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NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

Josh Bovee

Josh BoveeJun 19, 2017 03:50 PM

  • 1.  NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Posted Nov 11, 2016 08:37 AM

     Considering DSA is being removed can configuration data (\mysql\data\reporter or reporter.sql) from 9.3.3 be loaded (or upgraded) into a 2 tier 9.3.6? 



  • 2.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.
    Best Answer

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Nov 11, 2016 09:57 AM

    Unfortunately at this time there is no supported Migration path from a 3 tier to a 2 tier environment other then setting up a parallel 2 tier 9.3.6 environment and using Flow Cloner to forward flows to the new environment for a period of time until you feel comfortable switching over to the new 2 tier environment. We have expressed this concern to our Product Management Team and they have a story in the backlog to potentially provide a migration path, but there is no ETA at this time.



  • 3.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Posted Nov 11, 2016 10:05 AM

    Thanks for the reply Chris. My understanding of flow cloner is it takes a copy of the flows and redirects them elsewhere.  The concern though is migration of all the existing configuration settings (thousands of device/router/Interface definitions, IP addresses, speeds, customized names etc.).  These all have to be re-entered from scratch onto the new system?  



  • 4.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Nov 11, 2016 10:09 AM

    Massoud, your understanding of Flow Cloner is correct.

    Unfortunately yes at this time, you would need to setup a new 2 tier environment from scratch at this time until some sort of migration path becomes available down the road.  



  • 5.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Posted Nov 14, 2016 10:14 AM

    Thanks for the clarification Christopher.  That is incredibly frustrating and I don't see a whole lot of folks doing the upgrade until that migration path is available.  I'm sure the product team will be getting an earful out in Vegas this week about it.



  • 6.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Posted Dec 05, 2016 12:01 PM

    So a colleague of mine told me that at CAW this year, this was a topic of discussion that came up and he was told that a methodology for converting from a three-tier to a two-tier system would be published so we can do this upgrade without having to start from scratch.  Is there any progress being made on that front?  Thanks.



  • 7.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Posted Jan 19, 2017 01:26 PM

    Any updates on providing a method for us to convert from a three-tier to a two-tier system in 9.3.3 before upgrading to 9.3.6?  Thanks.



  • 8.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Jan 19, 2017 01:32 PM

    We are still waiting on a timeline on this, from what I understand it is being worked on.



  • 9.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Posted Jan 19, 2017 01:48 PM

    That's good news.  Thank you.



  • 10.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Posted Feb 01, 2017 03:55 PM

    Whose idea was THIS?  I work for an outsourcer.  The current 3-tier architecture was perfect for me.  I put a cheap harvester in each client's environment/address space and route the records from it to my R/A and DSP in my environment.  In fact, I just spent a bunch of money last fall to get rid of all the old proprietary DSA, R/A and Superharvester hardware that I was running 9.1.3 on and upgraded to 9.3.3.  The lack of a convenient migration meant that I lost all my old data because it was going to take up too much time and resources to convert over the old data while keeping current polling current.  That was fun, and I had to do some fast talking to management to get the money and project time and sell them on "Well, we don't really need that old data".  And now you want me to set up a separate environment with a full set of hardware, run it in parallel until I "feel comfortable" and lose my old data again?

    Plus, now my database for each customer is going to have to be in the customer's environment.  I run into latency when I run reports that require me to go to the harvester instead of the DSA for data.  Now every report requires me to go to the harvester?  EVERY report is going to run slow?

    And NO migration plan.  Again.  Management is quite likely to tell me that my new migration path is to a new product and I will be hard pressed to justify not doing so.  Thanks a bunch.



  • 11.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Posted Feb 01, 2017 04:26 PM

    NFA continues to be the ignored product….

     

    It’s ridiculous, really.  When was the last time there was any discussion about where NFA is going?  Anything other than tiny improvements?   All we ever get is avoidance on the product and where it’s going.

     

    I know that I sound like a broken record, but how do you think it sounds giving my mgmt the same old answers?



  • 12.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Jun 19, 2017 03:44 PM

    Good news, the Three Tier to Two Tier migration script is now available.

    For Instructions and to download the utility see the link below:

    Converting From a Three-Tier to a Two-Tier Architecture - CA Network Flow Analysis - 9.3.6 - CA Technologies Documentati… 



  • 13.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Posted Jun 19, 2017 03:50 PM

    Fantastic news!  Thank you!



  • 14.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Posted Jun 20, 2017 02:53 PM

    This is good news, Thank you Chris. 

    Our 3 tier 9.3.3 is now on WIN2008.  

    Is it advisable to first upgrade win 2008  to win 2012 and then convert to "2 tier" (followed by 9.3.6)  or better to convert to "2  tier" while still on win 2008  and then upgrade to win 2012 (followed by 9.3.6) ?    Sounds like the scripts will work either way but unsure if one approach is better than the other........................



  • 15.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Jun 20, 2017 03:30 PM

    The scripts can work either way, so its really up to you.

    If you migrate to 2 tier before migrating to 2012 it will save you from having to get new 2012 servers for your DSA's.  

    So you may want to go through the 3 tier to 2 tier migration first, and you would have less servers to migrate to 2012 when you are done.



  • 16.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Posted Jun 23, 2017 04:18 PM

    We currently have 3 Harvesters and one DSA.  Assuming the converter script will copy the DSA contents of Netflow\datafiles\ReaperArchive15  onto all three Harvesters?   (This folder on DSA being 120 GB, we will need ~ 120 GB available  space on each of our Harvesters?)  Thank you.



  • 17.  Re: NFA 9.3.6  Support for a 3-tier architecture has been removed.

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Jun 23, 2017 04:28 PM

    If you have 120 GB's of free space on each harvester, it should be more then enough as that 120GB's should be split across the 3 harvesters.  

     

    The script will copy data from the DSA to the Harvester that is receiving the netflow data for each interface.  So the Harvesters with more interfaces receiving flow data, will get more data then the others.