Step-by-step SCCM 1511 Migration to New Hardware

Jonathan LefebvreSCCM134 Comments

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Update 2018-04-05 : See our new guide that covers this topic and gives all up-to-date scenario

With the latest version of SCCM 1511, many admins will be tempted to move to latest operating system and SQL versions. Considering Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL 2008 R2 are already on extended support and the way SCCM 1511 is designed for future upgrades, it can be good time to do a SCCM 1511 migration with the latest OS and SQL.

As of now, all system roles of SCCM 1511 are supported on Windows Server 2008 R2, but if you are planning to use Windows 10 Servicing, you must use WSUS 4.0 from Windows Server 2012 and up.

If you’re planning this scenario, you have 2 choices :

  1. Install a new server with SQL and use backup/restore function before upgrading to 1511. In that case, we recommend doing it in the following steps :
    • Backup/restore on the new OS (The new machine must have the same host name)
    • Upgrade to 1511 on the new machine
    • In-place SQL Upgrade (if necessary)
  2. Install a new server and perform a side-by-side migration between the 2 SCCM hierarchy

This post will cover the second option, describing SCCM 1511 Migration pre-requisites and tasks. The advantage of this method over the other one (backup/restore) is that it provide minimum down-time. You can do your migration at your desired pace and switch your clients when you’re ready. The disadvantage is that it requires a bit more operational tasks and planning.

If you’re looking to do an in-place upgrade, please see our SCCM 1511 upgrade guide instead.

SCCM 1511 Migration Pre-requisites

  • Install your new server or virtual machine with desired SQL version as you would do for a new SCCM installation. You can refer to our  Part 1 and Part 2 of our SCCM 1511 complete installation guide for this
  • Perform a new SCCM 1511 Installation on this new server with a new site code
  • SCCM must be at least 2007 SP2 and above in order to create a migration task
  • Software Update Point must be configured on destination hierarchy (1511) prior to migrating any Software Update configurations
For more details about pre-requisite, consult the Technet article.

Setup Source Hierarchy

To transfer data between your SCCM 1511 and SCCM 2012 sites, you must first connect them together.

  • On your SCCM 1511, go to Administration/ Migration/ Source Hierarchy
  • Select Specify Source Hierarchy on the top ribbon

sccm 1511 migration

  • Enter the top-level site server FDQN of the source environment (SCCM 2012 server)
  • Select the account to use to connect to the top-level site server
    • We use and account that is SCCM Full Admin on both side. As specified in the wizard, no such rights are required
  • Depending on your environment, Enabling Distribution point sharing might be useful
    • This should be pretty important in large, distributed environment

sccm 1511 migration

  • Click OK, Data Gathering process starts

sccm 1511 migration

Your 2 sites are now connected!

For more details about source hierarchy, read the following Technet article.

Data Gathering

The Data Gathering process will verify items that can be migrated from the source.

No objects are migrated yet ! Data gathering is configured to 4 hours by default.

It can be modified in the properties of the source hierarchy.

9999 (5)(1)

Migration jobs

To migrate objects from our SCCM 2012 site, we need to create a migration job.

When migrating content from a 2012 hierarchy, all objects should be compatible.

Before migrating, we suggest that you read these details about what objects can or can’t be migrated.

  • In SCCM 1511, go to Administration/ Migration/ Migration Jobs
  • Select Create Migration Job

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the General tab, provide a name and select Object Migration in the Job Type dropbox, click Next
    • Object modified after migration can be useful to monitor object modified after the job as ran

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Select Objects tab, select objects that you want to migrate, click Next

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Content Ownership tab, all migrated objects will be owned by the new site, click Next
sccm 1511 migration
  • On the Site Code Replacement tab, replace site code for collections if needed, click Next

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Security Scope tab, specify the security scope to apply to the migrated objects, click Next
    • If you used it a lot in SCCM 2012, multiple migration might be a good idea to assign the security scope back
    • Assigning security scopes can also be done after the migration

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Settings tab, specify the Schedule, Conflict resolution action and Organizational folder structure, click Next 

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Summary tab, review your option, click Next

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Completion tab, click Close

sccm 1511 migration

  • You can see the migration job status in the console, go to Administration / Migration / Migration Jobs (Details can be found in the Summary tab in the bottom)

sccm 1511 migration

  • The Objects in the job tab will shows each object included in the job

sccm 1511 migration

Once you run the job, you will see objects appearing within the new SCCM.

You can run the job at any time by right-clicking the job and selecting Start.

sccm 1511 migration

For more details about Migration jobs, read the following Technet Article

Content Distribution

Once objects are migrated, you can now migrate Distribution Points. Activating Enable distribution-point sharing for this source site in the Source Site properties will allows previous version Distribution Point to show up in SCCM 1511 and to be used by client as content source when packages are migrated.

sccm 1511 migration

You can see the status of Shared Distribution Point in the console under Administration / Migration / Source Hierarchy and by selecting the Shared Distribution Point tab at the bottom.

sccm 1511 migration

Eligible for Reassignment

When looking at your Shared Distribution Point tab, you’ll notice an Eligible for reassignment column. Yes value means that the Distribution Point is ready to be reassign to your SCCM 1511 hierarchy.

For a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager distribution point to be eligible for reassignment, it must meet the following criteria:

  • A shared distribution point must be installed on a computer other than the site server
  • A shared distribution point cannot be co-located with any additional site system roles

sccm 1511 migration

If you look at a package that has been migrated, you will see that they are already distributed.

sccm 1511 migration

How to Reassign a Distribution Point

The Reassign wizard is pretty much like a new Distribution Point installation.

