904 - How to convert an SE/DL Account to ESE

Before you begin

The following steps are required for successful conversion from SE/DL to ESE:

• The Account's SE/DL Agent must be upgraded to the latest release.
• The Account must be on a live backup schedule and must have completed a backup in the past seven days so that (a) the Account's encryption key is in memory and (b) the necessary Account settings will have been updated on the Storage Platform. This ensures that the Account's eligibility for conversion can be checked.
• The latest ESE Agent updates must be installed on the Storage Platform.
• The Windows service for the Agent must be running for the auto update to be initiated.
• You need Storage Platform Administrator or Group Administrator permissions for the Console.
• You need an ESE licence available in the Account's Group.
• You need at least 1GB of RAM available on the StorageServer for every 1 million files in the Account that is to be converted, over and above the minimum 4GB required by normal StorageServer operation.
• You need sufficient disk space on the StorageServer containing the Accounts that are to be converted, i.e. 10% more than what is currently used by the Account in question. 

Please note that only features and settings that are enabled in SE/DL will be converted. To carry over the VSS SQL Server plugin, select its node only and not its parent, i.e. this:

and not this:

If during conversion you get the error "The Backup Client has the following upsupported plugins: MS SQL Server", you will need to close the SE agent and uninstall the MS SQL Server plugin using the SE Plugin Installation tool. You can then reattempt the conversion.

For more information on conversion, see Article 903.

How to convert an SE/DL Account to ESE

1. Perform the necessary upgrades:

• Upgrade the Storage Platform and Console to the latest version.
• Install the latest versions of the SE/DL and ESE Agent updates on the Storage Platform.
• Ensure that the applicable SE/DL Agents are up to date.
• Perform a backup on the SE/DL Agent or use the Retrieve Settings button in the Agent to ensure that conversion information is sent to the Storage Platform. 

2. Convert your Accounts:

• Once conversion information has been sent, log into the Console as a user with Storage Platform Administrator or Group Administrator permissions.
• In the Account Management view, expand the Account Management tree and select the group containing the SE/DL Account(s) to be converted.
• Select one or more Accounts. (Multiple Accounts can be selected by holding in the CTRL key while left-clicking each Account.)
• Right-click one of the selected SE/DL Accounts to bring up the context menu. 
• Select Advanced and click Convert Data to ESE Format. This will initiate a conversion wizard.
• Once the Account has been converted, the SE/DL Agent will automatically be upgraded to ESE at the next auto update check. There is no need to uninstall SE and install ESE.

Advanced StorageServer settings

Certain advanced actions can be performed for all accounts on a StorageServer by editing the following settings in the StorageServer's (or MirrorServer's) settings.xml file (default location C:\ProgramData\Redstor Backup Pro\SS_Service):

1. By default, the setting VerifyConvertedBackups is set to "True", which means a verification will be run on each of the converted backups. If the verification fails, the backup copy will be deleted and the account will remain unconverted, clearing out all ESE backup indexes and data when the IntegrityCheck runs at the end.

2. To create a backup copy for each of the accounts before data and index conversion starts, set MakeBackupCopyBeforeConvert to "True" (default is "False"). Note that this setting is not account-specific, so all accounts converted while the setting is set to "True" will have a backup copy created. While MakeBackupCopyBeforeConvert is set to "True":

• If data verification on an account succeeds, the backup copy will remain available. The admin will need to manually delete the copy if it is not needed.
• If data verification fails, the backup copy will become obsolete and will be deleted automatically. The account will remain in SE/DL format, and any ESE data or indices that were created in the conversion attempt will be removed by the IntegrityCheck that automatically runs at the end of the conversion.

3. To revert an account from ESE to SE/DL, set RestoreBackupCopyIfConvertingAgain to "True" (default is "False"). Reversion entails the replacement of a converted account with its original SE/DL format and must be done manually by the admin. This is useful in case issues are observed with the converted account. If the admin then queues a second ConvertData task for the converted account while RestoreBackupCopyIfConvertingAgain is set to "True", the account will be reverted to SE/DL. Note that a backup copy of the account must be present for reversion to be possible. The name of the folder in which the backup copy is located contains the same name as the original folder (the account GUID) with an added .bak extension.