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  1. Home
  2. NetBackup™ Upgrade Guide
  3. NetBackup Deployment Management with VxUpdate
  4. Manually initiating upgrades from the media server or client using VxUpdate
NetBackup™ Upgrade Guide

Manually initiating upgrades from the media server or client using VxUpdate

Manually initiate deployment jobs when you are logged into the media server or client locally and want to force an immediate update. You can either use a deployment policy to initiate an immediate upgrade or specify an upgrade without an associated policy. You can use the upgrade to update the NetBackup version or for other upgrades such as emergency binaries.

Among the reasons for a media server or a client initiated upgrade using VxUpdate is mission critical systems with specific maintenance windows. One example of these systems is database servers with limited available down time.

Note:

You can only launch updates on the local media server or client. You cannot use the nbinstallcmd command on a media server or client to launch jobs on other media servers or clients. If you want to launch updates on other media servers and clients, you must initiate them from the primary server.

VxUpdate also provides the ability to launch upgrades from the primary server with the command line. More information is available.

See Manually initiating upgrades from the primary server using VxUpdate.

The nbinstallcmd version on a back-level host is not the current nbinstallcmd version when you initiate a non-policy based upgrade directly on the target client or media server. Refer to the NetBackup Commands Reference Guide for the currently installed version of NetBackup for the exact format of nbinstallcmd command.

Because of this older version of nbinstallcmd, exceptions to normal VxUpdate behavior include:

  • If your primary server uses both NetBackup certificate and an external certificate, and your target media server or client is at NetBackup 8.1.2: Running a non-policy based upgrade directly on the target host is not supported. You must upgrade with one of the options shown:

    • Upgrade the client or the media server using VxUpdate from the primary server.

    • Create a policy on the primary server. Then run policy-based nbinstallcmd on the target client or media server.

    • Disable the external certificate on your primary server before starting the non-policy-based upgrade on the target host. You may turn on the external certificate after the upgrade completes successfully.

  • If the client or the media server is at NetBackup 8.2 or earlier, the -components flag is not available. This flag was introduced to enable optional installation of the NetBackup Java BAR GUI and JRE. When you run an ad-hoc nbinstallcmd on a client or a media server at NetBackup 8.2 or earlier, the -components javagui_jre option defaults to MATCH. This value causes the upgrade to match the Java BAR GUI and JRE status of the pre-upgrade host. If the pre-upgrade host had Java BAR GUI and JRE installed, it remains installed after upgrade. If the pre-upgrade host did not have Java BAR GUI and JRE installed, it is not installed after upgrade.

To start a media server or client initiated deployment job based on an existing policy

  1. Navigate to the binary directory from a command prompt.

    UNIX or Linux: /usr/openv/netbackup/bin

    Windows: install_path\netbackup\bin

  2. Use the nbinstallcmd as shown:

    nbinstallcmd -policy policy -schedule schedule -master_server name

    Example: nbinstallcmd -policy all_clients -schedule install812 -master_server primary1

    If the job initiated successfully, you are returned to the command prompt without an error message.

    Note:

    When you initiate a media server upgrade with the nbinstallcmd command, you must include both the -master_server and the -media_server options. In this case, the value for both these options must be the same.

  3. Monitor upgrade status with the NetBackup administrator and the Activity Monitor in the NetBackup Administrative Console.

You can start a media server or client initiated deployment job without an associated policy from the command line. The options that are required for the nbinstallcmd command vary depending on your security configuration and the NetBackup version on the computer you want to upgrade. Refer to the nbinstallcmd command documentation for a list of all possible options and examples of command usage.

NetBackup Commands Reference Guide

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