How to Upgrade the NATS Server Used by Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365

Part 2: Identify the Current NATS Server Version

Before attempting to upgrade the NATS Server, you must first identify if the currently installed version is lower than the supported version.

On the Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 server, open an Administrative PowerShell Terminal and run the following command to output the nats-server service executable path:

Part 3: Upgrading NATS Server

After determining which version of NATS Server is installed and reviewing the Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 User Guide to determine if a newer version of NATS Server is supported, perform the following steps to upgrade the NATS Server deployment.

1. Ensure that all backup jobs, backup copy jobs, and restore tasks are either completed, stopped, or disabled.
2. On the primary Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 server (aka controller) and all associated Proxies, stop the services associated with the software:
   • Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 Server
     

     Get-Service Veeam.Archiver.Proxy | Stop-Service
     Get-Service Veeam.Archiver.Service | Stop-Service
     Get-Service nats-server | Stop-Service
     

   • Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 Windows Proxy
     

     Get-Service Veeam.Archiver.Proxy | Stop-Service
     

   • Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 Linux Proxy
     

     systemctl stop Veeam.Archiver.Proxy
     

3. Download the latest compatible NATS Server zip package from: https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases
   • You may need to flip through multiple pages to find the version compatible with Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365.
   • You'll need the package that ends in "windows-amd64.zip".
     
   • For example, at the time of writing this article, version 2.10.28 was the latest supported version, and the path to that file is:
     https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/download/v2.10.28/nats-server-v2.10.28-windows-amd64.zip
4. Copy the folder within the zip to C:\Program Files\NATS, placing it next to the existing deployed version's folder.

5. Update the following command with the correct absolute path to the new nats-server.exe created in the previous step, then run the command in an Administrative Command Prompt.
   
   Note: This command must be run in a command prompt, not a PowerShell (PS) prompt.
   ^{Command Prompt is used instead of PowerShell because the method used to escape the quote symbols varies by PowerShell version.}

Upgrading NATS Server

Review the Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 User Guide to determine if a newer version of the NATS Server is supported. If so, perform the following steps to upgrade the NATS Server deployment.

1. Ensure that all backup jobs, backup copy jobs, and restore tasks are either completed, stopped, or disabled.
2. Stop all Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 related services:
   • On the controller host, stop:
     • Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 Service
     • Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 Proxy Service
   • On all associated backup proxies, stop:
     • Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 Proxy Service
3. Upgrade the NATS Server deployment.
   
   Notes:
   
   • If the NATS Server was run as a downloaded executable on a Windows machine, upgrading may be as simple as swapping the executable with the maximum version supported by Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365.
   • If the NATS Server was deployed on Linux using the native package manager, upgrading may be as simple as updating the package restrictions to set the new maximum version to match the one supported by Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 and then upgrading packages using the package manager.
   • If the NATS Server was deployed as a Docker image, upgrading may be as simple as pulling the Docker image matching the version supported by Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 and updating the container.
4. Restart the service from Step 2 above.