Migrating to new SQL + Web Servers

[SandyTech]

Like the title says, I'm looking to migrate to a new SQL and web servers for my VICIdial system. I have a total of seven physical servers, with one serving as an asterisk, SQL and web server, and the rest serving as asterisk and web servers. We're reaching a point where this is becoming a less than optimal setup; so I'd like to get ahead of the curve and migrate to a new SQL server, before we add any more departments onto the cluster.

The new SQL servers will live on our ESXi cluster, and I'm spec'ing them with 8 vCPUs and 16GiB of RAM, and 300GB of space on our SAN. Our four original servers were purchased directly from VICIDial, so I'm not quite sure how they were installed; but the other 3 were installed with the Vicibox 3.1.15 ISO. All of my servers are running VERSION: 2.6-375a BUILD: 120831-1523.

My questions are:
1: Should I build the SQL server with the new 4.0.1 ISO, or with the 3.1.15 ISO?
1.a: If I build the new SQL serve w/ the 4.0.1 ISO, do I have to do anything to the other servers to bring them up to date?
2: What's the best way to migrate to the new SQL/web servers?
2.b: My current plan is to spin up the 2 SQL/web VMs, establish mySQL replication between the two of them, and then in a maintenance window do the following:
1.backup the database w/ mysqldump
2.import the database backup to the new SQL/web servers
3. change the settings in the admin page so all of the servers are pointing at the new SQL servers
4. edit Group Policy to replace the current web shortcuts and favorites to point at the new servers

Thanks in advance
-Sandy.

[williamconley]

1) Warning: Virtual Vicidial is NOT recommended. Especially not for a heavy load for a MySQL system.

2) The version of mySQL is not relevant, as long as it has the appropriate vicidial configuration changes. Easiest way to get that is to build a brand new server with the latest vicibox and tell it that it is a mysql-only box. The version of Vicidial may be relevant, but not if you are using this server for ONLY MySQL. In that case, it is necessary to drop the freshly installed DB and replace it with your real DB.

3) To change the mysql server throughout the cluster merely requires changing the db server variable in /etc/astguiclient on all member servers. (And, of course, copying the database! LOL). If you do not use a vicibox installer, you will also need to set permissions to allow "cron" password "1234" access from the IP addresses of all the other servers (or any ip address, of course).

4) Web server is best added by a fresh installation with Vicibox 4.0. It is not a "replacement" web server, nothing is to be ported into it. It is merely an additional server that happens to provide Vicidial Web to the cluster. Just an add-on. No need to clone or dupe or copy anything. Just a fresh install. You can even do it while the cluster is in operation.

5) In all cases, be sure you either upgrade the cluster to "latest svn" before you begin, or be sure you install the same version of Vicidial on the new server(s).

6) WARNING: Virtual Vicidial is not a good idea. In case you missed that earlier.