  • Under Administration / Migration / Source Hierarchy select the Shared distribution Points tab at the bottom
  • Select your  Distribution Point, Right click it and select Reassign Distribution point

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the General tab, select the new Site code, click Next

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Distribution Point tab, specify the desired options, click Next

For rights needed to reassign a Distribution point here, see the Technet Article

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Drive Settings tab, you cannot configured your drives, it will use what is already in place, click Next

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Pull Distribution Point tab, you can be enable you DP to be a Pull DP if needed, click Next

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the PXE Settings tab, you can’t configured anything, this is normal, click Next

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Content validation tab, you can’t configured anything, this is normal, click Next

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Boundary Groups tab, assign your Boundary groups to your Distribution Point, click Next

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Content Conversion tab, you’ll see a list of packages on the Distribution Point, click Next

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Summary tab, review your options and click Next

sccm 1511 migration

  • On the Completion tab, click Close

SCCM 1511 Migration

  • Confirm that your Distribution Point is now part of your SCCM 1511 site

SCCM 1511 Migration

  •  Confirm that the Distribution Point as been removed from the 2012 R2 SP1 site

SCCM 1511 Migration

For more details about Content Migration, read the following Technet article.

Clients

Once all objects are migrated, you need to reassign your client in the new SCCM 1511 site.

Many options can be used :

  • Reassign client site with a script to migrate to the new hierarchy
  • Use auto-upgrade when client are assigned to the new hierarchy
  • Use client push to reassign clients and upgrade at the same time
    • This will change the assigned site code automatically

In the end, upgrading the clients uses the same process as any previous Service Pack release.

Please refer to our SCCM R2 SP1 upgrade post for client upgrade using auto-upgrade or client push.

For more details about Client Migration, read the following Technet article

SCCM 1511 Post Migration Tasks

When all objects are migrated, the migration can be completed with these general steps :

  • Validate that all clients, data, Distribution Points are migrated and no longer require the source hierarchy
  • Stop gathering data from the source site
  • Clean up migration data
  • Decommission the source hierarchy

Stop gathering data

Before you stop gathering data, the following must be completed :

  • Distribute content to at least one DP in the new hierarchy
  • Reassign Distribution Point

To stop gathering data :

  • In the SCCM Console, go to Administration / Migration / Source Hierarchy

SCCM 1511 Migration

Clean Up Migration Data

This step is optional.

To clean up migration data :

  • In the SCCM Console, go to Administration / Migration / Source Hierarchy

SCCM 1511 Migration

  • Select the source hierarchy

SCCM 1511 Migration

  • Confirm by clicking Yes
SCCM 1511 Migration

For more details about post migration tasks, read the following Technet article

Logs

All migrations tasks refer to the same log : Migmctrl.log

It can be founded in your SCCM installation directory Microsoft Configuration Manager\Logs\

sccm 1511 migration

For more details about Monitoring migration, read the following Technet article

That’s it, you’ve completed your SCCM 2012 to SCCM 1511 Migration. Don’t forget to upgrade to 1602 after your migration (if needed). Feel free to ask your question or leave your comments using the comments section !

134 Comments on “Step-by-step SCCM 1511 Migration to New Hardware”

  1. Hello I have followed your tutorial on migration but i migrated from SCCM 1810 with sql 2012 and windows server 2012 r2
    to SCCM 1910 windows server 2019 and sql 2019 i have migrated everything with success even the DP except one the one on the old site server and this leaves me with the actual site server with no content distributed on it.
    How can i get all the content and deployments on my new site server DP.

    Thank you

  2. Hello, thanks for this this nice guide.

    Can we apply this on ConfigMgr Current Branch (both old and new server) as well or is there any updated guidelines?

    Thanks
    Gibson

      1. Query about overlapping boundaries SCCM

        Hi Jonathan , I read your blogs and it’s very helpful. I am reaching out to you as I hope you have give me a good advice. I couldn’t find info about my specific query. We are having SCCM 2012, a stand-alone primary site server. It’s configured with active directory site as boundary type with default-first-site-name and it’s attached to a single boundary group with site assignment.
        The problem is now my company have asked to install a another standalone primary site server (CB 1902) as fresh installation, eventually migrate all the clients from 2012 to 1902. The new version will be in a better hardware as well. I have read site code has to be unique which I have done. The problem with the boundary, how can I configure a non-overlapping boundary and it’s group; as the entire active directory site is configured as boundary in the 2012 CM. Can you guide what needs to be done to run both SCCM with the same domain with out having overlapping boundaries and group.

        My thought was to configure new boundaries using IP range in the new SCCM 1902 and map them to a single boundary group with site assignment.

        Can you guide me on this ?

        thx
        sarav

  3. Hello Jonathan!

    When I try to gather information for the migration, I receive this error: ERROR: [Worker]: Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.SoftwareLibrary.ObjectSerialization.LibraryException: Couldn’t find the specified instance SMS_SCI_SysResUse.FileType=2

    Do you have any idea of what it is and how to fix it?

    Thank you for your post. Great one.

  4. Hi Jonathan!
    When I try to migrate shared DP, gathering information gives me an error: ERROR: [Worker]: Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.SoftwareLibrary.ObjectSerialization.LibraryException: Couldn’t find the specified instance SMS_SCI_SysResUse.FileType=2.

    Do you have any idea of what it is and how to fix it? Thanks in advance for your posting

  5. Hi Jonathan,

    Thanks for taking the time to put this together. It’s very well done. I have a question around shared DPs please. When sharing a distribution point between a 2012 R2 source site and an1806 destination site, which client package resides on the shared DP.? The current 2012 R2 client? When the DP is reassigned does the client package get automatically pushed at that point? Plan to test just looking for a quick answer to begin. Thank you for your work and your help.

