Migrating to ConfigMgr Current Branch - Migrating MP to server 2012 R2

Hey guys.. Glad to meet all of you with another series (Migrating to ConfigMgr CB). In my client's environment we fixed ConfigMgr 1602 as the version to be migrated to and currently we are preparing our infrastructure by replacing server 2008 R2 site systems with server 2012 R2 and performing compatibility & stability tests in ConfigMgr 1602 test environment in parallel. As explained in one of my previous posts, ConfigMgr CB will not support server 2008 R2 servers as site systems / site servers after this December. More details here
Did you know that you should breakup with server 2008 R2

Meanwhile some of my friends approached me asking my suggestion on the migration to ConfigMgr CB in the infrastructure they support. So, I thought it would be really cool if I can write a blog series on that. here I am, this series will have detailed procedure to migrate all the site systems (MP, DP, SUP, RP etc) to server 2012 R2 as preparing to ConfigMgr CB upgrade and I will share all the issues and experience I came across in my infrastructure. Without further adu, lets get started.

Migrating MP to server 2012 R2

 I wouldn't call this a migration but introducing new server 2012 MP and removing old one. The Plan is as follows

1. Prepare server 2012 R2 server
2. Install MP on server 2012 R2
3. Make sure it works and Remove the traces of Server 2008 R2 MP in deployment objects
4. Remove MP role from Server 2008 R2 servers

lets see those steps in detail

Prepare server 2012 R2 server (server2012)

1. Make sure firewall is turned off or necessary firewall rules are created allowing siteserver and server2012 to communicate
2. Add the computer account of site server as a local admin in Server2012
3. If you have additional drive to install ConfigMgr component and don't want SCCM to get installed in C drive, create NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS in the root of C drive, so that the drive will be untouched.
4. Install below server components which are mandatory for ConfigMgr MP

- .NET Framework 4
- BITS Server Extensions (and auto selected options)
- IIS
   Application Development >> ISAPI Extensions
   Security >> Windows Authentication
   IIS 6 Management Compatibility >> IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility
   IIS 6 Management Compatibility >> IIS 6 WMI Compatibility

      5. Restart the server2012 as needed
     6. Navigate to DotNet install location (By default it's C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.XXXXX), edit the files regsvcs.exe.config ando InstallUtil.exe.cnfig to add the below lines right after </startup>

<runtime>     
    <loadFromRemoteSources enabled="true"/>
</runtime>

 and the  file should look like the following screenshot

If you do not do this, the BGB component installation in server2012 will keep failing with a DotNet Error

 Install MP role in Server2012

• Connect to ConfigMgr site through PowerShell, by selecting "Connect via Windows PowerShell" from Console file menu

•   Execute the below power shell command to add server2012 as a sitesystem in your ConfigMgr site

New-CMSiteSystemServer -ServerName "Server2012.<DomainName>.<Com>"  -SiteCode "<SiteCode>"

• On successful completion of the above, execute the below power shell command to add server2012 as a MP

Add-CMManagementPoint –SiteSystemServerName "Server2012.<DomainName>.<Com>" –SiteCode "<SiteCode>"

•  Go through MPcontrol.log in the installation directory and make sure the MP installation succeeded.
• Once the installation succeeded, Navigate to \Administration\Overview\Site Configuration\Servers and Site System Roles in ConfigMgr console, select the new site system, right click on MP role to see the properties. Make sure all the options you need are selected and configured.

Post Configuration

• Go through mpcontrol.log to confirm that the newly installed MP is responding to client communications
• Use MPcert and MPlist URL from a test client to verify that the MP is reachable to clients

http://<Site_system_name>/sms_mp/.sms_aut?mplist. 
 http://<Site_system_name>/sms_mp/.sms_aut?mpcert

•  If you have published all your MP's in DNS, remove the old entries and add the entries for server2012 MP
• Identify Task Sequences which uses old MP's in their ConfigMgr client installation switches and edit them to reflect the new server2012 MP
• Make sure to remove the traces of OLD MP's from all other deployment object so that removing them will not stop anything from working.

Remove OLD MP

• Navigate to \Administration\Overview\Site Configuration\Servers and Site System Roles in ConfigMgr console, select server 2008 site system which hosts MP role, right click on MP role and select remove.
• Monitor mpsetup.log to ensure successful removal of MP.

That's all you need to do, If you have MP's with replicated DB for special requirements, build server2012 MP in the same way with different SQL DB and remove the old one.


Hope this article helps and this is the first post in the series. I will come up with a post which explains  Upgrading your SUP while you have 2008 R2 replicated WSUS which uses same DB instance as SUP's.

Complete index of this series,

1.Migrating to ConfigMgr Current Branch - Migrating MP to server 2012 R2

2.Migrating to ConfigMgr Current Branch - Moving SUP (WSUS) to server 2012 R2

S A Delphin

Posted in: ConfigMgr