, installs fine to there, except the base install keeps going to C: drive which I changed and tried twice. It even says in the finish screen that I may need to change permissions to the drive I told it to install to. At this point I'm at a loss, this migration/upgrade has been far more difficult than expected. Some may say Netbackup is job security! I'd say source of high blood pressure.