Q: What are the upgrade paths from current System Center products to the System Center 2012 wave?

A:Most of the latest System Center components appeared in an earlier version, except for System Center App Controller, which is brand new.System Center 2012 consists of seven primary components:

For the existing products, either an in-placeupgrade or a migration is supported.

Products that use a migration approach require a new implementation of the System Center 2012 solution. Then configurations and data are migrated from theold implementation to the new 2012 implementation. System Center Configuration Manager and System Center Orchestrator require a migration to move to 2012.

The other components--System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM), System Center Operations Manager, System Center Service Manager (SCSM) and SystemCenter Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM)-- all support an in-place upgrade.

However, that doesn't mean its a simple "click upgrade button" process. There aremultiple steps to follow.

Here are some resources that document the upgrade or migration process for each product.

Configuration Manager -The migration consists of standing up a new Configuration Manager 2012 infrastructure, connecting to the existing Configuration Manager and then runningmigration wizards. 

Data Protection Manager -In-place upgrade via simple process. 

Operations Manager- An in-place upgrade is supported but is a detailed process with a large number of requirements. Another option is multi-homing Operations Manager agentsto a new management group, and then cutting over, which would be a typical parallel or side by side upgrade method. 

Orchestrator- Policies can be migrated from Opalis to runbooks in Orchestrator. 

Service Manager - In-place upgrade is documented and supported. 

Virtual Machine Manager -In-place upgrade is documented and supported. 

See more FAQs on System Center, Windows, virtualization, systems management, and all things Microsoft, at John Savill's FAQs.