Vault 2020 to Vault 2023 - How much time needed to schedule for an upgrade?

[MICHAEL.JONES.AMCE]

We've been using various iterations of Vault since 2014 and have been using Vault 2020 for several years.  

We finally convinced management and the IT department to upgrade from Vault 2020 to Vault 2023, so we can starting using Inventor 2023.

The IT department has not able to complete the upgrade from Vault 2020 to Vault 2023.  They've been working on it for three days, starting over from scratch on day 3.

Is that normal for everyone or is it just us?

Regards,

M.

M.

[CGBenner]

@MICHAEL.JONES.AMCE 

Michael, are they doing the upgrade in steps?  Vault can only be upgraded two releases at a time, so they should be stepping up from 2020-2022, and then 2022-2023.  Take a look HERE for some guidelines and best practices.  It should normally only take a few hours, depending on the amount of data.

[MICHAEL.JONES.AMCE]

@CGBenner 

Yes, they're going from 2020 to 2022 and then transitioning from 2022 to 2023. 

I'd like to think IT has reviewed the steps given, as they were successful in upgrading the test Vault. 

They voiced concerns at that time regarding how much time it took to complete the upgrade and are now recommending that we do away with Vault (due to all the time required to upgrade).

The steps followed by IT for the test server (which have not been successful for the production server)

    Create new MS Server 2019 server – make sure at least 500GB free space exists.
    Create new full back-up from "VAULT". (~4-6 hr)
    Copy backup to 2019 server. (~ 0.5 -1hr)
    Rename previous Vault to something else (.25hr)
    Rename new 2019 server to "VAULT"(.25hr)
    Run Vault 2020 Pre-check
    Install AutoDesk Vault2020 to (~1hr)
    Start ADMS – create new master vault if prompted
    Install all Vault2020 updates to "VAULT"(maybe 3) (.75-1hr)
    Restore backup from original vault server to "VAULT" (~4-6 hr)
    Start ADMS – possible the error of an existing “sa” account – stop ADMS and restart ADMS seems to fix this.
    Run Vault 2022 Pre-check (this may require booting IIS to delete VaultDM website)
    Install AD Vault2022 to "VAULT" (~1hr)
    Install all AD Vault2022 updates( maybe 2 updates)(~.25-.5hr)
    Start ADMS – Migrating the data should be prompted – accept the defaults (2-4hr)
    Run Vault 2023 Pre-check  (this may require booting IIS to delete VaultDM website, not VaultDT)
    Install AD Vault2023 to "VAULT" (~1hr)
    Install all AD Vault2023 updates (possibly only 1) (~.25hr)

Still not up this morning, day #4 w/o Vault.

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[CGBenner]

@MICHAEL.JONES.AMCE 

Wow.  The only time I had a Vault upgrade that took more than a few hours to complete was the time that the server (and backup server) BOTH blew motherboards overnight while we were attempting the SQL upgrade.  That was definitely the worst-case scenario!  But even with having to secure new hardware, we were up and running in less than 24 hours. (thank goodness IT was on the ball with backups!)

I'm going to tag in a few people who might have some thoughts, or at least know who else may be able to help.  This might be a good case for logging a support ticket though.

@ihayesjr @Senthil_Kumar 

[DarrenP]

to many variables can cause times to increase during a backup or a restore

have your IT read this: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/vault-products/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/H...

[ihayesjr · Accepted solution]

It looks like your steps may need some adjusting but moving to a new server OS will result in extra time needed.

1. Create new MS Server 2019 server – make sure at least 500GB free space exists.
2. Create new full back-up from "VAULT". (~4-6 hr)
3. Copy backup to 2019 server. (~ 0.5 -1hr)
4. Rename previous Vault to something else (.25hr)  Why do this? This is not necessary and if you need to go back to this server in case of an issue, you will rename it back. There are a lot of other issues this could cause.
5. Rename new 2019 server to "VAULT"(.25hr) This is not necessary. Give all users the new server name. See the previous comment.
6. Run Vault 2020 Pre-check - Install AutoDesk Vault2020 to (~1hr) I combined two steps. This doesn't take an hour. Usually 5 - 10 minutes on a bad day.
7. Start ADMS – create new master vault if prompted You do not need to do this. The Master Vault will get deleted when you perform the restore.
8. Install all Vault2020 updates to "VAULT"(maybe 3) (.75-1hr) - You only need to install the latest update. They are cumulative. This would be 2020.3 and 2020.3.8. This doesn't take an hour. 5 - 10 minutes tops.
9. Restore backup from original vault server to "VAULT" (~4-6 hr) 
10. Start ADMS – possible the error of an existing “sa” account – stop ADMS and restart ADMS seems to fix this.- This is not normal. Since you already have SQL installed along with the Vault Server, this error shouldn't occur. This is a one-off issue.
11. Run Vault 2022 Pre-check (this may require booting IIS to delete VaultDM website) - This also should not happen. You are installing on top of another version, Vault 2020, and the 2022 installer knows it is an upgrade. You could have done a server reboot prior to installing Vault 2022.
12. Install AD Vault2022 to "VAULT" (~1hr) - I don't understand what this means. This is part of step 11 and shouldn't take an hour.
13. Install all AD Vault2022 updates( maybe 2 updates)(~.25-.5hr) - Make sure you only install the latest.
14. Start ADMS – Migrating the data should be prompted – accept the defaults (2-4hr)
15. Run Vault 2023 Pre-check (this may require booting IIS to delete VaultDM website, not VaultDT) - A reboot is not necessary and it deletes the website so that it creates another one is created pointing to the Vault 2023 installation. 
16. Install AD Vault2023 to "VAULT" (~1hr) This is part of step 15 and shouldn't take 1 hour. 5 - 10 minutes
17. Install all AD Vault2023 updates (possibly only 1) (~.25hr) - Same as other statement. Make sure you only install the lasted single dot and then the latest double-dot update.

You might want to work with your Autodesk Partner or Reseller to make sure they understand the entire process and how to optimize it.

[MICHAEL.JONES.AMCE]

@ihayesjr 

FWIW, IT is pushing this out on a virtual machine, not a physical server. 

Not sure of the specifications of the VM.

[ihayesjr]

That shouldn't make a difference in the steps I provided.

[ntallen]

@ihayesjrI am upgrading from Vault 2020 to 2023 via 2022. I have successfully installed 2022, but for some reason I don't have access to the 2022 updates. Would it work to skip that step and go ahead and install 2023? Since the normal upgrade path allows skipping entire versions, it seems like that should work.

(Although I am licensed for Vault Server 2022 and was able to download the installation and install licensing, etc., the updates do not show up in any of the places I would expect them too, namely the 'updates' tab in the product downloads or 'Product Updates' under my account. I have submitted a ticket, but if skipping the step is OK, that would likely save time.)

[ihayesjr]

@ntallen 

You don't have to install the updates. Go straight to 2023 at this point.