This process effectively calls for the backup of key configuration settings and restoration into a vanilla minimal Rocky Linux 8 installation, rather than an in-place migration. There are third-party tools that will allow in-place migrations, however, DataCore has not tested any of these processes and does not recommend the use of them as they may leave undesirable artifacts.

General Notes

• In this document, CentOS 7 has been abbreviated to C7, and Rocky Linux 8 to RL8.

• The guide below assumes that the components are all running as virtual machines. If you are running with physical servers, please contact DataCore Support for further advice.

• These processes typically assume the reuse of the same IPs and hostnames for both Frontend (also known as Public or External) and Backend (also known as Swarm) networks. The frontend IPs and hostnames can be changed if desired, but please remember to change DNS and/or load-balancers to point to the new frontend IPs. Backend IPs can also be changed in all components EXCEPT Elasticsearch, but please pay attention to any specific notes in the individual process. These IPs must be in the existing backend subnet, but outside of the desired DHCP range.

• These processes only copy across configuration files that are created by Swarm installation procedures. It is up to the user to ensure that the process is adapted to account for any additional packages or other server configurations that have been performed outside of the standard Swarm installation.

• The processes require that the C7 instance MUST be upgraded to the same major.minor version of Swarm component that will be deployed. This is further described in each section.

• The guide below assumes that either a minimal RL8 server has been installed, or that the respective RL8 OVA has been deployed from the DataCore VM bundle.

Prerequisites

• A (temporary) frontend IP. This allows copying relevant configuration files and an easy transition from C7 to RL8 instance. This IP can either be temporary, DHCP-assigned, or the desired final frontend IP.

• The rsync must be available on both the C7 and the RL8 instances.

• If deploying by installing a minimal RL8 instance, this MUST be internet-connected. There is no offline version of this guide at present. Therefore, it is necessary to deploy using the OVA method if internet connection is not possible.

• It is recommended that a valid backup and/or VM snapshot are made prior to commencing any upgrades or changes.

SCS Server

Prepare the (Old) C7 SCS Server

Upgrade SCS to the same version as the packages to be installed on RL8 or the OVA images. It is assumed that you are currently at v1.7.1-el7.
If the existing SCS server is less than 1.7.1, perform the upgrade to 1.7.1. Full instructions for the upgrade can be found here.

Gather Information

On the C7 instance, verify that the support bundle will aid DataCore Support in case of an issue or a requirement to revert changes.

Note down the IPs, Site Name, and Administrator credentials which will be entered EXACTLY the same during the init wizard phase.

Create a backup of the SCS system configuration and Swarm software repo.

Prepare the (new) RL8 SCS Server

1. Install a minimal instance of Rocky Linux 8 or deploy the SCS RL8 OVA.

2. Prepare the basic configuration:

   1. Set the hostname: hostnamectl set-hostname <HOSTNAME>

   2. Set the timezone, if required: timedatectl set-timezone <CONTINENT>/<CITY>

   3. Configure the frontend (external) IP, if not configured during installation:
      nmcli con mod <NIC_NAME> <SETTING> <SETTING_VALUE>

   4. Do NOT configure the backend (Swarm) network at this time. This will be reconfigured during the SCS initialization.

3. Ensure that a second virtual disk of at least 100GB is installed and mounted to /var/log. This is automatically created and configured during the OVA deployment.

4. Ensure the OS is patched to the latest releases (assuming internet or repo connectivity): dnf update.

Configure the (new) RL8 SCS server

1. Copy the SCS backup to this server.

   C7_SCS_FRONTEND_IP=<IP_of_existing_C7_SCS_server> rsync -av -R --ignore-missing-args \ ${C7_SCS_FRONTEND_IP}:/etc/hosts \ ${C7_SCS_FRONTEND_IP}:/etc/chrony.conf \ ${C7_SCS_FRONTEND_IP}:/root/mig2rl8 \ ${C7_SCS_FRONTEND_IP}:/usr/local/bin/node_exporter \ ${C7_SCS_FRONTEND_IP}:/usr/lib/systemd/system/node_exporter.service \ /

2. RL8 does not automatically enable chronyd, therefore this needs to be manually started. The configuration should have been copied from the old C7 server in the previous set.