    1. Hi AMDC,

      if I remember correctly, it will be both as the DP respond to request from both hierarchy.
      On top of that, they do not have the same ID because the site code is not the same.

      I’ve seen issues with Client Upgrade package while the DP is shared. Once reassigned, and after an SCCM upgrade(update rollup or major build) the issue was fixed.

      Thanks for the great comment 🙂
      Jonathan

  6. Hi Jonathan!
    Do you have any suggestion for post-migration jobs? For how long we can still use the old SCCM Infra and how to clean up once migration is completed?
    Thank you for the detailed article. Good job.

    Vin

    1. Hi Vin,

      try to move away from the old infra as quickly as possible.
      Maintaining 2 SCCM infra is time-consuming and is likely to lead to all kinds of error.

      Jonathan

  7. Hi Jonathan!
    Do you have any suggestion for post-migration jobs? For how long we can still use the old SCCM Infra and how to clean up once migration is completed?
    Thank you for the detailed article.

    Vin

  8. Hello, great post. I am following your guide and It is well written. Question: When I run a migration job, on the Content Ownership tab both source and destination appear blank for me. Is that a sql? or configuration issue? I was able to specify source hierarchy and gather the data.

    1. Hi Cbarrera,

      I would presume that you are hitting some kind of display bug if it works.
      I’ve never seen this.

      Feel free to open a support case, but as you said, it’s working, so I wouldn’t mind too much about this I think.

      Thanks for the great comment 🙂
      Jonathan

  10. We have 2 SCCM environments in 2 AD forests with two way trust in place and we are planning to move all clients and objects from forest 2 to forest 1. Forest 1 already has objects and clients. Can I assume that guide will still be applicable and migration will add new objects without interacting with existing objects? Anything that we should be careful of in this scenario?

  11. Hi i have ran a side by side migration, from SCCM 2012 to 1710, everything has gone well, apart from when trying to migrate some items using the Migration wizard, the status of the migration job is at “Available to Migrate” how do i get this item to actually migrate successfully instead of just showing available to migrate?
    All of the pre reqs for this item have migrated successfully and these are all skipped, when running the job again.

  12. Hello,
    where can I find more information on post migration steps specifically decommissioning of source hierarchy and removal off old SCCM site servers?

  13. Thank you for your time on this it’s greatly appreciated I’m very new at this and I was tasked with doing a side by side migration , I understand most of it but I’m hung on at the end when I migrate the boundaries , when I migrate do I just uncheck site assignment in the 2012 and enable on the current branch then do a automatic client upgrade to reassign and upgrade the clients? I’d like to test on a small scale before I push out. Can I just create a small collection and push the client to it to make sure everything connects ok? Was wondering best practice

    Thank you again and sorry for all the questions

  14. Hi Guys

    After the migration is complete and you want to test just a small group with upgrading the client do the machines with the 2012 client still communicate with the current branch until they are upgraded?

    1. Hi Munzi,

      clients needed to be reassigned to the new Site. Once this is done, you can upgrade the client in small batch without issue.

      Jonathan

  15. The steps were detailed, no problem with your article dude. It was dope you put a lot of work in it. But I personally prefer using GS Richcopy 360 to do file server migrations. It has helped me a lot in the past and now also. Maybe you should also use it and probably write an article on it too.

  16. Great guide, one question. If I have a 2012 server and have already run the schema update for this, do you need run the schema update for the 1511 installation as well? Does it include additional changes? If it does will this affect my current 2012 installation until you migrate from it?

  17. hi

    im quite new to installing and migrating SCCM so im learning along the way and have i have a couple of questions about this guide.

    can i use this guide to migrate our current 1610 install of sccm running on server 2012 to..
    install 1702 on server 2012R2 ?

    our SQL server 2008R2SP2 is also unsupported for 1702.
    I have been working with our DB admin to move/copy the DB to a new supported SQL version.

    is this the best guide for what i need or is there another guide i should use?

    thanks

  18. Great guide, one question. If I have a 2012 server and have already run the schema update for this, do you need run the schema update for the 1511 installation as well? Does it include additional changes? If it does will this affect my current 2012 installation until you migrate from it?

  19. Hi,

    We currently are running ConfigMgr CB 1606 on a Windows Server 2008 R2. Planning is in-progress for a Backup/Restore to Windows Server 2016 OS and we have been informed by Microsoft that changing the Primary Site Server name (FQDN) is not supported.

    After reading this blog, I wanted to know if giving a new Primary Site Server name to the Windows Server 2016 VM is possible while performing the migration jobs.
    What are the steps involved? We have 1 Primary Server with co-located SQL 2012 & 4 PXE Enabled DPs & 1 SUP.

    1. Hi Sudarsen,

      Yes migration allow you for a new server name. It’s actually mandatory, as the old SCCM will be up and running, at the same time as the new SCCM server.

      Therefore, a new name is required.

      Jonathan

  20. Hi all, and Jonathan Lefebvre,

    For option 1, can the restore be on a different OS? I am moving from server 2012 to server 2012 r2. i am keeping the same name and IP.

    Cheers
    Carson

  21. Is there a way, or such a script, that I can run to change the content location for all of my migrated applications, etc.? In our environment, we only have a single stand-alone SCCM Site Server/Distribution Point so I cannot perform a reassignment of my DP as it does not meet the requirements. What else can I do?

