Here are the high level migration steps.
First, choose a designated night for the migration. Before this night, ensure that the new production Azure installation is properly configured and equipped with the necessary software and production configuration files for the system. Additionally, review your current DNS entries related to SurePassID services, including the MFA server, as you will need to update these DNS settings to point to the new system on the migration night.
On the night of the migration, our primary objective will be to transfer the existing data from your current on-premise system to the new cloud system.
The migration process includes the following steps:
1. Begin by shutting down the existing production SurePassID system to ensure a smooth migration.
2. Utilize SQL Server Management Studio to create a backup of the production database.
3. Next, restore the backed-up production database to the Azure SQL environment using SQL Server Management Studio.
4. After restoration, rebuild the indexes of the Azure SQL database to optimize performance.
5. Confirm that the SurePassID portal is functioning correctly with the production data.
6. Update the DNS settings to redirect traffic to the new SurePassID services hosted in Azure, replacing the former server.
7. Conduct thorough testing of the system by employing various SurePassID methods currently in use, such as RADIUS, WLM, and any other authentication components.
If the testing fails, start the old MFA service and revert DNS to get the system back to the prior state until the source of the failure has been determined.
It is highly recommended to conduct a practice run of the migration process before the designated migration night. This will help ensure that everything proceeds as planned and allows you to identify any potential issues related to policies, permissions, or other unforeseen factors. Additionally, this practice run will provide you with a clearer estimate of the time required for the actual production migration, enabling you to better plan for any necessary downtime.
This migration process can usually be done in under two hours.