3. Disable the SELinux.

   1. Check if SELinux is enabled or disabled. In a default RL8 installation, it will be Enforcing. However, if it is already disabled, skip to step 4.

   2. Disable SELinux, by editing the /etc/selinux/config file, commenting out the line SELINUX=enforcing or SELINUX=permissive, and adding the line SELINUX=disabled. Then reboot the server after saving the file.

4. Download the installation package from DataCore, and transfer the SCS installation package to /root.

5. Initialize the SCS server containers and configurations with basic defaults.

   1. For Site_Name, use EXACTLY the same name as the old C7 SCS server, and as recorded at the beginning of this process.

   2. For Swarm Administrator Password, use EXACTLY the same password as the old C7 SCS server, and as recorded at the beginning of this process

   3. For the Swarm network IP, you can either specify the same Swarm IP as the existing C7 SCS server or specify a new IP.
      ** If using a new IP, this must still be in the same subnet and outside of the DHCP range, and you MUST make changes to the Swarm cluster detailed later in this guide.

   4. DO NOT perform the “scsctl repo components, add -f [storage bundle file name]” step, or the “scsctl diagnostics config scan_missing” step at this time. Proceed to restore the backup file.

6. If admin.username is not “admin” then run the following command:

7. Restore the SCS backup.

8. Initialize the DHCP server using the same parameters as the old C7 SCS instance and as recorded at the beginning of this process.

9. If required, re-enable SELinux (i.e. reverting step 3). This may take some time to complete.

   Re-enable SELinux, by editing the /etc/selinux/config file, removing the line SELINUX=disabled, and un-commenting out the line SELINUX=enforcing or SELINUX=permissive. Save the file, then reboot the server.

10. If the system was deployed with a minimal installation, please install the Swarm support tools.

    If the system was deployed with the OVA, the support tools should already be installed, but please update with the command below:

Migrate to the (New) RL8 SCS Server

At this point, the C7 SCS instance is the live server. This section of the process will finalize the process by disconnecting the C7 instance and making the RL8 server the primary instance.

1. If you are re-using the same Swarm IP on the backend network, disconnect the backend (Swarm) interface at the VM level for the C7 SCS instance, and connect the second NIC on the RL8 SCS VM to the Swarm private network VLAN.

2. Verify the following:

   1. You are receiving Swarm cluster logs.

   2. You can see the storage nodes and can talk to them as expected.

   3. The settings have migrated correctly.

3. Re-enable and restart the node_exporter, if present.

5. If the old C7 SCS backend (Swarm) IP has been retained, it is not strictly necessary to reboot storage nodes, though, it is recommended that you reboot one or all nodes at this time to check that they successfully boot after this migration.
   If a new backend (Swarm) IP has been used, it is mandatory to reboot all the storage nodes, to propagate this new IP to the cluster configuration.

6. Now, new RL8 SCS is considered “Live”, so the C7 SCS server can be retired or powered off.

7. Assuming the frontend (public) IP is intended to be the same as the old C7 SCS server; this needs to be reconfigured accordingly, and the interface “bounced” for this to take effect.

Optional: Upgrade to the Latest Storage Software

1. Add the new storage bundle to the repo.

2. Activate the new storage bundle version.

3. Reboot the cluster.

Gateway Server

This process aims to create a new gateway instance and to copy over the configuration files. Then, choose either option:

• Option A - adding the (new) RL8 server to the DNS and load-balancer configuration.

• Option B - transferring the (old) frontend (public) C7 Gateway IP to the (new) RL8 server.

In a production environment, there will likely be multiple gateway instances that need to be migrated. Therefore, repeat this procedure for each gateway, then test each instance thoroughly before proceeding to the next gateway instance.

Gather Information

On the C7 instance, please make a support bundle that will aid DataCore Support in case of an issue or a requirement to revert changes.

