Security Compliance

Migrate a hardware appliance (SIM) to a virtual appliance (LEM)

Prepare to migrate a hardware appliance (SIM) to a virtual appliance (LEM).

First published date

11/29/2018 10:48 PM

Last published date

5/28/2019 7:26 PM

Product section

Log & Event Manager

Resolution

Prepare to migrate a hardware appliance (SIM) to a virtual appliance (LEM):

Important: It is not possible to merge any backed up alert or log data with live data at this time. If you want to be able to run reports against the data that is currently on your SIM appliance, set it up using the procedure at the end of this article. Otherwise, you can backup all of the data from your SIM appliance to a network share and repurpose the server as you see fit. For more information, see Configure and restore backups on LEM Appliance v5.6 and earlier.


DO NOT turn on your SIM appliance after you have applied its network settings to your LEM appliance. If you want to turn it on to run reports against it, complete the procedure at the end of this article.

  1. Run backupconfig on your SIM appliance to ensure you have a current backup of your SIM settings, such as your LEM groups, rules, and users.
  2. Take note of the network settings for your SIM appliance:
    1. Connect to your SIM appliance using an SSH client, such as PuTTY.
    2. Log in with your CMC credentials.
    3. At the cmc> prompt, enter appliance.
    4. At the cmc::acm# prompt, enter viewnetconfig, and then enter b to request the brief network configuration summary.
    5. Note the IP Address, Netmask, and Gateway values for the eth0 interface.
    6. Also note the Search Domain(s), DNS Server(s), and hostname values at the bottom of the summary.
  3. At the cmc::acm# prompt, enter shutdown to power down your SIM appliance.
  4. Deploy the LEM virtual appliance and activate it using your SIM appliance's original network settings. For more information, see the Log & Event Manager Documentation .
  5. If you have multiple SIM appliances, such as a dedicated database or nDepth appliance, repeat this procedure for all of your appliances.


After you have the backup file for your SIM appliance and you have deployed your LEM appliance with your SIM appliance's network settings, contact SolarWinds technical support so they can assist you with the rest of the process.
 

To run LEM Reports against a decommissioned SIM appliance:

swi-lem, swi-lem, default, manager

  1. Disconnect your SIM appliance from the network your LEM appliance is on.
  2. Change the network settings for your SIM appliance:
    1. Connect to your SIM appliance using an SSH client, such as PuTTY, or a direct KVM connection to the server.
    2. Log in with your CMC credentials.
    3. At the cmc> prompt, enter appliance.
    4. At the cmc::acm# prompt, enter netconfig.
    5. Press Enter to validate your entry.
    6. Enter static to assign a static IP address (recommended).
    7. Follow the on screen instructions to complete the process.
  3. Change the hostname for your SIM appliance
    1. At the cmc::acm# prompt, enter hostname.
    2. Press Enter to validate your entry.
    3. Enter yes to acknowledge the warning and procede.
    4. Enter a different hostname for your SIM appliance.
    5. Enter y to validate your entry.
  4. Open managers.txt from one of the following locations, according to your operating system:
    • Windows XP and Windows Server 2003:
      C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\sim.console\Local Store
    • Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008:
      C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\sim.console\Local Store
  5. Add a new line with the new hostname for your SIM appliance in place of swi-lem in the example below.
  6. Save the file, and then relaunch LEM Reports.


Note: If you do not have managers.txt on the computer you want to use to run reports against your retired SIM appliance, see About LEM Reports .