Network Management
Recommendation and comparison for Fresh SolarWinds Platform deployment vs Upgrade older version of SolarWinds Platform
The purpose to create this article is to guide the community saving time and hassle when running a very old version of installed Software and upgrade needs hardware migration.
First published date
Last published date
Overview
This article provides some basic information and compares a fresh SolarWinds Platform installation to upgrading an older version. It also includes recommendations and common questions.
If you are still running NPM 12.0 / 12.1 / 12.3 (NCM 7.6 /7.7/ 7.8 ) versions of Orion and planning for an upgrade to - latest version
OR
You are running an older Unsupported EOL version. These versions may have issues / bugs / Errors and SolarWinds Support may request an upgrade.
You may need to first upgrade your SolarWinds platform which involves hardware* and software changes including the SQL server upgrade and migration. This article may help to address your common questions.
Product section
Resolution
Use the Shortcut Path (Fresh installation)
Instead of doing all the above painful work which does includes downtime running multiple upgrades / May heave some upgrade BUGs / during the this process.
- How about parallel fresh installation of NPM with no downtime on your old servers?
Running discovery for the exact same nodes you have in your old NPM all done in same day within few hours by passing many known issues which you could have faced during the upgrade.
- How can i check my EOL for current installed SolarWinds Software?
This article contains a list of end of life (EOL), end of engineering (EOE) effective dates , and currently supported software.
Currently supported software versions
Common comparison chart Upgrade Older version Vs Parallel Fresh installation and questions
| Upgrading Older version | Parallel Fresh Installation of SolarWinds Platform |
| Downtime required | No Downtime required |
| Backup the whole environment | No backup required |
| Multiple installation required | Single installation wizard |
| Hardware changes required | No hardware changes required |
| Bugs during upgrade / Migration | No Bugs during installation |
| Maps / Reports / Alerts / Custom Properties | You can imported these into the new system if required any |
| Historical data will be available on older system | Fresh polling will start NO HISTORICAL DATA MIGRATION FROM OLD DB [NOT SUPPORTED] |
| NCM Configuration | Fresh NCM Device configuration will be downloaded |
| Can leave the system running for few days | Once the system is stable and configured old system can be decommissioned |
* You may need to check the hardware as well compatible with 2016 servers and / SQL server recommended by the Solarwinds depends on your current installed environment
Check the compatibility of your SolarWinds Products here
Complete the following tasks as needed to install additional SolarWinds Platform products into an existing deployment, or to upgrade existing products.
Orion Platform 2019.4 Requirements
Windows Server 2012, 2016, and 2019 and SQL Server 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019 Support
Install or upgrade products in an existing deployment
Options with Ip Address :
You could use the exact same Name and IP address for your New fresh installation so you do not have to change any Firewalls rules or on the device level polling IF needed
OR
Fresh installation can be deployed with New ip address and run as parallel and you can keep it running to collect the data and other configurations and once done move the production licenses to the new installation
How do i move my Old ip address and hostname to Fresh installation ? (Most common question)
Once you have done your Fresh installation
You can move the old ip address and hostname to fresh installation (Each server )
But first create a backup plan .[Prepare to install or upgrade SolarWinds Platform products ]
- Take full snapshot of new server
- Take full DB backup of new Server
Disconnect the old Server from the Network
This article describes how to change the IP address of any serving hosting, either the main poller or an additional poller, by completing the Configuration Wizard on the server with the updated IP address.
Change the IP address of the Main SolarWinds Platform Server or Additional Polling Engine.
follow the below KB post to move the nodes to new engine ip address and remove the old one .
Moving Nodes to Correct Polling Engine & (Removing OLD Engine Entry with previous IP Address)
apply the commercial licenses and all Done.
Your backup Plan
In case off any technical issues on the New server and you need immediate plan to revert back, collect diagnostics first
NPM - How to gather diagnostics
Revert the snapshot of new servers back to the previous state . Now bring the old server back to the network and
Contact SolarWinds support if needed to resolve the issue you faced and provide the diagnostic files you have collected from the New Server
How can i import my nodes into the new installation ?
Go to the old server > Collect SolarWinds Platform Diagnostics > Unzip > Go to the DB Folder > Open the Nodes.csv file in Excel > Ip_Address column copy your ip address
Now Run the Discovery Wizard on your New installation > (IP addresses ) pate the ip address here and complete the wizard
How can i import nodes Custom Properties ?
You can import Custom Properties after the Wizard if needed / Or can create new one .
How can i Configure your SMTP / Alerts / Maps ?
SMTP server can be configured on the new installation quickly
Firstly check Canned Alerts there are many new Alerts are added in the System you may not have configure new custom Alerts
There are new options in the Maps available this can be configured as well Yes you can also import your old maps however check the New Maps options in the Network Atlas if you still needs any old Maps to be imported
How can i import my old reports ?
Firstly check Canned reports there are many new reports are added in the System you may not have configure new custom report or even needs to import your old report.
How can i Download configuration from the devices (NCM) on the fresh installation ?
Once you have done your discovery the first part simply run the Nightly Config Backup Job and this will download the fresh configuration from the devices.
If you have any issues with the NCM Jobs/Devices please use the Post below
This guide addresses the most common issues with the NCM Jobs you can troubleshoot on your own. Please check these items before you open a support ticket with SolarWinds.
Basic SolarWinds NCM Jobs Troubleshooting Guide
Do i need license for new installation ?
Fresh instillation will have 30 days evaluation license by default
Any further questions / issues please feel free to submit support ticket.