A COMPLETE GUIDE

TO YOUR SYSTEM CENTER

SERVICE MANAGER 2019
UPGRADE

SYSTEMOLOGY

I T S M P E R F O R M A N C E • G R O W T H • F L E X I B I L I T Y • P O T E N T I A L
 ADDED STABILITY
IMPROVED SPEED
OUTSTANDING
IMPROVEMENTS
A COMPLETE GUIDE The improvements you can expect with the System Center Service Manager 2019
Upgrade are simply outstanding.
TO YOUR
Creating Work Items : the speed of creating new tickets (called Work Items) in the
SYSTEM CENTER system are 10x faster and the number one improvement to mention.
SERVICE MANAGER 2019
Robust Stability: the other important improvement is that 2019 is a more stable
UPGRADE and robust data warehouse.
SQL Server 2017 is now supported for greater flexibility offering clients Linux OS,
auto database tuning and a Graph database engine.
Improved AD connector and UI responsiveness.
This document is a guide for your
journey to upgrade to System Center System Speed: just look at the statistics below – the upgrade to 2019 is certainly
Service Manager 2019 – highlighting worth it!
the process as well as the potential
pitfalls you may encounter. Service Manager Service Manager
ACTION 2012 R2 2019 Improvement
For any further questions that you may Incident creation time 2-6 seconds 0.5 seconds 4 times
have on this information please contact
Systemology on email: Incident creation time during
8-10 seconds <1 second 8 times
team@systemology.com.au connector sync

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 THE TWO PATHS TO UPGRADE
TO SCSM 2019
1. FRESH INSTALL
2. IN LINE UPGRADE

TWO DISTINCT DATA COMPONENETS

CONFIGURATION DATA OPERATING DATA
Management Packs Configuration Items
Data Configurations Work Items
Security Attachements
Settings History

Many clients will appreciate the ability to do an in-line upgrade. This is simply installing the new version over the top
your existing SCSM. It means the existing data stays in place and in most cases the upgrade is easy and quick.
Some clients may want (or need) to do a fresh new installation for 2019 for reasons such as:
• Complex customisations make it impossible to do an in-line upgrade
• The existing system architecture is not ideal for the future needs of the organisation
Fresh installations will then require some migration of information from your existing SCSM version to the new version.

If you need help to execute your upgrade, simply contact Systemology, we are here to help.

BEFORE YOU START: IN DOING THE UPGRADE IN-HOUSE CONSIDER THESE

SUGGESTIONS
• A direct upgrade path exists for SCSM 1801 and 1807 to SCSM 2019
• Use a test/verification environment
• Dedicated Test Environments (If you have them), or Replicate the VM’s if you don’t
• Snapshot’s & Backups
• Write some test/verification plans

WHEN DATA NEEDS TO BE MIGRATED

If data needs to be migrated from the old to new system, there are two types or data to think about: configuration data
and operating data.
Configuration data must be migrated and this can be complicated and if not done carefully, can lead to a system with
standards that are lower than is desirable.
Operating data doesn’t need to be migrated – it’s your choice.

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 SOME MANAGEMENT
PACKS LOOK LIKE THIS

YOUR
UPGRADE
OPTIONS
TWO APPROACHES
A FRESH INSTALL
A new build can be useful for clients that have built their own original
SCSM system – it’s your opportunity to use the experience and
knowledge you have accumulated to ensure the new install meets all
your requirements.

AN IN LINE UPGRADE
The advantages of an In Line upgrade includes:
• Easiest Path
• All systems preserved. (All data remains in place, no need to migrate
any data).

A FRESH START
MEANS NEW BUILD
NO DATA COMING OVER
POTENTIALLY CONFIG
COMING OVER

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WATCH OUT!
SCSM 2019 NOW USES .NET 4.5.1
Hence customisations need to be recompiled, like forms and dll’s
So:
• All those little bits you picked up on the web that add neat little features – will they continue to
work?
• People who came in and did things for you, will they work, do you have the source code?
• Those workflows and things you or your team did, remember where the source code is?
And before you run the updates – have you:
• Set up some testing environment
• Verified the environment DLL’s
• Where did those add-on’s come from? Can you even get updates for them?
• Evaluated what configuration/customisation was done
Unsuccessful upgrades can corrupt customised forms in SCSM and this reinforces the need to do
testing (and to have experts supporting your team).