  22. Migrating from 2008 1511 to new hardware 2012 1703. After data gathering and migration I wanted to do some testing prior to moving all clients. Have a couple of clients over but when I attempt to push an application the clients are waiting for download of content. I did share DP’s and applications do show on DP’s. I also created a new application and have content distributed to the MP with DP role and same issue. Am I missing something? Thanks

    1. Hi,
      It might be related to Boundary configuration?
      Look at the DataTransferService.log and ContentTransferManager.log to see where the client is trying to download the content from.

      Jonathan

  23. Hi. I have a windows server 2008 R2 with SCCM 1610 and SQL Server 2012 Environment. There is a named instance created with database name matching SCCM Site code. Windows server 2008 doesn’t support 1702 update, so organization is planning to build a new sccm 1702 on windows server 2012 and sql server 2012. I liked this side by side migration and think its possible here. But while creating new database in new server I have to create a database name which matches new site code. Can I migrate objects from old to new server with 2 different database names.

    1. Hi Kris,

      The database itself as nothing to do with the migration.
      Everything is done within the console, so yes you can migrate object with different database name.

      Database name is named after the Site code. As stated, the new server must use a new Site Code, therefore a new database name.

      Suggestion, try to used at least Windows Server 2012 R2 and maybe a more recent SQL than 2012.
      Jonathan

    1. Hi Dal,
      Yes you can, but I don’t like to do that. Most of the time, reviewing/reconfiguring the Patch management process is done along with a migration.

      This give a cleanup on the Software Update packages, and ADR will take care of creating new SUG when needed.

      Jonathan

  25. Hello,
    We are going from SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 to a new site server running 1702. Our storage point is a LUN on the 2012 box, with the a new LUN created on the 1702. Both LUN are mapped to the same drive letter. Instead of reassigning the DP, which is hosted on the 2012 site server, can I clone the contents of LUN on 2012 site server to LUN on 1702 site server? Then do a migration, followed by a configuration of the parameters for the DP on the 1702 site server?
    Thank you!

  26. I am really finding out that the whole Migration Tool is really lacking in a lot of areas. All of my package programs that are set to only install on a certain OS no longer have the OS check box checked. I have also found issues with Task Sequences that were copied over with the software install step. I had to recreate several programs just to get them to show up to add to the TS.

    MS makes it look and sound so easy but it is far from it. They could really do quite a bit to make it so much better.

  27. So I am migrating from 2012 to a new server with 1702 and am running Migration Job. Is there any easy way to change the package source on packages,drivers, wims, etc. other than touching each and every one of them?

  28. I’m going to try the migration from a physical Server 2008 R2 x64 system running SCCM 1606 to a VM Server 2016 running SCCM 1702. For the migration, would you migrate 1606 to 1606 and then upgrade to 1702 or would you upgrade the new VM to 1702 first, then migrate from 1606 to 1702? I’m assuming the later (1606 to 1702). Thanks and great guide. Very helpful.

    1. Hi Jay,

      I would have the destination SCCM to 1702 and migrate content from 1606.
      They don’t need to match SCCM version for migration.
      Jonathan

  29. Hi,
    Great guide.
    I’m trying to do a migration from 2007 to 1511. I have my new CAS and Primary setup. When I specify the source hierarchy, do I need to use the 2007 CAS or can I use primary?
    Thanks
    San

  30. Hi,
    Thanks for the Guide just wondering on the distribution point migration 38 of our 59 DP’s have a PXE role installed is this classed as a site role ? or will I be able to convert it over to 1511 with no issue ?
    Thanks

  31. Hello,

    I posted awhile back on my adventure in a Side-by-Side migration from 2012 R2 to Current Branch. Everything has been running smooth up until now. I have a couple questions? the 2nd one is the important one

    1. We have a SQL cluster and cannot install SQL Locally on the SCCM Server, licensing is what I was told, this in turn is giving me fits when trying to add Reporting Services. I have read to install the SRS to the SCCM SQL server? I was going to go ahead and do that but I noticed that it defaults to the DB for SCCM instead of the ReportServer I created for SRS? Any Ideas on how I should move forward?

    2. This is the tricky one. From previous HotFixes I have had to -Stop Gathering Process – in order to get a clean pre-req-check and hotfix install. Once the update is done I have selected – Gather Data Now – with no issues. Well today I just updated from CB 1610 to 1702 same process above but now I am getting an error message :

    —Configuration Manager failed to gather data from –Site server name– Configuration Manager was unable to connect to WMI on the source site with the specified credentials. Ensure the credentials are specified correctly, and that the specified account is a member of the Distributed COM Users group on the source site server. —

    I am in the admin Group on both servers and the SQL servers as well. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
    Thanks in advance for anything you can provide

    1. Hi,

      For the SQL, you should double check about licensing. For what we know, SCCM comes with an SQL licence rights for SQL Standard, that as ONLY SCCM using it. Therefore, installing SQL on the SCCM is supported and legal.

      I can’t find the updated link, but here’s a hint about that.
      https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/21bb5a53-6cd3-4d83-97ad-c2e87705c2f5/licensing-questions?forum=ConfigMgrDeployment

      Not sure to understand the SSRS issue you have.

      #2
      I would recommend get over with the Migration and stop gathering data.
      The longer you keep both infra up, the more issue you will run into.

      Jonathan

  32. Hi,
    We are looking at moving from a 2008 server with 2012 sp1 sccm on it, to a 2012r2 and latest version of sccm for windows 10 and mac deployment. The guide is going to be so helpful but one question before I start to look at it. The current database is on our separate SQL server. Is it possible to keep the SQL database we are currently using or will i need to set up a new database on the server and then retire that to.

    1. Hi Hoyage,
      You can’t use the same database. A new one will be created when you install the new server. You should be using new SQL instance if you want to use the same SQL server, for the new SCCM.

