Step by Step Guide Veeam B&R 9 Upgrade (v8 to v9)

In a few days, Veeam should release Veeam Backup and Replication version 9 RTM, which contains some significant improvements such as Veeam Explorer for Oracle, EMC integration, Veeam Cloud Connect Replication, remote console, On-Demand Sanbox for storage snapshots and more. Final version should be available by mid-January 2016.

This article provides a step by step guide for an upgrade from Veeam B&R 8 to Veeam B&R 9 (version 8.0.0.807, 8.0.0.817, 8.0.0.831, 8.0.0.917, 8.0.0.2018, 8.0.0.2021, 8.0.0.2029, 8.0.0.2030 and 8.0.0.2084). You can follow the article for Veeam B&R 7 but verify that you are running at least v7 patch 4 (7.0.0.871).

For more security:

The first step is to realize a configuration backup of Veeam server (“Configuration Backup” menu on the screenshot below) and SQL database backup. If the Veeam Backup Server is deployed on a Virtual Machine, execute a backup of this VM with Veeam B&R or a snapshot.

When the backup is done, you can close Veeam software and restart the Windows server (reboot). Basically I recommend you to stop properly the 6 Veeam services before upgrading (services.msc).

Running the Installer:

You have to run the installation file “Veeam.exe”.

Click on “OK” to install .NET Framework 4.5.2.

Click “Reboot” to restart the Veeam server and clearing any locks on the Veeam services.

If your server contains both Veeam B&R and Veeam Enterprise Manager, it is required that you install Veeam Enterprise Manager first. Otherwise you can click on the “Veeam Backup & Replication upgrade” window. You can follow this guide to upgrade your Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager (v8 to v9) : Step by Step Guide Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager 9 Upgrade (v8 to v9).

Installation Wizard:

Once wizard is launched, click on “Next” button.

Accept the terms in the licence agreement and click on “Next” button.

Next, a screen will appear and show the components that were previously installed. These products (Veeam Catalog and Veeam Backup & replication: 8.0.0.817) that will be upgraded in version 9. Click on “Next” button to proceed with the upgrade process.

The next screen will require the new license file. If the old license file is used, the license will be flagged as invalid. If Enterprise Manager was already upgraded and is on the local machine, the new license file will already be applied by default.

A prompt will appear for the Service Account Credentials. It is strongly suggested adding a service account with permissions be used instead of the default domain administrator account. If the default domain admin was used, this is a great opportunity to create a new account. In my lab, I used a local administrator account. Click on “Next” button.

By default the option “Use existing instance of SQL Server” will be checked, and Veeam will detect the existing database in use. Click on “Next” button. Note: You can follow this post if you need to install Microsft SQL Server Standard version.

A prompt will appear, regarding connecting to the selected database. This will upgrade the existing database if an upgrade is needed, click “Yes”.

Veeam will prompt to install the upgrade, click “Install”.

The upgrade took about few minutes to complete.

Once the upgrade completed, a prompt appeared to finalize the installation. Click on “Finish” button.

Post Reboot:

When the upgradre is done, I recommend you to restart properly the Windows server (reboot).

Once the reboot completes and Veeam B&R software has been opened, a new authentification screen will appear. You can fill in the fields and click on “Connect”.

Upon opening Veeam, a prompt will appear to update all distributed components (especially proxy servers, repository servers, tape servers, WAN accelerators etc.). Click on “Next” button.

Finally, when all components have been upgraded, you can click on “Finish” button.

Veeam B&R 9 does not require new job creation or any architecture changes for your existing backups and replication to work. If there are dedicated Veeam proxy servers in the environment, now is a good time to upgrade those servers, otherwise, Veeam is now ready to use. You can perceive the new user friendly interface.

Backup & Replication Console:

Here, you can also install the standalone console on your workstation that supports connecting to remote servers. Veeam Backup & Replication console has now been broken out from the Veeam B&R server. You have to run the same installation file “Veeam.exe”, click on “Backup & Replication Console” and follow the installation wizard.

Note: Veeam will increase the price of licenses in January 2016. Basically, if you need upgrade your license or buy a new license, I advise you to think before the end of the year. 🙂 You can learn more here.

New main features overview:

-Integration with EMC “VNX” and “VNXe” snapshots,

-Integration with HP “StoreOnce Catalyst”,

-Improved replication: realize your replication directly in the cloud with “Veeam Cloud Connect Replication”,

-Veeam Explorer for Oracle,

-Improved Veeam Explorer for SQL, Exchange, AD and SharePoint,

-Improved protection: improve DR protection by creating backup job directly from secondary NetApp storage snapshots with SnapVault and SnapMirror,

-Manage your Veeam Backup Server directly from a remote console (desktop or server), forever eliminating RDP sessions to a backup server,

-On-Demand Sandbox (Virtual Lab) for Storage Snapshots (EMC, NetApp and HP),

-Direct NFS Access: Perform VMware backups faster and with reduced impact on your virtual environment by backing up directly from file-based (NFS) primary storage using Veeam’s proprietary NFS client,

-Improved Tapes management: native GFS retention, enable Parallel Processing and support of media pools from multiple libraries,

-Unlimited Scale-out Backup Repository (managing some repositories as one main repository to improve backup job management and performance, then reduce storage hardware spending.

You can learn more here.

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