ZENworks 2020 Sybase to PostgreSQL migration

Many ZENworks users will be looking to upgrade to the latest ZENworks 2020 release, there are some great new features including:

• Patching using CVE Security Vulnerabilities scanning
• A new Security Dashboard that gives you an overview of your system security vulnerabilities
• Management of Microsoft’s Windows Encrypting File System (EFS)
• Control of Windows Portable Devices (WPD)
• Support for Mac OSX Imaging
• Windows 10 MDM Support

Up until now, ZENworks upgrades have been pretty similar with each release, however ZENworks 2020 brings a big change in that Sybase is no longer supported as the Free database which means that all Sybase users need to undertake the daunting task of migrating to PostgreSQL.

At ST-FOUR, we have done quite a few ZENworks 2020 upgrades now and we have to admit it’s not been plain sailing, so here are some of the major things to look out for when you do your upgrade:

1.  Size Matters: The database migration can take some time, if you have non-essential data (e.g. Status Information) stored in your Sybase DB, especially if you have several years worth then you should do a database clean up pre-migration.
2. Backing Up: Make sure that you backup your Sybase in advance, this will clear out any Transaction Logs that could be filling up your disk space
3. Have enough resources: The migration will have a CPU, Memory and Disk overhead, don’t limit your migration speed by hitting resource limits
4. It’s in 2 stages: Don’t forget that the migration is 2 stages, the migration to PostgreSQL and then the Schema update, schedule in enough time for this
5. External PostgreSQL complexities: If you want a standalone dedicated database then you will have to jump through some hoops to get a version of PostgreSQL that ZENworks 2020 likes, for example, the native version on SLES 12 is too old and you have to perform a manual PostgreSQL install and you will have to manually upgrade all your ZENworks primaries to point to the new instance.