NOT QUITE WHAT

WE EXPECTED !

BEFORE AFTER

OOPS….

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MIGRATION
The following information shows
variations on models, approaches
and options to consider when
planning your migration of
configuration
and operating data.

MIGRATION “GOTCHA’S” • Dates ranges – consider blocks of date ranges

Before you start consider that there are items cannot be • In Progress – consider only migrating items with the status
migrated or are very complex to migrate – plan these parts of of ‘in progress’
your migration vary carefully! • Do you need all the data? Often you don’t, only the current
data being operated on is the only really important stuff.
CONFIGURATION - MIGRATION “GOTCHA’S”
• CI’s (Configuration Items) – first migrate these.
• SLO’s
• Then Workitems (tickets)
• RunBooks GUID’s
What Volume are we talking about?
• Catalogue Mappings How long can this take – The answer is days!
• Queue’s Warning
CONFIGURATION ITEMS
• Security Roles
Clients may think that configuration items don’t need to be
• SSRS Reports & Cubes
migrated (because connectors automatically import this data),
• Cross Domain Notifications & URLs in Templates and however there is often there is manual data entered on CI’s
Subscriptions that will be lost, so a migration of CI’s is often the most robust
• Don’t forget the default Management Packs – did you approach.
modify them? If so you need to migrate them or migrate Configuration Items:
just the customisations of them.
• Relationships,
DATA - MIGRATION “GOTCHA’S” • History
What data is needed to move across? • Whilst connectors will pull in core data we will loose
• Attachments manually updated data
• Relationships o Custodians
• History – Nope! o Serial Numbers
o You can’t insert History WORK ITEMS CONSIDERATIONS
o You can script to get these and extract them When thinking about migrating work items (tickets) consider
o Attach them as attachments or archive them whether you want to migrate across history data, ticket
• CI’s comments etc. If so, this dramatically increases the complexity
of the migration process – hence consider your resources.
Work Items Considerations:
YOUR PLANNING STAGES
• History
APPROACH
• Comments
When planning out the activities of how to do the migration,
• Attachments
these are some suggested stages to work through.
• Email Notifications
Approach:
• SLO

6
DATA WAREHOUSE
CONSIDERATIONS
There are a number of options for your approach to
data warehouse when upgrading to SCSM 2019.
Note: The Data Warehouse is only used for reporting
from SCSM 2019 .

There are certainly complexities in dealing with the Data ON THE BIG DAY
Warehouse considerations.
BE PREPARED!
The easiest thing to do is simply build a new one. This may
• Notifications – consider disabling outgoing emails
be fine for some clients who don’t have significant amounts
of data in their Data Warehouse; but for those that do, the • Heavy processing – SLA’s Workflow firing etc, so it may be
data will need to be migrated and that can be a complicated slow.
process.
The legacy data can be simply archived if the client doesn’t
think they require easy access to it.
Hence clients need to really think hard about what they want to
do with their legacy data – due to the complexity and expense
of migrating it. Management Server Management Server
(Legacy) (New)
OTHER ITEMS TO CONSIDER
Where an SCSM system is using automation (these are called
orchestrations or runbooks), an upgrade to 2019 and in
particular a migration approach is complicated when it involves
orchestrations. The reason for this is that (in this author’s view)
many generally fail and will then need to be reconfigured.
The following points are areas where regular issues & failures
occur when migrating orchestrations:
• GUID’s Warehouse Server Warehouse Server
(Legacy) (New)
• Notifications Subscriptions, user targets
• URLs and Email Addresses in Templates
• Pending Runbooks
Contact Us
A useful strategy to consider for new 2019 installations is to
connect the new and old systems to the same orchestration Systemology Australia Pty Ltd
server, to synch across the orchestrations and an easier 5/895 Pacific Hwy,
migration model, then later disconnect the old SCSM system. Pymble NSW 2073
Tel: +61 2 8006 7405
systemology.com.au

SYSTEMOLOGY
Disclaimer: A Complete Guide to Your System Center Service Manager 2019 Upgrade is intended to serve as educational support to your
learning of how to get the most out of your investment in Service Manager. In no event shall Systemology be liable for any special, indirect or
consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence
or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with the use this guide.