      Jonathan

  33. Great Post!
    Question? I am doing a side-by-Side Migration from 2012 r2 to 1606 updated to 1610 (new hardware and OS) and am wondering if there is any particular order to the madness of Migrating the Objects. We are very happy with our current environment and pretty much just want to migrate old to new. I am wondering if I should create a job for each item, meaning one for Software Distribution Packages, Software Distribution Deployments, Task Sequence Deployments, etc, I’m sure you get the reference, or can I create a job for all the objects and migrate at the same time, then update as needed with individual jobs? The reason I ask is I created a handful of migration jobs and noticed a lot of the same things being associated with the other migration jobs created(Mostly collection association).. Just trying to cut down the migration bloat with ongoing updating of objects that may change until the final cutover to Current Branch.
    Thanks in advance!

    1. Hi Chris,
      glad you like the post.

      Normally I have 3 migration tasks.
      1st for testing purpose of the migration process
      2nd for all the items I need to be migrated. (clean up prior of doing so can help a lot!)
      3nd for all items modified/New after the 2nd migration job as ran.

      Hope this help!
      Jonathan

  34. Something you might want to include before you start the Migration Job section, give the new server name local Admin Rights on your old server. I was constantly getting “ConfigMGR Provider is missing read,Write or delete privilege for the driver package.” I was stuck with 70 drivers/packages that would not migrate until this was done.

    Edit: Well that actually got 58 of those items, now i have task sequences, Sequence deployments, and os deployment images that will not migrate, Error: This object was skipped because an object it depends on failed to migrate……… Wow So much fun.

  35. Hi Jonathan!

    I’m about to migrate Side-by-Side SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 to SCCM 1606.

    During the installation of 1606 when I come to the “Primary Site Installation” shall I join an existing hierarchy or install as a “stand-alone site”?
    And shall I install additional Management Points and Distribution Points?

    Thanks for the article

    1. Hi Martin,
      When you do a side-by-side migration, both SCCM will be independant. So do the installation as Stand-alone site.

      Yes the new SCCM 1606 will require a Management point. For the distribution point, you could migrate the one from the SCCM 2012 if it is not hosted on the primary site.

      If it is hosted on the primary site, you will need a new distribution point for SCCM 1606.

      Jonathan

  37. Great post! When doing a migration from SCCM 2012 R2 to 1511 on to new hardware does the hierarchy have to be the same on both sites? For example can you migrate from an SCCM 2012 R2 environment that has a CAS and 2 Primary sites to a new 1511 environment with only 1 primary site? No CAS?

    Cheers

    1. Hi jstirl,
      no need to have the same hierarchy on both sites.

      Remember when specifying the Source Hierarchy, to enter the top-level site server FDQN of the source environment

      Jonathan

  38. Hi Jonathan,

    Very helpful article, I am trying to migrate from SCCM 2012 to SCCM 1606. SCCM 1606 is on new hardware and local SQL. SCCM 2012 has remote SQL with port 5191. During “Specify Source Hierarchy”, how can I enter old sql server name with port?

    1. Hi Nadeem,

      as specified in the wizard, you need to specify the Top-Level ConfigMgr primary site.
      This mean the primary server, no matter if SQL is local or remote.
      It is not needed to specify the SQL server at any point.

      Jonathan

  39. I have setup migration from SCCM 2012 R2 to SCCM 1606. Account I am using for the migration job is a full admin on both environments. The data gather and migration job complete successfully. The problem is it is not finding all objects. Of the 400 objects in the source hierarchy, the data gather is only finding 195 objects. Specifically it is not finding majority of my clients from the source hierarchy, only 86 our of a possible 386.

    P.S. Thanks for the work you guys do, been using your guides for a long time.

    1. HI Brian,
      clients cannot be migrated with a migration job.
      You’ll need to discover clients on the new server by using AD System Discovery and then do the one of the following :
      – Reassign client site with a script to migrate to the new hierarchy
      – Use client push to reassign clients and upgrade at the same time

      Hope this help
      Jonathan

  41. I am going to migrate from a old 1602 to a new 1511 server that I just created. Is that possible or do I need to upgrade the new 1511 to 1602 first? If so, can I upgrade it to 1606 before the migration also?

    1. Hi Emil,

      I’d go minimally to the same version as the previous architecture.
      So if you use 1602, be sure the new infra is at least 1602. You could also be up to date with 1606.

      Jonathan

  42. I’m migrating application deployments from 2012 R2 to a new server running CB 1602. I’ve checked the overwrite all objects option, because some apps have already been migrated but 2 objects continue to fail:

    Application – Provider exception: Can not import same app more than once.
    Application Deployment – This objection was skipped because an object it depends on failed to migrate.

    I was under the impression that overwrite meant it should migrate the application again. Is that not the case?

  44. Hi,

    Half of my objects are failed to migrate with the message, “This object was skipped because an object it depends on failed to migrate.” What does it mean? How can I resolve it?

  45. This is great article. I have an question. In a scenario where DP is hosting other site system roles (State migration point), as per MS, the DP cannot be reassigned to new hierarchy. So does that mean it cannot be shared as well. Can we share DP with other site system roles, and then add additional new DP server on new hierarchy in same subnet, pull content from source DP that is shared and then remove old DP. that way we can pull content from existing DP in a local LAN connection rather than pulling from remote primary. Any thoughts or suggestions?.

    Old DP’s are running Win server 2003. That is one of the reason for considering a new local server with server 2012. Don’t think doing an OS in-place upgrade from 2003 to 2012 on SCCM DP would be a good idea.

