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V12 IS HERE! Much like last year’s V11 Upgrade Center we are doing one for V12! Similar format and check back for updates, as we will have additional resources and I’ll get the latest information from the product management and support teams that should be relayed here. 

This text was last updated:   1-August 2023 (All subsequent updates in the Post-Publish Updates section)

Pre-Installation Section

Licensing

  • A valid universal license for V11 will work for V12, so if you’ve sorted that already you are good to go and that license will carry the same expiration date over to an upgraded Veeam Backup & Replication Server
  • You may need to obtain a license or ensure you have access to the licensing portal.
  • Note that if you do not have access to the licensing portal (including for your current license), such as if the person who used to do this is no longer in your organization, you can open a Licensing type of case:

Must-See Information

  • As listed in the What’s New Document, NAS backup to tape is a new capability. There is a small note to share, generally speaking the advice is to make sure that you do not make a NAS to disk backup job and a separate NAS to tape backup job; that would consume two licenses. See the text from What’s New below, with the underlined parts of most important. 
    NAS backup to tape — By popular demand, you can now use file share backups as a source for Backup to Tape jobs, thus enabling the classic Disk to Disk to Tape (D2D2T) backup approach for your enterprise NAS filers and file shares. To ensure recoverability at any point in time, this functionality exports files and folders to tape in the native format as opposed to copying blobs of the proprietary NOSQL database behind NAS backups. Since it’s a secondary backup, this functionality does not consume a license.
  • The “Transform previous backup chains into rollbacks" has been deprecated, see this Veeam KB: KB4390: Feature Deprecation: "Transform previous backup chains into rollbacks" (veeam.com)
  • VERY IMPORTANT:  If you are using a service from a Veeam Cloud Service Provider (VCSP), ensure that the service provider is ready for your upgrade. The Early Availability Release or RTM release, build #1402 will need a patch upon GA to go to build #1420. This patch is due later the week of GA, will update here soon. The Installer will warn you in advance, but it is essential you do not upgrade until the Provider informs you that they have upgraded, as this will impact all Cloud Connect functionality with that Provider adversely.
  • Updated 17-Feb: RTM Builds: If the RTM build (#1402) is in use - the GA .ISO build (#1420) will not upgrade to the GA build; please install the RTM to GA Patch: KB4415: Release Information for Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Day 0 Update
  • If cloud plug-ins are used… At GA the Veeam Backup for Google Cloud v4 plug-in is ready, the AWS and Azure plug-ins will be GA a few weeks after V12’s GA. (See Post-Publish Updates - AWS plug-in has taken an update).
  • If the orchestrator product is used… Soon after V12’s GA, we expect Veeam Recovery Orchestrator to GA with the new capabilities.
  • VMware vCloud Director 10.4 is supported with V12, replacing the previous hotfix workaround in this Veeam KB: KB4352: VMware Cloud Director 10.4 Compatibility Patches (veeam.com)
  • Over the coming days, watch the Veeam Ready list for any updates post-v12 for partner solutions that you may have of interest: https://www.veeam.com/alliance-partner-technical-programs.html?page=1

Upgrading an Installation to V12

  • From Veeam.com, clicking on Downloads, find the download for V12 that you want. I recommend downloading the “Veeam Data Platform — Advanced” bundle that includes Veeam Backup & Replication V12 and Veeam ONE V12
  • Before an upgrade, ensure your configuration backups are running, are successful, and you know how to get to that storage resource as well as an encryption password if used.
  • Before an upgrade, obtain your single-use credentials on Linux for the VHR if that is used (hardened repository).
  • Support has advised me throughout the RTM phase to ensure that a correct order of operations on an upgrade is followed:
    • First upgrades:  Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager, Veeam ONE
    • Second upgrade: Veeam Backup & Replication
    • Third upgrade: Remote components & agents

Post-Publish Updates

 

Upgrading to V12 Videos

We’ve created a few videos (four are planned) on upgrading to V12, and we’ll share these with some context. Before you do an upgrade, I recommend taking a backup of the components in play (an image-based backup) and also ensure the Veeam Configuration backup is running. You can also download Veeam Community Edition to make a backup of the key Veeam components completely out of band if you want.

