Nas 2003 Upgrade

[Mark Somerville]

Hello, we will be upgarding our Nas server from 2000 to 2003. I will be using the Storage Works 2003 OS Migration DVD for the upgrade, it seems to be pretty straight forward process, but our concern is our disk arrays, will the file perms on the shared drives be lost our will it retain them, obviously this our data server and the security settings is vast, to redo the permissioning is not an option for a weekend window of opportunity. Any imput on this would be great

Thanks All

[Boris.N.NY]

Mark, you haven't mentioned what model of NAS you were referring to. I have not seen an exactly named "..2003 OS Migration DVD", but if you ment a 'Quick Restore DVD' (which IS mentioned in NAS Win2003 OS "Migration Guides" for a few - I'd even say most - NAS models), then you will be wiping all of your drive contents - OS and data, not to say security permissions.

Find the applicable Restore DVD product in HP Software Depot and follow the link in it for Quick Restore pdf instructions. I am certain you'd see that underlined warning about the process being data destructive:

http://h20293.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductsList.do?category=NAS

So a workaround suggestion would be to copy your data elsewhere (even to IDE/SATA overnight) and backup-backup-backup. If not to disk - then tape, data folders only, preserving security permissions checked.

[Mark Somerville]

Thank You for your reply Boris, what we'll be using is OS Migration Nas b2000 v2 which should put us at 2003 from 2000. I realize data lost implications with this which is why, the backup option is the first thing we will be doing, but we'll also be removing the array drives while the update is happenning with the hope that at it's completion we could add them back and data and perms are restored, we hope !!. In therory this sounds workable but I'm not sure if you or anybody else has done it this way

Thanks any for the feedback Boris

[CA1028844]

It's been a few years since I last worked with the HP NAS products, so my information may be out of date. If anyone has more recent information, please feel free to jump in and correct me.

The NAS upgrade DVD was in fact a QuickRestore. It did not upgrade your OS in-place, but rather, it overlaid the current OS and configuration with a brand new one.

That being the case, any configuration information based in the Windows Registry will be lost. This will include share configuration, share-based permissions, network configuration, and so-forth.

However, any configuration information contained outside the C:\ drive and registry would remain intact. This includes ACLS on the NTFS level (on your data drives), etc.

(The only exception was the entry-level NAS server -- 1000s -- which had OS and data on the same drives. Those upgrades were data destructive.)

The upgrade kits used to contain a documentation CD, on which there was an upgrade guide. The upgrade guide was very detailed and specific about what kinds of information you would need to save off, how to save it off, and how to restore those settings once the OS upgrade was complete. It went in a step-by-step manner, and also documented any planning or other issues you need to consider.

I would *very strongly* recommend that you read through the upgrade document in detail (and more than once), and do so well in advance of attempting the upgrade. This upgrade is not something that you want to do by the seat of your pants, with the upgrade document in one hand and your NAS keyboard in the other.

[Boris.N.NY]

Well, b2000 is an equivalent of DL380 G3. And that one is dual-SCSI channel capable. So technically I can imagine that a scenario where popping out data drives for the 2003 upgrade will work to preserve the data on a regular 2003 server OS. That is given that (1) your SCSI backplane is fitted with a terminator for onboard (like SA 5i) Channel 1 (included standard with the server kit) and has 2 SCSI bus cables attached - I have not seen b2000 open myself but have a number DL380 G3's - (2) your data shares are not dependent on/configured for local system accounts where full access and ownership is given to a single account locking out everyone else, and (3) you are preferably not using RAID 0 (see below).

I would still suggest to have a full copy of your data somewhere outside your NAS. I've seen one too many cases when a reseated drive is then labelled as 'individually failed' failing the array. Also, be prepared to replace your data drives (even temporarily, but correctly numbered first) with blank drives - Quick Restore has to establish a live 'data' partition for shares in it's process run, and no available data space may result in failed restore altogether.

As to Kevin's notes I can add that a separate docs CD/DVD is no longer included with Quick Restore DVD - PDF's are available online on HP support pages. Search for those is a very easy option.

[Mark Somerville]

Thank You for the feedback guys, we have tentetivily set this for the weekend of the 25-26 of March. We will follow all of the advise taken here. I will get back to you and let you all know how this went

Thanks Agian