    1. Hi Jagadesh,

      I don’t think it’s gonna be eligible to be shared
      I presume that you would prefere to sync locally the content instead of on the WAN to a primary site.

      I think what I would suggest is the following :
      – Create a new DP with a newer OS
      – When ready, remove the State Migration from the old DP, which make it available without a doubt to be Shared with new infrastructure
      – Migrate the old Distribution Point to the new infra
      – Assign the new DP as a Pull DP and to get content from the old Distribution point
      – Sync content (local LAN)
      – Reassign the new DP as a regular Distribution Point
      – Add User state to the new DP
      – Decomission old DP

      Bit complicated, but sure shot.

      Hope this help
      Jonathan

  46. Hi Jonathan,

    I am following your option 2 and bought the full documentation as well. I am preparing a server for SCCM 1511 and following your full guide. Do I need to configure SQL as you have mentioned or all the settings will be migrated from the source hierarchy? Please advise, as necessary. Currently, I am stuck at this point and looking forward your reply.

    1. Hi Thy,
      I’m not sure if I understand your question correctly.
      Are you wondering if you need to install an SQL on the new server for SCCM1511?

      If so, yes, SQL must be installed prior to install SCCM 1511 on a new server.

      The migration is only for SCCM stuff. SQL is independent of that process.

      Jonathan

      1. Hi Jonathan,

        Thanks for the reply. Yes, I did install SQL on the new server. Now, how can I migrate SQL stuff because without SQL, there is no point to migrate SCCM alone?

        1. Hi Thy,
          I don’t know what you could migrate for SQL stuff.
          All the migration task for SCCM actually happen in SCCM.

          Jonathan

          1. Hi Jonathan,

            In fact, why did I ask because you said in your previous message, “The migration is only for SCCM stuff. SQL is independent of that process.”

            So, when migration task happens, it populates the SQL DBs too?

  47. Hi Jonathan,

    What if I have mapped SAN LUNs to SCCM server. For example, SQL Data, SQL Backup, WSUS, and Application Binaries. Should I do anything different while following option 2?

    1. Hi Thy Fere,

      I don’t see anything different if you use LUNs on your previous installation. I presume that the sources for application/packages/etc. are hosted on a mapped LUNs.

      If so, you might have to reassign that LUN to the new server so your packages still have a working source.
      The other option is to move the content to a new LUN, that you would assign the same path as the previous server.
      That would prevent you from modifying all sources path.

      Best pratice is always to use UNC path for sources. That cleans out that kind of issue.

      Jonathan

  48. Hi,
    Very nice article, We wanted to migrate our environment with the current setup as below.
    SCCM 2012 R2 CU5 on Windows Server 2008 R2 to SCCM 1511 on Windows Server 2012 R2
    SQL Server Standard 2008 to SQL Server 2014.
    We wanted to perform migration of current infra by side by side method.
    We have 1Primary and 26 DPs at different locations to be migrated.
    How to manage boundaries, Migrating Packages, Reports and Shared Distribution Points?
    Any detailed documentation available, Please share with me and Help me in this regard.

  49. Team,

    We are on SCCM 2012 R2 Sp1 CU2 (DB on SQL 2012 SP3) and looking to upgrade the infrastructure to 1602. Can we directly migrate to 1602 from 2012 R2 SP1 or do we need to upgrade to 1511 first and then to 1602?

    Thanks and regards

    Guru

    1. Hi Guru,

      Yes, you need to upgrade to 1511 before going to 1602.

      1602 is only available from the Update and servicing feature in 1511.
      thanks
      Jonathan

  50. Hello,

    I’ve a short question. In 2012R2 we’ve structured the Software Updates into folders. Is there any way to migrate them to 1511?

    Thanks

  51. Team ,
    I have question on side by side migration from SQL DB perspective. We have our source hierarchy on SCCM 2012 R2 Sp1 CU2 with SQL 2012 SP3. Is side by side migration supported to SQL 2014 SP1?

    regards
    Guru

    1. I migrated SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 running on SQL 2008 SP1 to SCCM 1511 running on SQL 2014 SP1. However, I didn’t migrate everything. For example, I migrated drivers, driver packages, applications, task sequences but opted to re-create all my software update settings to take advantage of the new multiple deployment of ADRs on 1511. Everything else migrated fine. The advantage for me of migrating was that I could have both the old and new servers running at the same time and use the old one as a reference when re-creating stuff on the new one. Once I was happy, I used a startup script to update clients and point them to the new server.

    1. Hi Ssilva,

      All different inventory will NOT be migrated. It will be back after regular cycle when the client reports to the new server.
      If you had custom WMI class as part of your Hardware inventory, you will need to re-import them manually to the new server.

      The only “inventory” that follow is the history of deployment on a client, which is held locally on each client.
      This will prevent re-running past advertisement.

      Jonathan

  53. Great Article as always! I do have a question, and I apologize if this is because I am not understanding this correctly.

    In our environment we have two servers, both running 2008 R2, 1 SQL and 1 for MP/DP. We previously followed your upgrade procedures, migrating from SCCM 2012 R2 CU4 -> SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 -> 1511. These were fantastic and very easy to follow.

    We now are wanting to upgrade our Operating System on both of our servers to Windows 2012 R2. How would that be best accomplished? I thought this was going to be explained in the article, however I was incorrect as we had already upgraded our SCCM version.

    Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

  55. Thank you very much for this great guide.
    All my objects are migrated to new 1511-Site and all agents are nearly deployed. My last question is about my currently running Intune Subscription in the 2012 R2 SP1 source site. What is the easiest way to get that subscription up and running on my new 1511 Site ? Do i have to create a new one – or is there a way get the existing one moved/pointed to new Site ?

    1. I pulled the trigger on the Intune Migration. Here’s what I had to do. A few notes. We are 100% iOS and we do not currently use Apple DEP or VPP. So your mileage may vary.

      1. Remove the Intune Connection from the 2012 R2 SP1 Site
      2. Add the Intune Connection to the 1511 (1602 in my case) Site. Configure Branding, etc.
      3. Generate New APNs Certificate (iOS Only)
      4. Install New APNs Certificate (iOS Only)
      5. Migrate or Recreate Applications, Collections, and Policies from 2012 R2 SP1 Site to 1511 Site.
      6. Have users remove the Management Profile from their Device. (Alternatively you could bulk remove all devices from the old site before performing Step 1)
      7. Re-register their Device in the Company Portal. Devices appear in the new site.

      Fortunately we were still in our piloting phase so I didn’t have a terribly large number of phones to re-register. I just delayed our Intune deployment by a couple of weeks in order to register the masses into the new system and avoid having to have users re-register their devices later this year.

  56. Do i have do deploy Agents before decommision of source hierarchy ? I have migrated all objects to new 1511 site, and before i deploy Agents i would like to upgrade this new site to 1602.

    1. Hi POUS,
      Yes you should deploy the agents before decommision your previous hierarchy. That way, you will not have “down time” to manage your clients with SCCM.

      Jonathan

  57. Hi guys, great guide. Have you had a chance to do you guide on the backup and restore option? I’m considering this at the moment as it seems like its the quicker way. We have SQL 2008 R2 on W2K8R2 for DB (separate server) and SCCM 2012 R2 on W2K8R2 – considering whether to upgrade to SQL 2012/2014 first, then run 1511 upgrade and then do the site restore onto a new SCCM 1511 VM (same name) and SQL 2012/2014 VM. Any advantage to doing the 1511 upgrade following the restore to the new hardware?

  58. First of all thank you for the effort you guys put into this site, it is awesome!
    I have a few questions regarding what will happen to my existing production environment…
    1. Can i migrate my production R2 SP1 envirnoment to a test environment VM with CB (1511) installed?
    2. How will this affect my existing environment?
    3. After Migration is complete, will my old SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 still work the same?
    4. So when i am finally ready to perform New Server installation and configuration for my Production, would i be able to create another migration job (this time from old to new production)?

    Thanks!

    1. Hi Andris,

      thanks for your comment 🙂
      1) yes
      2) no effect on your current. watch for boundary overlapping, AD discovery and client push to keep environment side by side.
      3) yes, work just as before
      4) yes, migration jobs are created on the new server to pull the information from your current environment.

      Hope this help 🙂
      Jonathan

  59. Hello,
    Thank you for the post, very helpful. Maybe you could point me in the right direction, after migration my deployed applications are not showing up in the catalog or software center. I tried redeploying to user and computer collections, modifying original collections, even deleting and recreating collections but deployments never show up. I’ve checked the colleval.log for anything but I see collections updating on schedule.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

      1. Thanks for the reply but my issue is not really a problem with how to deploy apps and packages. I think that I have narrowed down my issue and found a resolution or at least a work around. But I do not have a root cause.
        Issue: Group objects imported from AD and added as members to a collection are not receiving deployments after migration.
        Solution: Created query rule to add all users that are members of the group to the collection.
        select SMS_R_USER.ResourceID,SMS_R_USER.ResourceType,SMS_R_USER.Name,SMS_R_USER.UniqueUserName,SMS_R_USER.WindowsNTDomain from SMS_R_User where SMS_R_User.UserGroupName = “DomainName\\GroupName”

  60. This is likely a dumb question but I have followed your steps and have my new 1511 server just about 100% ready to rock. I was able to migrate about 90% of my objects and then had to manually recreate my task sequences. The only issue is that the migration jobs did not actually transfer my source content to my new server. If I look at the properties/source of an application I can see the source is still set to my old dp. How can I migrate this data so I can take the old SCCM server off-line? Do I need to robocopy that data over and remap all of my objects to this new location?

    1. I’m in the same situation as Brian. I followed your guide (paid version) for installing SQL 2014 and SCCM 1511 and have done the migration, but original SCCM installation is showing as not Eligible for Reassignment. It’s currently hosting 49 migrated packages (according to Source Hierarchy -> Shared Distribution Points tab). Can you advise? Thanks.

      1. Hi Jim,

        When not Eligible for reassignment, it means one of the following :
        – A shared distribution point must be installed on a computer other than the site server
        – A shared distribution point cannot be co-located with any additional site system roles

        In other word, a primary server DP with SCCM 2012 is NOT eligible for reassignment.
        If you don’t have any remote distribution point, you will need to distribute the content to the new Distribution point under your primary server of v1511.

        Hope this helps.
        Jonathan

        1. Thanks Jonathan

          So I can just use the tool that you specified for Brian to transfer the packages to my new 1511 installation and update the location in each package, and not worry about the shared distribution?

          All my drivers and driver packages are still shown as being located on my old SCCM server; I’ve always used a URL path.

          Jim

          1. The tool specified for Brian is only to modify the source path in the packages. It doesn’t copy the actual content. There’s no “SCCM” way to move the content used for packages and else. You must do this by manually copy the files (robocopy, xcopy, etc.)

            If you want to prevent this scenario in the future, I suggest that you move the content sources to a neutral server(file server) instead of the local SCCM server with shares on it.

            If you had this, it would have work directly without intervention on the v1511 for your packages.
            Jonathan

          2. Thanks Jonathan. That’s a really good point about storing the packages on a neutral file server; I don’t know why that didn’t occur to me. I guess I could also take it one stage further and use a DFS Namespace, unless true UNC paths have to be used?

