Have you considered a phased migration approach ? By this I me migrating databases in 'discreet' groups. Granted you'll still probably have the same amount of down time overall, but...

I just have to ask are you physical or virtual ? How much RAM and how many CPUs ? What does your storage look like ?

40 minutes to update statistics...

I do not believe that there is any documentation referring to this point.

There is really no harm that I have noticed. As a matter of practice we have to 'enable'...

Those who can, do

Those who can't, teach

(after they get their Masters)

This can be done - it's called multi-server administration

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191305(v=sql.105).aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms180992(v=sql.105).aspx

There are about as many ways to accomplish what you need to do as there are members on this site.

A good start might be engaging an experienced consultant to help...

hmmm ... it sounds like you have a 2 node active/active cluster here.

if these were just OS patches and not SQL Server related shutting down SQL on a node,...

add me to the 'newly' informed list as well !

(I guess Microsoft took the hint from Unix kind of like the 'more' command)

I find this odd since application roles are stored inside the application database system tables.

hmmm ... how are you executing your database backups ?

- transact SQL as a scheduled task ?

- SQL Maintenance Plans ?

- the Ola procs ?

I ask specifically...

Have you checked the Windows evnet logs ? Specifically the System and Application ?

good luck to you and your client.

if anything, just remember there is always time to do it again ... and again ... and again ...

consulting does have its benefits !

I would be cautious concerning the vendor best practices since they are 'one size fits all' usually.

The 'best practice read order is:

- Microsoft

- your server hardware manufacturer

-...

hmmm ... I believe that it it still a best practice to separate out the following to separate disk drive letters:

- database data

- database transaction log

- tempdb

...

SQL Anywhere v5... is probably more than 15 years old.

Also, SQL Anywhere is a Sybase product.

Good luck with it - just remember google is your friend (there are still lots...