I am testing an active/passive cluster running W2003 and SQL 2005 SP2. What I
try to test is: Power down one node and then on the active node using
Add/Remove program to attempt to take that node out. According to what I read
from the Web and a book, this is a required step regardless the accessibility
of the node. When I am doing that, the System Configuration Check reports 9
errors and 7 warnings. That is what I expected since the node is not
available. When I select "Maintain the Virtual Server", the node is shown in
the Unavailable nodes list. However, on the Ready to Update page, the
"install" button is dimmed out. It seems to be no way to take the node out of
the cluster. Is there another way? What is the right way? I think what I am
testing should be a realistic scenario. Thanks a lot for your help. Daniel
Dong

You can't uninstall from a powered off node. You can evict with the node on
or off.

Cheers,

Rodney R. Fournier

MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
http://www.nw-america.com - Clustering Website
http://msmvps.com/clustering - Blog
http://www.clusterhelp.com - Cluster Training
ClusterHelp.com is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner


"danieldong" <danieldong (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

What you want to do is remove it from the available nodes list. SQL will
try and remove the code, but will fail that step. Then it will proceed to
alter its internal configuration and eliminate that node. Note that this is
a separate step from evicting the node in the cluster tool.

--
Geoff N. Hiten
Senior SQL Infrastructure Consultant
Microsoft SQL Server MVP


"danieldong" <danieldong (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

Rodney,

App

"danieldong" wrote:

Geoff,

If the node is on(with the cluster service running), I am able to remove it
from the available nodes. I have tested it a few times. However, when the
node is powerd off, it is not in the list of available nodes. It is in the
unavailable nodes. So there is no option for me to remove it.

Thanks lot for your help.

"Geoff N. Hiten" wrote:

Rodney,

Appreciate your quick confirmation. So once the node is actually
unavailable, it is not required to take the node out of the sql cluster chain
(there is no way to do that to me) and it is safe to evict it from the Window
cluster (No corruption will occur, right? How can that happen anyway?). The
book I have and the Web says that removing the node is required even though
the failed node is not accessible. I think if those two nodes are in the
cluster and talking each other, evicting the node could cause corruption.
Have you evicted a failed node before doing anything else? I am going to do
some testing and will let you all know. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Appreciate your help.


"danieldong" wrote:

Rodney/Geoff,

Yes. U are right. I am able to evict the failed node (with power down or
Cluster Service down). There is no curruption. I am going to try to evict a
node when those two nodes still can see each other to see if the corruption
will happen.

Thanks again

"danieldong" wrote:

You will have to stop the cluster service before you can evict the node, so
no corruption will occur. But please, test away!

Cheers,

Rodney R. Fournier
MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
http://www.nw-america.com - Clustering Website
http://msmvps.com/clustering - Blog
http://www.clusterhelp.com - Cluster Training
ClusterHelp.com is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner


"danieldong" <danieldong (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

Rodney,

I did test many times with different scenarios. I do not have any
corruptions. By the way, I am using 4 node cluster.

Thanks again.

Daniel

"Rodney R. Fournier [MVP]" wrote:

I am very glad everything worked out for you!

Cheers,

Rodney R. Fournier

MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
http://www.nw-america.com - Clustering Website
http://msmvps.com/clustering - Blog
http://www.clusterhelp.com - Cluster Training
ClusterHelp.com is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner


"danieldong" <danieldong (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote