The system requirements for System Center components are all not consistent I don’t know in what order I should upgrade System Center components What components can and can’t co-exist on same installation of OS? What System Center databases can and can’t co-exist in the Understanding SQL collation is a nightmare

Problem Statement: The support matrix for System Center 2012 is complex and not unified. Customers have to go to 6 different TechNet libraries to figure out requirements. Documentation patterns on TechNet, per component, for system requirements are not consistent. What we are doing about it: Improvement: System Center 2012 SP1 Support Matrix Simplification Goal : The goal of the System Center 2012 SP1 support matrix is to reduce complexity for customers, provide specific system requirements in a centralized document, and ensure alignment across System Center Components.

Problem Statement: What guidance does System Center have for the best way to upgrade my System Center environment? What we are doing about it: Improvement: System Center 2012 SP1 Upgrade Sequence Improvement Goal :The goal of the improvement was to provide prescriptive guidance to enable a rolling sequenced upgrade from System Center 2012 to System Center 2012 SP1 that enables customers to keep operations going in mixed states of component upgrades. This guidance will provide tested and validated sequences for upgrade, approved mixed state matrixes, and detailed information on component dependencies.

Upgrade Sequencing to System Center 2012 SP1

We had to figure out what component should go first in the sequence. Service Manager, Orchestrator, and Operations Manager were all candidates as they all share the most connections with other System Center Components.

ComponentSQL 2008 SP1SQL 2008 SP2SQL 2008 SP3SQL 2008 R2 RTMSQL 2008 R2 SP1 App Controller Configuration ManagerCU9 MinCU4 MinCU6 Min Data Protection Manager Operations Manager Orchestrator Service Manager Virtual Machine Manager

ComponentSQL Server 2008SQL Server 2008 R2SQL Server 2012 App ControllerSP1 or laterRTM or later Configuration ManagerSP2 or laterSP1 or laterRTM only (currently) Data Protection ManagerSP1 or laterRTM or later Operations ManagerSP1 or laterRTM or later OrchestratorSP1 or laterRTM or later Service ManagerSP1 or later RTM or later Virtual Machine ManagerSP1 or later RTM or later

Fabric Management Component CollationSet or inherited from Virtual Machine ManagerSQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_ASSet at the Database level (Component Install) Windows Server Update Services (optional) SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_ASN/A Operations Manager Management Group SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_ASValidates that the instance is the appropriate collation (SQL Instance Installation) Operations Manager Data Warehouse SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_ASValidates that the instance is the appropriate collation (SQL Instance Installation) Service Manager Management Server Latin1_General_100_CI_AS *Validates that the instance is the appropriate collation and matches Windows collation (SQL Instance Installation) Service Manager Data Warehouse Latin1_General_100_CI_AS *Same as above Latin1_General_100_CI_AS *Same as above Service Manager Web Parts and Portal SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_ASN/A OrchestratorSQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_ASConfigured to use SQL collation, set at the DB level App ControllerSQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_ASCollation agnostic (SQL Instance Installation) Data Protection ManagerSQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_ASCollation is set in SQL and set by the product as DPM installs SQL

SQL Design – RTM

SQL Design – SP1

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