As we all know 2012 R2 OS EOL is coming soon, so we are planning to do upgrade the Bigfix environment (Root servers, Web report servers, Console servers, Relay servers, etc.,) to the 2016/2019 OS level.
Could you please guide us and share pros\Cons? How the procedure will be to plan for the upgrade.?
is it an in-place upgrade possible where the bigfix application is running (Root servers) and others.? if possible or anyone has recently done, please help us here with some guidance.
@Chandu, here’s the official Upgrading on Windows systems documentation.
That said, I much prefer (and recommend) standing up NetNew infrastructure at the latest versions (i.e. Win2k19) and then migrating the BigFix instance in question. This allows you to preserve your existing environment, but on new infrastructure.
Please note that in many cases, it’s best to upgrade your BigFix instance to the latest version on the old infrastructure prior to the migration. This is because the older installers may not support the latest MSSQL version that you plan to implement.
HI, @cmcannady Thanks for the details.
we already have the Bigfix version 10 running in our environment. is it fine enough to migrate the infra to the New hardware\2019 OS…?
can you please provide detailed documentation for root server migration if any.?
As @cmcannady linked to above, the detailed documentation for root server migration is found here and the associated pages linked in the instruction steps.
You can migrate from any version, it just helps to do any upgrading on the existing system prior to the transfer as that is one less thing to worry about while you are down during the transfer. Note: both the old and new servers MUST be using the SAME VERSION of BigFix during the transfer. If your current server is 10.0, you must use the binaries for 10.0 and not 10.1/etc. Only after the new server is operational can you then upgrade (if that is what you want to do). This is why the recommendation for upgrading prior to transfer was made.
Just to update all, I have done an in-place OS upgrade (2012 R2 to 2016) for our DEV BIGFIX primary\secondary servers (secondary after the primary). Both the servers are working fine and complete Bigfix health looks good.
Since, I upgrade the OS and didn’t see any changes on Bigfix application side. It is same as before… we will plan production migration soon with same process.
Any comments/suggestions…?
If all your testing was successful, then I would use that as the determining factor in proceeding. Ensure you have good (and current) backups and follow your tested process.
@Chandu, beyond my original response above, I don’t have anything else to add as I do not prefer or recommend in-place OS upgrade for core BES infrastructure.
Whole heartedly agree with @Mike with respects to backups and testing!