Migrating in a Multi-Site Environment

00:00

[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:05

Autodesk recommends when upgrading or migrating a complex environment that you work with a Value-Added Reseller,

00:10

or your Autodesk Account Team.

00:12

Vault Replication -- a quick look at the current level Vault replication is using merge replication,

00:19

in which you can write to any of the subscribers and any of the publishers.

00:24

All read replications happen on all servers as well.

00:27

With Vault Replication 2022, it replaces merge replication technology with transactional replication.

00:34

This will eliminate the ownership issues that many of you have faced, and the data will synchronize almost instantly.

00:40

All read operations at this point will happen on the subscriber as they did before,

00:45

but write operations will only happen on the publisher.

00:49

File Store Replication does remain unchanged, however.

00:53

Planning your multi-site server migration.

00:56

As mentioned earlier, Autodesk recommends you test your upgrade prior to go-live.

00:60

In a multi-site environment, it is best if you have both a subscriber and a publisher.

01:05

If you already have a test server, you can do a backup from production and restore it to that test server.

01:11

To create a new test server, build a server as close to the new server that you're going to use in production.

01:16

You're going to backup from your production server, and you're going to restore it to the test server.

01:21

This can be a separate server if you wish to have it later or the server that you are actually migrating to.

01:28

On go-live day, make sure that your SQL server and Windows versions are compatible.

01:34

Ensure that the new server meets the minimum hardware and software requirements.

01:38

You will need the impersonation account and an SA account.

01:42

If your organization doesn't use the SA account,

01:45

you will need the account that has been set up as a sysadmin and know the password.

01:50

Have all the required software and patches.

01:53

You'll need to know the serial number of product key, network license, server model, and server name,

01:59

and then have a plan for high latency, such as using the ultimate snapshot method.

02:04

Documentation for this can be found in the resources PDF.

02:08

If a rollback is required in this case, you will have the original server,

02:12

so just ensure that your backup is completed correctly.

02:16

You should know this by doing the restore on the new server. Take a backup just to be safe.

02:23

And then once you determine how long you can be down or if you need to roll back, you simply

02:27

need to start using the old server again.

02:30

And you can continue working on the new server until it is in a working shape,

02:34

at which point you can then use that server by taking a new backup and starting at the restore step.

02:43

So migrating your new server and your publisher.

02:47

Publisher has to be done first.

02:49

Make sure you choose your upgrade window.

02:51

And if you're working with an Autodesk representative, let them know your planned upgrade window.

02:56

Build the new server with the required hardware and software.

03:00

Have all users log out of the system and do an IISRESET from the command line of the ADMS console.

03:06

Make sure that your subscribers and publishers are in sync.

03:10

You can do this by looking at the replication monitor on the SQL server,

03:14

and look for a message that says "Polling for 60 seconds on each of the Vault and library databases."

03:20

Once you're sure that the servers are in sync, you will then backup your current Vault at the publisher.

03:27

Then you will run the server installation on all the servers, publishers and subscribers.

03:33

You will apply the Hotfixes on all the servers.

03:37

You're going to then backup your existing Vault at the publisher,

03:41

and start your ADMS console on the new server, and then use that backup and restore it on the new publisher.

03:49

Once the restore is done, you can enable your Vault.

03:52

You're going to let the Vault databases migrate.

03:54

This should happen automatically.

03:56

If it doesn't, you may need to do a manual B2B migration, and documentation is included in the resources PDF.

04:02

When you're going to your new server, it's best to then remove all replication at the ADMS console.

04:07

And if you have installed the software on all the subscribers as recommended above,

04:14

you would then re-add your subscribers at the ADMS console.

04:18

Regardless of whether you're going to new servers or existing servers on the subscribers,

04:24

the software needs to match the version that is on the publisher.

04:28

And once the publisher is done, and you have re-added the subscribers at the ADMS console,

04:34

the subscribers will then begin to consume the snapshots.

04:39

Once the snapshot has been fully consumed,

04:41

you can tell this again by the replication monitor looking for polling for 60 seconds.

04:46

You can then open the ADMS console on the subscriber and enable your Vaults.

04:51

And you can repeat this for each subscriber.

04:54

When upgrading or migrating a multi-site Vault environment, this method is for any new server.

05:01

So once you've tested the process of migration on go-live day, you can simply redo the backup,

05:07

make sure the users are not in Vault, perform a new backup, and restore to the new publishing server.

05:13

The subscribers need to be online during the upgrade, but you can stop the SQL server jobs.

05:19

You will not be able to restore if your SQL server and Vault are not the same or a higher version.

05:25

You need to make sure that your users are out of Vault from the point where you're going to backup the production server and go-live.

05:31

Autodesk recommends that every Vault upgrade starts with a validated backup.

05:35

So before migrating any live production environment, restore the latest ADMS console backup to a similar,

05:41

but non-production environment first,

05:43

because a test upgrade will provide confidence that the backup is valid and also identifies potential pitfalls,

05:49

and has no impact on production.

05:52

If re-establishing replication is taking too long, consider using the alternate snapshot method.

