Cloning servers for use with Synergetic

Owned by Scott Le Brun (Deactivated)
Last updated: Oct 10, 2023 by David Rogers
2 min read

Cloning provides a quick and efficient method of replicating an existing Synergetic server environment for testing purposes. There are however risks involved that will need to be mitigated in order to prevent accidental access to the source environment. This document describes the recommended method of cloning servers together with highlighting possible configurations that will need to be addressed prior to bringing the cloned server into a live network environment.


Recommended method of cloning servers for use with Synergetic

Overview

  • Clone production server using the appropriate hypervisor tools for the virtualised host environment.
  • Keep the cloned server turned off and move to an isolated network environment.
  • Turn on cloned server and perform clean & rename.
  • Move into live network environment
  • Perform full system test

Resources

Clean and rename

Windows Server

  1. In System Properties, change 'Full computer name' to the new server name and change 'Workgroup' from the domain to a local workgroup (temporarily).

Applications

  1. Uninstall Screen Connect
  2. Uninstall Octopus Deploy

Email (recommended)

  1. Install MailHog to capture outbound email: https://github.com/mailhog/MailHog/releases
  2. Use localhost and port 2525

SQL Server

  1. In SQL Server Configuration Manager, change the SQL service accounts for SQL Server and SQL Server Agent to local default accounts ('MSSQLSERVER' & 'SQLSERVERAGENT')
  2. Using SQL Server Management Studio, rename SQL server using script 'SQL server rename.sql' - make sure to change the default values before executing. Restart SQL server service and confirm server name change by executing 'select @@servername'
  3. Configure SQL Server email profiles to use MailHog as outbound email server
  4. Remove SQL Agent jobs which specifically reference the production server database. 

IIS

  1. Load IIS manager and remove connection to the source server. Create a new connection to the new server name.
  2. Create new DNS records and bind these to the Synergetic test websites.

Synergetic applications

  1. In SQL Server Management Studio, use Synergetic database restore script 'Syn Database Refresh from Production.sql' to load / rename the database from 'PRD' to 'TST' and update script to use new URLs for test websites. Run script to recreate database specific SQL Agent jobs.
  2. Configure Synergetic to use MailHog as outbound email server - using script 'Update all Synergetic email settings.sql' - make sure to change the default values before executing.
  3. Configure Synergetic applications to connect to new server name and new database name.
    1. Synergetic Windows Application & Service Suite
    2. Synergetic web portals - SynWeb, Community Portal, CoreAPI, Web Services, SynAPI
    3. Update Synergetic CoreAPI web applications - Application Dashboard & Form Builder to point to the new CoreAPI URL.

Windows Server

  • Search entire registry for references to source server name and update
  • Move server to live network environment and join to domain

SQL Server

  • In SQL Server Configuration Manager, change the SQL service accounts for SQL Server and SQL Server Agent to domain service account

Finalise

  1. Restart server
  2. Test SQL Server access
  3. Test Synergetic applications and confirm each now connects to the test database
  4. Contact Synergetic service desk to notify of new test environment
  5. Contact Synergetic service desk to request Screen Connect and Octopus Deploy installation.