How To Migrate data From SAS 9.4 TS1M0 to SAS 9.4 TS1M7?

[NacNick]

Dear SAS Community,

In my company, we have installed on our server SAS 9.4 version TS1M0.
We now want to upgrade from version TS1M0 to version TS1M7.

To do that, we have to carefully migrate all the data from our current version to the newer one.

We saw that we can do that with the help of SAS migration utility and deployment wizard, but there is no full tutorial online which exactly shows how to that.
it is important to note that all of our data on the current server is saved in a folder named "data" in .csv format (our server is an FTP server, and therefore all the data is saved in files.)

Can please someone reply with a tutorial (We'll be glad if there will also be pictures in it) for how to upgrade and migrate SAS from version 9.4 TS1M0 to version TS1M7?

Thank you.

[AhmedAl_Attar]

Hi @NacNick 

Check out this Community Article "SAS Content Assessment: quickly accessing results"

You'll need to watch "SAS Demo | SAS 9.4 System Evaluation" video

The video might be old, but it still relevant to your scenario. Just make sure to download the latest version of the Content Assessment tool.

Hope this help 

[Sajid01]

Hello @NacNick 
In case you are planning upgrade SAS on the same machine, consider in place upgrade. This is typically a smooth process.
There is a community thread on this https://communities.sas.com/t5/Administration-and-Deployment/Upgrade-in-Place-Steps/td-p/444848
Please have a look here too
https://go.documentation.sas.com/doc/en/pgmsascdc/9.4_3.5/whatsdiff/titlepage.htm

[NacNick]

Hi @Sajid01 !
Thank you for the links, we'll check them.
I forgot to mention that we also move from one physical server to another, 
and by doing that we are upgrading from the current OS - Windows Server 2008 R2 to an upgraded OS - Windows Server 2019.

[Sajid01]

Hello @NacNick 
I had the opportunity to perform a similar task of migrating of migrating from an old server running on windows server 2008 to windows server 2016 and would like to share  my experience.
1. Installation. A fresh installation of SAS done on the new servers. This is a not a difficult task.

2.External Databases.  In case SAS is connecting to external datasources, the database /odbc drivers would need to be installed.
3.Metadata The next step would be the migration of metadata.

We used the SAS import/export as package utility to migrate the metadata.
(https://documentation.sas.com/doc/en/bicdc/9.4/bisag/n0sw5sjmv61ddjn1r1mltj8wzigg.htm ,https://documentation.sas.com/doc/en/bicdc/9.4/bisag/p1k1twndkw9je7n1sq3yibjz8wxx.htm )

This is something we use on a regular basis for content promotion between environments((Dev/QA/Prod). The migration was smooth and we never had to redo anything.

4.Data As far as your data is concerned, you have said that they are all csv files are on a FTP server. Using that on the new server would not be an issue.
In fact if the data were on the same server it would work if it is copied to the corresponding location on the new server.

Lastly in my experience, as long as one follows the documentation, SAS 9.4  works out of the box.

[NacNick]

Hello @Sajid01 !
Thank you so much for these steps - i'm sure they will be very helpful!!
In addition, referring to the "Data" part - your recommendation is simply copy and paste all of the files from the old FTP server to the new one (From Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2019), and this will simply be our data migration?

[Sajid01]

Hello @NacNick 
The OS is Windows in both cases, So copying of csv files should be fine.

[Nigel_Pain]

We upgraded from 9.3 on a Windows Server 2008R2 machine to 9.4M5 on new new 2012R2* machines in 2018. We migrated most of the metadata by exporting/importing spk files, but the data migration did just consist of an OS copy across to the new compute server. Robocopy is good for this (comes as standard with Windows Server now) as you can set all kinds of parameters for the copy. The actual build of the new servers was completely fresh and we got help from SAS for that. 

*recently upgraded to 2019.

[SASKiwi]

Are you staying on the same OS with your switch to M7? BTW, I'd recommend upgrading to M8, released in Jan 2023. That gives you nearly 5 years of full support (Jan 2028) whereas M7 only has full support until 2025.

[NacNick]

Hi @SASKiwi!
I forgot to mention that we also move from one physical server to another, 
and by doing that we are upgrading from the current OS - Windows Server 2008 R2 to an upgraded OS - Windows Server 2019.
And that you for the tip about upgrading to M8 - We will definitely consider.

[ronf_sas]

Hi.  Since you are moving from one server to another, an in-place update of the software will not be possible.  Your two options are:

1.  Perform a migration using the SAS Migration Utility and the SAS Deployment Wizard

2.  Perform a new out-of-box deployment on the new server and then use the SAS Promotion Tools to move over selected metadata and content.

Migrating a SAS deployment is not a trivial task, so you will not find a video or quickstart guide for walking you through the process.  I suggest you read the Introduction section of the SAS 9.4 Migration Guide which can help you decide if migration or promotion is best for you.

SAS Help Center: Approaches for Upgrading to SAS 9.4

[MarcoGhiglieri]

M0->M7/8 is quite a big jump, I've chosen multiple times the "new server, new life" way.

[NacNick]

Hi @MarcoGhiglieri !
we definitely thought about using the "New server New life" approach,
but the following question is wheather all the content, metadata, functions, etc. that will be lost if we don't use migration - 
won't effect all the other softwares which use the SAS software for their needs?..

[NacNick]

Hi @ronf_sas !
Thank you very much for your answer!
we will definitely check all of these possibilities.

[ronf_sas]

Additionally, here are a couple of papers that might help shed some additional light on the migration and promotion processes for you:

Latest and Greatest: Best Practices for Migrating to SAS® 9.4

-this paper mentions going from 9.2 or 9.3 to 9.4, but the same concepts apply for 9.4 to 9.4 migration.

Getting the Latest and Greatest From SAS® 9.4: Best Practices for Upgrades and Migration