Upgrade from SAS9.4 M7 to M8 - Is SAS Migration Utility needed

[siddhu1]

Hi Team,

I was in the process of upgrading the SAS 9.4M7 to M8 release.

While checking the documentation , OS is compatible with Linux 7.9v and the Java Version is 8, but for SAS 9.4 M8 environment , Java 11 is needed for SAS Migration utility(SMU).

I want to know whether the SAS Migration Utility(SMU) is mandatory  for upgrade of SAS9.4.

Also, please help me regarding the pre-requisites of upgrade from M7 to M8 and the process involved.

Thanks in Advance,

Sid

[eddieleung305]

The most straightforward answer is: It depends. 

SMU is for migrating metadata repository and configuration from one environment to another. But the migration approach to decide using SMU or not is your own decision.

For JRE version to SMU issue, my understanding is the SMU on M8 depot require JRE11. The SMU on M7 depot or before do not need JRE11.

So the alternative is to run SMU from the M7 depot on the existing system. Copy the migration package to the new server and then run the SAS configuration (i.e. setup.sh or exe)

Only run SMU on M8 if you plan to migrate the current M8 system to another one. 

[SASKiwi]

Are you planning an upgrade in-place or are you migrating to a new installation?

The Migration / Upgrade Focus Area is a good place to start.

From what I understand, the SMU is best only used when your target architecture is the same or very similar to your source one. Also now the SAS Content Assessment tool goes way further than SMU and can migrate SAS applications as well.

[siddhu1]

I am planning to have the upgrade from SAS 9.4M7 to M8.

[SASKiwi]

But are you doing that on your existing installation (upgrade in-place) or are you going to install it on new hardware and then migrate to it? 

[siddhu1]

I am doing it on the existing installation.

[ronf_sas]

If you are updating the existing SAS 9.4 TS1M7 installation and configuration in-place to M8, then the SAS Migration Utility is not needed. 

For the process of applying software updates to an existing deployment, refer to SAS® 9.4 Guide to Software Updates and Product Changes 

[epower]

While you can upgrade in place we found it easier for us to do a brand new installation in parallel to our current environment M7 for our M8 migration. 

[SASKiwi]

@epower - A major consideration is whether you are prepared for a multi-day outage during the upgrade, along with no ability to test installations in parallel. We are about to upgrade and it will be a new installation for these very reasons.

[MargaretC]

Check out this slide...

[epower]

Be cautious if you have customizations to your environment though like SAML, test thoroughly before running this against your production environment.

[epower]

You should be able to do it relatively quickly, We take less than half a day for this to run. This depends on complexity and might be different if you are running a huge grid. In a development environment you can definitely test though and ensure you're accounting for what you have in parallel. We are lucky to have a DEV and VAL environment where this is thoroughly tested. That effort takes weeks for us to really make sure we are ready for that switch. 

One thing to mention is for our installation for 9.4 M7, we have taken down the M7 Mid-Tier due to the huge number of security vulnerabilities associated with those components. We are glad M8 is out!