Migrate from SRM 6.5.x for Windows to SRM 8.2.x Virtual Appliance

In my last post, we discussed about “Upgrading vSphere Replication from 6.5 to 8.2”.
Next step is to upgrade Site Recovery Manager aka SRM which is relatively longer procedure.

To perform any VMware component upgrade, please check the upgrade path suggested by VMware.
Highlights:
Unsupported upgrade path of SRM are -> 5.8.X to 8.2.X & 6.0.X to 8.2.X
Supported upgrade path of SRM is 6.1.2 (or above) to 8.1 or 8.2

Note: SRM Protected site will be upgraded first and then the recovery site will be upgraded.

• Current Version of SRM -> 6.5.1 (Windows based)
• Target Version of SRM -> 8.2.0 (Appliance based)

Procedure of upgrading and migrating will be performed in 2 Parts:
Part_1: Upgrade Windows based SRM from version 6.5.1 to 8.2
Part_2: Migrate from Windows based SRM 8.2 to appliance based 8.2

Part_1: Upgrading Windows based SRM from version 6.5.1 to 8.2.

Before upgrading the SRM, there are 2 ways of checking SRM version either from SRM VM or vCenter Web client.

Step 1: Download the *.exe file for upgrade from VMware downloads on SRM VM and double click it and start the upgrade process by following the simple steps.

Step 2: Accept the license agreement and prerequisites wizard, followed by Confirming the vSphere administrator password to PSC and accept the certificate (if prompted).

Step 3: Confirm the vCenter information and accept the certificate (if prompted) & Confirm the SRM information.

Step 4: Use existing certificate : Valid
Step 5: Confirm the password for the DB user & SRM service account user.

Step 6: Now we are ready to install the upgrade by clicking of “Install“

Step 7: During install, DB will be upgraded initially and then the SRM files will be replaced with new files.

Confirmation:

We can confirm the successful upgrade either from SRM VM or vCenter Web client.

Now the Windows based SRM can be migrated to an appliance based SRM.

Part_2: Migrate from Windows based SRM 8.2 to appliance based 8.2

Note: Ensure you read the migration documentation before perform this action.

Step 1: Stop the SRM service from windows OS hosting SRM.

Step 2: Execute an script as shown below and resultant files will be used as a configuration file in the newly deployed appliance later.

Note: Move the folder “Migration” (in my case) to any shared location from which it can be uploaded to the SRM appliance.

Step 3: Power-off the Windows VM after moving the migration folder which has all the config files.

Step 4: Lets deploy a SRM 8.2.0 appliance by downloading the *.ISO from VMware download. Using the below mentioned file, deploy a VM from vCenter Web client.

Step 5: Deploy the appliance as per your environment.

Step 6: Configure the Networking properties and Application properties:
Ensure you give the same hostname and IP to appliance as Windows VM and enable SSH.

Step 7: After appliance is deployed successfully, power-on the VM and login to Https://IP_address:5480 from which we are going to import the configuration to new SRM.
But before that, we need to transfer the migration folder to the New SRM VM.

Step 8: SSH to IP_address_of_SRM and lets import the configuration.

Step 9: Final Step is to login to vCenter and SRM plug-in interface and click “Reconnect” to establish the connection again.

Step 10: Upgrade the Storage Adapter (SRA) used to hardware based replication.

Step 11: Perform the Step 1 to 10 again in Recovery site to upgrade and before that ensure the vSphere replication is upgrade in recovery site.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Samesh Dhankhar
VCIX – DCV & NV