Upgrade from 11.28 to 11.40

Think with the below info, you have most of what you need.

• Review Release Notes for 11.40 (https://documentation.commvault.com/11.40/commcell-console/commserve_server_system_requirements_windows.html)
• Make sure WS and SQL are supported (review SQL Upgrade doc: https://documentation.commvault.com/11.40/software/upgrading_ms_sql_server_editions.html)
• Download the version straight from the CS to Cache OR from the Commvault Store and Copy to Cache: https://documentation.commvault.com/11.40/software/download_software.html
• When you have validated the info above; https://documentation.commvault.com/2023e/commcell-console/commcell_environment_upgrades.html
  • Make sure to have a DR backup
  • Suspend Backups/Scheduler
  • Order of Upgrade is CommServe → Media Agents → Clients

I did this last week for a customer.

11.28 will have SQL 2014 in the back end, you can’t directly upgrade from 11.28 to 11.40 due to the SQL versions. 

The best way will be to do a refresh to a new virtual machine, grab a DR backup from the current CommServe and use that during a fresh install.  Alternatively, you can uninstall Commvault & SQL2014 and then reinstall on the same server. 

Broad steps are here: CommServe Upgrade with Hardware Refresh: Overview

• Download 11.40 including SQL2022
• Disable all activity except all activity
• Run a DR backup
• Uninstall Commvault + SQL
• Install CommServe and use DR backup during install (map the databases)
• Update MediaAgents and clients

Note: if you’re keeping windows you’ll need to put in a registry key to allow reinstall on Windows.  Details on that are here: Enabling Windows Installations for Commvault

This post is a little older and likely the user asking has already upgraded, but when I started at my current location 2 years ago the environment was at 11.16, 11.36 had just come out, however the decision was made to go to 11.32.

Someone mentioned SQL, and we had to upgrade to SQL 2022..  We actually had to go to 11.28 first, then 11.32.

Few other thoughts for anyone considering making a multi feature level upgrade.

Check your indexing, especially if you are 11.36 and lower.  Might be worth running a workflow to get everything on indexing V2.

Hotfix patch level.  Are more than a few patches behind?  My site was at 11.32.56 when I went to 11.40.  I had a ton of issues (many likely cause from misconfigurations in my environment).  I did 2 other environments, but before jumping to 11.40 I patch the servers to the 136 patch level and had no issues.

Check your MongoDB, Python, and .Net levels (and of course SQL). Commvault should do the python and .NET automatically.

If you are in a secure environments, make sure older versions are not just left on your Commserver/ CVMA’s, but do you research on these before uninstalling Make sure you don’t have other dependencies.

For Mongo,  Take care here.  The upgrade is fairly easy, but do your research.  Be careful moving between major releases and  be aware of significant security vulnerabilities in older patches.  

I would remove any older versions of any Databases and APIs that are not being used.