vRanger 7.8 - Installation/Upgrade Guide

Upgrading a previous vRanger installation

You may upgrade a previous vRanger installation to the latest version by running the standard vRanger installer. For information on which versions of vRanger are supported for upgrade, see Supported upgrade paths.

 

NOTE: Starting with vRanger 7.0, there is no longer a separate installer for upgrades.

Upgrade from Beta versions is not supported, nor is operating a GA version in parallel with a Beta version. The Beta version must be uninstalled before upgrading a previous GA version or performing a full installation.

 

NOTE: Quest recommends that you back up your vRanger database before upgrading the application.

To upgrade a vRanger installation:

1	Double-click the vRanger installation executable.

2	When the vRanger Backup & Replication dialog box appears, select the language for the interface from the Language list, and click Next.

 

NOTE: This setting applies to both the vRanger installation process and the product interface.

3	When the License Agreement dialog box appears, read the license terms, accept the agreement, and click Next.

4	When the vRanger Services Information dialog box appears, enter the credentials you want to use to run the services installed by vRanger.

 

CAUTION: The user account needed for this step must have administrator privileges on the vRanger machine.

▪	In the Domain field, enter the domain in which the user account is located.

▪	In the Username field, enter the username for the account.

▪	In the Password field, enter the password for the account.

5	Click Next.

The vRanger Database Runtime Credentials dialog box appears. This dialog box allows you to configure different credentials for database installation and for normal runtime operations. In addition, this dialog box is where you configure a connection to an existing SQL Server® database.

6	To select an external database, select the server and database name in the drop-down lists.

 

TIP: If the applicable server is not visible, click the refresh icon to perform another discovery.

7	Configure the credentials for your database installation and connection as follows:

▪	Database Installation Credentials: If you select Windows, the database installs using the credentials chosen in Entering vRanger service credentials. If you are using SQL Server authentication, the credentials used must have administrative privileges on the SQL Server instance.

▪	Runtime DB Connection Credentials: You may choose different credentials for use during normal vRanger operations.

▫	If you select Windows, the database installs using the credentials chosen in Entering vRanger service credentials.

▫	If you select SQL Server, enter and confirm the system administrator (sa) password when you select Mixed Mode authentication. Setting strong passwords is essential to the security of your system. Never set a blank or weak sa password.

8	When the vRanger Catalog Service dialog box appears, do one of the following:

▪	To install the Catalog Service, select Install vRanger Catalog Service.

▪	To proceed without installing the Catalog Service, clear the check box, and proceed to Step 9.

 

NOTE: If you have previously installed the Catalog Service, you cannot clear the check box.

9	Click Next.

10	When the Ready to Install dialog box appears, click Install.

11	After the installation is complete, click Finish.

Updating the VSS Tools

Starting with vRanger 7.6.3, the path to required files has changed. Upgrading from a version of vRanger prior to 7.6.3 requires a refresh of the VSS Tools on each VM for which they are configured.

To update the VSS Tools:

1	When viewing the My Inventory View, right-click the preferred VM, and select Configure VSS Tools.

2	When the Configure VSS Tools dialog box appears, enter the name and password for an account with administrative privileges on the VM, and click Next.

If the selected VM has more than one disk, the available disks are shown in the Disk for VSS snapshot section.

3	Select the disks to quiesce.

4	If preferred, select Perform application log truncation.

5	Click Configure, and click Next.

vRanger performs the following actions:

▪	Creates the C:\Program Files\Quest\vRanger\vzShadow directory, and populates the directory with the vzShadow executable and supporting files.

▪	Creates the C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\backupscripts.d directory, and creates a freeze.bat file in that directory that contains the appropriate contents based on your selections.

Upgrading the vRanger Database

Starting with vRanger 7.7.1, the embedded vRanger database version has been changed to SQL Server 2014 SP3 Express. Follow the procedures below to upgrade your vRanger database.

Performing a database upgrade

In order to upgrade the vRanger database, perform the steps described below.

Prerequisites

•	Back up all SQL Server database files from the SQL Server instance to be upgraded. Refer to Backing up the vRanger database for more information.

•	Run the appropriate Database Console Commands (DBCC) on databases to be upgraded to ensure that they are in a consistent state.

