How to apply the SQL SP4 on Active \ Active cluster?

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S Siva Prasad [SIVA] - 25 Apr 2006 13:12 GMT

On SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition with SP3a running on Windows
Server 2003 Enterprise Edition in a Active \ Active Cluster.
There are two nodes on the cluster. Both nodes are active. There are 6
instances of SQL Servers running on each nodes.

The box is with 24x7 availability. What would be the optimal approach to
achieve this with minimal downtime?

1. Is that can I move all the SQL Server instances from Node A
to Node B and take the Node a "Pause" then apply the SQL Server SP4?

2. What is the optimal approach to minimize the downtime on applying the SP4
on all the instances in both nodes?

3. What would be easier approach to rollback in case it goes wrong?

4. When applying the SQL Server SP4 it would ask for reboot, can I cancel
the reboot and install the SP4 on all the 4 instances on a node
then go for single reboot of the node?

5. Can I apply the SQL Server SP4 on the instances which are
offline?

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S SIVAPRASAD

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Tom Moreau - 25 Apr 2006 13:19 GMT

The short answer is that you need to install SP4 on each instance,
regardless of the node on which the instance is running. The instance will
be unavailable while the SP is running.

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Tom

----------------------------------------------------
Thomas A. Moreau, BSc, PhD, MCSE, MCDBA
SQL Server MVP
Toronto, ON Canada
.

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S SIVAPRASAD

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Mike Z. - 26 Apr 2006 00:33 GMT

you won't get around downtime for at least each instance. SP4 is applied by
the instance and not node. it will update all nodes though. there are a few
things to note. the instances can be offline but all disks in the cluster
must be online. also write down the "affect the group" setting of each
cluster resource (incl non SQL!) as SP4 will reset them to default. also
remember the "possible owner" setting for each cluster group as it gets
reset as well. you'll have to start the setup of the SP on the node the
instance currently is. to be on the safe side I would reboot whenever you
get asked to do so which does not have to be true for all instances. you can
reboot one node at the time failing all other instances to the available
node.

> The short answer is that you need to install SP4 on each instance,
> regardless of the node on which the instance is running. The instance
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
> 5. Can I apply the SQL Server SP4 on the instances which are
> offline?

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