StorSimple Evacuation

Low impact migration of StorSimple data to Azure Files

Introduction

StorSimple 8000 mainstream support will end on July 1 2020. A good alternative for StorSimple is the use of Azure Files in combination with Azure File Sync. This gives a similar solution to StorSimple:

Tiered file storage for on-premise use

Backup in Azure via snapshots of the file share

Besides these cool features, a smart migration method from StorSimdple to Azure Files was developed by the Azure Files product team and presented at Ignite 2019. This migration method is "smart" because:

It is has, besides a very short "switch over moment", no impact on the ongoing StorSimple 8000 operation.

It is done in Azure using virtual resources that can be discared after the migration.

This document guides you quickly through this procedure.

Steps in the migration process

1. Create a Server 2019 file server with the iSCSI client
2. In Azure, create a StorSimple Virtual Appliance and assign the snapshots to it
3. Configure iSCSI and Azure File Sync on the file server
4. Cutover day; sync the last changes and switch to Azure Files + Sync

These steps are outlined in the paragraphs below using the following naming scheme:

    storsimple-on-premise
    storsimple-azure
    syncserver-azure
    syncserver-on-premise

1. Create a Server 2019 server from the market place.

In Azure, create a file server using a Server 2019 image from the marketplace.

• Create this server in the same region as your StorSimple Device Manager is located.
• Anything above 4 cores and 32GB of RAM will do.
• Add an additional 512GB disk to the server that will serve later for hosting the sync groups.
• Configure the iSCSI client on this syncserver-azure
• Go to "Server Manager", select "Tools" and select "iSCSI initiator"


• Go the properties tab of the iSCSI initiator and copy the iSCSI Qualified Name (iqn) of your sync server. You'll need to add this iqn to the iSCSI volumes we'll create later.

2. Create a StorSimple Virtual Appliance and assign snapshots to it

• Create a number of StorSimple 8010 or 8020 devices as per documentation
• Create this device with same device manager as the one that manages the physical StorSimple devices
• A single 8020 device can manage up to 64TB of capacity. Create as many 8020 devices as needed to manage all the capacity of your physical devices
• Create clones of the volumes and assign them to one of the storsimple-azure devices just created.
• Assign the iqn of our syncserver-azure to each of the volumes you create.

3. Configure iSCSI and Azure File Sync on the file server

Now it is time to go to your new syncserver-azure and configure the newly assigned volumes.

• Launch the "iSCSI Initiator" and add storsimple-azure as a target portal.
• Auto configure all volumes that are assigned to the syncserver-azure iqn.
• Launch diskmgmt.msc and mount each volume in a folder corresponding to the volume name. For example:

  
  F:\sgs\vol0
  F:\sgs\vol1
  F:\sgs\vol2
  

  

Deploy Azure File Sync on syncserver-azure as described here.

For Cloud Endpoint, you have a choice between "Premium and Standard" storage. For larger deployments, premuum storage is recommended..

Specify the mounted volumes as Server Endpoint for File Sync:

F:\sgs\vol0
F:\sgs\vol1
F:\sgs\vol2

The sync agent will transfer all data from the mounted volumes to Azure Files.

The environment we've build by now should look a bit like this one.

4. Cutover day; sync the last changes and switch to Azure Files + Sync

Depending on the size / # files, the initial data transfer to Azure Files may take multiple weeks. Wait for sync to completely move all files from the vm to the Azure file share. You can verify that sync is complete with the following steps:

1. Open the Event Viewer and navigate to Applications and Services
2. Navigate and open Microsoft\FileSync\Agent\Telemetry
3. Look for the most recent event 9102, which corresponds to a completed sync session
4. Select Details and confirm that the SyncDirection value is Upload
5. Check the both the HResult and the PerItemErrorCount and confirm that they are both 0.

This means that the sync session was successful. If HResult is a non-zero value, then there was an error during sync. If the PerItemErrorCount is greater than 0 then some files or folders did not sync properly. It is possible to have an HResult of 0 but a PerItemErrorCount that is greater than 0 so you must check both.

After initial sync completion, create clones of the latest StorSimple backups and mount them again on these server endpoints.

F:\sgs\vol0
F:\sgs\vol1
F:\sgs\vol2

When this is also complete, decommission the StorSimple infrastructure and enjoy a much simpler life :-)