SAS 9.4M6 to M8 Migration in GCP.

[HemanthMG]

Hi Folks,

We are planning to migrate from SAS M6 to M8. Due to unsupported OS versions, our strategy involves setting up a new server, installing M8, and then migrating data from the existing M6 server using the SAS Migration Utility (SMU).

However, our current M6 environment is in Microsoft Azure, and we intend to move to Google Cloud. We're uncertain about how SMU will function across different cloud providers and anticipate potential challenges in this migration process.

Could you please provide guidance on the potential challenges we might encounter and suggest the best way forward for this cross-cloud migration?

Thank you,

Hemanth MG

[SASKiwi]

You don't mention your source and target OSs. They will likely have a greater influence on your migration strategy than the underlying cloud platforms. Also will your M8 platform have the same architecture as your M6 one? Have you run the SAS Content Assessment tool on your M6 installation yet? I would regard that as the best first step. 

[HemanthMG]

@SASKiwi - Our current OS is Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7.7, and the Target will be RHEL 7.9 and above.We are planning built  same architecture as M6. Yes we have already run SAS Content Assessment tool and collected outputs.

[SASKiwi]

@HemanthMG - Looks like you are on the right track. Another thing to watch out for is encoding differences. Most new SAS installations now set the default encoding to UTF-8. If your source installation isn't UTF-8 then you may need to convert your SAS datasets' encoding when migrating. That means you can't use OS tools for moving SAS data. 

[HemanthMG]

@SASKiwi We have completed our initial pre-migration analysis and can confirm the following:

• Our current SAS 9.4 M6 environment is UTF-8 enabled.

• We have run the SAS 9 Content Assessment, and the results have been shared with our SAS Account Manager.

• We have already requested the SAS 9.4 M9 software depot and are awaiting its delivery.

As we finalize our project plan, our next step is to begin the hands-on deployment. We have outlined the high-level phases for this new installation and migration as follows:

1. Provision Infrastructure in GCP.

2. Open Necessary Firewall Ports.

3. Operating System Configuration.

4. SAS 9.4 M9 Software Installation & Patching.

5. Core SAS & Web Infrastructure Configuration (including SAML SSO).

6. Metadata & Object Migration.

7. Physical Data & Program Migration.

8. Final Validation & Testing.

To ensure our deployment follows all official guidelines, could you please provide us with the definitive SAS documentation, installation guides, or best-practice checklists that cover these phases for a new SAS 9.4 M9 deployment on a cloud platform like GCP?

We are particularly interested in any documentation that details the step-by-step procedures for the installation and configuration on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.x.

Thank you for your guidance as we begin this important project.

Regards,
Hemanth MG 

[SASKiwi]

The SAS Migration Guide is a good starting point.

As is Install Center for install documention.

AFAIK, SAS doesn't provide checklists. These would be very dependent on your IT infrastructure, your SAS products, your current SAS applications, your SAS architecture and any custom requirements.

[LinusH]

SMU doesn't use any live connection between environments, it create package files.

So it should just be a matter of moving those files between your cloud providers.