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TKinney
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Contributor

vCenter Db Migration Plan

I must migrate the vCenter databases to a different datacenter.  The databases reside on a separate VM from the vCenter server.  Going from SQL 2005 Std SQL 2014 Std, on a 5.1 U3b vCenter.  I'm attempting to follow http://kb.vmware.com/kb/7960893.  Here is my migration plan.  I'm referring to the KB articles for the individual steps:

Stop VMware services on the vCenter server.

Backup existing SQL Dbs on the old SQL server with SQL Management Studio http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2045528.

Using SQL Management Studio on the new SQL server, restore the databases.http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2012138

Update the vCenter server SSO settings to reflect change of the host name of the database server http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2033516.

Update the vCenter server System DSN to the new database server location http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003928

- What sort of ODBC driver considerations are there going to be from 2005 Std to 2014 Std from the vCenter server.  I installed the MS ODBC Driver 11 which supports SQL 2014 on the vCenter server.  Download Microsoft® ODBC Driver 11 for SQL Server® - Windows from Official Microsoft Download Center  Should that be sufficient?

Restart vCenter services and log into vSphere client.

Verify jobs and stored procedures on the SQL server http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2033096

Verify Update Manager functionality http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015223.

Another item that may be of no consequence is that the Update Manager, vCenter, and Inventory Services db all fall under the same database name, so they are not broken out.  The tables for each of the three databases are all present in the one database.  I only have the RSA and one other Db present to backup and restore.

Thanks

**EDIT**:  This was recently completed successfully.  Additional tasks not mentioned above include:

  1. Create SQL accounts for RSA_USER, RSA_DBA, and your VCDB user in SQL.  Map the RSA_USER and VCDB user to their respective database logins for the SSO and VCDB.  Set the RSA_DBA SQL account as the dbo of the SSO db: http://www.gabesvirtualworld.com/how-to-move-vmware-single-sign-on-sso-database/
    1. Setting RSA_DBA as the dbo of the SSO db involves running EXEC sp_changedbowner 'RSA_DBA' in a SQL query window against the SSO Db.
  2. A 32-bit ODBC System DSN is required for the Update Manager.
  3. Edit the vcdb.properties file, found at ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter, in a text editor.  https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2004734
    1. Change the name or IP of the database server to reflect the new location and save it. 
  4. Edit the vci-integrity.xml, located in C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Update Manager.  Specific mention in http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015223
    1. Ensure the dbtype and username match that of the 32-bit System DSN that was created.
  5. Regarding the verification of jobs and stored procedures; the stored procedures will likely be present due to the database restore, but the jobs will not be as they appear in the SQL Agent, outside of the database.  KB 2033096 explains how to re-create them. 

Marking this as assumed answered.  Hopefully this assist someone presented with the same task. 

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