Category: SQL Server

by Fran Lens 2011-11-28

Rollback process for a failed SQL Server Cluster Instance migration

Take a practical case in which have to migrate a production SQL Server instance from Windows Server 2003 Cluster to Windows Server 2008 Cluster. One of the first steps for a migration is shut down the SQL Cluster service and delete the name of the SQL Cluster in the Active Directory, because if we not doing this, the Windows Server 2008 Cluster that we create will find a duplicate name when try to create the SQL Cluster, here we find a problem if in the middle of the migration had to rollback, because the SQL Server resource in the Windows Server 2003 Cluster not will start. How to restore the SQL Cluster in Windows Server 2003 Cluster:

1. Delete in the Active Directory the SQL Cluster account
2. Delete in the DNS Server the SQL Cluster entry
3. Remove the dependency of Network Name in the SQL Server resource in the SQL Cluster of Windows Server 2003 Cluster
4. Delete in the SQL Cluster of Windows Server 2003 Cluster the resources IP Address and Network Name
5. Delete in the SQL Cluster of Windows Server 2008 Cluster the resources IP Address and Network Name
6. When it was deleted, create in the SQL Cluster of Windows Server 2003 Cluster the resources IP Address and Network Name, this last with dependency of IP Address, and add dependency in the resource SQL Server to Network Name
7. The SQL Server resource starts without problems

 If by mistake or dont remove the dependency, the SQL Server and SQL Server Agent resources were deleted, you must recreate the SQL Server resource with dependency on Network Name and all disks of the instance, create the SQL Server Agent resource with dependency on SQL Server resource and edit in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Cluster\Resources\<GUID>\Parameters, the entrys of GUID that reference to the SQL Server resource and the SQL Server Agent resource, and add in both cases the parameters:

• InstanceName, type String Value and value <Name of the Instance>
• VirtualServerName, type String Value and value <Name of the Network Name>

 (More info in A SQL Server cluster resource goes to a “failed” state when you try to bring the resource online in SQL Server) In my case, as was testing, then wanted to return to the 2008 migrated instance, for this we must to do the following: How to restore the SQL Cluster in Windows Server 2008 Cluster:

1. Delete in the Active Directory the SQL Cluster account
2. Delete in the DNS Server the SQL Cluster entry
3. Remove the dependency of Network Name in the SQL Server resource in the SQL Cluster of Windows Server 2003 Cluster
4. Delete in the SQL Cluster of Windows Server 2003 Cluster the resources IP Address and Network Name
5. Delete in the SQL Cluster of Windows Server 2008 Cluster the resources IP Address and Network Name
6. When it was deleted, create in the SQL Cluster of Windows Server 2008 Cluster a Client Access Point with the IP Address and the Network Name data
7. The SQL Server resource starts without problems

 If by mistake the SQL Server and SQL Server Agent resources were deleted, you must recreate the SQL Server resource with dependency on Network Name and all disks of the instance, create the SQL Server Agent resource with dependency on SQL Server resource and edit in the properties of both, the values VirtualServerName and InstanceName