Migrating MFT Server

The upgrade instructions outlined in the Upgrading page only applies to in-place upgrades. These are upgrades that are simply carried out on the same physical or virtual server hosting an instance of MFT Server. But when the upgrade involves moving/copying MFT Server configuration data to a separate host, a.k.a. a migration, it would require some intermediate steps. The easiest way of migrating the current installation of MFT Server to a different host is by utilizing the Settings > MISCELLANEOUS > Failover module. The only requirement here is for the old host to have a network connection to the new host.

Note: Several Linux distributions exhibit slow response as a result of the newly introduced FIPS TLS library. To prevent this issue, please install haveged on the new host before installing MFT Server. Disregard this note if the new host is not running on Linux.

Note: If the new MFT Server instance will be using a different IP address, you'll need to request a separate license for that IP address. Please file a ticket in our Help Desk and the ticket will be assigned to someone who can assist you in that regard.

Using Failover Synchronization to migrate your MFT Server installation

The Failover Synchronization feature used to serve as the primary means of sycnhronizing two instances of MFT Server to achieve a High Availability (HA) configuration. It's now replaced by a method that uses a global datastore. However, although it's no longer the recommended tool for setting up HA, the Failover Synchronization module is still very useful for migration purposes.

To get an overview on how the Failover Synchronization module works, read the page 'Defining a failover server'. The instructions in that page is for setting up a failover server. But if you just treat the failover server as the new host in a migration process, you can still use those instructions for migration purposes.

To perform a migration using the Failover Synchronization feature, follow these steps.

1. Make sure the new host has a network connection to the old host.

2. Install the exact same version of MFT Server as the one on the old host on the new host. So, if the old host is running MFT Server v 12.4.1, then you need to install v 12.4.1 on the new host.

3. Set up Failover Synchronization on the old host as outlined in 'Defining a failover server' and perform a one-time On Demand Synchronization, treating the new host as the 'failover server'.  If the new host will be using a different IP address, set up IP substitution before doing the On Demand Synchronization.

4. Should you wish to upgrade your newly migrated MFT Server instance, go to the Upgrading page and follow the instructions appropriate for your new installation.