Whitepaper: IGEL Universal Management Suite migration

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Whitepaper

IGEL Universal Management Suite migration

Version 1.00

Blog: blog.cloud-client.info

This document can be distributed / used free of charge and has no commercial background.

It’s not allowed to use parts of this document in other documentations, articles or any other way without the permission by the

author. For questions related to the document contact blog@cloud-client.info

The author is not responsible for any damage related to this document incl. usage of 3rd

Party Software or configuration

suggestions provided by this document. Please test any provided information in advance!

© Michael Hoting 2012

Whitepaper: IGEL Universal Management Suite migration

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Task

If you want to migrate your existing/old/test IGEL Universal Management Suite to a new server you need to

perform several steps. This Whitepaper explains how the migration can be done in a simple way including

installations without the use of IGEL’s embedded Database.

This Whitepaper describes two variants of the migration:

1) Full Migration keeping the existing profiles/configurations

2) Only Management Migration without keeping the old profiles/configurations

Mostly variant 1) will be used; variant 2) is often used in test environments when the IGEL UMS Server will

be moved from a test to a production server.

Requirements

1) IGEL Universal Management Suite Installer

2) Two physical or virtual server including the existing IGEL Universal Management Suite

3) A DHCP or DNS Server

Please Note

If the described procedures are performed in a wrong way this can cause a complete loss of your management

infrastructure. Make sure that have created backups to restore the environment! The author is not

responsible for any damage or if anything described here is performed in the wrong way.

This whitepaper is not supported by IGEL Technology in any way!

IMPORTANT

When you install the IGEL Universal Management Suite Server the first time a unique encryption

key/certificate will be generated. Every thin client added to this management server will receive this

certificate. If this Certificate is lost or modified, you can’t manage your clients anymore.

If the embedded database is used, the key/certificate is part of the backup created by the IGEL software. If

you’re using a 3rd party database (Microsoft SQL, Oracle or other) you need to save the certificate by your

own! Follow the steps described in “Backup the UMS certificate” exactly and don’t miss anything here.

As written… Iam not responsible for any damage!

Installation’s running the old SAP Database with an IGEL Remote Manager are not covered by this Whitepaper.

Whitepaper: IGEL Universal Management Suite migration

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Creating a backup for installation’s using the embedded database

If you’re using the IGEL UMS embedded database just open the UMS Administrator and go to “Backups”, see

screen below. If you’re using a 3rd party database proceed to “Creating a backup for installation’s using a 3rd

party database” on the next page.

Now select a Folder/Directory and click on the “Create” button, type in the name for the backup and proceed.

After a short time you should see a new backup in the “Backups” view, copy this file to the new server where

you want to setup the new IGEL UMS environment.

Whitepaper: IGEL Universal Management Suite migration

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Creating a backup for installation’s using a 3rd party database

If you’re using a 3rd party database IGEL don’t provide any tools to create a backup, please use the tools

delivered by the database vendor or other backup solutions. Important: In any way you need to backup the

server certificate. Proceed to “Backup the UMS certificate”.

Backup the UMS certificate

If you’re using a 3rd party database you need to backup the IGEL Universal Management Suite certificate. This

certificate is used to secure the UMS server communication to the IGEL Thin Client’s in general and if this

certificate is lost; you’re not able to manage your environment anymore!

In general I recommend to backup this certificate incl. installation’s using the embedded database, this is one

of the most important files in any IGEL installation and it’s better to have it secured very well.

To create a backup open the IGEL UMS Administrator and click on “Certificates”:

Three options are available here, for us important is “Save” to backup the certificate and “Restore” to install it

on the new server. Select “Save” and select the target folder incl. the certificate name and proceed.

After this is done you should see a file *yourfilename*.keystore in the target folder, copy this file to the new

server and secure a copy in your company safe.

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Database migration

This part is only required if you want to

migrate also the IGEL embedded

database to a new 3rd party database

server. Create a backup for the

embedded database first (see: Creating

a backup for installation’s using the

embedded database). Prepare the

target database like recommend in the

IGEL Universal Management Suite

Manuals (Download). Open the UMS

Administrator and select “Datasource”.

Select “Add” in the right panel and type in you

database credentials like the sample on the right side

(configuration for Microsoft SQL) and select “Ok”.

Now test the database connection by selecting the

new datasource and then click on “Test”, type in the

password and if everything is correct you should get a

connection state “Ok” message.

Now you’re able to use the “Copy” function, select

“Copy” -> select the target database and select “Ok”.

After this is done, you have the database content completely moved to the new database server. If you want

to use the new database now, just “Activate” it in the UMS Administrator “Datasource” configuration. If you’re

using a new server, you have to setup the database connection in the same way. Please note: Restore also the

UMS certificate if you move the UMS to a new server and to make sure that the new server can manage

existing thin clients.

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Preparing the new Server

Install the IGEL Universal Management Suite to the new Server and restore the backup for the embedded

database or setup the 3rd party database connection in the UMS Administrator. If you’re using a 3rd party

database restore the certificates in the UMS Administrator->Certificates configuration. Please make sure that

only one UMS Server accesses the 3rd party database, otherwise this can cause issues.

If you don’t want to keep old configurations, only restore the certificate and do not use the backup; Warning:

All configurations will be lost including all settings that are already assigned to the thin clients!

After this is done, open the IGEL UMS Console and make sure that existing configurations/profiles are

correctly installed. If you installed a newer Version on the Server it could be that the Database Backup require

a upgrade of the database schema. I recommend selecting “Activate” one time in the UMS Administrator-

>Datasource configuration for the used database. If a schema update is required it will be performed now.

Now the new UMS Server is ready and it can be announced to the thin clients.

Verify the new installation

To verify the new UMS Server open the IGEL UMS Console and select the folder Thin Clients; now select the

menu “Thin Clients” and select “Scan for Thin Clients”. Now type in the IP range where you want to scan and

click on “Scan”. You should see the results and a couple of thin clients, select one test thin client and add this

client. If you got no error everything is fine and you can proceed with “Announcing the new IGEL Universal

Management Suite to the Thin Clients”. If you got an error “Certificate invalid” something is wrong with the

IGEL Universal Management Suite server certificate and two solutions are possible:

1) Restore the certificate again in the IGEL UMS Administrator

2) If you’ve migrated a very old IGEL Universal Management Suite Server (fka IGEL Remote Manager) it

can be required to “upgrade” the certificate to the new format. Open the IGEL Universal Management

Suite Administrator and select “Certificates”->”Convert”.

Run the test to verify the installation again, if you got the “Certificate invalid” error again contact the IGEL

support and keep using the old IGEL UMS Server until this issue is solved. Never proceed with the next step as

long you got this error message!

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Announcing the new IGEL Universal Management Suite to the Thin Clients

To announce the UMS Server to the Thin Clients you should use:

- A DNS Host entry (no alias!) that points to the IGEL UMS Server

or

- A DHCP Option 224 (String!) that points to the IGEL UMS Server

The Thin Clients remember there last know management server but this will not help during a migration. If

you not already have configured one of the above options please do it now. Once this is done, the clients will

directly contact the new IGEL Universal Management Suite server and the old one can be removed from the

Infrastructure.

That’s it… ;-)