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Migrating VAO 1.0 Deployment to Version 2.0

KB ID: 2908
Product: Veeam Recovery Orchestrator
Version: 1.0.0.857
Published: 2019-05-21
Last Modified: 2020-08-13
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Challenge

Upgrade of Veeam Availability Orchestrator to version 2.0 is not supported. However, you have an option to migrate your VAO 1.0 configuration to version 2.0 with minimal downtime. 

This KB article briefly describes architectural changes introduced in 2.0 version and provides step-by-step instructions on how to perform VAO migration.
 

Cause

The concept of VAO sites is no longer supported in version 2.0. To provide administrative role-based delegation, VAO now uses scopes. A scope is a logical unit introduced to determine operations that can be performed by VAO users and to define the items available to these users.

If you have a multi-server VAO 1.0 deployment and want to migrate to version 2.0, your main concern now is to configure a list of scopes that will match the preceding Production site configuration.  

To learn more about VAO scopes, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Managing Permissions.
 

Solution

PDF version for the instruction below is available here.

Planning and Preparation

  1. Make sure the machine on which VAO will be deployed has no other Veeam components installed, and meets the hardware and software requirements listed in the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 Deployment Guide, section System Requirements.
  2. Make sure the accounts used to install and use the VAO solution have the permissions described in the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 Deployment Guide, section Required Permissions.
  3. Make sure the ports used to ensure proper communication of VAO components are opened as described in the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 Deployment Guide, section Ports.
  4. Make sure you have a valid license for VAO 2.0 that covers the required number of licensed VMs. Otherwise, you can obtain the latest license key either by logging in to the Veeam website using your credentials or by contacting our Licensing Department. To contact the Licensing Department, open the Veeam Support Resources webpage, click Submit a ticket, and select Licensing to receive assistance on Veeam licensing.
  5. Make sure all Veeam Backup & Replication servers that you want to connect to VAO 2.0 run Veeam Backup & Replication version 9.5 U4 (build number 9.5.4.2615) or later.


New Installation

This scenario implies that you uninstall VAO 1.0 completely, and then install and configure VAO 2.0 from scratch. 

This is the best option for those users who did not have Production sites in v1.0, and for those who can recreate all failover plans, perform initial configuration and recollect infrastructural data fast enough to avoid notable downtime.

  1. Make sure that VAO agents are uninstalled from all connected standalone Veeam Backup & Replication servers in the VAO UI. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Uninstalling VAO Agents. Make sure the “Force removal of Agent from VAO even if Veeam Backup & Replication server cannot be contacted” check box is not selected. If VAO is not able to access a Veeam Backup & Replication server, you can manually remove the required components from the server:
    • Open Control Panel.
    • Navigate to Programs and Features.
    • In the list of installed programs, select Veeam Orchestrator Agent and click Uninstall.
  2. To perform installation, follow the instructions provided in the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Deployment


Migration

This scenario implies that you have two side-by-side VAO deployments until the migration process is over, an old one (v1.0) and a new one (v2.0). Only one VAO deployment will be available for failover purposes, and you can expect a switchover period to involve downtime of all VAO services. This guide will help you minimize the switchover period the switchover period. 

The migration process includes three phases:
  1. Preparation of VAO 2.0 system — includes installation and initial configuration of VAO 2.0, with no impact on the running 1.0 system.
  2. Switchover from VAO 1.0 to 2.0 — during this phase, neither VAO 1.0 nor VAO 2.0 can execute orchestration plans. This can be considered downtime for the DR system.
  3. Testing of new VAO 2.0 system and decommission of VAO 1.0.
Preparation Phase
 
1. Install VAO 2.0. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 Deployment Guide, section Deployment.
Note that installation of VAO components on a machine already running standalone versions of Veeam Backup & Replication and Veeam ONE is not supported.
2. Connect vCenter Servers to VAO 2.0. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Connecting VMware vSphere Servers.
Wait until VM Groups become visible in the VAO UI. Note that the VM group collection process may take significant time (up to 4 hours).
If you do not use vSphere tags to categorize VMs, create categorization rules the same way you created rules in VAO 1.0. To learn more about object categorization, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator Group Management Guide.
3. Create scopes and assign the Plan Author role to users in these scopes the same way you assigned the Plan Author role to users for Production sites in VAO 1.0. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Managing Permissions.
4. For each created scope, include the required VM groups the same way you configured Production site groups in VAO 1.0. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Including VM Groups.
5. For each created scope, include the required plan steps the same way you configured Production site steps in VAO 1.0. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Including Plan Steps.
6. Configure plan steps the same way you configured steps in VAO 1.0. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Configuring Parameter Settings.
7. Specify SMTP and email notification settings the same way you configured settings in VAO 1.0. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Configuring Notification Settings.
8. Create subscriptions for each scope. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Subscribing to Notifications.
9. Configure report templates the same way you configured templates in VAO 1.0. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Managing Templates.
  • In VAO 2.0, clone the Default template. Open the new template in MS Word.
  • In VAO 1.0, navigate to the template you want to copy. Open the template in MS Word.
  • Copy the text of VAO 1.0 template and paste it into the newly created 2.0 template.
  • Save the 2.0 template.
Switchover Phase
 