Veeam ONE V12 Upgrade:  The first video is from @kirststoner12 on upgrading Veeam ONE to V12:
 

 

Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager Upgrade: The second video is upgrading one of my environments from V11A to V12:

Veeam Backup & Replication Upgrade: The third video is upgrading one of my VBR servers from V11A to V12:

 

While my environment proceeded without issue, we realize not all environments will behave the same. If you need help, you can open a case at the Customer Portal.

steps written above

To get to target picture (there are 14+ VBRs), here is my high-level plan. Pls let me know your thoughts. Thank you

 

High-level Steps

 

  1. Stand up the new VM 2022 for EM (same hostname, with different or same IP as source EM) but not on network yet. (Do NOT install EM yet)
  2. Stand up the new VM 2022 for Veeam One (same hostname, with different or same IP as source VeeamOne) but not on network yet. (Do NOT install Veeam One yet)
  3. Take source EM v11 DB backup and shutdown services on source EM and disconnect from network
  4. Take source VeeamOne v11 DB backup and shutdown services on source VeeamOne & disconnect from network
  5. Update DNS accordingly per steps 1 & 2
  6. Install same v11 build for EM on new EM VM and import sql express DB
  7. Install same v11 build for VeeamOne on new VeamOne VM and import sql express DB
  8. Validate new EM & VeeamOne, working as normal with existing VBRs (all v11 & sql express)
  9. Upgrade veeamOne to v12
  10. Upgrade EM to v12
  11. Upgrade VBRs to v12
  12. Validate EM & VeeamOne, working as normal with existing VBRs (all v12 & sql express)
  13. Take VeeamOne v12 sql express DB backup (either thru SSMS and/or dbconfig tool) & migrate its DB to SQL Standard (DB on remote machine)
  14. Take EM v12 sql express DB backup (either thru SSMS and/or dbconfig tool) & migrate its DB to SQL Standard (DB on remote machine)
  15. Validate EM & VeeamOne, working as normal with existing VBRs (all v12, SQL std for EM/VeeamOne & sql express for VBRs)

These steps look good but if the SQL Standard exists once you take backups why not restore to there to avoid steps 13/14?  Just a thought as you can direct both EM/VONE to the SQL Std box on the new Win2022 servers when ready.

hey there @Aman.Nangia → Thanks for sharing this. 

Hard to determine if the above has everything covered. One thing I have learned over the years is to explicitly separate architecture changes from upgrades. And use the config backups to help with architecture changes on the destination version. 

To get to target picture (there are 14+ VBRs), here is my high-level plan. Pls let me know your thoughts. Thank you

 

High-level Steps

 

  1. Stand up the new VM 2022 for EM (same hostname, with different or same IP as source EM) but not on network yet. (Do NOT install EM yet)
  2. Stand up the new VM 2022 for Veeam One (same hostname, with different or same IP as source VeeamOne) but not on network yet. (Do NOT install Veeam One yet)
  3. Take source EM v11 DB backup and shutdown services on source EM and disconnect from network
  4. Take source VeeamOne v11 DB backup and shutdown services on source VeeamOne & disconnect from network
  5. Update DNS accordingly per steps 1 & 2
  6. Install same v11 build for EM on new EM VM and import sql express DB
  7. Install same v11 build for VeeamOne on new VeamOne VM and import sql express DB
  8. Validate new EM & VeeamOne, working as normal with existing VBRs (all v11 & sql express)
  9. Upgrade veeamOne to v12
  10. Upgrade EM to v12
  11. Upgrade VBRs to v12
  12. Validate EM & VeeamOne, working as normal with existing VBRs (all v12 & sql express)
  13. Take VeeamOne v12 sql express DB backup (either thru SSMS and/or dbconfig tool) & migrate its DB to SQL Standard (DB on remote machine)
  14. Take EM v12 sql express DB backup (either thru SSMS and/or dbconfig tool) & migrate its DB to SQL Standard (DB on remote machine)
  15. Validate EM & VeeamOne, working as normal with existing VBRs (all v12, SQL std for EM/VeeamOne & sql express for VBRs)

