Moving Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager

SEPM, Symantec Endpoint Protection Management Console

If you are one of those people who partition your server hard drives and have run up against the problem of not wanting to expand a drive but need more space on one of them, this might help you get some of that space back.  Recently we had a client that had a 2003 server with a C partition of 16GB which was almost full and creating issue with backups.  After looking around we found that SEPM was taking up almost 6GB of that space for itself, the decision was to remove it and install it onto a different hard drive on the same server.

The steps for performing these are very simple and just require you to back up some files and the database. 

1. Create a folder on a removable drive or a separate drive from the existing install to store the backups.
2. Create a backup of the database using the database backup and restore function provided under Programs/Symantec EndPoint Protection Manager
3. Open the application click backup database and point it to the location of the folder you just created
4. Create a backup of the Keystore_.jks file located in the current drive install location Program FilesSymantecSymantec Endpoint Protection ManagerServer Private Key Backup
5. Create a backup of the Sylink.xml file as well by making a copy and pasting it to the folder you created for backups

The reason behind backing these up is there is a keystorePass located in the Keystore_.jks file that you will need to make sure you are able to restore things correctly.  The sylink.xml file contains the domain id which would be required if you didn’t perform the database backup or it did not create a successful back up to restore from.

1. You now just need to uninstall the current SEPM installation from the Add/Remove Programs option or Programs and Features in the control panel depending on your server version
2. Although it does not state a reboot is required after remove I suggest it simply because of everything it does with IIS
3. You can now install the software on the drive that has the space available to support it, but remember to use the same setting for installation here as you did when you performed the initial install.
4. During the install you will be prompted for the password encryption you had on the old server which if installed in simple mode is the same password as what  you used to login to the management console.
5. After completing the install you will need to login into the admin console and import the server certificate.
6. Click on Admin – Servers – Manage Server Certificate
7. You will then go through the process and choose Update the Server Certificate
8. Make sure to choose the same type of certificate you were in this case .jks and browse to the file you backed up
9. You will need to enter the password that was stored in the keystore_.jks file you can just copy and paste it from the text file
10. You will just need to restart the service for the Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager and log back into the console. 
11. To restore the database you will need to stop the Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager service again.
12. You will also need to copy your backup of the database to the following directory.  The drive letter you installed :Program FilesSymantecSymantec Endpoint Protection Managerdatabackup
13. Open the backup and restore function again and select the file that is available for restore
14. That should complete the process so you will just need to restart the service, if it doesn’t I had to run the database configuration wizard again and the import the certificate again for the move to work.
15. The last step once you can login and see all your clients is to have them update, you just need to select the group they are in and right click
16. Choose run command on group and then Update Content, I actually has to restart the service on the client for it to start communication again but it was not consistent for each machine.  I would recommend restarting each client just to be sure.