Migrate Clustered Instance from One Server to Another

  • My question is how i can migrate clustered sql instance from one server to another server?

    Current Setup: Active Passive

    Server A: Inst 1

    Server B: Inst 2

    Server C: Passive Node with Inst 1 & Inst 2

    New Setup:

    Server A: Inst 1

    Server A: Inst 2 (Inst 2 migrated from Server B so that Server B can be retired)

    Server C: Passive Node with Inst 1 & Inst 2

    Is this possible? Please guide the steps i should be doing to achive this. All help really appreciated.

  • About all you would need to do is change the preferred node for instance 2 and add node 1 as an available node using the SQL install program. This should require very little effort to make work.

    CEWII

  • You should be able to run the process to add a node for that instance. You run that on the additional node where you want that instance. Remember to patch it to the appropriate level - then modify the allowed nodes.

    Once you have that, failover to the new node and make sure everything is working.

    Then, you want to remove the old node from that instance before you remove the node from the cluster and that should be it.

    Jeffrey Williams
    “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”

    ― Charles R. Swindoll

    How to post questions to get better answers faster
    Managing Transaction Logs

  • One thing i forgot to mention is that; at present Server A has only one instance installed. So assuming first i need to install second instance on Server A, i am little confused.

    Could you please guide me how i should proceed. Please note that current instance Inst 2 on Server B has hundreads of databases with multiple logins and jobs. Eventually my requirement is to retire Server B and move the clustered instance to server A which at present has only one instance.

    Please help.

    Thanks,

  • Shah_hs (7/12/2011)


    One thing i forgot to mention is that; at present Server A has only one instance installed. So assuming first i need to install second instance on Server A, i am little confused.

    Could you please guide me how i should proceed. Please note that current instance Inst 2 on Server B has hundreads of databases with multiple logins and jobs. Eventually my requirement is to retire Server B and move the clustered instance to server A which at present has only one instance.

    Please help.

    Thanks,

    First step is to add the instance on ServerB to ServerA. Once the instance has been added (and patched to the same level) on ServerA - then, you update the cluster configuration to identify the preferred nodes and allowed nodes (add ServerA as preferred, remove ServerB as allowed).

    Then, you schedule the failover from ServerB to ServerA and test to make sure everything is still working. Once you are comfortable with the new setup and configuration - and have tested failing over to the passive node from ServerA and back again, then you remove the instance from ServerB.

    See this document for instructions on adding/removing nodes: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191545.aspx

    The final step - after the instance has been removed is to evict the old node from the cluster itself and then you can power the old node down and start the decommissioning process.

    Jeffrey Williams
    “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”

    ― Charles R. Swindoll

    How to post questions to get better answers faster
    Managing Transaction Logs

  • First step is to add the instance on ServerB to ServerA.

    Do you mean i need to run setup to install fresh instance on Server A? Since Server A has already one instance; this will be second instance. Right?

    If i run setup the wizard will prompt me to specify Virtual Server name. I cannot use the same name which Server B used. Here is my delima. Please guide me.

  • The SQL setup program has an option to add a node to an instance. If Instance 2 has not already been configured for failover to node 1 then you need to "add" it to node 1. This can be done with the instance up and I don't think it requires a restart I believe.

    CEWII

  • Shah_hs (7/14/2011)


    First step is to add the instance on ServerB to ServerA.

    Do you mean i need to run setup to install fresh instance on Server A? Since Server A has already one instance; this will be second instance. Right?

    If i run setup the wizard will prompt me to specify Virtual Server name. I cannot use the same name which Server B used. Here is my delima. Please guide me.

    When you run setup on ServerA - you will have multiple options to choose from. The option you are looking for is on the Installation page called 'Add node to a SQL Server failover cluster'.

    This is all documented in the link I gave you on adding/removing nodes in a failover cluster.

    Jeffrey Williams
    “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”

    ― Charles R. Swindoll

    How to post questions to get better answers faster
    Managing Transaction Logs

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