Upgrading Questions

There is a way to migrate the application, all your questions are answered in the below link

Migration Guide - SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. Help and Support

Hope it helps

Thank you for the info Vinay.  What would be the best practice once I have my 2016 server up and running?  Or should I say what are the next steps after that?  Would it be to install the latest version of Solarwinds?  All these questions are to be sure I have a smooth transition and hopefully this will help others.

Could you please tell me what all modules do you have in your environment along with NPM 12.0.1

Are you migrating to new hardware or upgrading the existing machine? If you are migrating then you can follow the migration guide posted above which shows you which files to manually copy (as they are not stored in the database) such as Reports (The old report writer files) NCM Config Archive etc. Obviously, you need to backup your SQL Database if you are upgrading your SQL Server. Then you would run the installer and configuration wizard as per the migration guide instructions.

I would perform the migration as mentioned below:

1. SolarWinds would always suggest to keep your environment on the latest versions as all the known bugs are fixed + you get to use the latest features released for each module, but i generally upgrade it to N-1 version, it again depends on how would you like to take this.

2. The ideal approach is to upgrade all modules in existing environment to the latest versions and then migrate it to new server, that isnt possible in your case as you are on 2008 R2, hence you will need to go with the migration first and then upgrade your modules accordingly.

3. Migrate you DB first (2016) follow the steps mentioned in the below link:

Migrate the SolarWinds Orion SQL database to a new server - SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. Help and Support

4. If you have NTA in your environment - migrate NTA FSDB after point 3, if you do not have NTA then start with point 5

Migrate the NTA Flow Storage Database to a new remote server - SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. Help and Support

5. If you want to test the migration and check if your SQL DB was migrated successfully without any issues, try to connect your SolarWinds application with the migrated DB(new), this step needs to be performed before your migrate your SolarWinds application, run config wizard on primary poller make changes and enter the details of SQL Server (new) and check if your application is running fine. This is just an additional step for verification. You SolarWinds application is now connected to the migrated DB, keep it on for 5 to 10 mins perform basic checks on your application and then move on to the next step.

6. Now move/migrate your application onto a new server 2016. Follow the steps mentioned on the link

Migrate SolarWinds products to a new server with a new IP and hostname - SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. Help and Support

7. Once you migrate your application with the same versions onto new server 2016, after a couple of days, upgrade it to the latest module versions as required. I dont think you will loose any data as everything is stored in the DB and since you are migrating the DB it shouldnt be a problem. NPM - If you are using report writer then you might need to take a dump of all the reports created and stored on your primary poller and if you have older version of NCM in your environment then you might need few additional steps to be performed, I cant think of other dependencies for now, once you let me know what modules (with versions) you have i can suggest accordingly.

Note: If you have NTA then watch out, the latest version NTA 4.4 which will hit the market requires MS SQL 2016 for FSDB.

Hope it helps

Hi kange0010​,

Thanks @David Smith, how stupid am I, kange0010​ -> are you spinning up new machines Win 2016 or are you upgrading Win 2008 R2 to 2016 ?

My response talks about migrating the existing application & DB onto new Win 2016 boxes.

Vinay and David,

Thank you for the responses.  These are the applications/modules I currently have:

NPM 12.0.1

VNQM 4.2.4

SAM 6.2.4

DPA 10.0.1

NCM 7.5

IVIM 2.1.2

QoE 2.2.0

NetPath 1.0.1

NTA 4.2.0

The Server 2016s will be brand new VMs.  The Database 2016 will also be brand new (VM as well I believe).  The install of Solarwinds will be a clean install.  I'm wanting to know how I would go about having everything I have now moved over.

I was informed that I should upgrade everything to the highest possible versions that Server 2008 R2 SP1 can hold which are:

NPM 12.1

SAM 6.4

NCM 7.6

NTA 4.2.2

VNQM 4.4.

I was also informed that DPA, IVIM, QoE and NetPath are included with NPM and will be upgraded also.  This is all with a .NET Framework of 4.6.2.

For the clean installs on the Server 2016s I believe I need to install the last version I have which would be NPM 12.1 (and all related modules) and then upgrade from there to 12.2.  Hope this clarifies things.  This is my first time and I'm hoping everything goes smoothly.

Hi, If you decided to upgrade prior to migration you would be able to use the 12.1 installers to bring your products up to the latest supported (which are correctly listed in your post) and to confirm for you DPA (Which is the DPA Integration Module) IVIM (Which is the Virtualization Integration), QoE and NetPath are all included in Orion Core (Which is installed as part of the NPM).

Then when you migrate the SQL Database to the new servers you can simply install the latest release using the new All In One Falcon Installer (Selecting the appropriate modules) and then when the Configuration Wizard runs you connect it to your new SQL Server (with the imported database) and it will update the database tables and indexes to the latest schema.

SolarWinds do recommend you install the current versions and then perform an upgrade. Personally, I don't always think this is required, but it depends on the module versions you are on.

The other option would be to install the existing versions directly onto the new server and perform an upgrade from 12.0.1 through to 12.2. (The only concern here would be SAM, as I have never tested the jump from 6.2.4 to 6.6 with the new AIO Installer, and the Product Upgrade Advisor shows you need to do it separately). Also the PUA doesn't mention it, but if you check compatibility I'm not sure the older versions would install on 2016, so that would need testing.

*Screenshot is based on your existing modules installed directly onto Svr 2016.

I suspect Option 1 is going to be the safest route, to upgrade to the latest possible versions on the existing servers. Perform a migration & upgrade to the new servers.

Hope that helps.