10. Manually stop all running failover plans and lab tests in VAO 1.0.
●    To learn how to perform the undo failover operation, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 1.0 User Guide, section Undoing Failover.
●    To learn how to finalize failover, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 1.0 User Guide, section Finalizing Failover.
●    To learn how to reset failover plans, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 1.0 User Guide, section Resetting Failover Plans.
 
11.Disable all scheduled failover plans and lab tests in VAO 1.0 (Manage > Disable).
12. To allow reversion to VAO 1.0 in case of unsuccessful migration, you have to manually uninstall VAO agents from all connected Veeam Backup & Replication servers used in VAO 1.0. For each server, do the following:
  • Open Control Panel.
  • Navigate to Programs and Features.
  • In the list of installed programs, select Veeam Orchestrator Agent and click Uninstall.
13. Connect the standalone Veeam Backup & Replication servers to VAO 2.0. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Connecting Veeam Backup & Replication Servers. Make sure all Veeam Backup & Replication servers that you want to connect to VAO 2.0 run Veeam Backup & Replication version 9.5 U4 (build number 9.5.4.2615) or later.
14. Wait until VAO collects the necessary data from the Veeam Backup & Replication servers: all discovered DataLabs and credentials must become available in VAO UI Note that in some cases the data collection process may take significant time (up to 4 hours).
15. For each created scope, include the required credentials the same way you configured Production site credentials in VAO 1.0. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Including Credentials.
16. For each created scope, include the required template jobs the same way you configured Production site jobs in VAO 1.0. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Including Template Jobs.
17. Assign DataLabs to the created scopes. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Assigning DataLabs.
18. Create and configure new failover plans the same way you configured plans in VAO 1.0. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Working with Failover Plans.

Testing and decommission of VAO 1.0 phase

Before decommissioning your VAO 1.0 installation, it is recommended that you make sure readiness checks and DataLab tests can complete successfully. If not, you can still revert to 1.0 (as described below).
19. Run readiness checks for the newly created failover plans. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Running Plan Readiness Check.
20. Run DataLab tests for the newly created failover plans. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Testing Failover Plans.
21. If all readiness checks and DataLab tests complete successfully, you can uninstall VAO 1.0 from the DR server and from all Production servers. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 1. Deployment Guide, section Uninstalling VAO.


Revert to VAO 1.0

If some of the readiness checks or DataLab tests fail to complete successfully, you can revert to the VAO 1.0 deployment by connecting Veeam Backup & Replication Servers back to VAO 1.0:

a)    Manually stop all running failover plans and lab tests in VAO 2.0.
●    To learn how to perform the undo failover operation, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Undoing Failover.
●    To learn how to finalize failover, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Finalizing Failover.
●    To learn how to reset failover plans, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Resetting Failover Plans.

b)    Disable all scheduled failover plans and lab tests in VAO 2.0 (Manage > Disable). 

c)    Uninstall VAO agents from all connected standalone Veeam Backup & Replication servers in VAO UI. For more information, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator 2.0 User Guide, section Uninstalling VAO Agents. Make sure the "Force removal of Agent from VAO even if Veeam Backup & Replication server cannot be contacted" check box is selected.
 
d)    Make sure VAO agents are uninstalled from the Veeam Backup & Replication servers. If not, you can manually remove the required components from the servers:
  • Open Control Panel.
  • Navigate to Programs and Features.
  • In the list of installed programs, select Veeam Orchestrator Agent and click Uninstall.
e)    For each Veeam Backup & Replication server connected to VAO 1.0, repair its VAO agent in the VAO UI (Configuration > VAO Agents > Repair).

Wait until VAO collects the necessary data from the Veeam Backup & Replication servers: all discovered DataLabs and credentials must become available in VAO UI.      
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