Split a 2 node Sql cluster

  • The hardware on my 2 node SQL cluster is over 5 years old and needs to be replaced. The cluster hosts 2 instances of SQL server csqlx\csqlx and csqly\csqly. Due to 3rd party software restrictions, I want to move csqly\csqly to its own separate 2 node cluster. This would allow me to upgrade csqlx\csqlx to Sql Server 2014.

    My thought was to add 4 new servers to the cluster.

    Remove the 2 older servers.

    Then split the remaining 4 node cluster into 2 clusters each with 2 nodes.

    Is this possible? And what would the process of doing it look like?

    Here is the current specs for the environment:

    2 Physical servers

    - Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise 64 bit SP2

    - Dual 6 core processors w/hyper threading on

    - 96 gb ram

    - 8 shared disks from a fiber channel SAN

    Failover Cluster Manager

    - Disk Witness on Quorum using 1 2gb disk. The SAN will not let use configure a disk smaller than 2 gb.

    - 3 disks for each Sql instance.

    - MSDTC using 1 2gb disk.

    - 2 cluster networks

    - network 1 uses routable IP's on our internal network

    - network 2 uses non-routable IP's. This is a cable direct attached to the 2 servers, no switch.

    SQL Server environment

    - Sql Server 2012 SP2

    - 3 separate drive letters

    - Sql Data

    - Sql Logs

    - Tempdb

    Thank you in advance for the suggestion/thoughts/concerns.

    Bill Soranno
    MCP, MCTS, MCITP DBA
    Database Administrator
    Winona State University
    Maxwell 143

    "Quality, like Success, is a Journey, not a Destination" - William Soranno '92

  • William Soranno (5/26/2015)


    The hardware on my 2 node SQL cluster is over 5 years old and needs to be replaced. The cluster hosts 2 instances of SQL server csqlx\csqlx and csqly\csqly. Due to 3rd party software restrictions, I want to move csqly\csqly to its own separate 2 node cluster. This would allow me to upgrade csqlx\csqlx to Sql Server 2014.

    My thought was to add 4 new servers to the cluster.

    Remove the 2 older servers.

    This is feasible if you plan to use the same OS version.

    William Soranno (5/26/2015)


    Then split the remaining 4 node cluster into 2 clusters each with 2 nodes.

    Is this possible? And what would the process of doing it look like?

    No, you'd need to evict 2 of the nodes and they would then not be members of any cluster. You'd have to form a new cluster with 2 of the nodes rather than joining all 4 to the existing cluster. Why split the cluster you can leave it as 1 x 4 node Windows cluster and that will be fine.

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    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

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