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Veritas NetBackup™ Appliance Decommissioning and Reconfiguration Guide

Last Published: 2022-06-08

Product(s): Appliances (4.1)

Platform: NetBackup Appliance OS

Reconfiguring a 52xx primary server appliance using the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu

Starting with release 4.0, the initial configuration process requires that you change the default passwords for the admin, maintenance, and sysadmin (IPMI) user accounts. The default admin password is valid only for the initial appliance login. The prompt to change the default passwords appears when you enter the Main_Menu > Appliance command to set the appliance role.

The following procedure describes how to reconfigure a 52xx primary server appliance from the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu.

Warning:

NetBackup appliances do not support configuring two IP addresses that belong to the same subnet. The appliance runs on the Linux operating system and this type of networking is a current limitation. Each bond that you create must use an IP address that belongs to a different subnet.

Note:

You cannot remove an IP address if the appliance host name resolves to that IP address.

To reconfigure a 52xx primary server appliance using the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu

Before performing the reconfiguration process, make sure you have followed the re-image procedure. See Reimaging a NetBackup appliance from the USB drive.

From the Main_Menu > Network view, enter the following command to configure the IP address of a single network that you want your appliance to connect to.

Configure IPAddress Netmask GatewayIPAddress [InterfaceNames]

Where IPAddress is the new IP address, Netmask is the netmask, and GatewayIPAddress is the default gateway for the interface. The [InterfaceNames] option is optional.

The IP Address or the Gateway IP Address can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address. Only global-scope and unique-local IPv6 addresses are allowed.

Remember that you should not use both IPv4 and IPv6 address in the same command. For example, you cannot use Configure 9ffe::9 255.255.255.0 1.1.1.1.. You should use Configure 9ffe::46 64 9ffe::49 eth1

If you want to configure multiple networks, you must first configure the IP address of each network that you want to add. Then you configure the Gateway address for each network you added. Make sure that you add the default Gateway address first. Use the following two commands:

Configure the IP address of each network

Use either of the following commands depending on whether you want to configure an IPv4 or an IPv6 address for the network interface:

To configure the IPv4 address of a network interface:

IPv4 IPAddress Netmask [InterfaceName]

Where IPAddress is the new IP address, Netmask is the netmask, and [InterfaceName] is optional. Repeat this command for each IP address that you want to add.

To configure the IPv6 address of a network interface:

IPv6 <IP Address> <Prefix> [InterfaceNames]

Where IPAddress is the IPv6 address, Prefix is the prefix length, and [InterfaceName] is optional.

Configure the gateway address for each network that you added

Gateway Add GatewayIPAddress [TargetNetworkIPAddress] [Netmask] [InterfaceName]

Where GatewayIPAddress is the gateway for the interface and TargetNetworkIPAddress, Netmask, and InterfaceName are optional. Repeat this command to add the gateway to all of the destination networks.

The Gateway IP Address or the TargetNetworkIPAddress can be an IPv4 or an IPv6 address.

Remember that you should not use both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses in the same command. For example, you cannot use Gateway Add 9ffe::3 255.255.255.0 eth1. You should use Gateway Add 9ffe::3 6ffe:: 64 eth1.

From the Main_Menu > Network view, use the following command to set the appliance DNS domain name.
Note:
If you do not use DNS, then you can proceed to Step 6.
DNS Domain Name
Where Name is the new domain name for the appliance.
From the Main_Menu > Network view, use the following command to add the DNS name server to your appliance configuration.
DNS Add NameServer IPAddress
Where IPAddress is the IP address of the DNS server.
The address can be either IPv4 or IPv6. Only global-scope and unique-local IPv6 addresses are allowed.
To add multiple IP addresses, use a comma to separate each address and no space.
From the Main_Menu > Network view, use the following command to add a DNS search domain to your appliance configuration so the appliance can resolve the host names that are in different domains:
DNS Add SearchDomain SearchDomain
Where SearchDomain is the target domain to add for searching.
This step is optional. It lets you add the IP addresses of other hosts in the appliance hosts file.
From the Main_Menu > Network view, use the following command to add host entries to the hosts file on your appliance.
Hosts Add IPAddress FQHN ShortName
Where IPAddress is the IPv4 or the IPv6 address, FQHN is the fully qualified host name, and ShortName is the short host name.
From the Main_Menu > Network view, use the following command to set the host name for your appliance.
Note:
If you plan to configure Active Directory (AD) authentication on this appliance, the host name must be 15 characters or less. Otherwise, AD configuration can fail.
Hostname Set Name
Where Name is the short host name or the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of this appliance.
The host name is applied to the entire appliance configuration with a few exceptions. The short name always appears in the following places:
- NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu prompts
- Deduplication pool catalog backup policy
- Default storage unit and disk pool names
If this appliance has been factory reset and you want to import any of its previous backup images, the appliance host name must meet one of the following rules:
- The host name must be exactly the same as the one used before the factory reset.
- If you want to change the host name to an FQDN, it must include the short name that was used before the factory reset. For example, if "myhost" was used before the factory reset, use "myhost.domainname.com" as the new FQDN.
- If you want to change the host name to a short host name, it must be derived from the FQDN that was used before the factory reset. For example, if "myhost.domainname.com" was used before the factory reset, use "myhost" as the new short host name.
Note:
The Domain Name Suffix is appended to the host name and cannot be changed after the initial configuration is completed. If you need to change the suffix or move the appliance to a different domain at a later time, you must perform a factory reset first, and then perform the initial configuration again.
With this step, NetBackup is re-configured to operate with the new host name. This process may take a while to complete.
For the command Hostname set to work, at least one IPv4 address is required. For example, you may want to set the host name of a specific host to v46. To do that, first ensure that the specific host has at least an IPv4 address and then run the following command.
Main_Menu > Network > Hostname set v46
In addition to the above network configuration settings, you may also use the Main_Menu > Network view to create a bond and to tag a VLAN during the initial configuration of your appliance network.
- Use the Network > LinkAggregation Create command to create a bond between two or more network interfaces.
- Use the Network > VLAN Tag command to tag a VLAN to a physical interface or bond interface.
For detailed information about the LinkAggregation and the VLAN command options, refer to the NetBackup Appliance Command Reference Guide.
From the Main_Menu > Network view, use the following commands to set the time zone, the date, and the time for this appliance:
- Set the time zone by entering the following command:
  TimeZone Set
  Select the appropriate time zone from the displayed list.
- Set the date and the time by entering the following command:
  Date Set Month Day HHMMSS Year
  Where Month is the name of the month.
  Where Day is the day of the month from 0 to 31.
  Where HHMMSS is the hour, minute, and seconds in a 24-hour format. The fields are separated by semi-colons, for example, HH:MM:SS.
  Where Year is the calendar year from 1970 through 2037.

