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VCS /SFW 4.3 Upgrade to 5.1 while upgrading Windows 2003 to 2008

Scott_Rayner
Level 2

We currently have 2 Windows Server 2003 R2 machines (IBM xServer 336 & 335) running as VCS 4.3 nodes and using SFW 4.3 (managing a FastT200 and DS4300 mirror)
This cluster has a virtual server for each FilePrintShare, MS Exchange 2003, MS Sql Server 2000 Enterprise, all set as active/passive failover (though they're only on the same node at a given time when a failover occurs)

Our base requirement is to upgrade the SQL Server to 2005 (minimum) before June 30. The rest of the following plan is to make the most of the time.

Our plan is to:
Remove one physical machine from the cluster (the 335 has much lower specs)
Upgrade the remaining machine to HA 5.1 SP1
Upgrade the same machine to Windows Server 2008 (preparation for new machines being added)
Upgrade MS Exchange to either 2007 or 2010
Upgrade SQL Server to 2008 Standard (exceeding the 2005 requirement, but downgrading from Enterprise to Standard))

-This will leave us operating with a single-node cluster fully upgraded, before June 30.

THEN - purchase 2 new machines with Windows Server 2008
Install HA 5.1 SP1, Exchange and SQL on each new server
Add one server to the cluster and remove the original server, then add the second new server.

The shuffling of servers is because I've read SQL Standard will only run on a 2 MSCS node cluster and I don't know if that holds true for a VCS cluster as well. If not, the extra 2 machines can be added before removing the original.
The above is all done on 32-bit platform.

The questions are:
Is there a particular order in which the above must occur?
Can SQL Server Standard run (albeit temporarily) on a 3-node cluster?
Are there any caveats or advice we need to be aware of?


Unfortunately we don't have time to source, purchase, configure etc all the hardware and software to do a complete cut-over to the two new machines, but the above plan should be plausible I think.

Any help is appreciated,
Scott.
 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Wally_Heim
Level 6
Employee
Hi Scott,

This is not an easy one.  SFW-HA does not support OS upgrades.  You will need to uninstall SFW-HA, upgrade the OS and then reinstall SFW-HA (and form a new cluster.)

SFW-HA will work with SQL 2008 Server Standard or Enterprise Editions.  You can have up to 32 nodes in a cluster.

You will need to determine what you are going with your Exchange upgrade.  Here are some items on Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 for you to think about.

With Exchange 2007 non-mailbox roles can not be clustered and can not be run on cluster nodes.  This means that you will need additional nodes to host Exchange 2007 role such as Client Access, HUB, Edge and all other non-mailbox roles.

With Exchange 2010 these roles can be hosted on the phyical cluster nodes.  They are still non-clustered but they they can exist on the same cluster hardware.

If you need detailed assistance you might want to engage Symantec Professional Services for assistance on planning you upgrade.

Thanks,
Wally

View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2

Wally_Heim
Level 6
Employee
Hi Scott,

This is not an easy one.  SFW-HA does not support OS upgrades.  You will need to uninstall SFW-HA, upgrade the OS and then reinstall SFW-HA (and form a new cluster.)

SFW-HA will work with SQL 2008 Server Standard or Enterprise Editions.  You can have up to 32 nodes in a cluster.

You will need to determine what you are going with your Exchange upgrade.  Here are some items on Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 for you to think about.

With Exchange 2007 non-mailbox roles can not be clustered and can not be run on cluster nodes.  This means that you will need additional nodes to host Exchange 2007 role such as Client Access, HUB, Edge and all other non-mailbox roles.

With Exchange 2010 these roles can be hosted on the phyical cluster nodes.  They are still non-clustered but they they can exist on the same cluster hardware.

If you need detailed assistance you might want to engage Symantec Professional Services for assistance on planning you upgrade.

Thanks,
Wally

Scott_Rayner
Level 2
Thanks Wally,

That has answered our main concerns. We have decided to upgrade HA and SQL on the current machines, leaving them at Windows 2003, then buy the extra machines with 2008 with all the upgraded versions and do a cold change-over later, creating a new cluster with the new servers.

Cheers,
Scott.