These steps look good but if the SQL Standard exists once you take backups why not restore to there to avoid steps 13/14?  Just a thought as you can direct both EM/VONE to the SQL Std box on the new Win2022 servers when ready.

Thx Chris. Agreed with you also. The only reason was that should there be any issue anywhere in the interim, there would be 2 things to point to (sql std or v12) instead of one and i wanted to avoid that situation, that’s all. Yes, the new SQL std VM would be already up but i want to take the safer road.

 

Recent request by customer: They want to change the hostname of EM and VeeamOne VMs on the target. Giving further thought to it, have a question: When i import the EM DB on target EM at v11 (i will be installing EM v11 on new EM VM with new hostname prior), will the import be successful on it? In other words, does dbconfig has in it the EM hostname embedded in it somewhere? Hope not, and am hoping if i re-register all the x VBRs out there on the new EM VM v11, it should be able to pick the historical data from the successful DB import, right? Same goes for VeeamOne. Thoughts pls?

hey there @Aman.Nangia → Thanks for sharing this. 

Hard to determine if the above has everything covered. One thing I have learned over the years is to explicitly separate architecture changes from upgrades. And use the config backups to help with architecture changes on the destination version. 

Thanks Rick; agreed.

Someone DM’d me a question, a good one:



“Does Cumulative Patch 3 (or other CPs) need to be installed on Enterprise Manager?”

 

The answer is YES!

Can you add a note to this page and/or the upgrade guide regarding custom region.xml files please. I’ve just spend quite a bit of time trying to work out why SOBR’s to S3 don’t work post v12 only to find that our VPC customisations have been overwritten.

Thanks, Rob.

Can you add a note to this page and/or the upgrade guide regarding custom region.xml files please. I’ve just spend quite a bit of time trying to work out why SOBR’s to S3 don’t work post v12 only to find that our VPC customisations have been overwritten.

Thanks, Rob.

I would suggest that you post this over on the forum site to get better visibility - https://forums.veeam.com 

I would suggest that you post this over on the forum site to get better visibility - https://forums.veeam.com 

If the feedback is about the upgrade checklist in the user guide, then the feedback button at the bottom in the user guide should be used. That will send the request to the right team.
Upgrade Checklist - User Guide for VMware vSphere (veeam.com)


But I assume, @ratkinsonuk would like to see a note in Ricks upgrade blog post here. 


Best,

Fabian

I would suggest that you post this over on the forum site to get better visibility - https://forums.veeam.com 

If the feedback is about the upgrade checklist in the user guide, then the feedback button at the bottom in the user guide should be used. That will send the request to the right team.
Upgrade Checklist - User Guide for VMware vSphere (veeam.com)


But I assume, @ratkinsonuk would like to see a note in Ricks upgrade blog post here. 


Best,

Fabian

Thanks for clarifying that, Fabian.  I forgot about the feedback option in the guides.

…...


But I assume, @ratkinsonuk would like to see a note in Ricks upgrade blog post here. 


Best,

Fabian

 

Ideally, both places, but I’ll use the feedback button to get it added to the official check-list.

Thanks.

EM & VBR both are on same win VM at v12.1 and both using native sql express. I want to migrate both of them to postgresql on same VM. Upgrade guide for EM 12 says, to do EM first and then VBR but when you backup EM DB using veeam.em.db.migration.exe file to an emco file, first point says ‘to do VBR first’ and then EM. So, it’s contradicting info. Which one i should migrate first to postgresql?