From the Main_Menu > Settings > Alerts > Email view, use the following commands to enter the SMTP server name and the email addresses for appliance failure alerts.

Enter the SMTP server name

Email SMTP Add Server [Account] [Password]

The Server variable is the host name of the target SMTP server that is used to send emails. The [Account] option identifies the name of the account that was used or the authentication to the SMTP server. The [Password] option is the password for authentication to the SMTP server.

Enter email addresses

Email Hardware add AddressesEmail Software Add Addresses

Where Addresses is the user's email address. To define multiple emails, separate them with a semi-colon.

Set the role for the appliance to a primary server.
From the Main_Menu > Appliance view, run the following command:
Primary
The following prompt appears to change the default passwords:
- [Info] Default password change is required for the following user(s): admin, maintenance, sysadmin
Change each user account password as prompted.
Review the following password policy before setting a new password:
- Passwords must contain at least eight characters.
- Passwords must contain at least one lowercase letter (a-z) and one number (0-9).
- Dictionary words are considered weak passwords and are not accepted.
- Passwords for the sysadmin (IPMI) user must contain no more than 20 characters.
- The last seven passwords cannot be reused and the new password cannot be similar to previous passwords.
Note:
If you enter five consecutive invalid passwords for any user account, the appliance aborts the initial configuration process automatically. You must start the initial configuration process again.
Note:
If you enable the STIG feature after completing the initial configuration, you may be prompted to change the new passwords you entered here to meet the requirements of the STIG password policy.
Starting with release 4.0, when you select this role you are required to provide a Veritas Usage Insights customer registration key. You cannot complete the role configuration until you provide the registration key. To obtain a key, follow the onscreen prompts.

If an existing NetBackup catalog is detected choose yes to preserve it or choose no to create a new catalog. The following message is displayed:

A NetBackup catalog database has been found on the disk that belongs to this appliance. 
You have an option to create an empty catalog or reuse the preexisting NetBackup catalog.
 
If you choose 'yes', the following occurs:
1. The preexisting NetBackup catalog will be used.
2. Any preexisting storage partitions and objects will be used.
 
If you choose 'no', the following occurs:
1. The preexisting NetBackup catalog will be backed up.
2. An empty NetBackup catalog will be created.
3. You will an have opportunity to customize storage pools.
 
If you want to remove the backup and catalog data,
run 'Support->Storage Reset' before you proceed.
 
>> Do you want to reuse the NetBackup catalog? [yes,no]: yes

After you set the role configuration, the disk storage prompts appear for the NetBackup Catalog, AdvancedDisk, and MSDP partitions.
Note:
If you chose to reuse the NetBackup catalog in 12, the storage prompts are not presented. Skip to 14.
To configure storage partitions, you must do the following:
- Enter a size for the NetBackup Catalog on the primary server.
  To skip the configuration for the NetBackup Catalog partition, enter 0 when prompted for its size. To keep the partition at its current size, press Enter.
- Enter a storage pool size in GB or TB.
  To skip the storage pool size configuration for any partition, enter 0 when prompted for its size. To keep the storage pool at its current size, press Enter.
- Enter a disk pool name.
  The default names are dp_adv_<hostname> for AdvancedDisk and dp_disk_<hostname> for MSDP. To keep the default names, press Enter.
- Enter a storage pool name.
  The default names are stu_adv_<hostname> for AdvancedDisk and stu_disk_<hostname> for MSDP. To keep the default names, press Enter.
The storage prompts appear in the following order:
```
NetBackup Catalog partition size in GB/TB:
AdvancedDisk partition size in GB/TB: (1 GB)
AdvancedDisk diskpool name:
AdvancedDisk storage unit name:
MSDP partition size in GB/TB: (5 GB)
MSDP diskpool name:
MSDP storage unit name:
MSDP Catalog partition size in GB/TB:
```
After you configure the storage partitions, a summary of the storage configuration appears with the following prompt:
```
Do you want to make changes to the storage configuration
shown above? [yes,no]:
```
Type yes to make any changes, or type no to keep the current configuration.
Disconnect the laptop from the NIC1 appliance port.
Note:
If your network uses the 192.168.x.x IP address range, refer to the following topic for important information:
See About NIC1 (eth0) port usage on NetBackup appliances.
If you have a media server that needs reconfiguration, now is the time to configure the primary server to communicate with it, then reconfigure your media server.
See Configuring a primary server to communicate with an appliance media server.
See Reconfiguring a 52xx or 53xx media server appliance using the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu.