Best way of Migration of Configuration Database from MSSQL to Postgres

[d.artzen]

Hello together,

currently the configuration database for our VBR12.2 is on a local MS-SQL Express, which was originally installed with VBR11a. Now I've read that Veeam is recommending that installations be migrated to Postgres, since the next main Version 13 will not support MS-SQL for the configuration database anymore and 12.3 also installs a Postgres Instance for the new EntraID feature. Since we plan to update to 12.3 shortly I would like to know if there is some kind of guide which explains how to do this the easiest way. I should mention that I only have rudimentary knowledge of MS-SQL and until now had no contact with Postgres, so I would prefer a way that installs and configures the Postgres in the same way the current VBR installers do it in a new installation. The VBR is installed on a Windows Server 2022, if that matters. There is only the one VBR Server, no Enterprise Manager and no VeeamOne.

Thanks in Advance for your help.
Best regards
Daniel

[david.domask]

Hi Daniel!

Sure, we have a section in our User Guide dedicated to the migration process. Please check this section.

Overall the process is very straight forward. I would update to 12.3, as it will install PostgreSQL for the Entra ID feature, and then you can perform a configuration migration using the process linked above.

[d.artzen]

Hello David,

thanks for the fast reply. So the Postgres Installation of 12.3 has all the correct configuration done automatically or do I need to run the Set-VBRPSQLDatabaseServerLimits cmdlet after migration as specified in the linked document?
And after the migration is done, can I uninstall the MS-SQL on the server or are there any further steps necessary? The MS-SQL is only used by the VBR.

Best regards
Daniel

[mjr.epicfail]

Hi Daniel,

Set-VBRPSQLDatabaseServerLimits is only needed if Veeam didn't install PSQL.

[Gostev]

And after the migration is done, can I uninstall the MS-SQL on the server or are there any further steps necessary? The MS-SQL is only used by the VBR.

Yes

[d.artzen]

Thank you all. This makes it easier for me. I will proceed with the update and then do the database migration, likely in the next few days. I first must clean a bit of space on drive C:, currently I don't have enough available for the upgrade (only have 35GB free, but according to the installer need at least 42GB).

[d.artzen]

OK, either I am doing something wrong or I am missing some information. First the update itself from 12.2 to 12.3 went through successfully, no errors or warnings whatsoever. I can connect and everything works.
So I tried the migration process as described in the linked user guide, which is quite straightforward, and I am hitting a stopping stone. In the assistant when I choose PostgreSQL it already has all fields filled in so I just click "connect" and then I got an error saying the target computer refused the connection. I then saw that in the windows services the postgres service was not running and was also disabled. Is this an expected behavior when the postgres is installed during the update?
So I went and started the service and tried again with the same result, "target computer refused the connection". I then tried and replaced the "servername:5432" with "localhost:5432", even though DNS is correctly configured, and I got a different error. Now it says "SSPI Authentication for user postgres failed". I did not specify a user, I used the option "Use Credentials of the service account". When I use native authentication it says "database is not enabled for native authentication."
Can anyone give me a hint where to look to solve this or would this be something for a support case? If so I would most likely not be able to open one before the next year due to internal time constraints.

Best regards
Daniel

[tyler.jurgens]

@d.artzen - check out this KB and see if that helps you.
https://www.veeam.com/kb4542

[CoLa]

... Now I've read that Veeam is recommending that installations be migrated to Postgres, since the next main Version 13 will not support MS-SQL for the configuration database anymore...

Is there a link to this? Or a release note?

[Gostev]

The story is a bit different:
1. V13 on Linux will only support PostgreSQL.
2. V13 on Windows will continue to support both Microsoft SQL Server and PostgreSQL.
3. Down the road (sometimes post V13, undecided yet) we will discontinue support of Microsoft SQL altogether.

[d.artzen]

@tyler.jurgens: Thank you, the KB had the solution. For whatever reason the pg_ident.conf had two identical entries for the local system but none for the local administrator account. I added that account and then the migration worked. I still had to use localhost:5482 instead of the servername, not sure what is up with that. But it worked that way and that is all that matters to me at this point.

@CoLa and Gostev: Sorry, I seem to have misunderstood the post where it said that V13 Linux would need PostgreSQL. I thought it meant that V13 in general would drop the support for MS-SQL, not only for the linux version. It was not my intention to spread wrong information.