 

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/em/em_db_migration.html?zoom_highlight=postgresql&ver=120 (EM guide telling you EM first and then VBR)

See point one above.

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/em/em_db_migration.html?zoom_highlight=postgresql&ver=120 (EM guide telling you EM first and then VBR)

I have done EM first then VBR but have had to remove VBR from VEM and readd it again after the migration since the current server in VEM is based on SQL.  Never tried the reverse way but would think it will work regardless.  You still need to delete/add the VBR server to VEM in the end.

Do you recall, when you did EM first and did the first step of generating the emco file, did it tell you ‘do VBR migration to postgress prior to this EM’? I am wondering since i did not deleted VBR from EM prior to taking EM’s backup to emco file, it gave me that message bcz he knows there is VBR on sql still. Anyways, i will give it a shot again.

 

Side note: Since i went ahead and tried VBR first owing to the point 1 message above, it failed also in the target DB selection when i selected postgresql with below message.

 

Do you recall, when you did EM first and did the first step of generating the emco file, did it tell you ‘do VBR migration to postgress prior to this EM’? I am wondering since i did not deleted VBR from EM prior to taking EM’s backup to emco file, it gave me that message bcz he knows there is VBR on sql still. Anyways, i will give it a shot again.

 

Side note: Since i went ahead and tried VBR first owing to the point 1 message above, it failed also in the target DB selection when i selected postgresql with below message.

I think that is why it gives you the message cause the VBR is still connected to it.  Regardless you need to delete and add VBR to VEM anyway at the end.

 

This is a permissions issue with the account you are logged in as.  You may need to edit one of the config files for Postgres.  Follow this KB - KB4542: "SSPI authentication failed for user" (veeam.com)

Thx Chris; i think that’s what it is. Side question: Do any postgresql components gets installed on the VBR when i upgraded him from v12 to v12.1? Or perhaps it’s better to ask when it was upgraded to v12 in past bz postgressql comes baked in with v12 onwards. Since it’s sql express currently at v12.1 for this customer, the postgresql does not need to be installed as such on this VM bcz that DB should be there even though it’s not used by VBR or VEM at the moment for this customer, right? I will try above steps in my next meeting with customer. Thx

Thx Chris; i think that’s what it is. Side question: Do any postgresql components gets installed on the VBR when i upgraded him from v12 to v12.1? Or perhaps it’s better to ask when it was upgraded to v12 in past bz postgressql comes baked in with v12 onwards. Since it’s sql express currently at v12.1 for this customer, the postgresql does not need to be installed as such on this VM bcz that DB should be there even though it’s not used by VBR or VEM at the moment for this customer, right? I will try above steps in my next meeting with customer. Thx

Postgres is there in v12.0 onwards but you need to specify to install it otherwise if you use SQL Express that is all that is there.   You may need to install Postgres on the server to migrate beforehand.

ah,  my bad. I did not installed it. Wish it was mentioned in the guide to install postgress binary before migrating sql Exp to postgres. I noticed it’s in the VBR iso v12.1 binary per support personnel ‘https://www.veeam.com/blog/switch-sql-server-postgresql-veeam.html’

 

 

ah,  my bad. I did not installed it. Wish it was mentioned in the guide to install postgress binary before migrating sql Exp to postgres. I noticed it’s in the VBR iso v12.1 binary per support personnel ‘https://www.veeam.com/blog/switch-sql-server-postgresql-veeam.html’

 

 

Yeah would be nice to have it check if installed and then prompt you, but that will take care of it.

Question: i will remove VBR from VEM, and do VEM DB migration to postgresql first, and in that during emco backup file creation, if i get message of doing VBR first to postgressql still (hopefully not), i will stop and migration VBR to postgresql first instead.

 

If it doesn’t give the message, i will continue with VEM to postgresql but do i need to install postgresql first like we are going to install postgressql for VBR as in this article right in the beginning ‘https://www.veeam.com/blog/switch-sql-server-postgresql-veeam.html’?

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