Primary Storage

IBM Spectrum Control is a comprehensive storage management solution that provides monitoring and optimization of data storage resources across an enterprise’s IT infrastructure such as Storages, SAN Switches, Servers, applications etc.

IBM Spectrum Control is predominantly deployed on-premises within a Virtual Machine running a supported operating system. This setup often necessitates migration in the following scenarios to ensure uninterrupted infrastructure monitoring while preserving historical data:

• Move to a more powerful machine with faster processor, more memory, and disk resources.
• Move to a newer version of the operating system that is under support with OEM.

This blogs covers the exact steps involved during migration of Spectrum Control server in a Single Server Linux Environment. For detailed instructions and pre-requisites, please refer IBM Documentation:

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/spectrum-control/5.4.12?topic=migrating-spectrum-control-server

Key factors to consider before Migrating

1. The Target Server must be installed at the same Spectrum Control level and Db2 level as of Source Server.
2. The migration utilizes the Db2 Offline Backup & Restore methodology.
3. The Target Server should operate with a unique Hostname and IP address for practicality.
4. It is recommended to keep the same Directory Structure on the Target Server for User’s home directory, database, logs & installation paths.
5. The Spectrum Control Port Range must be kept same as Source Server during the target server installation
6. After Db2 Restore, updates to the target TPCDB Tables are required, including new Hostname and Passwords. Steps are covered in migration section.
7. Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) needs to be re-configured on the target server as this requires uploading the Private Key from the target Spectrum Control Server.

What to expect after Migration ?

1. Configured devices should automatically initiate Performance Data Collection and Probe based on the established schedule.
2. Any additional Groups configured in Spectrum Control will be available in the new Spectrum Control Server, but the groups and users need to be created on the target server at OS level.
3. All Source Spectrum Control Server Settings will also be migrated on the Target Server.

Migration Steps

I assume that Target server is installed with same Spectrum Control and DB2 version as of source server with default installation paths, before next steps are followed.

Step1: Perform Offline DB2 Backup on Source Server

1. Stop all Spectrum Control Services as documented in https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/spectrum-control/5.4.11?topic=servers-stopping-by-using-scripts
2. Execute the below command to run DB2 Offline Backup using the db2 common user ( db2inst1 ). Here XXXX is password of db2inst1 user.

db2 backup database TPCDB USER db2inst1 USING XXXX TO /home/backup COMPRESS

Step2 : Copy Db2 backup & .scinfo file on Target Server

1. Copy the DB2 backup to the Target Server in a location which is accessible to db2 common user db2inst1
2. Copy the .scinfo file from <sc_install_path>/_uninst folder to the Target Server in a temporary path. We will replace the .scinfo file on target SC server with this copied file in later steps.

Step3 : Restore Db2 Backup on Target Server

1. Stop all Spectrum Control Services as documented in https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/spectrum-control/5.4.11?topic=servers-stopping-by-using-scripts
2. Execute the below command to perform DB2 Restore using the db2 common user db2inst1

 db2 restore database TPCDB FROM /home/backup into TPCDB replace existing

Step4 : Update DB2 Tables in TPCDB

Execute below steps carefully using the db2 common user i.e. db2inst1.

• Run below commands to connect with tpcdb and set schema
  • db2 connect to tpcdb
  • db2 set schema tpc
• Check the contents of T_RES_SERVER table : db2 "select * from T_RES_SERVER"

• Start & Stop the TPCdata Service using command (this needs to be done from root user):
  • /opt/IBM/TPC/scripts/startTPCData.sh
  • /opt/IBM/TPC/scripts/startTPCData.sh

This will create a new row in T_RES_SERVER table. We will refer this new row to update existing entries in same table.

• Update the source COMPUTER_ID value with the target COMPUTER_ID value by executing below SQL query:

db2 "UPDATE T_RES_SERVER SET COMPUTER_ID = 359807 WHERE SERVER_ID = 2762"

• Replace the source SERVER_NAME  value with target SERVER_NAME by executing below SQL query:

db2 "UPDATE T_RES_SERVER SET SERVER_NAME = 'cohiba14.storage.tucson.ibm.com'"

• Delete the target server row from T_RES_SERVER table by executing below SQL query:

db2 "DELETE FROM T_RES_SERVER WHERE SERVER_ID = <target_server_id>"

• Check the content of T_RES_RU_SLAVE_SERVERS, notice that the column DATA_SERVER_HOST still shows the source hostname. 

• Update the correct target hostname in DATA_SERVER_HOST column using below SQL query:
  

db2 "UPDATE T_RES_RU_SLAVE_SERVERS SET DATA_SERVER_HOST='cohiba14.storage.tucson.ibm.com' WHERE SERVER_ID = -1"

• Commit the changes on db2 using command:  db2 commit

Step5 : Replace the .scinfo file on target server

• Replace the exisitng .scinfo file under /opt/IBM/TPC/_uninst folder with the one we copied from source in step3.

Step6 : Register new native Storage resource agent (SRA)

• Create an empty file REGISTERSRA under /opt/IBM/TPC/agent/
• The above step will automatically register the new SRA on the spectrum control server once services are started

Step7 : Run the ChangePassword Utility

• Run the Changepassword utility to update all the passwords within different Spectrum Control Components. The SC services will automatically start after the utility successfully sets the password.

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/spectrum-control/5.4.12?topic=passwords-changing-by-using-password-tool

• Start the Agent Service from /opt/IBM/TPC/agent/bin using the command: ./agent.sh start

This concludes the Spectrum Control Migration Steps. You should be able to connect the SC GUI interface in browser and validate that performance collection and probe is working fine. You should also remove the old Source Server from SC GUI > Servers.

Here is a detailed demo on Spectrum Control Server migration in a Linux Environment. 

#Highlights