Endpoint Protection

Hello everyone , I am required to performed few tasks. I have prepared a plan of action for achieving these tasks, but before moving forward with this plan I would like to have your expert opinions and suggestions.

Part1:- ( SEPM and endpoints upgrade from 12.1.5 to 12.1.6 MP4) 

• Once we decide to upgrade 12.1.5 clients running all the protection components after upgrade either via the AutoUpgrade from the SEPM server or manually running the exported package after SEPM has been upgraded would there be a restart required as part of the upgrade from 12.1.5 or no restart is required?
   
•  On servers having the AV component installed only once we perform the upgrade would there be any restart required to complete the upgrade?
  
   

Part 2:- ( Disaster Recovery)

Currently we have two SEPM servers running with an SQ backend . This DB currently resides on one of the SEPM servers.Now we intend to move the DB to one of the production SQL servers from SEPM server.

What is the correct approach of doing this , to perform the DR in the following way.

1. Take the Backup of the DB. Prepare an instance on the production SQL server and attach this database taken as a backup there.

2. Once the DB is attached successfully to an instance on the production SQL server , run the Management Server Configuration Wizard on each of the production SEPM servers and use the recovery file and during the Database connection setup specify the details for the production SQL server and database so that it can be connected.

3. By using the above steps can we achieve the required task without impacting anything ?

Your kind responses would be highly appreciated. Please let me know if you have any further questions or clarificaitons.

Thanks and Regards

• Once we decide to upgrade 12.1.5 clients running all the protection components after upgrade either via the AutoUpgrade from the SEPM server or manually running the exported package after SEPM has been upgraded would there be a restart required as part of the upgrade from 12.1.5 or no restart is required?

Yes a restart is needed

•  On servers having the AV component installed only once we perform the upgrade would there be any restart required to complete the upgrade?

With only AV component, a restart should not be needed. I stress "should" but that may not always be the case. I would plan it around your allowed downtime in case.

The article for moving SQL is here:

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH174821

Thanks for the reply Brian. So a restart is mandatory when we are upgrading from 12.1.5 to 12.1.6 MP4. This is true for both of the following or only one ?

1. SEP 12.1.5 with all of the protection components installted ( AV , NTP , PTP)

      2. SEP 12.1.5 with only the following components installed on the Server OS ( AV only)

In both 1 and 2 a reboot is mandatory to complete the upgrade process even if we are upgrading clients with AV only?

Thanks and Regards

1. Yes, reboot is needed when upgrading the full feature set.

2. Symantec has said no. However, I've had cases where I've upgraded machines with only AV and it said a reboot was needed. I've had other cases where no reboot was needed. So again, plan to do this during your maintenance window just in case.

Thaks Brian for the reply. Just one last thing to confirm, when we configure the installation setting with no restart and after the upgrade if for some reasons a reboot is required it will be shown in the SEP UI that a reboot is required however becuase of the " No Restart  " setting it will not either to a schedule reboot or force reboot instead a manual reboot would be required. Have I understood it correctly?

Regarding the SQL technote which you have shared above which mentions about detaching the DB and then attaching it again to the target ( intended ) SQL server, appologies if I am being naieve here. Once we detach the DB from the SQL server wouldn't it break the connection between the SEPM and SQL server and there will be no connectviity until we again attach the database on the target SQL server and run the management configuration wizard again to point it to the new SQL server?

Thanks and Regards 

Yes, the SEP client will show a reboot on the GUI and it will also show up in the SEPM.

Correct. Connection between the SEP/SQL box will be down until you complete the steps to get it pointed to the new one.

Thanks for the reply Brian . Can we make it as a fail safe meaning to be on a safer side so that SEPM/SQL box will be down can't we somehow move the DB over to the targer server keeping the connection open and once DB is migrated we can run the Management Server configuration wizard to connect SEPM to the remote SQL server?

Thanks and Regards

You're not taking any box down. The connection between the two will be unavailable for a short time. The SEPM will remain up and any logs will be kept there until the SQL connection comes back up and logs can be inserted.