Note the existing network configuration and plan any new IPs, if required.

Prepare the (new) RL8 Gateway Server

1. Install a minimal instance of Rocky Linux 8 or deploy the Gateway RL8 OVA.

2. Prepare the basic configuration:

   1. Set the hostname: hostnamectl set-hostname <HOSTNAME>

   2. Set the timezone, if required: timedatectl set-timezone <CONTINENT>/<CITY>

   3. Configure the frontend (external) IP, if not configured during installation.
      nmcli con mod <NIC_NAME> <SETTING> <SETTING_VALUE>

   4. Do NOT configure the backend (Swarm) network at this time.

3. Verify the OS is patched to the latest releases (assuming internet or repo connectivity): dnf update

4. If you have deployed using the Gateway OVA, the software packages are already installed so you can skip this step.

5. If the system was deployed with a minimal installation, please install the Swarm support tools.

   If the system was deployed with the OVA, the support tools should already be installed, but please update the following:

Prepare the (old) C7 Gateway Server

1. Upgrade Gateway to the same version as the packages to be installed on RL8 or the OVA images. For the purpose of this guide, it is assumed to be 8.0.2 + 7.10.0 + 3.5.0.
   Full instructions for the upgrade can be found here, but summarized below:

   1. Download the installation package from DataCore, and transfer the GW installation package to /root.

   2. Upgrade the software and perform the relevant upgrade steps.

2. Create a backup of the GW user changes.

Configure the (new) RL8 Gateway Server

1. Copy the configuration files and the GW backup to this server.

2. RL8 does not automatically enable chronyd, therefore, start this manually. The configuration should have been copied from the old C7 server in the previous set.

3. Recreate the frontend (public) firewall configurations.

4. [Optional] Create a backend (swarm) firewall configuration .

5. Append the PAM user configurations.

Migrate to the (new) RL8 Gateway Server

.At this point, the C7 GW instance is still a live server. This section of the process will finalize the process by either adding the new server to the DNS/load-balancer or disconnecting the C7 instance and making the RL8 server the primary instance.

Option A - Adding to DNS/Load-Balancer

The frontend (external) interface was already configured during the initial preparations, so there is nothing that needs to be done here.

1. Set up the networking for the Backend (Swarm) network. This must be a different IP from the current C7 instance, must be in the Swarm subnet, must be outside of the DHCP range and must be unique.

2. Proceed to test the gateway.

Option B - Replacing the Existing C7 Instance

1. Remove (or comment) the C7 gateway’s frontend (external) IP from the DNS and/or Load-Balancer configuration. This is not mandatory, but failure to do so may result in application-level issues trying to access an unresponsive gateway.

2. For the C7 Gateway instance, disconnect both the frontend and backend network ports, at the VM level.

3. Re-configure the frontend (external) interface to match the configuration of the old C7 gateway, and the interface will need to be “bounced” for this to take effect.

4. Set up the networking for the Backend (Swarm) network. This will be the same as the current C7 instance.

Testing

1. Verify that the storage nodes are present and talk to them as expected.

2. Restart the cloudgateway services, and validate they start correctly.

3. Verify that the gateway is performing correctly.

4. Check via a browser that you are able to access http://${GW_FRONTEND_IP}:${SCSP_PORT}/_admin/portal and login as normal.

5. Perform other tests, as applicable and able, to the gateway’s frontend IP.

6. Recommend rebooting the server and verifying all services come up as expected following a reboot.

Finalization

Now, this gateway is ready to be made available to the applications again.

1. Add (or uncomment) the RL8 gateway’s frontend (external) IP into the DNS and/or Load-Balancer configuration.

2. Remove the C7 gateway’s frontend (external) IP from the DNS and/or Load-Balancer configuration if necessaary.

3. Power off the C7 gateway server.

Elasticsearch Server

There are two approaches to this upgrade:

• Suspending a single node, transferring the (old) C7 Elasticsearch IP, configuration, and data to a (new) RL8 server, and then resuming with the RL8 server.

