On the Administration Service page in the Configuration Center main window, you can view:
- The logon name of the service account
- The name of the group or user account that has the Active Roles Admin rights
- The SQL Server instance that hosts the Active Roles Configuration database
- The name of the Active Roles Configuration database
- The Configuration database connection authentication mode (Windows authentication or SQL Server login)
- The SQL Server instance that hosts the Active Roles Management History database
- The name of the Active Roles Management History database
- The Management History database connection authentication mode (Windows authentication or SQL Server login)
From the Administration Service page in the Configuration Center main window, you can change:
- The Active Roles database
Click Change in the Active Roles database area. In the wizard that appears, specify the database type and the database server instance and the database you want the Administration Service to use, and choose the database connection authentication mode (Windows authentication or SQL Server login). You have the option to specify a separate database for storing management history data.
NOTE: Azure Databases can be connected only using SQL Server authentication.
IMPORTANT:
During in-place upgrade, when importing from the source database (Configuration and Management History database), the following database permissions are automatically migrated from the previously used (source) SQL database to the new (destination) SQL database:
The service account that is used for performing the in-place upgrade or the import or migration operation should have the following permissions in the SQL Server to perform the operation:
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db_datareader fixed database role in the source database.
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db_owner fixed database role and the default schema of dbo in the destination database.
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sysadmin fixed server role in the destination database.
By default, the database users, permissions, logins, and roles are imported to the destination database. You can clear the Copy database users, permissions, logins, and roles check box in the following locations depending on the operation:
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During in-place upgrade: in the Upgrade configuration window.
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Importing configuration: Import Configuration > Source Database > Configure advanced database properties.
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Importing management history: Import Management History > Source database > Configure advanced database properties.
NOTE: Depending on the infrastructure, the import operation may take several minutes to complete.
The task of importing configuration data arises when you upgrade the Administration Service. In this case, you need to transfer the Active Roles configuration data from the database used by your Administration Service of the earlier version to the database used by your Administration Service of the new version. To perform this task, click Import configuration on the Administration Service page in the Configuration Center main window, and follow the steps in the Import configuration wizard that appears.
The Import configuration wizard prompts you to specify the Active Roles database from which you want to import the configuration data (source database) and identifies the database of the current Administration Service to which the configuration data will be imported (destination database), letting you choose the connection authentication mode (Windows authentication, SQL Server login or Azure AD login) for each database.
The Add-on advisor page displays all the pre-installed add-ons for the earlier version of Active Roles. These Add-ons must be uninstalled manually from the earlier version using the Active Roles Add-on Manager and from the system where ever applicable, before continuing configuration import.
The Azure Tenant association page displays the lists of configured Azure tenants in the source database and options for association. The Azure Tenant association section notifies you to select an Azure tenant from the drop-down list of Azure tenants configured in the source database, and the selected Azure tenant is associated with all Azure objects in the destination database. You can also choose to Run Azure Tenant association immediately or Schedule Azure Tenant association, where you select the date and time from the Calendar to run the Azure tenant association.
NOTE:
- If Azure Tenant association is scheduled at a certain time and the upgrade/import operation is still in progress or completes after the Azure Tenant association scheduled time, the tenants are not associated. You have to run the built-in scheduled task Update Azure Objects Associated Tenant Id from the Active Roles console to manually associate the Azure Tenants.
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Alternatively, Azure Tenant association can be run at any time using the template workflow Update Azure Objects Associated Tenant Id available in the Built-in Workflow Container. The parameter in the script used by the workflow can be configured with the required tenant ID. You can use the drop-down to select a default Azure Tenant from the list of available Azure Tenants. The script used by the workflow can be modified to Search Azure objects based on the requirement.
The Services association page displays options to configure the Administration services for executing Dynamic Groups, Group Families, and Scheduled tasks. You can choose to run the Services association immediately or Schedule Service association.
NOTE: If Services association is scheduled at a certain time and the upgrade/import operation is still in progress or completes after the Services association scheduled time, the services are not associated. You have to run the built-in scheduled task Update Services To ExecuteOn from the Active Roles console to manually associate the Services.
To ensure Dynamic Groups, Group Families, and Scheduled tasks continue to function after an import the installation configures the new Active Roles server as the executing server for the tasks mentioned above. The configuration mentioned in the Services association page runs after an upgrade.
NOTE:
- Alternatively, Services association can be performed any time using the template workflow Update Services To Execute On available in the built-in Workflow Container. The parameters in the script used by the workflow can be configured to the required administration services, such as, Dynamic Group Service, Group Family Service, Scheduled Task Service. You can select the administration service from the drop-down list. The drop-down list displays all the currently running administration services that are connected to the current configuration database. If the parameter value is not selected, then the current administration service is used.
- Services association does not update certain scheduled tasks, For example, scheduled tasks that cannot be edited (Managed Object Counter) or scheduled tasks that are set to All servers option.
After successfully uninstalling the add-ons, the wizard performs the import operation. During the import operation, the wizard retrieves and upgrades the data from the source database, and replaces the data in the destination database with the upgraded data from the source database.
For further information and step-by-step instructions, see “Importing configuration data” in the Active Roles Quick Start Guide.
IMPORTANT:
During in-place upgrade, when importing from the source database (Configuration and Management History database), the following database permissions are automatically migrated from the previously used (source) SQL database to the new (destination) SQL database:
The service account that is used for performing the in-place upgrade or the import or migration operation should have the following permissions in the SQL Server to perform the operation:
-
db_datareader fixed database role in the source database.
-
db_owner fixed database role and the default schema of dbo in the destination database.
-
sysadmin fixed server role in the destination database.
By default, the database users, permissions, logins, and roles are imported to the destination database. You can clear the Copy database users, permissions, logins, and roles check box in the following locations depending on the operation:
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During in-place upgrade: in the Upgrade configuration window.
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Importing configuration: Import Configuration > Source Database > Configure advanced database properties.
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Importing management history: Import Management History > Source database > Configure advanced database properties.
Although this task looks similar to the task of importing configuration data, there are important differences:
- Due to a much larger volume of management history data compared to configuration data, importing management history data takes much longer than importing configuration data.
- As management history data has dependencies on configuration data (but not vice versa), configuration data must be imported first, and then management history data can be imported as needed.
Because of these considerations, Configuration Center provides a different wizard for importing management history. The distinctive features of the Import Management History wizard are as follows:
- The wizard does not replace the existing data in the destination database. It only retrieves and upgrades management history records from the source database, and then adds the upgraded records to the destination database.
- The wizard allows you to specify the date range for the management history records you want to import, so you can import only records that occurred within a particular time frame instead of importing all records at a time.
- Canceling the wizard while the import operation is in progress does not cause you to lose the import results, so you can stop the import operation at any time. The records imported by the time that you cancel the wizard are retained in the destination database. If you start the wizard again, the wizard imports only records that were not imported earlier.
To start the Management History Import wizard, click Import Management History on the Administration Service page in the Configuration Center main window. The wizard prompts you to specify the Active Roles database from which you want to import the management history data (source database) and identifies the database of the current Administration Service to which the management history data will be imported (destination database), letting you choose the connection authentication mode (Windows authentication, SQL Server login, or Azure AD login) for each database. Then, the wizard lets you choose whether you want to import all management history records or only records within a certain date range, and performs the import operation. During the import operation, the wizard retrieves and upgrades management history records from the source database, and adds the upgraded records to the destination database.
For further information and step-by-step instructions, see “Importing management history data” in the Active Roles Quick Start Guide.