January 12, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Has anyone had any experience with this operation? Currently the plan I am going to follow is based on Article ID 953200.
We are fortunate in that we are adding 2 nodes to our existing 2 node server 2003 cluster.
The plan is to set up the new nodes as server 2008 cluster. Install SQL server 2005 as different virtual server, same sql instance name and new san same drive letter and path. Bring original down, bring new down and change virtual name of new to original. Drop disk on new and swing original san disk over. Bring SQL online on new cluster. Then.... This part is not clear for me, but will i need to restore databases at all if I am using the orignal storage on the new server 2008 with new sql 2005 install provided I have same virt name, instance name and drive path and letter?
Any information or tips would be great.
I am setting up a test environment now to test this.
Thanks
January 12, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Yes, you will have to do a restore of all the databases on the new SQL 2008 installation.
January 13, 2010 at 6:34 am
If I need to restore the databases, why bother bringing the old san disk over (the disk with the original system and user databases)? I can just leave the new disk and restore backups of the system and user databases? Why am I bringing over the old disk only to perform restores?
Thx
January 13, 2010 at 6:42 am
You said you were keeping the SQL server 2005 and not upgrading it, so you would not have to restore you db's. The above reply was assuming you were moving to SQL server 2008.
January 13, 2010 at 7:01 am
Harold,
That is correct. Only the OS level is changing from server 2003 to server 2008.
SQL server version will remain 2005 svc pk 3.
According to the article id 953200 "How to migrate SQL server 2005 failover cluster instances from windows server 2003 to Windows server 2008" there are two methods to migrate data to new install. A complete disk migration OR a file copy of the original DATA. In either case it is then stated that database restores would then be necessary, BUT That doesn't sound correct to me. Why copy the directory or bring disk over if you will restoring databases anyways. Is it possible the article is incorrect? It was last reviewd 9/22/2008.
Here is the link for reference.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953200
My hope is once I bring the disk over to the new install, making sure install drive and path is the same and making sure old instance is off line and new instance has original virt name and ip that SQL should come online as if nothing had happened. Does this sound correct.
Thank you.
January 13, 2010 at 8:24 am
OK, the article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953200 is correct! 🙂
If you are not doing an in-place upgrade,I fail to understand how you are going to have the old databases on a new installation of SQL 2005??? :w00t:
Please read this article to look for a possible solution to your scenario.
HTH...
The_SQL_DBA
MCTS
"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives."
January 13, 2010 at 8:58 am
I am using this article as a guidline but it just doesn't make sense to me. I might be missing something.
If I move the entire SAN drive (which contains all system and user mdf and ldf) from the old cluster install of SQL 2005 on server 2003, to the new sql 2005 cluster install on server 2008 why would I need to do any restores as long as the install path, drive letter, virtual name, instance name is the same on the new?
It seems if restores are necessary then...
Why not just skip disk move and just do database restores onto new disk on the new cluster?
Thx
January 13, 2010 at 9:23 am
After you install the new clustered instance, and you move the disk and rename the virtual server to original, and all file paths are the same.
The when you start up SQL it will use the original system db's that you already had and they will know about the user db's because they were already attached. You should not have to attach or restore them.
Like I said every thing above would have to match for the master db to start.
You would only have to restore or attach on a new SQL installation and not restoring the system db's.
January 13, 2010 at 11:26 am
Thanks Harold. That's exactly what I was thinking. If Sql version, Virtual server name, ip address,instance name, install path, and drive letter are the same then I should be able to start new instance on server 2008 cluster with old SAN storage disk from server 2003 cluster containing system and user db's. The article seems to indicate a restore of backups is required in this case unless I misread. I don't think I will need to restore at all. I will be attempting this in a Test environment soon and will report back with my exact steps. Thanks!
January 14, 2010 at 1:02 pm
ganci.mark (1/13/2010)
Thanks Harold. That's exactly what I was thinking. If Sql version, Virtual server name, ip address,instance name, install path, and drive letter are the same then I should be able to start new instance on server 2008 cluster with old SAN storage disk from server 2003 cluster containing system and user db's. The article seems to indicate a restore of backups is required in this case unless I misread. I don't think I will need to restore at all. I will be attempting this in a Test environment soon and will report back with my exact steps. Thanks!
Mark,
SQL server considers the DB's as files (consider this as an analogy). So when, SQL server is started, it will look for the mdf and ldf to start up.
I have done this to move databases between different OS versions and it worked fine for me 🙂 (make sure all sql related services are stopped and then restart them). You can create a bat or powershell script to achieve this.
No restore is required !
Hope this helps !
\\K
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
HTH !
Kin
MCTS : 2005, 2008
Active SQL Server Community Contributor 🙂
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