Network Management

Hi all. 

I have been tasked to migrate 3 IMC's across our German sites to 1 IMC and I have 2 questions:

1. The Version of IMC we are using is iMC PLAT 7.3 (E0706H07), which has a quantity of 100 devices. As I will be merging 3 IMC into 1, will a new licence be needed to cater for the 100+ devices on our network?

2. I have looked online but unfortunately cannot find documentation to merge IMC's configuration or if this is even possible!
I have looked at some resources and the best way to merge is to use the backup and restore functionalities.
Export: Under Configuration Audit -- Config Backup, select all devices Export then Download.
Import: Import Config Template from Backup History. In Configuration Templates, click Add then select Import From Backup File (or Import from File), select the exported backup, then import? 

Is this correct / doable? 

Thank you for anyone that can help!

Hi! not an expert about HPE IMC but you have to consider that each HPE IMC has its own Database...are you asking how (provided that it is really possible) to "merge" three DBs [*] (two DBs, really) into just one single DB (the DB of your third HPE IMC Application)? To me it looks a very difficult task, despite it is potentially possible.

With regards to the licensed devices: the final resulting HPE IMC application (which will register all your current set of devices spread into three sites into one site) should have a license convering the grand-total of devices you're going to register (example, IMC1: 50 devices, IMC2: 50 devices, IMC3: 100 devices -> new merging IMC: 50+50+100=200 devices). Simple arithmetic. 

[*] Well, not to merge the DB itself but the Data contanined into each Database <- provided that all involved Databases are equal in terms of their internal structure.

Hello,

"Merging" iMC systems is generally not supported, though you could attempt to do this manually. Your best bet would be to use one of the existing systems as your 'main' system, and then manually import the devices and other information from the other two iMC systems to that one (some of which you've already described using Export - Import features). Please don't try to merge the databases, even if it could work. For example iMC assigns unique Device IDs to each device, but what if there end up being duplicate IDs after a merge? Not to mention all the key constraints and other unique fields in iMC DBs. This would cause significant issues!

Another issue you'll encounter is the licenses. License keys in iMC are bound to a Serial Number and while they can be transferred to another SN, they cannot simply be un-bound. You would need to open a support case and ask for the license portal admins to un-bind them or 'merge' them onto the SN of your main system. This is not a common request and could be difficult.

Keep in mind as well that even if you merged the licenses, the "base platform" license that typically includes 50 devices from each system cannot be merged - each SN supports only one base license registered on it. That means you'd lose 100 device licenses from this merger process.