SQL connections for NTP

Products Threat Prevention Discussions & Questions
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1

Curious if anyone is using a SQL cluster for NTP and if you’ve had any issues. Along the same lines, has anyone had any luck connecting to SQL with a connector string as opposed to ,? Seems for clustering, the connection string is preferred.

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2

Hi Art - I know we have several customers using a SQL cluster for the NTP database with no issues. I have asked Alexei to reply with further details.
-Tony

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3

We have tested NTP with SQL Cluster, specifically with the Always On Availability Groups configuration. No known issues at this time.
Also in NTP 7.5 we introduced possibility to add custom parameters to the connection string. For example, now you can specify additional connection string parameters in the EM config file like this:

…add key=“ConnectionStringOptions” value=“MultiSubnetFailover=True”…

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4

Outside of 7.5, is there a way to connect to SQL from NTP with anything other than ,? Like a DNS string?

5

Yes. You can use SQL Server DNS name instead of IP or NetBios name. Just type it during NTP server installation on the step where you configure DB connection.

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6

I’ll have to try it again but last time, it did not take the DNS name and it only worked with ,.

7

Hi Art,
Did this work for you?

8

We are ready to migrate our database from one SQL box to a new SQL cluster. We’d prefer not to have to uninstall and reinstall NTP, is there a simple way to update the connection string to the new server? We would like to use the MultiSubnetFailover=True as well. However, I don’t see our current SQL setup reflected in the SIEnterpriseManager.exe.config file.

9

Just noticed that there is a SIDBConfigMgr.exe - would we run that to update the SQL server?

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Hi Art - Yes SIDBConfigMgr.exe is used to update the connection string for the NTP main and/or archive DB’s as an alternative to doing an EM uninstall / re-install. Most often used to set a new password if using SQL Auth. It does not move the existing DB files from one server to another. You would have to do that outside of NTP first.

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11

Ok, we’re moving to the cluster later this afternoon. Just want to verify I have the steps right.

  1. Shut down SIEnterpriseManager
  2. DBA’s copy the database to the new cluster
  3. At this point, do we run SIDBConfigMgr.exe and point to the primary cluster node? Or would we update the SIEnterpriseManager.exe.config and configure both the cluster name and the option for MultiSubnetFailover=True?
  4. Restart service

I’m just confused on exactly how step 3 should be done to ensure we point to the cluster and have the MultiSubnetFailover=True present.

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12

Hi Art,

  1. Uninstall EM
  2. Copy DB
  3. Install EM pointing to the new DB
  4. Ensure it works (WinConsole and Agents connection)
    If needed and if you are running 7.5:
  5. Stop EM
  6. Uncomment this section in the SIEnterpriseManager.exe.config:
<!-- 
<add key="ConnectionStringOptions" value="MultiSubnetFailover=True"/>
-->
  1. Start EM
13

Do we have to uninstall EM or can we just use SIDBConfigMgr to repoint and then update the .config (we are running 7.5).

14

Yes, you can, but I still recommend to do it via reinstall and use the latest available version which we released yesterday because it has some important fixes:
https://releases.netwrix.com/products/threatprevention/7.5/threatprevention-server-7.5.0.201.msi

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15

Unfortunately, our change management request is only to migrate the database, we don’t have an upgrade called for so if we upgrade, we’re violating the change management. If we are not upgrading, would it be better to uninstall still or can we just repoint the database? Trying to do as little as possible to avoid anything failing.

16

Yes, you can use SIDBConfigMgr in this case.

17

Thanks for all the help everyone. Our database migration was successful!

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