I'm a newbie with a big load, and I would appreciate some
insight.
In my environment, I have an active/active cluster, that
also has Snapshot Replication from the slave node to the
master node.
Can someone offer some guidance how to apply the SQL SP3a
service pack?
In the Service Pack 3a readme.htm, section 3.10 #1, says
if any resources have been added with dependencies on SQL
Server Resources those dependencies must either before
removed or taken offline. I understand how to do his, but
say, if I take a physical drive that offline from the
instance, how can it work if it also says all nodes must
be active?
I'm a little confused, and want to get this upgraded for
obvious reasons.
Thanks for your help,
Josephine.

The article refers to non-SQL resources such as a third-party monitoring
tool that needs to live in the SQL virtual server. If you have added more
disks and SQL is dependant on them (necessary if you want to store data on
them), then leave your setup alone. Setup wants all nodes active since it
must do a binary-only upgrade to all the nodes. Note that service packs are
applied to an instance, not a node. You will have to run the service pack
once for each instance.

--
Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Senior Database Administrator
Careerbuilder.com

I support the Professional Association for SQL Server
www.sqlpass.org

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

So what it means basically is any applications that are
dependent on the databases in that cluster need to be
stopped? Or just things like Director or MOM need to be
stopped? Or both?
Do I need to do anything to the Replication? It mentions
stopping the updates. Just disable it? It replicates once
a week.
Thanks again, I really appreciate the knowledge
Josephine.

The article specifically talks about resources in the same SQL resource
group Additional physical disks and IP addresses don't count. It is a good
idea to disable monitoring apps during a service pack install, even if they
aren't in the same resource group. That way, they cannot interfere with the
SP. As for replication, you can stop the log reader and distribution tasks
for the same reason (assuming transactional replication). The main reason
to disable anything that is in the resource group OR that constantly
connects to SQL is to make sure that the service pack installer always gets
the one connection when the server is started in single-user mode.

--
Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Senior Database Administrator
Careerbuilder.com

I support the Professional Association for SQL Server
www.sqlpass.org

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

Thanks Geoff,
I need clarification on one more thing and I'll try not to
pester you anymore.
"While performing the cluster portion of SQL Server 2000
SP3 or SP3a, the setup will reset all cluster resources to
the default properties for all resources in the group,
whether they are related to SQL Server or not."
Two questions, does it really reset all the resources? I
didn't set this up initally so I don't know what the
default settings were.
Second, is there a cluster portion to install in addition
to the instances?
Sorry for all the dumb questions. I just want to make this
as idiot proof for myself as possible.
Thanks again,
Josie

Those are actually good questions.

Yes, it does reset the resource properties, mostly the timout values for
LooksAlive and ISAlive and the failover and failback properties. This is so
that failover behavior works as expected during the installation.

If you have all nodes online, the SP install will work 'cluster-wide' on all
nodes. Obviously, it cannot update a node if that node is offline. Just
remember to start the service pack from the node that currently owns the SQL
instance. It doesn't matter what node the original install was run from,
just who owns it right now. You also must run the SP for each instance
independantly.



--
Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Senior Database Administrator
Careerbuilder.com

I support the Professional Association for SQL Server
www.sqlpass.org

<anonymous (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote