Upgrade instructions

Upgrade instructions for v3.x/4.x

This guide outlines the steps required to upgrade to N2WS Backup & Recovery version 3.x/4.x
We strongly recommend that you follow every step contained within this guide to ensure version 3.x/4.x is configured correctly and no data loss occurs.

General

in addition to this article, we recommend that you watch this Video Tutorial: Upgrading N2WS AWS instance
Permissions
Due to the new functionality, you may need to update your permission policies. Please see the JSON templates attached to this KB:  
  1. AWS Minimal Permissions
  2. Azure Minimal Permissions  
If you have more than one AWS Account added in the N2WS console, you will have to update the IAM Policies for each of them.
Also, if you upgrade via AMI - make sure to attach the IAM role when launching the new instance.

Before starting We recommend to keep the following info
  1. Check if you are using a proxy in the N2WS settings and write down the details
  2. Take a screen shot of the N2WS EC2 instance network settings: IP, VPC, Subnet, Security Groups and also IAM Role and Keypair name.
  3. Additionally you might want to take a screen shot of the Tags if you have more than just a few
  4. Make sure you know the username and password for the root/admin user
  5. If you are using RestAPI, check RestAPI newest guide for changes in the API's you are using
Also, if you are using LB, Best to set the timeout for at least 800 seconds
Note: upgrading to v4.2 and above might require you to increase the EC2 instance size, as the new ubuntu 22 OS requires more memory 


After Upgrade:
  1. If you were using Agents to perform app-consistent backups, you might have to download and install latest version of the thin backup agent on your Windows EC2 instances. latest agent can be downloaded from the N2WS server UI.
  2. If after upgrade public IP changed, the VSS agents configuration(cpmagent.cfg) will need to be updated
  3. If you were using backup scripts that utilize SSH, you may need to log in to the N2WS Server once and run the scripts manually so that the use of the private key will be approved
  4. If you are using CLI, then you will need to download new version of the CLI tool.
  5. If you are using RestAPI, you might need to update some commands post upgrade, for example updating the 'version=' if it is included in any command.

Upgrade from 4.x, 3.x,2.7.x , 2.3.x, 2.2.x, 2.1x

For  3.0.0/3.0.0a  Customers:
If you have created or modified an S3 policy in v3.0.x or earlier versions ,  to avoid a possible data loss ,  you need to apply the workaround listed here:  S3 backups may be stored for X days instead of X months   after the upgrade to v3.0.0b or later version. Policies created/modified in v3.0.0b and later will not experience this issue. 
Customers that perform upgrade from other versions(not 3.0/3.0a),  should perform upgrade as usual -  please see "Upgrading the N2WS Server Instance"  https://docs.n2ws.com/user-guide/#1-4-upgrading-n-2-ws

Upgrade from v2.4/2.5/2.6

Customers that didn't use S3 backups in v2.4/2.5/2.6, don't need to perform any actions described below, and should perform upgrade as usual - please see "Upgrading the
N2WS Server Instance" chapter at  https://docs.n2ws.com/user-guide/#1-4-upgrading-n-2-ws
Important notice for customers using Copy to S3:
All data previously archived to S3 (using versions 2.4-2.6) cannot be recovered using version 3.0, To recover this data in the future, you will need to create an AMI of the existing N2WS instance prior to completing the upgrade process. In order to do this, please complete the following mandatory steps:

Before shutting down the 2.4.x, 2.5.x or 2.6.x N2WS server
1. Disable the local CPM Agent (please ensure that no backup/DR/Cleanup/S3 is in process):
•    Connect to CPM in SSH, then type:  sudo mv /opt/n2wsoftware/cpmagent/agent.pyo /opt/n2wsoftware/cpmagent/agent.pyo.disabled

2. Use the AWS Console to create an image (AMI) of the existing N2WS instance. You should retain this AMI to ensure that you can recover data previously archived to S3, using any version prior to 2.7. Retain this AMI for as long as you need to recover the legacy data (pre-v2.7) from S3.
Launch this AMI (defaults to recover only mode) whenever in need to recover from the old S3 repository.
•    Navigate to the EC2 console
•    Select the running N2WS instance
•    Under the Actions menu select Image
•    Create Image

3. Launch version 3.x using the normal upgrade process - please see "Upgrading the N2WS Server Instance" at  https://n2ws.com/support/documentation/introduction-to-cpm
Notice for customers using Copy to S3:
•    Once version 3.0 is launched, the first archive to S3 will be FULL. All subsequent backups will be incremental as usual.
•    You can maximize cost savings by moving previously archived data (pre-v2.7) from S3 to S3 Intelligent Tiering (or IA if preferred)

Process to clean up your older (pre-2.7) S3 repository
Once version 3.x is launched, all data previously archived to S3 (using versions 2.4 - 2.6) will not be deleted by the N2WS cleanup operation.
When based on your retention policy you no longer need any of the archived backups in your older repository (using versions 2.4-2.6) follow the steps below to manually delete it:
To delete a repository named ‘Repository_to_Delete’ located at ‘Configured_S3_Bucket’:
I.    Use AWS console to access S3 console
II.    The repository, ‘Rep_to_Delete’, will be located under
‘Configured_S3_Bucket’ > ‘Veeam’ > ‘Backup’ > ‘Rep_to_Delete’
III.    Select ‘Rep_to_Delete’ folder and use S3 console to delete it.

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