Horizon Connection Server upgrade

[mathewdsa]

We have a set of 4 Connection servers on Windows 2012 and with Horizon 8 2206 installed. We are planning a phased migration to Windows server 2019 as follows, ONE server at a time:

1. Server will be disabled in Horizon under the servers list.
2. Horizon and ADAM software will uninstalled from one server
3. Run the vdmadmin command on another running server to remove the record of the server being uninstalled
4. Drop the 2012 server from the domain and then bring the new OS 2019 server up with the same name and IP address
5. Re-install the same version of Connection Server software as a replica and reuse the same cert with Priv key from the old server

My question is around whether mixed Windows OS versions are supported, temporarily, in addition to whether the steps above make sense. Over the course of a few days all 4 servers will be upgraded in the same way but this first one if kind of a proof of concept for the steps.

[yukiafronia · Accepted solution]

Hi, @mathewdsa 

I see no problem with the procedure.
The procedure for removing a Connection Server running on Windows Server 2012 is also fine as long as you remember to remove the ADAM software.

Excellent.!!

[jc296]

I'd consider doing the upgrade in 2 parts: the Windows upgrade first followed by the Connection Servers in that order.  

Obviously, i would de-risk the Wins upgrade on a dev rig or Workstation lab to see if the upgrade is smooth - i take it none of these Wins Servers have any roles included?  From my limited experience of Wins there will always be a hiccup with the in place upgrade.  Once satisfied that the Wins upgrade is known/stable I would then proceed to do all other Operationg Systems before doing an Horizon Connection upgrade, which should be relative straightforward.  Check your View AGents on the VM desktops are compatible with the proposed Connection Server.

[yukiafronia]

Hi, @jc296 

You are correct, if you tried to upgrade to Windows Server 2019 with Connection Server installed on Windows Server 2012, VMware would not have approved that action because it would be an in-place upgrade!

Not only Connection Server, but also for Horizon Agent, if you want to apply Windows Feature Update, you should uninstall Horizon Agent , VMware Tools, and then perform Windows Update. Windows Update should be performed after uninstalling the Horizon Agent and VMware Tools.

[jc296]

Hi Yukiafronia,

Sounds fair. I must admit i didn't check the compatibility of Horizon Connection server on the Wins 2012 to 2019 update. 

Thanks

[mbfxdms]

We are in the same boat. How did this go? The steps outlined enough to move to 2019 or anything else you've encountered while performing this upgrade?

[mathewdsa]

No issues encountered. I was scared when doing the first one but it actually went SO SMOOTHLY that I was very happy.

[mbfxdms]

Fantastic. Thanks for the update that gives us some confidence

[mathewdsa]

Are you using a load balanced FQDN to balance against multiple connection servers? If so make a note of this article and backup the locked.properties file that's mentioned and restore it to the new server in the same folder.

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Horizon-7/7.13/horizon-installation/GUID-BFF2E726-A5EB-4105-A0EA-F...

[mbfxdms]

oh thanks for pointing me to that page, yes, we are load balancing our connection servers behind LB