Video transcript

00:00

[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:05

Autodesk recommends when upgrading or migrating a complex environment that you work with a Value-Added Reseller,

00:10

or your Autodesk Account Team.

00:12

Vault Replication -- a quick look at the current level Vault replication is using merge replication,

00:19

in which you can write to any of the subscribers and any of the publishers.

00:24

All read replications happen on all servers as well.

00:27

With Vault Replication 2022, it replaces merge replication technology with transactional replication.

00:34

This will eliminate the ownership issues that many of you have faced, and the data will synchronize almost instantly.

00:40

All read operations at this point will happen on the subscriber as they did before,

00:45

but write operations will only happen on the publisher.

00:49

File Store Replication does remain unchanged, however.

00:53

Planning your multi-site server migration.

00:56

As mentioned earlier, Autodesk recommends you test your upgrade prior to go-live.

00:60

In a multi-site environment, it is best if you have both a subscriber and a publisher.

01:05

If you already have a test server, you can do a backup from production and restore it to that test server.

01:11

To create a new test server, build a server as close to the new server that you're going to use in production.

01:16

You're going to backup from your production server, and you're going to restore it to the test server.

01:21

This can be a separate server if you wish to have it later or the server that you are actually migrating to.

01:28

On go-live day, make sure that your SQL server and Windows versions are compatible.

01:34

Ensure that the new server meets the minimum hardware and software requirements.

01:38

You will need the impersonation account and an SA account.

01:42

If your organization doesn't use the SA account,

01:45

you will need the account that has been set up as a sysadmin and know the password.

01:50

Have all the required software and patches.

01:53

You'll need to know the serial number of product key, network license, server model, and server name,

01:59

and then have a plan for high latency, such as using the ultimate snapshot method.

02:04

Documentation for this can be found in the resources PDF.

02:08

If a rollback is required in this case, you will have the original server,

02:12

so just ensure that your backup is completed correctly.

02:16

You should know this by doing the restore on the new server. Take a backup just to be safe.

02:23

And then once you determine how long you can be down or if you need to roll back, you simply

02:27

need to start using the old server again.

02:30

And you can continue working on the new server until it is in a working shape,

02:34

at which point you can then use that server by taking a new backup and starting at the restore step.

02:43

So migrating your new server and your publisher.

02:47

Publisher has to be done first.

02:49

Make sure you choose your upgrade window.

02:51

And if you're working with an Autodesk representative, let them know your planned upgrade window.

02:56

Build the new server with the required hardware and software.

03:00

Have all users log out of the system and do an IISRESET from the command line of the ADMS console.

03:06

Make sure that your subscribers and publishers are in sync.

03:10

You can do this by looking at the replication monitor on the SQL server,

03:14

and look for a message that says "Polling for 60 seconds on each of the Vault and library databases."

03:20

Once you're sure that the servers are in sync, you will then backup your current Vault at the publisher.

03:27

Then you will run the server installation on all the servers, publishers and subscribers.

03:33

You will apply the Hotfixes on all the servers.

03:37

You're going to then backup your existing Vault at the publisher,

03:41

and start your ADMS console on the new server, and then use that backup and restore it on the new publisher.

03:49

Once the restore is done, you can enable your Vault.

03:52

You're going to let the Vault databases migrate.

03:54

This should happen automatically.

03:56

If it doesn't, you may need to do a manual B2B migration, and documentation is included in the resources PDF.

04:02

When you're going to your new server, it's best to then remove all replication at the ADMS console.

04:07

And if you have installed the software on all the subscribers as recommended above,

04:14

you would then re-add your subscribers at the ADMS console.

04:18

Regardless of whether you're going to new servers or existing servers on the subscribers,

04:24

the software needs to match the version that is on the publisher.

04:28

And once the publisher is done, and you have re-added the subscribers at the ADMS console,

04:34

the subscribers will then begin to consume the snapshots.

04:39

Once the snapshot has been fully consumed,

04:41

you can tell this again by the replication monitor looking for polling for 60 seconds.

04:46

You can then open the ADMS console on the subscriber and enable your Vaults.

04:51

And you can repeat this for each subscriber.

04:54

When upgrading or migrating a multi-site Vault environment, this method is for any new server.

05:01

So once you've tested the process of migration on go-live day, you can simply redo the backup,

05:07

make sure the users are not in Vault, perform a new backup, and restore to the new publishing server.

05:13

The subscribers need to be online during the upgrade, but you can stop the SQL server jobs.

05:19

You will not be able to restore if your SQL server and Vault are not the same or a higher version.

05:25

You need to make sure that your users are out of Vault from the point where you're going to backup the production server and go-live.

05:31

Autodesk recommends that every Vault upgrade starts with a validated backup.

05:35

So before migrating any live production environment, restore the latest ADMS console backup to a similar,

05:41

but non-production environment first,

05:43

because a test upgrade will provide confidence that the backup is valid and also identifies potential pitfalls,

05:49

and has no impact on production.

05:52

If re-establishing replication is taking too long, consider using the alternate snapshot method.

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