January 27, 2020 at 10:01 pm
I've inherited a cluster and looks like this for simple terms; Im confused on which server is truly the active one, vs the passive one
I now need to patch both servers with OS updates.
January 28, 2020 at 10:10 pm
Thanks for posting your issue and hopefully someone will answer soon.
This is an automated bump to increase visibility of your question.
January 30, 2020 at 2:02 pm
I may not be able to provide a full answer as I've only worked with Availability Groups on 2016. However some more details on your setup might help people assist you. Are you able to post a screenshot of the cluster manager showing the resources? You can blank out any sensitive details.
In particular I'm confused as to how the core resources are on one host and the availability group is on the other. I'm not suggesting you are incorrect, only that I'm not sure.
I think there is a Microsoft guide to patching availability groups somewhere. I can't find it at the moment, I'll post it if I find it.
January 30, 2020 at 3:02 pm
I never found my answer of which server is actually the active one, but I was able to patch by doing this;
Manually fail over the active role on Server B to Server A...so now I had the core cluster resources and role on Server A, making sure that is the active server
Patched and rebooted Server B
Manually failed over role and core cluster resources, from Server A to B
Patched and rebooted Server A
Manually failed over role and core cluster resources, from Server B to A, making Server A be my consistent active server
Hope that helps someone else
January 30, 2020 at 6:44 pm
Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure what you mean by core cluster resources but I used the same pattern as you when I was patching the servers (manual failover, patch the inactive host, manual failover and patch the other host).
I think the Microsoft guidance is to use SQL/SSMS to do the failover and not the Windows Cluster Tool but I can't find the reference for that. I think it also says that you should not use the Windows Cluster Update system as it does not understand SQL transaction and log records so could cause data loss when it starts a failover. Sorry, I can't find the reference at the moment. I always used SSMS to do the failover and never had an issue.
January 30, 2020 at 6:59 pm
Attached is what I mean by Core Cluster Resources, highlighted in yellow...you do this in Failover Cluster Manager.
My problem was that host (Core Cluster Resources) was on Server A, but active role for Availability group was on server B...so I didn't know which was the true active server, or maybe both of them were ??...I don't know.
January 31, 2020 at 1:56 pm
Thanks. I hadn't seen that option before. I did some research and I think the core cluster resources are the resources required to run the Windows cluster and they are managed separately to the availability group cluster. You can have them on the same or different hosts as you prefer. If the cluster resources are active on a host that you shut down they will move to another host automatically.
I haven't quoted a source as I haven't found one that I'm sure is correct.
January 31, 2020 at 5:16 pm
Cool, thanks for the follow up.
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