HP DL 585s + MSA 1000 cluster migration

[J Pope]

Here is a high level over view of current set up

2 x HP class DL380 (intel xeon) servers each with single path fibre

> channel connection to a HP MSA1000 SAN with RAID-10 disks, 10 disks +

> 1 hot spare
> 3 slots free.
> both servers
> running Windows 2003 EE 32-bit

> running MS SQL 2000 EE 32-bit in a active / passive cluster

>
> New equipment
> 2 x NEW HP class DL585 (AMD opteron) servers each with single path
> fibre channel connections (not connected to anything yet) both servers
> running Windows 2003 EE 64-bit running MS SQL 2005 EE 64-bit in a
> active / passive cluster (for now)

> objective: the two new servers in the above configuration to replace the two old DL380s and upgrade MS SQL 2000 32-bit to SQL 2005 64-bit in a clustered environment.


> Question: What upgrade paths are available from MS SQL 2000 32-bit to SQL 2005 64-bit in a clustered environment? What documentation is availabe for such a migration.

Can the shared resource be shared by the new servers simultaneously? as in can we configure 2 clusters on msa?

Do we need to repartition? or an extra migration for the migration?

Post Script: It seems that if we add the new servers to existing SAN we maybe asking for trouble with compatibility with SQL server 2000 /2005 64 bit edition. Our most elegant route right now, is to have a separate SAN and simply configure the new cluster and get in working in isolation. However, SAN rental doesn t come cheap and it would only be a temporary measure.



The MSA 1000 has 12 x 72 gb drives and 2 drive bays free. If we were to purchase another 2 physical drives to fit the MSA, say 148 gb &∧ then we utilize the HP virtual replicator if need be&(and create another quorum disk&attach the hardware..and do all the software config and everything else involved in clustering) & would the MSA be able to temporarily accommodate 2 clusters ?

[Steven Clementi]

You can re-utilize the MSA as a shared resource and even run multiple clusters off of it. This helps greatly during the migration.

The Logical drives on the other hand should NOT be shared with the new cluster. I would go a step beyond sharing the data by creating a new logical drive, doing a full copy of the data while SQL is off line, and then present the copied data to the new cluster.

Since you have a MSA1000, you can add up to 30 more drives to it. 2 on the existing shelf and 14 more per shelf up to 2 additional shelves (MSA30SB's)

If the old cluster is going to go away, i would definitely try to utilize the existing MSA. There is no reason the buy another. The MSA can handle 2 separate clusters easily. YTou just need to configure Selective Storage Presentation via the ACU.


Steven

[J Pope]

Steve,

Firstly thanks for your reply. We really need to push this ahead, so before we go out and buy another rack of hard drives we are considering repartitioning the MSA on the fly. We have purchased an external USB backup hard drive which has heaps of space. Using robocopy we can get all the ntfs permissions, we just need to take the databases offline and back these up too.
I have a question.
What happens if we use Partition Magic to create 3 new logical partitions G: H: I: for the new cluster( one partition for each sql instance - active active =2 plus the quorum disk =3) ....you say categorically NOT to share the existing logical drives E: F: Q: (quorum) with the new cluster. Why is this so? do you mean at the database level as in don't point the sql server 2005 to the physical path of the sql 2000 on the e: drive ? or what do you mean? What will happen if the new cluster can see the e and f drive? Will there be problems with the 64 bit OS? does it get treated the same? How can we run the cluster in tandem while we install new sql 2005 cluster?

[J Pope]

We ended up getting 3 x300gb Universal drives. We will be configuring them in RAID 1 with one warm stand by.
Our current setup is
MSA1000 Controller in GB204130FK
Array A

72.8 GB Drive at Box 1 : Bay 1
72.8 GB Drive at Box 1 : Bay 2
72.8 GB Drive at Box 1 : Bay 3
72.8 GB Drive at Box 1 : Bay 4
72.8 GB Drive at Box 1 : Bay 5
72.8 GB Drive at Box 1 : Bay 6
72.8 GB Drive at Box 1 : Bay 7
72.8 GB Drive at Box 1 : Bay 8
72.8 GB Drive at Box 1 : Bay 9
72.8 GB Drive at Box 1 : Bay 10

72.8 GB Drive at Box 1 : Bay 11 (Spare)
72.8 GB Drive at Box 1 : Bay 12 (Spare)

Unassigned disks

300.0 GB Unassigned Drive at Box 1 : Bay 13
300.0 GB Unassigned Drive at Box 1 : Bay 14

We will be removing one of the two warm spares (bay 12) from the SAN to place the 3rd disk.... Within the HP smart array utility - is it simple to reconfigure one disk from one array to the new array? can anyone explain steps? also we are considering using the flash firmware upgrade is this recommended? or should we take the route, not broken don't fix it...?

[Steven Clementi]

"Can the shared resource be shared by the new servers simultaneously? as in can we configure 2 clusters on msa?"


You can NOT share the same storage (Logical Drives) between 2 separate clusters. You CAN share the MSA between 2 clusters though, assuming you have the necessary available storage for the second cluster.


One thing you can do is... if you think you may need extra storage, swap out the 72's with 146's... one at a time letting each one rebuild. Then you will have enough storage to assign to the new cluster. You can also simply add 2 146's now and use them for quorum/migration temp space and/or perm space later on like log files.


Steven

[J Pope]

getting more space is no longer a problem...the problem now is how to reassign the 72gb spare drive to become a 300 gb warm spare drive for new arry. any ideas?