            Anyway, thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my questions; much appreciated.

        2. I manually copied my source content and then found this little beauty today which worked beautifully to update my source entries for applications. Just update the variables below for your new site server, site code, old content path, and new path. Run the script in verification mode first to make sure the new path is what you expect and then run it live. I was then able to run a test app deployment to a client on the new environment and all went well. Now if I can find something like this for my drivers I should be all set.

          $SiteServer = “clasccm01”
          $SiteCode = “law”
          $CurrentContentPath = “clasccm02”
          $UpdatedContentPath = “clasccm01”

          https://github.com/1RedOne/SCCM-Cmdlets/blob/master/MoveAllContent.ps1

    2. Hi Brian,

      the actual content of the package is NOT migrated by migration task. Best practice since 2012 is around is to always use network path for source content for any packages/apps/OS/driver/etc. Some of them are mandatory to use network path.

      Now, the choices you have to get the content working on v1511 :
      – Copy the content to the same local path on the new server, then update package so the content is distributed to DP.
      – Modify the source path of all packages. You can use this tool from Coretech : http://blog.coretech.dk/kea/updated-version-of-the-package-source-changer/ **WARNING** modifying the content path trigger an update to the package 😉

      As for you Task sequence, not sure why you needed to recreate it.

      thanks
      Jonathan

  61. Hi Jonathan,

    Thanks for your guide. I prefer the Option1 backup/restore. Because I want to have the new Windows 2012 R2 and SQL 2014 SP1. I think the option 1 the easy way to do that. Do you any guide for option 1?
    BR,
    Nick

    1. Hi Nick,

      We are in the process of creating this guide.

      Please note that changing the SQL version between the backup and restore is not supported.
      The migration side-by-side is able to respond to this need.

      Jonathan

      1. Hi Jonathan,

        Thanks for your replay. Ok I will do an migaration. Tell me please should I install first on the new Hardware the complett Installation of sccm1511 with Configuration for example your guide part 1-22? I have at the time sccm 2012 R2 SP1 runing an all the sccm client 2012 R2 is installed on my workstaions and Servers. Should I uninstall the sccm client 2012R2 from my Workstation and server first and then install the new sccm1511 or it will be upgraded if I push the new sccm1511 client?
        Thanks for help
        Nick

      2. Hi Jonathan,

        I have a problem with the new fresh installation of sccm 1511.

        I have at the time sccm 2012 R2 SP1 runing and I want to install on a new hardware the sccm1511 with the same domain and migrade from sccm2912 R2 to sccm1511. But during the new installation of sccm1511 I get the error message by the prerequisite check the following error as faild
        #######
        A site server or site system role is already installed on the computer selected for site server installation. Remove the site or site system role from the computer, or select another computer for site server installation
        #######
        Any Idea why?

        best regards

        Nick

  62. Hi,
    Thanks for the great post! A quick question on setting up source hierarchy. We have 1 CAS and 2 Primary site servers. Total number of clients are less than 20,000. Hence thinking to get rid of the CAS and have only 2 primary sites in future design.

    If we need to achieve this scenario, do we need to migrate jobs under Primary sites? Can you please put some more if my understanding is correct?

    1. Hi Guru,

      Not sure why you need 2 primary, without a CAS… or a CAS with 2 primary …
      You could maybe consider 1 primary with a secondary maybe…

      As for the specific question, always use the top site for the source hierarchy. In your case, the CAS!

      From technet : When you configure a migration job to migrate data from a source hierarchy that runs System Center 2012 Configuration Manager or later, you only need to specify the top-level site.

      Thanks
      Jonathan

  63. HI
    I have a question if wsus is on separate box which is 2012 .DO we still need to upgrade site servers to 2012 for future support and servicing windows 10.

  64. Your blog is so vastly superior to Microsoft’s documentation or lack thereof. Thank you for translating all this for the noobs like me.
    “Option 1: Install a new server with new SQL and use backup/retore function before upgrading to 1511”.
    Could you please elaborate on how to do this option 1? Option 2 is pretty daunting and I was hoping option 1 might be easier. I’ve never done anything like this, thanks.

    1. Hi John,

      here the high-level process :
      – have a backup from actual SCCM (by using maintenance task)
      – Re-install the OS on the same server, and use the same host name(can be different server… but hostname must be the same)
      – Install SQL, if it was local. Must be the same version of SQL as before. It is unsupported to change SQL version for backup/restore.
      – Start Setup.exe from the ISO of SCCM (same version must be used)
      – Use the option Recover a site
      – Make sure everything is working fine after the restore
      – Upgrade to V1511

      We are working on a guide to support this scenario.
      You can refer to Technet for now : https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg712697.aspx#BKMK_RecoverSite

      Thanks!
      Jonathan

      1. We only have a couple packages and barely use SCCM for anything. Instead of going through this complex migration process…can I just spin up a new SCCM 1511 server with a new site code and install the new-site-code-client on my workstations and servers? Then remove the old SCCM2012R2 server from service? I don’t care about old data or queries or packages or anything. As I said we barely used sccm for anything so I don’t care if I have to remake from scratch all my packages, settings, etc. I’m just curious if this is possible and how would I go about retiring the old server? Any active directory cleanup that needs to be done? Hope this makes sense. One forest, one domain, I don’t want to screw anything up too badly, thanks.

  65. Hello,

    Great post, but any questions about this migration, if i have mobiles devices connected to SCCM 2012 with Intune in Hybrid Mode, how can i migrate this to the new 1511 Infrastructure ?

    Thks

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