Upgrade Advice

mlcc2000

I've watched (read) with interest the various discussions regarding the latest rounds of upgrades.  We are planning out our next upgrade cycle and would like some suggestions on the correct way we should approach.

Environment

• All Servers are Windows 2012 R2.
• All except SQL server are VMs.
• 1 Main Poller
• 2 APE Servers
• 1 NetFlow DB Server
• 1 DPA Server
• 6 Dedicated WPM Player Servers
• 1 MS SQL 2012 Server (Physical)
• Orion Platform 2017.3.4 SP4, WPM 2.2.1, SRM 6.5.0, NCM 7.7, CloudMonitoring 1.1.0, NPM 12.2, DPAIM 11.1.0, QoE 2.4, NTA 4.2.3, VMAN 8.1.0, SAM 6.5.0, NetPath 1.1.2

We have looked thru the Upgrade Planner; however, we need to ask a couple questions:

Questions

• Should we migrate our current environment to MS SQL 2016 and Windows Server 2016 BEFORE upgrading SW?
• Do all of our servers need to be on Windows Server 2016 including the servers used as WPM Player locations?
• Does the SQL Server need to be Windows Server 2016?
• What gotchas should we be looking for?

We have the following guides/ discussions as reference in addition to the Upgrade Planner:

https://thwack.solarwinds.com/message/400040#400040

https://support.solarwinds.com/Success_Center/Orion_Platform/Knowledgebase_Articles/Migrate_the_SolarWinds_Orion_SQL_database_to_a_new_server

https://support.solarwinds.com/Success_Center/Network_Performance_Monitor_(NPM)/Migrate_SolarWinds_Orion_products_to_a_new_server_with_a_new_IP_and_hostname

https://support.solarwinds.com/Success_Center/Network_Performance_Monitor_(NPM)/Migrate_SolarWinds_Orion_products_to_a_new_server_using_the_same_IP_and_hostname

Any other reference doc we need to be aware of?

Thank you!

neomatrix1217

Questions

• Should we migrate our current environment to MS SQL 2016 and Windows Server 2016 BEFORE upgrading SW?

If you have the resources to do this I would after these releases Orion will no longer support Windows Server 2012 meaning you cannot upgrade any further.

Windows Server 2012, 2016 and SQL Server 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017 Support - SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. Help and Support

• Do all of our servers need to be on Windows Server 2016 including the servers used as WPM Player locations?

All your servers should be 2016 including the APE's the WPM player locations will be fine with 2012

WPM 2.2.2 system requirements - SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. Help and Support

• Does the SQL Server need to be Windows Server 2016?

If you want to use NTA 4.4 then yes 2016 or above this will also allow you to use Orion Log Manager if needed in the future also you would be able to do away with your Fastbit server since NTA can live on the same SQL server as Orion.

NTA 4.4 Adoption: Frequently Asked Questions - SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. Help and Support

NTA 4.4 System Requirements - SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. Help and Support

• What gotchas should we be looking for?

The Orion installer will make you upgrade all your applications so it will tell you that it will take you from NTA 4.2.3 to 4.4 if you decided not to get SQL 2016 then just say no on the database confirmation screen for NTA and it will keep you at 4.2.3.