Introduction to Migration in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
Updated: May 14, 2015
Applies To: System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1
With System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, you can migrate data from a supported Configuration Manager source hierarchy to your destination hierarchy. When you migrate data from a source hierarchy, you access data from the site databases that you identify in the source infrastructure and then transfer that data to your current environment. Migration does not change the data in the source hierarchy, but instead discovers the data and stores a copy in the database of the destination hierarchy.
Consider the following when you plan your migration strategy:
You can migrate an existing Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 infrastructure to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.
Beginning with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1, you can migrate data between two deployments of the same version. (The initial non-service pack release does not support migration to another non-service pack release infrastructure).
You can migrate some or all of the supported data from a source site.
You can migrate the data from a single source site to several different sites in the destination hierarchy.
You can move data from multiple source sites to a single site in the destination hierarchy.
Use the following sections to help you plan and implement your migration:
Migration Scenarios
The Migration Workflow
Migration Concepts in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
What’s New in Configuration Manager SP1
What’s New in System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager
What’s New in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2, and System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1
Migration Scenarios
Configuration Manager supports the following migration scenarios.
Note
The expansion of a hierarchy that contains a stand-alone site into a hierarchy that contains a central administration site is not categorized as a migration. For information about hierarchy expansion, see the Planning to Expand a Stand-Alone Primary Site section in the Planning for Sites and Hierarchies in Configuration Manager topic.
Migration from Configuration Manager 2007 Hierarchies
When you use migration to migrate data from Configuration Manager 2007 to a supported System Center 2012 Configuration Managerhierarchy, you can maintain your investment in your existing site infrastructure and gain the following benefits:
Benefit |
More information |
|---|---|
Site database improvements |
The System Center 2012 Configuration Manager database supports full Unicode. |
Database replication between sites |
Replication in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager is based on Microsoft SQL Server. This improves the performance of site-to-site data transfer. |
User-centric management |
Users are the focus of management tasks in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager. For example, you can distribute software to a user even if you do not know the device name for that user. Additionally, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager gives users much more control over what software is installed on their devices and when that software is installed. |
Hierarchy simplification |
In System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, the new central administration site type and changes to the behavior of primary and secondary sites let you build a simpler site hierarchy that uses less network bandwidth and requires fewer servers. |
Role-based administration |
This central security model in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager offers hierarchy-wide security and management that corresponds to your administrative and business requirements. |
Note
Because of design changes that were introduced in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, you cannot upgrade Configuration Manager 2007 infrastructure to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.
Migration between System Center 2012 Configuration hierarchies that run the same version
Beginning with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1, you can migrate data between two hierarchies that run the same version of Configuration Manager. This includes migrating data from multiple source hierarchies into a single destination hierarchy, such as when your company acquires additional resources that are already managed by Configuration Manager. Additionally, you can migrate data from a test environment to your Configuration Manager production environment so long as each runs the same service pack version of Configuration Manager. This allows you to maintain your investment in the Configuration Manager test environment.
See Versions of Configuration Manager That Are Supported for Migration for a list of supported migration scenarios.
Note
The expansion of a hierarchy that contains a stand-alone site into a hierarchy that contains a central administration site is not categorized as a migration. For information about hierarchy expansion, see the Planning to Expand a Stand-Alone Primary Site section in the Planning for Sites and Hierarchies in Configuration Manager topic.
The Migration Workflow
The following steps describe the basic migration workflow.
Specify a supported source hierarchy.
Configure data gathering. Data gathering enables Configuration Manager to collect information about data that can migrate from the source hierarchy.
Configuration Manager automatically repeats the process to collect data on a simple schedule until you stop the data gathering process. By default, the data gathering process repeats every four hours so that Configuration Manager can identify changes to data in the source hierarchy that you might want to migrate. Data gathering is also necessary to share distribution points from the source hierarchy to the destination hierarchy.
Create migration jobs to migrate data between the source and destination hierarchy.
You can stop the data gathering process at any time by using the Stop Gathering Data command. When you stop data gathering, Configuration Manager no longer identifies changes to data in the source hierarchy, and can no longer share distribution points between the source and destination hierarchies. Typically, you use this action when you no longer plan to migrate data or share distribution points from the source hierarchy.
