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bc1410's avatar
bc1410
Level 6
2 months ago

Was about to upgrade to NetBackup 10.5 but guess we need to upgrade our RHEL environment?

Hello

We currently have a single server RedHat Linux 7.9 ( Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.9 (Maipo)) that is both our MASTER/MEDIA server currently running NetBackup Enterprise version 10.0.0.1.    We have a current openssl vulnerability in which Veritas doesnt have an EEB for.  They have recently informed us that the openssl has been updated in NetBackup version 10.5

"NetBackup 10.5 has dropped OpenSSL 1.0.2 versions in favor of OpenSSL 3.x.
 Specifically 10.5 has OpenSSL 3.0.14+SL_CCS-2.1.2+b 23 Aug 2024" 

This would clear are vulnerability that has been lagging on our environment.  

So we were about to perform an upgrade from 10.0.0.1 to 10.5.   According to the SORT Compatibility charts etc.  Version 10.5 is compatible with RHEL 7.9 enterprise linux.

But reviewing the 10.5 upgrade guide a second time I noticed that on page 35 the following - not sure how I missed it the first time:

Minimum operating system versions: The minimum operating system that is required for NetBackup is changed. Starting with NetBackup 10.5, the minimum operating system is as shown:

 - RedHat Linux x86: 4.18.0-372 

I opened a ticket with support and they said the following:

Conclusion: Given the kernel version requirement specified in the upgrade guide, your current kernel version (3.10.0-1160.119.1.el7.x86_64) does not meet the minimum requirement of 4.18.0-372 for NetBackup 10.5. Therefore, you cannot upgrade to NetBackup 10.5 with your current RHEL version and kernel.


Im not a guru Linux admin but I don't believe RHEL 7.9 enterprise can have the kernel upgraded to 4.18.0-372.  Waiting to hear back from our Linux admin.  

We have the intention in the near future to upgrade the NetBackup Linux OS version to "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.10 (Ootpa)" which is running a kernel of 4.18.0x.....   Just didn't think we would need to do this now. 

So wanted to see if anyone has some good advise on upgrading a NetBackup Linux OS from RHEL 7.9 to RHEL 8.10.   I don't really see any hits on the web regarding tech notes etc..  I found this but doesn't give me much -  veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100047178

Any help on what to watch out for etc. would be appreciated  Such as do all the Netbackup packages get carried over to the new OS etc.

Thank you very Much!

BC

  • davidmoline's avatar
    davidmoline
    Level 6
    2 months ago

    Hi bc1410 

    You are correct in your assumption that to get a system with a kernel 4.18.xxx, you will need to upgrade from RHEL 7.9 to RHEL 8.x - there is no option to simply upgrade the kernel and leave the rest of the system as is - there would also be other dependencies in NetBackup 10.5 that requires a "proper" RHEL 8.6+ system. 

    If you look at the notes in the SCL (note 2 under RHEL  server - which I think is badly worded), you will see that 10.4.0.1 is the last version supported by RHEL versions up to 8.5 (end_of_life_eol_announcement_and_platforms_no_longer_supported_by_netbackup).

    To perform an in-place upgrade of RHEL you can use the LEAPP utility (available from RHEL). I have used this successfully to upgrade NetBackup master servers from RHEL 8 to 9 (but not from RHEL 7 - although I don't see this should be a problem). The process guides you and provides information on what needs to be addressed prior to attempting the upgrade. I found it relatively painless and reasonably quick once I resolve the couple of issues flagged. 

    That said, if you have a spare machine, I would be looking at building a new RHEL 9.x system to run as your new master (you would have to upgrade your existing system to 10.2 at least and not beyond 10.4.0.1, then you can use this to do a hardware migration to the new server before upgrading to 10.5. A bit more work granted, but you end up on a OS that is not reaching EOL which RHEL 8 is now.

    Cheers 

     

    • bc1410's avatar
      bc1410
      Level 6
      2 months ago

      Thanks David - 

      regarding this - 

      If you look at the notes in the SCL (note 2 under RHEL  server - which I think is badly worded), you will see that 10.4.0.1 is the last version supported by RHEL versions up to 8.5 (end_of_life_eol_announcement_and_platforms_no_longer_supported_by_netbackup).

      I think this is referring to the BASE version of red hat and not the "Enterprise" which we have.  But then again the more I look at this stuff more its making me confused.  Im probably wrong.

      --------- 

      I think we will be upgrading to rhel from 7.9 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 8.10 (Ootpa) per our supervisor.

      So since we are currently on rhel 7.9 with Netbackup 10.0.0.1 are we good to upgrade the OS to RHEL 8.10.  Will Netbackup 10.0.0.1 run on rhel 8.10?

      according to this table It tells me minimum Netbackup level is 10.0 for red hat enterprise linux 8

      I will want to verify everything is running properly in Netbackup 10.0.0.1 running on Red hat enterprise 8.10 before I perform a Netbackup upgrade to 10.5?  makes sense right.? Then once backups and restores are stable I will upgrade to Netbackup 10.5

       

      The verbage is very bad I think as well.  For instance for the Netbackup client table states that enterprise linux 7 x86-64 minimum netbackup level is 10.0, but then the foot note #3 states minimum netbackup version 10.3 is required for rhel 7.9.   They must be talking about the Base version instead of enterprise.   We have many current Netbackup clients running 10.0.0.1 that have a Red hat enterprise 7.9 OS.  

       

      Thanks

      BC - more confused with these compatibility charts then ever now  :) 

       

       

      • bc1410's avatar
        bc1410
        Level 6
        2 months ago

        So looking at this chart for the netbackup client - 

        I mean we have rhel 7.9 clients with the netbackup 10.0.0.1 software installed on them and backups running fine.  This chart is telling me in the footnote that 7.9 needs version 10.3 netbackup client.   

  • admin_bkp007's avatar
    admin_bkp007
    Level 5
    31 days ago

    In my opinion your best choice is planning  your OS upgrade, you avoid incompatibility in your environment.