No one likes to have to upgrade their software. Sometimes it seems like wasted time away from more important projects, it can be frustrating (in some cases), and in other cases there is a cost to upgrade (either monetarily or from downtime). HOWEVER, we all enjoy the benefits that the latest version brings us (to learn about those, read my previous article in this series Exploring New vRealize Operations Capabilities). In the case of the VMware’s vRealize Operation 6, there are a lot of benefits to migrating to the new version and the time and complexity of performing that migration / upgrade isn’t much. In fact, what you’ll find (as I did) is that with the latest version, VMware has made the migration easier than ever. In this article, you’ll learn what you need to know to quickly and easily migrate to vRealize Operations 6.
Consider Migration Scenarios
When considering a migration / upgrade you must first consider your starting point. While some vCenter Operations installations may able to be simply wiped out and allow you to just “start over” (perhaps you were doing a proof of concept / PoC or were running it in a lab), in most cases you are going to want to preserve your configurations and performance/capacity history.
In the case of larger and more complex a vCenter Operations installations, you must ensure that you perform comprehensive migration planning (and perhaps even testing). This is especially true because the architecture of vROps is different than that of vCOps (which I talked about in my last article).
Here are some common scenarios:
- Migrating from a single vCOps vApp into a single vROps VM / appliance
- Consolidating multiple vCOps vApps into a single vROps VM / appliance
- Migrating from vCOps installable / custom to vRealize Operations (there is no need to do a “custom install” any longer)
Review Important Resources
Before performing any important infrastructure changes, you always want to ensure that you review relevant resources and have those resources ready, should you need them during or after the upgrade process. Here are some vRealize Operations resources that I recommend and which I referenced:
In the vROps documentation above, I highly recommend that you understand the virtual appliance installation workflow (in the graphic on the right) and make sure to read the sections- Complexity of your Environment and Sizing your Cluster.
Some nice blogs about migrating from vCenter Operations to vRealize Operations are:
- Settlersoman – How to migrate VMware Operations Manager 5.8.x to vRealize Operations Manager 6.0?
- I’m All Virtual – vCOps to vROps Migration
- vXpress – Part 5 – What Migrates from vCOps 5.x to vROps 6.x?
And finally a really excellent resource for learning about the migration process is this VMware video – Migration to vRealize Operations Manager 6.0
Understand the Migration Process
Once you know that you are comfortable with the requirements and prerequisites, it’s time to migrate! If you watched the video above, you already know that the migration process with vROps is different than a traditional upgrade. What VMware has smartly done with vROps 6.x is not offered an upgrade at all. The only way to migrate between vCOps 5.x and vROps 6.x is to first do a brand-new installation of vROps 6.x. This new installation is especially important because the architecture of vROps 6.x is so different than that of vCOps 5.x.
Thus, to migrate to vROps 6.x, you start by just installing vROs 6.x. That means that you should go through the process as if vCOps/vROps was brand-new to you. This would include sizing the new vROps installation, deploying the virtual appliance (or multiple if needed), running the master node setup, perform the first-time login, configure licensing, and then, it’s at that point that you can import from your previous version (vCOps, which should still be running and working in your virtual infrastructure). Alternatively, you could wait to import until you work with vROps for some time (the import doesn’t have to be done during the initial configuration process).
The great thing about the vROps migration process is that the old vCOps and the new vROps can be running, side by side, for as long as you would like. When you are ready to import your configurations and performance/capacity historical data from vCOps you go to vROps and select the Administration on the left navigation then click on Solutions on the left nav.
It’s here that you’ll click on the Import Data tab, which will bring up the window you see below.
To perform the data import, you’ll need to provide the IP address or domain name of the existing vCOps host and the admin password. From there, an agent will be installed on the old vCOps server and you’ll be asked what solutions (management packs) that you want to install in the new vROps. You must install any missing solutions prior to the data import or the data related to that solution won’t be imported.
The great thing about this side-by-side migration design is that you can keep the old vCOps up and running as long as you wish to give you time to compare the two. If you feel you didn’t get all the data you needed or you forgot to update a solution prior to data import, you can delete the new vROps VM, redeploy vROps, and simply perform the data import again.
Take Action!
vRealize Operations 6 has a ton of cool new features! I encourage you to take action today! With this post you have all links to all the resources that you need and with the side by side migration option, there is no risk and no downtime associated with the new vRealize Operations 6 deployment.
You can download vRealize Operations 6 here.