• Adding a (new) RL8 Elasticsearch server to the Elasticsearch cluster, allowing data to balance across, and then retiring an (old) C7 Elasticsearch server.

In a production environment, there will likely be multiple Elasticsearch nodes, that all need to be migrated. Therefore, repeat this procedure for each node, waiting for each node to complete before proceeding to the next Elasticsearch instance.

Gather Information

On the C7 instance, please make a support bundle that will aid DataCore Support in the event of an issue or a requirement to revert changes.

Note the existing network configuration and plan any new IPs, if required.

Upgrade the (old) C7 Elasticsearch cluster

1. Upgrade Elasticsearch cluster to the same version as the packages to be installed on RL8 or the OVA images. For the purpose of this guide, it is assumed to be 7.17.14.
   Full instructions for the upgrade can be found here Upgrading Elasticsearch

Prepare the (new) RL8 Elasticsearch server

1. Install a minimal instance of Rocky Linux 8 or deploy the Elasticsearch RL8 OVA.

2. Prepare the basic configuration:

   1. Set the hostname: hostnamectl set-hostname <HOSTNAME>

   2. Set the timezone, if required: timedatectl set-timezone <CONTINENT>/<CITY>

   3. Configure the Frontend (External) IP, if not configured during installation: nmcli con mod <NIC_NAME> <SETTING> <SETTING_VALUE>

   4. Do NOT configure the backend (Swarm) network at this time.

3. Verify the OS is patched to the latest releases (assuming internet or repo connectivity): dnf update

4. Verify that a second virtual disk is installed for Elasticsearch data. This disk must match or must be better in the performance and capacity of the existing C7 Elasticsearch nodes, and must be mounted to the ES data location identified at the beginning of the process (Defaults to /var/lib/elasticsearch). This is automatically created and configured during the OVA deployment.

5. If you have deployed using the Elasticsearch OVA, the software packages are already installed so you can skip this step.

6. If the system was deployed with a minimal installation, please install the Swarm support tools.

   If the system was deployed with the OVA, the support tools should already be installed, but please update the following:

Option A - Transferring Data from C7 to (new) RL8 Instance

Prepare the (old) C7 Elasticsearch Server

1. No Frontend NIC has been disabled or the NIC has been disconnected at the VM layer on many deployments. You need to enable or reconnect this interface to allow copying data to the RL8 server.

2. Discover the current master node. It is recommended to always upgrade the master node as the last node, so there is only one re-election of the master.

   The master node appears with an “*” in the master column.

3. Verify that the Elasticsearch cluster is healthy before commencing any migrations. Do NOT proceed if the status is either YELLOW or RED.

4. Disable shard allocation and balancing on Elasticsearch cluster.

5. Stop the Elasticsearch service on this C7 node.

6. Copy configuration and ES data to the (new) RL8 instance.

7. Disconnect the backend (Swarm) network at the VM level.

Configure the (new) RL8 Elasticsearch Server

1. RL8 does not automatically enable chronyd, therefore, start it manually. The configuration should have been copied from the old C7 server in the previous set.

2. Create a zone for the Swarm network, and allow Elasticsearch and SSH traffic through this interface.

3. Set up the networking for the Backend (Swarm) network. This must be the same as the IP on the current C7 instance.

4. Verify the storage nodes are present and talk to them as expected.

Migrate to the (new) RL8 Elasticsearch Server

The Frontend (External) interface was already configured during the initial preparations so there is nothing that needs to be done here

1. Start the Elasticsearch service and verify that it has started correctly.

2. Enable Elasticsearch service to start on system boot.

3. Verify the Elasticsearch node is joined to the Elasticsearch cluster.

4. Enable shard allocation and balancing on Elasticsearch cluster.

5. Wait until the health status of Elasticsearch changes from YELLOW to GREEN.

6. If required, disconnect the frontend (external) network on the (old) C7 instance, at the VM level,
   Re-configure the frontend (external) interface on the RL8 instance to match the previous configuration of the (old) C7 ES instance. The interface needs to be “bounced” for this to take effect.