Need to migrate the physical SharePoint 2016 SQL servers to VMs.

Question

We have, SharePoint Server 2016 - 2 application server, 3 WFE's and 2 database servers clustered environment.
The 2 database servers are in physical servers and we are required to move it to VM before July 31, 2021 due to the end of support on our SAN.

I am asked about possibility to change from physical to virtual server for the DB's without putting the Production environment at risk and getting this done as soon as possible. Can you provide some direction on the steps needed to replace our current environment with a virtual one?

Answer 1

I would take the approach of adding VMs to the existing cluster but migrate the shared storage blob. Otherwise, if you have to change the endpoint name that SharePoint is connecting to and move the databases, you'll need to use cliconfg.exe on each SharePoint server to point to the new SQL endpoint.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/administration/move-all-databases

Alternatively, you could P2V the existing SQL Servers, though that can be less clean.

Answer 2

Configure New SharePoint Farm in the VMs should have the Same version level.
Same set of Services, Authentications & configuration should be in the new farm.
Create the Web Application in target farm.
Update your DNS to point to new Server(WFE)

Now you can do the following things.

Preform the SQL Back up of the content DBs from Source farm.
Now restore the DB on new farm's SQL server
Now Mount the DBs to the desired web app, either from central admin or using the Mount-SPContentDatabase
Now test it, go to central admin > application management > view all site collections.
Make sure if you have any custom solutions deployed in old farm, download and install them in New farm as well.
Run Full Search crawl.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/administration/move-all-databases
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/administration/move-or-rename-service-application-databases

Thanks & Regards,

Answer 3

Hey,

As mentioned, the easiest and the fastest way would be creating new VMs and configure SP farm as well as SQL Server. Afterwards, you can do the migration using the guidance gentlemen gladly provided.

As an alternative, you can do a P2V conversion using StarWind V2V Converter directly to your Hyper-V host.
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/v2v-help/PhysicalDisksandP2VScenario.html

P.S. In both cases it is recommended to have farm stopped.

Cheers,

Alex Bykovskyi

StarWind Software

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