MSDP upgrade considerations for NetBackup 8.1
Because of the changes in the fingerprint algorithm for MSDP in NetBackup 8.1, consider your MSDP environment as you plan your upgrade path. Any NetBackup 8.0 and older host cannot access the NetBackup 8.1 MSDP because of the new fingerprint algorithm. Failed NetBackup jobs can result from a failure to plan for this condition.
If the media servers list for an 8.1 MSDP storage server contains 8.0 or older servers, you can experience failures because of the new algorithm. If the common media server between an 8.1 server and an 8.0 server is the 8.0 server, jobs can fail. If you use client direct, the client must be upgraded to 8.1 or you can experience client direct restore errors. These failures are because the 8.0 and older hosts cannot access the 8.1 server.
As you plan your upgrade, if you have multiple media servers as part of an MSDP environment, consider the options shown:
Upgrade all MSDP media servers that share access rights to each other together. Upgrade all clients that use client direct to these MSDP disk pools.
This option insures there are no interruptions in your environment.
Upgrade MSDP media servers and clients using client direct as your environment allows and make no configuration changes.
If the selected common media server is not a NetBackup 8.1 server, the risk is restores, verifies, imports, and optimized duplication may fail. If client direct is used on older clients, you can experience client direct restore errors. This failure is because of the algorithm change.
Upgrade MSDP media servers and clients using client direct as your environment allows. Modify your list of credentialed media servers for the upgraded storage servers to only include NetBackup 8.1 servers.
This action effectively revokes access rights for the non-upgraded servers to the upgraded servers. The risk is previously configured operations may stop working because of the access change. If you choose this option, you should make detailed notes about the configuration changes so you can revert those changes once all media servers are upgraded.
If duplication jobs copy from an 8.1 MSDP to an 8.0 or older MSDP, then create a storage unit for the older MSDP. Restrict the list on that new storage unit to the 8.1 host. You must change any storage lifecycle policy (SLP) controlled duplication jobs if they copy from an 8.0 or older MSDP host to an 8.1 MSDP host. Set the Alternate Read Server on the duplication stage to the 8.1 media server.