NetWorker: Red Hat Pacemaker Cluster How to Upgrade NetWorker Server and Best Practices

Prerequisites:

1. Complete a Server Protection backup job from the NetWorker Management Console (NMC) or NetWorker Web User Interface (NWUI). This ensures that the NetWorker server resource database (nsrdb), media database (mm), and client file indexes (index) are backed up and available in the event a disaster recovery is needed. Disaster recovery events are not expected; however, preparing for one is always recommended.

2. Collect bootstrap backup details and make note of them in another location:

mminfo -B

3. Confirm the shared storage location and logical hostname used by the cluster:

a. Run the command: lcmap 
b. The "shared storage" is the owned paths value.
c. Use nslookup to lookup the hostname value.

Example:

root@NWrhelNodeA:~# lcmap
type: NSR_CLU_TYPE;
clu_type: NSR_LC_TYPE;
interface version: 1.0;

type: NSR_CLU_VIRTHOST;
hostname: 192.168.25.26;
local: TRUE;
owned paths: /nsr_share;

clu_nodes: NWrhelNodeA.emclab.local NWrhelNodeB.emclab.local;

root@NWrhelNode1:~# nslookup 192.168.25.26
20.25.168.192.in-addr.arpa      name = NWrhelClusA.emclab.local.

4. Download the NetWorker Linux installation package from: 

https://www.dell.com/support/home/product-support/product/networker/drivers

5. Copy the installation package to each of the nodes in the cluster. For more information see: 

NetWorker (Linux): How to copy files to/from a Linux NetWorker server.
 

6. Extract the installation package to a location of your choosing: 

tar xvf nwVERSION_linux_x86_64.tar.gz

Upgrade Procedure:

On one of the nodes, perform the following:

1. Stop NetWorker server services:

pcs resource disable nws

2. Wait for the NetWorker resource (nws) to show as "stopped (disabled)"

watch -n 5 pcs resource

On each of the nodes in the cluster, perform the following.

3. Stop the client service:

nsr_shutdown

4. Get a list of the installed NetWorker packages.

rpm -qa | grep lgto

5. Change directories into the extracted installation package (see Prerequisite step 5):

cd linux_x86_64

6. Upgrade the existing NetWorker packages with the new installation packages:

rpm -Uvh PACKAGE_1 PACKAGE_2 PACKAGE_3 ...

7. Run the authentication service configuration script:

/opt/nsr/authc-server/scripts/authc_configure.sh

8. Start the client service on each node

/usr/sbin/nsrexecd

On one of the nodes, perform the following:

9. Re-enable the NetWorker resource, this process starts up the NetWorker server services:

pcs resource enable nws

10. Wait for the NetWorker resource to show as "started":

watch -n 5 pcs resource

The cluster NetWorker server has been upgraded.