Upgrading Pre-7.2 Backups

In version 7.2 and later, Vertica no longer relies on hard links to perform backups. As a result, pre-7.2 backups are not compatible with later Vertica versions. To resolve this issue, vbr includes the vbr task 7.2_upgrade. This task copies an existing pre-7.2 backup and creates a 7.2.x-compatible version of it.

Vertica recommends that you run this task before performing the first backup of the upgraded database.

To upgrade a backup:

  1. Specify the vbr task 7.2_upgrade in the following form:
vbr -t 7.2_upgrade --old-config-file outdated-configfile.ini -c new-configfile.ini
  1. Verify that the snapshotName parameter is the same in the old and new configuration files.

The new configuration file assigns new backup locations for the upgraded backup. This approach preserves the existing backup so you can continue to perform incremental backups on the upgraded backup. After the upgrade is complete, Vertica no longer requires the old configuration file.

If you do not upgrade the backup, the next backup that Vertica executes on the new database is a full backup that subsequently supports incremental backups.