•	Estimate the disk space that is required to upgrade SQL Server components in addition to user databases.

•	Ensure that all database servers have logon information in the master database. This is important for restoring a database, as system logon information resides in master.

•	Disable all startup stored procedures, as the upgrade process will stop and start services on the SQL Server instance being upgraded. Stored procedures processed at startup time might block the upgrade process.

•	Quit all applications, including all services that have SQL Server dependencies. Upgrade might fail if local applications are connected to the instance being upgraded.

Upgrading the database (32-bit SQL Server)

To upgrade an older 32bit version of SQL Server to a newer 32bit SQL server

1	Log on to the computer as an Administrator or as a member of the Administrator group and select the installation package that contains the setup.exe.

2	Run the program and the SQL Server Installation Center wizard is displayed.

3	In the left navigation area, click Installation and then click Upgrade from SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2 or SQL Server 2012.

4	On the License Terms page, review the license agreement and, if you agree, select I accept the license terms, then click Next.

5	In the Global Rules window, the setup procedure will automatically advance to the Product Updates window if there are no rule errors.

6

The Microsoft Update page will appear next if the Microsoft Update check box in Control Panel>All Control Panel Items>Windows Update>Change settings is not checked. Putting a check in the Microsoft Update page will change the computer settings to include the latest updates when you scan for Windows Update.

7	On the Product Updates page, click Next to include the latest SQL Server updates. The Install Setup Files page is displayed, where the setup files are copied and then the installation automatically starts.

8	On the Install Setup Files page, Setup provides the progress of downloading, extracting, and installing the Setup files. If an update for SQL Server Setup is found, and is specified to be included, that update will also be installed.

9	In the Upgrade Rules window, the setup procedure will automatically advance to the Select instance window if there are no rule errors.

10	On the Select Instance page, specify the instance of SQL Server to upgrade.

11	On the Select Features page, the features to upgrade will be preselected. A description for each component group appears in the right pane after you select the feature name.

The prerequisites for the selected features are displayed on the right-hand pane. SQL Server Setup will install the prerequisite that are not already installed during the installation step described later in this procedure.

12	On the Instance Configuration page, specify the Instance ID for the instance of SQL Server.

▪

Instance ID - By default, the instance name is used as the Instance ID. This is used to identify installation directories and registry keys for your instance of SQL Server. This is the case for default instances and named instances. For a default instance, the instance name and instance ID would be MSSQLSERVER. To use a non-default instance ID, provide a value for the Instance ID textbox.

All SQL Server service packs and upgrades will apply to every component of an instance of SQL Server.

▪	Installed instances - The grid will show instances of SQL Server that are on the computer where Setup is running. If a default instance is already installed on the computer, you must install a named instance of SQL Server.

13	On the Server Configuration - Service Accounts page, the default service accounts are displayed for SQL Server services. The actual services that are configured on this page depend on the features that you are upgrading.

Authentication and login information will be carried forward from the previous instance of SQL Server. You can assign the same login account to all SQL Server services, or you can configure each service account individually.

When you are finished specifying login information for SQL Server services, click Next.

14	On the Full-Text Search Upgrade Options page, specify the upgrade options for the databases being upgraded.

The Feature Rules window will automatically advance if all rules pass.

15	The Ready to Upgrade page displays a tree view of installation options that were specified during Setup. To continue, click Install. SQL Server Setup will first install the required prerequisites for the selected features followed by the feature installation.

16	During installation, the progress page provides status so that you can monitor installation progress as Setup continues.

17	After installation, the Complete page provides a link to the summary log file for the installation and other important notes. To complete the SQL Server installation process, click Close.

18	Open SQL Server Management and set the compatibility level for the selected database.

 

Upgrading the database (64-bit SQL Server)

To upgrade an older 32-bit version of SQL Server to a newer 64-bit SQL server

1	Take backups of the vRangerPro and Catalog Databases. Refer to Backing up the vRanger database.

2	Uninstall the older 32-bit database.

3	Install a fresh 64-bit database.

4	Restore the vRangerPro and Catalog databases.

5	Open SQL Server Management and set the compatibility level for the selected database.