Please be aware that the NFA 9.1.2 (9.1 SP2) Documentation has been published on the CA Bookshelf which can be found here NFA 9.1.2 Docs.
You can also find this by searching for the Network Flow Analysis (ReporterAnalyzer) Support Page on Support.ca.com.
This is the first release of NFA 9.1.x that allows you to upgrade from 9.0.161 and 9.1.x, and there have been some big changes to the architecture, especially compared to RA 9.0.161.
These changes make it extra critical to fully review the Upgrade Guide and Installation guides to understand how to plan your upgrade for these changes.
It is also very important that you follow the backup recommendations of your database and configuration files that are documented in the Upgrade Guide before attempting any type of upgrade.
NFA 9.1.2 now has either a "Two Tier" architecture or a "Three Tier" architecture.
-The "Two Tier" architecture will remain as it was in NFA 9.1.x, which means you have one NFA Console Server and can have multiple Harvesters, but no DSA.
The harvester now takes the role of what the DSA used to handle in 9.0.161 and earlier. Most data is stored on the harvester including the 15 minute historical data. This was designed to eliminate bottle necks on the NFA console processing data from the Harvesters up through the Console and up to the DSA(s). Now most data just will reside on the Harvesters.
The "Two Tier" architecture can be used for all new installs of NFA 9.1.2, as well as upgrades from NFA 9.1.0 and NFA 9.1.1.
The "Two Tier architecture will also be used for RA 9.0.161 StandAlone Server upgrades. All 9.0.161 StandAlone servers which used to have Harvester, Console, and DSA components, will be converted to a "Two Tier" architecture, meaning it will just have the Harvester and Console components.
-The "Three Tier" architecture will bring back the DSA if needed and where applicable.
The "Three Tier" architecture will be available for New Distributed Installs, where you have a separate server for each, the Harvester, Console, and DSA.
The "Three Tier" architecture will also be used for all 9.0.161 Distributed RA upgrades.
The "Three Tier" distributed architecture will maintain the 'nqrptr' database which was used on earlier versions of the DSA to transfer data over to the new files structure during post migration and for configuration settings.
For more details on how data is now stored, please view the Wiki post here.
Again, as mentioned above before making any decision to upgrade please review the entire Upgrade and Installation guides at the link above and make sure you have backups of all databases before attempting this upgrade.
Please also note that currently only Windows 2008 R2 is supported for this release, if you are on Windows 2003 you MUST migrate to a 2008 R2 server before attempting any upgrade.
The Upgrade and Installation Guides are incredibly detailed and have specific steps for each upgrade and installation scenario.
If you should have any questions about what is is the guide please feel free to speak with CA Support, CA Services, your Customer Success Manager, and/or your CA Account team.
If you should need assistance with actually doing the upgrade, planning your architecture, or sizing your environment, please consult with your CA Account Team about engaging CA Professional Services, http://www.ca.com/us/it-services.aspx.
As we find more Tips and Tricks with this release we will be publishing Tech Docs on Support.ca.com and also posting information on these CA User Communities Wiki's and Message Boards.