Migrate large topologies of external WebSphere application servers

Manage previous versions of WebSphere product application servers in the Intelligent Management console. If we have a large topology and want to automate a migration from Version 6.1, 7.0, or 8.0 to v8.5, we can use the migration toolkit to detect the configurations and import them into a v8.5 cell.

• Install and federate the v8.5 node agents and deployment manager on the previous version machines. For the purposes of this task, the previous version deployment manager is referred to as the previous deployment manager. If we do not have the node agent running on the previous deployment manager, we can copy the AGENT_HOME/lib/legacycell.jar file and AGENT_HOME/bin/Extractor.sh|.bat file from another workstation that has the node agent deployed to the previous deployment manager.

• Install or augment the deployment manager for v8.5.

The migration toolkit can detect previous WebSphere configurations and import them into a v8.5 cell.

The migration toolkit uses scripts to connect to one cell, read the data, and import the data into the other cell. The scripts also function as an adaptor or integration interface. The migration script logic handles the routing information and environment detection. The scripts also perform integrity checks to ensure a stable configuration. For more information read about the migration toolkit.

1. Generate the mappings file. The mappings file defines additional data that cannot be gathered automatically. We must generate the mappings file before you import the middleware deployment.

   1. Log in to the previous deployment manager computer.

   2. On the deployment manager computer, go to the AGENT_HOME/bin directory, or the directory to which you copied the node agent files from another workstation.

   3. Run the Extractor.sh or Extractor.bat script. For example, run the following command:
      ./Extractor.sh app_server_root/config

      The single install_root directory is the default for the dmgr profile directory. If install_root does not specify the dmgr profile directory as the default, add the following argument:

      app_server_root/profiles/deployment_manager_profile/config

      When this script completes, a Mapping.dat file is in the directory from which you ran the script.

   4. Copy the Mapping.dat file to the app_server_root/bin directory on the Intelligent Management v8.5 deployment manager.

2. Run the automation script.

   1. Log in to the Intelligent Management v8.5 deployment manager computer.

   2. On the deployment manager computer, navigate to the app_server_root/bin directory.

   3. Run the MirrorCell.bat or MirrorCell.sh script. The MirrorCell script uses the following format:
      MirrorCell.* [-props PROPS] [-mode MODE] [-nosec, nosave]

      The only required parameter is the -props parameter, which specifies the full path to the properties file. For more information about the MirrorCell script parameters, read about the MirrorCell.bat or MirrorCell.sh script.

      Avoid trouble: If we include paths containing spaces in our script call, surround these paths with quotation marks, for example:

      "C:"

      gotcha By default, the script connects to the previous deployment manager and generates any necessary delta information between the newly detected configuration and a copy of the last known configuration. The script then uses this delta information to recreate the configuration within the v8.5 cell. Status updates are reported at each milestone.

   4. Log in to the Intelligent Management cell and verify that the configuration was created properly. To check that the servers are represented in the console, click Servers > Other middleware servers > External WebSphere application servers. To check that representations of the applications were created, click Applications > All applications.

What to do next

Manage the previous configurations from the Intelligent Management cell.

Subtopics

• (dist)(zos) Migration toolkit
  We can use the migration toolkit to automatically detect your previous configurations of WAS and import the configuration into the Intelligent Management cell.

Related tasks

Configure external WebSphere application servers

MirrorCell script