Need some help with migrating a Server for the first time

[Kryten]

Hello Mates!

So far I have done all sorts of upgrades, except migrating a management server to a fresh installed new one. Since our own server is in need of an upgrade, this was the perfect time to train/learn how its done. By trying this however, I noticed that there seem to be things I still do not understand fully or am missing completely 😕  (Mostly about licenses^^)

The Task is relatively simple: Setting up a new server with more RAM and the latest version (decided to go with R81.20 here) and then moving the config and database over to the new one.There should be no change regarding the IP, so the new server should run on the same IP that the old one has. The old server has version R80.40 running. The platform is VmWare here.

What I did so far:

- Installed R81.20 on a fresh VM

- Configured GAIA (config from old server)

- installed the latest upgrade tools on both servers

- exported the database and stuff from the old one via "migrate_server export -v R81.20 (...)"

Now this is where the problems begin. Obviously I could not just import the file to the new server, as it told me that I need licenses for that. Right...the Install and upgrade guide also says that I need to install licenses on the new servers, so I looked into that but I am unsure how to proceed here.
I want the old server online as long as possible, ideally until the new one is ready to take over.

Q: Can this be done like this when I want to use the same IP? How can I activate the licenses without enabling the Interface that has the same IP as the old one? Its the only connection to the network and changing that IP to something unused would probably create other problems with the licenses, or not?
What is the best practice here for this scenario?

For transferring the export I used a different IP address before, but disabled the interface and changed it back before I tried to import the first time.

Any hints or pointers to some useful guides would be much appreciated. I feel this should not be that hard and most likely it isn't....but I am not seeing it 🙂

[the_rock]

Hey @Kryten 

Its been some time since I did this in the lab, but I do recall that hostname would be the same when you import, as well as IP address, so technically, if IPs match, then I dont see why license would not work.

If IPs are different, what I would always do is simply generate new eval for 30 days that would let you log into smart console.

Sorry if I misunderstood something...

On another note, though IP is not changed, license is imported, so imported license wont match whatever IP is there, if its different.

Andy

[PhoneBoy · Accepted solution]

The migration tools also will migrate the existing licenses.
If you use the same IPs on the new system, you're good to go.
If the IPs will be different, new licenses will need to be generated against the new IP via UserCenter (may require Account Services help to reset license counter).

[svori]

Hi

You are on the right path. First would be to create the exported configuration file as you already have done, then install new server, move file there and import.

Since you are using vmware, the newly installed vm can be in a isolated network with the same ip as current server.

To move file and manage the new server simply put an linux/windows vm between.

When the new server is done, simply disconnect the network from the ”old” and open up network to the new.

This way you will not have any hassle with licenses, or the fact that if you change ip on management you must follow an sk to change on more places than just the network.

[the_rock · Accepted solution]

Also important to note that for R80.20 and higher, below should be followed:

https://supportcenter.checkpoint.com/supportcenter/portal?eventSubmit_doGoviewsolutiondetails=&solut...

Andy

[Kryten]

Thank you for all the answers, this helps a lot.

I thought I missed or confused something, but after reading all this I think there might be some other problem then, as I think I did all the required steps, but am still unable to import to the new server.

When I tried to import for the first time (I am using the "new" method with the "migrate_server" command and paid attention to the requirements with the upgrade tools), the operation failed with the message that the required licenses are missing. That was why I thought that these need to be added manually.
After adding them manually with cplic, the message did not show again, but still the import fails pretty quick at 3%-4% after about a minute or two. It also says  which log files I can check (cpm.elg and one other, more specific), but I fail to find any hint on the reason for failure in those logs.

The server has the same hostname and IP address, the only difference is that the interface is disabled for now and that the server has more RAM (32GB instead of 8GB on the old one). Could this cause any problems here?

[PhoneBoy]

You might want to engage the TAC for the migrate_server import errors.
More RAM should not hurt anything 🙂

[Kryten]

Instead of that I now just re-installed the new management server with R81.10 and did everything again...this time it worked. I am pretty sure I did everything exactly as the last time, so I have no clue what went wrong.

I guess I will just do a "normal" update to R81.20 when things run smoothly with this one for a while.

Thanks again for the all the help!