Optionally, after data gathering has stopped at all sites for the source hierarchy, you can clean up the migration data by using the Clean Up Migration Data command. This command deletes the historical data about migration from a source hierarchy from the database of the destination hierarchy.
After you migrate data from a Configuration Manager source hierarchy that you will no longer use to manage your environment, you can plan to decommission that source hierarchy and infrastructure.
Migration Concepts in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
Use the following information about the concepts and terms that you encounter when you migrate from a source hierarchy to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.
Concept or term |
More information |
|---|---|
Source hierarchy |
Either a Configuration Manager 2007 SP2, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 or later hierarchy that contains data that you want to migrate. You specify a source hierarchy when you specify the top-level site of a source hierarchy. After you specify a source hierarchy, the top-level site of the destination hierarchy gathers data from the database of the designated source site to identify the data that you can migrate. For more information, see the Migration Source Hierarchies section in the Planning a Source Hierarchy Strategy in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager topic. |
Source sites |
The sites in the source hierarchy that have data that you can migrate to your destination hierarchy. For more information, see the Migration Source Sites section in the Planning a Source Hierarchy Strategy in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager topic. |
Destination hierarchy |
A System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 or later hierarchy where migration runs to import data from a source hierarchy. |
Data gathering |
The ongoing process of identifying the information in a source hierarchy that you can migrate to your destination hierarchy. Configuration Manager checks the source hierarchy on a schedule to identify any changes to information in the source hierarchy that you previously migrated and that you might want to update in the destination hierarchy. For more information, see the Migration Data Gathering section in the Planning a Source Hierarchy Strategy in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager topic. |
Migration jobs |
The process of configuring the specific objects to migrate, and then managing the migration of those objects to the destination hierarchy. For more information, see Planning a Migration Job Strategy in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager. |
Client migration |
The process of transferring information that clients use from the database of the source site to the database of the destination hierarchy. This migration of data is then followed by an upgrade of client software on devices to the client software version from the destination hierarchy. For more information, see Planning a Client Migration Strategy in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager. |
Shared distribution points |
The distribution points from the source hierarchy that are shared with the destination hierarchy during the migration period. During the migration period, clients assigned to sites in the destination hierarchy can obtain content from shared distribution points. For more information, see the Share Distribution Points Between Source and Destination Hierarchies section in the Share Distribution Points Between Source and Destination Hierarchies topic |
Monitoring migration |
The process of monitoring migration activities. You monitor the migration progress and success from the Migration node in the Administration workspace. For more information, see Planning to Monitor Migration Activity in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager. |
Stop gathering data |
The process of stopping data gathering from source sites. When you no longer have data to migrate from a source hierarchy, or if you want to temporarily suspend migration-related activities, you can configure the destination hierarchy to stop gathering data from the source hierarchy. For more information, see the Migration Data Gathering section in the Planning a Source Hierarchy Strategy in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager topic. |
Clean up migration data |
The process of finishing migration from a source hierarchy by removing information about the migration from the destination hierarchies database. For more information, see Planning to Complete Migration in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager. |
What’s New in Configuration Manager SP1
Note
The information in this section also appears in the Getting Started with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager guide.
The following items are new for migration in Configuration Manager SP1:
You can merge data from other hierarchies that run the same version of Configuration Manager as your hierarchy. This includes migrating data from a test environment into your production environment.
Some UI labels and descriptions are updated to reflect the change in functionality that lets you migrate data between two System Center 2012 Configuration Manager hierarchies.
What’s New in System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager
Note
The information in this section also appears in the Getting Started with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager guide.
The following items are new or have changed for migration in System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager:
Some UI labels and descriptions are updated to reflect the functionality of migrating, not upgrading, distribution point between hierarchies that run the same version of System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.
When you use the Reassign Shared Distribution Points Wizard, you have the same options as when you deploy a new distribution point, including options make the distribution point a pull-distribution point and to add it to boundary groups in the destination hierarchy.
What’s New in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2, and System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1
There are no changes to capabilities in Migration with either System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2, or the System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1 licensing option. However, the following migration scenarios are now supported:
Configuration Manager 2007 to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2
Configuration Manager 2007 to System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2 to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2
System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1 to System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1