Technical Note: XTN1205
Procedure
- Download the "XenData Server Installation Guide", which is available from the support section of the website.
- Open the XenData License Administration utility from the Start > Programs > XenData menu. Confirm that you have current software maintenance and note your Activation Codes. It is essential that you had software maintenance in place on the release date of the new software, otherwise the XenData Service will not start. You will need the Activation Codes for both the Archive Series software and the Alert Module during the upgrade process.
- Contact XenData Support to allow them to ensure that all files that should have been written to tape have been written to tape. (Files that should have been written to tape, but the writing process failed in the past perhaps due to a hardware failure, will still be on disk. It is important to identify whether any such files exist and to then write these to tape.) They will also discuss the options for saving and restoring any "non save to tape" data on the XenData volume.
- Once XenData support confirms that you can continue your upgrade, take a full metadata backup including the statefile using the Metadata Backup Utility. This should be stored on a USB flash drive or on another computer.
- With the XenData Service stopped, make a backup of the $XenDataData directory and its contents. This is a hidden directory at the root of the XenData disk volume. Once again this should be stored on another computer or a USB flash drive. This completes everything that you need from the old system. The old server can be shutdown.
- The new server should be prepared as described in the "Installation Prerequisites" section of the "XenData Server Installation Guide".
- Connect the tape hardware to the new server. Ensure that it is powered on and has completed its initialisation, now power up the new server.
- On the new server, restore the previously backed up $XenDataData directory and its contents to the root of the new XenData Disk Volume.
- Install the XenData software as described in the "XenData Server Installation Guide". These are: 1. Install the software including reboot, 2. Install appropriate device drivers, 3. License the software and 4. Run the Hardware Configuration utility if necessary. Do NOT reboot after step 4.
- Using the Metadata Backup utility, and the metadata backup saved earlier restore ONLY the Statefile.
- Reboot the server to complete the installation of XenData Server. If the system does not start as expected, please refer to any messages in the Windows XenData Event log.
Notes
- If upgrading to Windows Server 2016 or later, you will need to disable "Show pop-up descriptions for folders and desktop items" in Windows explorer, as it can cause unwanted restores when explorer tries to access file information. This setting can be found in Windows Explorer "File" > "Folder Options" > "View". Uncheck the box, and select "Apply To Folders" to apply this to all folders.
Related Technical Information
Applicable Operating Systems
- Windows Server 2012 R2
- Windows Server 2016
- Windows Server 2019
Applicable XenData Software
This technical note is applicable to:
- Version 6 – Server Editions of Archive Series software
- Version 7 – Server Editions of Archive Series software including the Cloud File Gateway
PBS
XenData’s fully supported clustered server meets all the requirements for our disaster recovery site. We have been very pleased with the SX-525 product and XenData’s technical team who have provided system design and integration services above and beyond expectations.
James Cutright, Director, Project Management
PBS
Crew Cuts
I did my research, and the best archive solution was from XenData which manages a robotic LTO library behind the scenes. This helps to minimize our total costs and allows us to focus on producing great content for our customers.
Chris Keenan, CTO
Crew Cuts
Ideal Systems Singapore
We partnered with XenData for the GlobeCast Broadcast facility rollout, because it offers one of the most cost effective, robust digital video archives on the market and a great migration alternative to some of the more expensive digital video archive vendor offerings.
Fintan Mc Kiernan, CEO
Ideal Systems Singapore
North Shore Automation
Having completed over 25 joint installations of XenData archive systems, we have found everyone on the XenData team to be both highly professional and super responsive and their technology to be rock solid. They are truly a pleasure to work with.
Bryson Jones, Founder
North Shore Automation
This is Just a Test
With over 558 TB of content and growing, conventional backup solutions just don’t work for us. Our XenData system allows us to maintain an ongoing mirrored copy of our shared storage while creating replica LTO copies for offsite storage.
Nathan Flom
This is Just a Test
Excelencia
We have now installed over 170 XenData archive systems across Mexico and they have proven to be very reliable. In addition, the technical support from XenData has been outstanding.
Jorge Castaneda, President
Excelencia en Comunicaciones y Tecnología