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Commcell migration


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Hello

 

I need to migrate an existing commserve with mediaagent role to a new site/server.

During the migration both existing and new commserve should remain active for backups for about three months. Then old commserve will just be preserved for legacy restores.

How can this be best achieved without buying a seperate license for new commserve?

 

Thanks

Best answer by Javier

To add additional information to the answer provided by Albert.

 

You need to keep in mind that each CommCell can only have 1 active CommServer (CS) at the time. You need to decide whether you are protecting both DataCenters (DCs) within the same CommCell, or whether you are starting a new CommCell from scratch.

 

> If the same CommCell will protect both DCs. Only 1 active CS will be allowed, it will either be hosted in the old or new DCs, both DCs will need to have communications and you can host MediaAgents (MAs) i both sites, but commanded by the single CS.

Under this approach, if you want to move the CS from one DC to another, you will be looking at a CS Hardware Refresh - No additional license will be required since you are only moving your current CS to a different site

https://documentation.commvault.com/commvault/v11_sp16/article?p=4739.htm

 

> If different CommCells will protect each DC. You will have 2 CS, and each will need its own license with different CCID. There is no way of bypassing this. Once you are ready to decomm the Cell in your old DC, you will be potentially looking at a CommCell Migration to move the legacy clients into the new environment

https://documentation.commvault.com/commvault/v11_sp16/article?p=5078.htm

 

So it really depends on the approach you are taking. But the first one (Single CommCell with CS Hardware Refresh) will definitely be the most efficient one.

 

Regards,

Javier

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8 replies

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Hello @Sandy11 

You are describing a decommission of a Commvault environment and then standing up a new environment. This seems like way to much effort for most use cases and you wont be able to avoid having two subs if you want to hold onto the old one for 3 months. 

Can you please expand on what and why you are trying to achieve so we can provide a alternatives? 

 

Kind regards

Albert Williams


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  • Author
  • Byte
  • 34 replies
  • December 8, 2023

A new data center is being built and the data center migration will run for 3 months. During these 3 months we need to keep the backup running at both locations. And the existing server also needs to be retained for legacy restores after 3 months.

Can we get our license split into two different commcell IDs? Or can we setup license mgmt server?

Or can we convert existing commserve into media agent and setup commserve at new site with new hostname?

Or is there any other simple way of doing this?

 

 


Forum|alt.badge.img+15

Hello @Sandy11 

In that scenario you would just have 1 Commserv running and protecting both datacenters.

You would keep a media agent and library present on the datacenter and maintain it for how ever long you need. There is no need for 2 Commservers in this scenario. 

 

Kind regards

Albert Williams


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  • Vaulter
  • 231 replies
  • Answer
  • December 11, 2023

To add additional information to the answer provided by Albert.

 

You need to keep in mind that each CommCell can only have 1 active CommServer (CS) at the time. You need to decide whether you are protecting both DataCenters (DCs) within the same CommCell, or whether you are starting a new CommCell from scratch.

 

> If the same CommCell will protect both DCs. Only 1 active CS will be allowed, it will either be hosted in the old or new DCs, both DCs will need to have communications and you can host MediaAgents (MAs) i both sites, but commanded by the single CS.

Under this approach, if you want to move the CS from one DC to another, you will be looking at a CS Hardware Refresh - No additional license will be required since you are only moving your current CS to a different site

https://documentation.commvault.com/commvault/v11_sp16/article?p=4739.htm

 

> If different CommCells will protect each DC. You will have 2 CS, and each will need its own license with different CCID. There is no way of bypassing this. Once you are ready to decomm the Cell in your old DC, you will be potentially looking at a CommCell Migration to move the legacy clients into the new environment

https://documentation.commvault.com/commvault/v11_sp16/article?p=5078.htm

 

So it really depends on the approach you are taking. But the first one (Single CommCell with CS Hardware Refresh) will definitely be the most efficient one.

 

Regards,

Javier


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  • Author
  • Byte
  • 34 replies
  • December 11, 2023

The existing commserve is both a commserve and media agent.

Can i move commserve role to a different server and change the existing one to just a media agent?

If so what are the high level steps for that?

 


Forum|alt.badge.img+15

Hello @Sandy11 

The Media agent role and CS role can stay as one if you like and the steps provided above with the hardware refresh will allow you to move them.

You would just need to setup a new Server that you want to be a dedicated Media agent and give it all the permissions as needed. Its hard to provide high level steps as it depends on what your MA is used for. If it is just hosting a DDB and doing file system backup then it is as simple as move the DDB to the new MA and bob is your uncle. 

if the MA acts as a access node or index server as well for your O365 backups then that configuration will also have to be moved. 

In essence you are not taking the media agent software away from the CS as there is no point. You are going to review the current tasks the CS performs that you do not want it to do and give those tasks to a new server you create as a Media agent. 

 

I am sorry I am not providing you are straight answer here but it is all very environment dependant so i hope you understand why my answers are also very broad.

Kind regards

Albert Williams


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  • Author
  • Byte
  • 34 replies
  • December 13, 2023

Thanks for all the inputs.

 

We want to split the media agent from commserve because it is currently connected to tape library and will need to use that for next 3 months.

 

So we want to build a new VM at the new data center, move commserve to it and also configure it as new media agent backing up to a network share.

Existing commserve/media agent, will have to be reduced to just a media agent so that it can continue to write to its SAS attached disk and tape library at the existing data center till it is shutdown. It does have a DDB. After that we will move this physical server + tape library to new data center for legacy restores.

 

 


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  • Vaulter
  • 224 replies
  • December 13, 2023
Sandy11 wrote:

The existing commserve is both a commserve and media agent.

Can i move commserve role to a different server and change the existing one to just a media agent?

If so what are the high level steps for that?

 

You can find below the steps to be reviewed and follow for splitting both roles in different machines

 

https://documentation.commvault.com/v11/expert/separating_commserve_from_commserve_mediaagent_computer.html

 

 


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