Moving from Win2012R2 OS with Orion 2018.2 to Win2016 with latest Orion

dmel​ I went through a similar process at the start of 2018. I was allowed to completely start over, requiring absolutely zero historical data to be moved into the new system. I also had the ability to run my new and old systems in parallel. Running both systems along side each other was a tremendous help. I used a mix of PowerShell/API scripts, as well as good old fashion typing and clicking, to transfer over my nodes, interfaces, custom properties, etc. I ran them in small batches, then left the elements to be monitored on both systems for as long as I could, eventually removing them once we were comfortable with the new system.

I took this opportunity to rethink, re-plan, and re-build all of our alerts. I change them from having the email addresses hardcoded inside the alerts, to calling a custom property variable from the node/element. I don't remember the exact number, but if I had to put an arbitrary number on it, I'd say we were able to cut out ~60% of our alerts this way.

All in all, from my experience, I'd say planning took the longest, but had the biggest impact. Once I got going, the process just got more and more smooth. I know zackm​ has done a bunch of work with getting his alerts streamlined. You should search through his content and see what he has out there. (I'm pretty sure he had posted some good info specifically about this topic, though I don't have much time right now to go digging.)

Yep, this is basically the idea as wluther​ mentions. There are scripts to copy the nodes themselves over to the new environment and once you do that you can export/import custom properties for the ones you must import, but the planning here does make a huge difference including pruning old custom properties.

There are topics regarding having alerts tied to either a custom property for severity or for designation such as prod/non-prod. People do have their own ways of sorting this out.

Being able to start fresh is a massive, massive blessing in disguise. You'll have your naysayers of "but how will we keep all our data", but in reality it's a chance to make things done the right way, with a long term/big impact perspective.

Ok, I've run into my first problem.

Running the Solarwinds Configuration Wizard (had to wait for my DBA to create a new DB for me). I have full permissions on the new DB, but when I select the DB, and click NEXT, nothing happens. It visually shows that I click on NEXT, but nothing happens, I even let it sit overnight to see if something was going on that I couldn't see.

Any ideas?

dmel​​ You can check your config wizard logs and see if it is getting hung up on something obvious.

G:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Logs\Orion\ConfigurationWizard.log

Also, if you have maintenance, you can call support and they can check it out too.

Sorry, as soon as I posted that my DB found the problem. My username didn't have correct permissions on the DB.

There are like 5 different ways security patches screw an orion install, via not enough permissions.

We now have the new Orion server functioning. Got past all our DB hurdles. Now the initial web console is up and wanting to run the discovery wizard.

Do we run through this like it is a new install or do we now start looking at the scripts to import things that we want?

EDIT: I downloaded the OrionSDK. But can't seem to figure out how to connect SWQL studio to connect to my new DB.

EDIT EDIT: I am reading through the product blogs about the SDK....starting with this gem....Intro to SWQL Studio

helps to know I am connecting to the OrionServer, not the DB server for SQWL Studio

dmel​ you need to get the new environment up and running; keep in mind this is when your 30 day trial begins effectively. Get your scripts together and then it's go time.

It seems a lot of those scripts are for older versions of modules.

Now, my current production Orion is Orion Platform 2018.2 HF5, IPAM 4.7.0, SAM 6.7.0, DPAIM 11.1.0, NCM 7.8, NetPath 1.1.3, NPM 12.3, WPM 2.2.2

But the new one is Orion Platform 2019.2 HF1, WPM 3.0.0, IPAM 4.9.0, NCM 8.0, NPM 12.5, SAM 6.9.0, NetPath 1.1.5

I am not a certified 'script kiddy' but I have dabbled in PowerShell for a few years, but only in doing what I had to do.

Since I am a noob at SWQL and OrionSDK, I have not figured out how all those parts fit together.

I can say I like SWQL ease of pulling data, just need to get more experience in knowing what to pull to be of use.

So at this moment I am attempting to run the PS 'copynodes' after making my environmental mods. We will see how this goes.

EDIT: The script did not like the following:

Line 123    $newUri = New-SwisObject $target -EntityType "Orion.Nodes" -Properties $targetNodeProps

Gave this error:

New-SwisObject : Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

At C:\\OrionSDK-master\OrionSDK-master\Samples\PowerShell\CopyNodes.ps1:123 char:15

+ ...   $newUri = New-SwisObject $target -EntityType "Orion.Nodes" -Propert ...

+                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [New-SwisObject], FaultException`1

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SwisError,SwisPowerShell.NewSwisObject

did you get this sorted or are you still looking for some help?