Hot Swapping Cluster Nodes

We are trying to deploy a two node Active / Passive cluster. But would like to test / ascertain the necessary steps to hot-swap one of the nodes should the need arise. The scenario being that the node is unavailable for longer than the time deemed accep
table to have a node down.
We would aim to bring a spare node into the cluster, install it wil binaries and allow it to replace the original failover node, whilst the original failover node was being fixed.
However, on initial testing SQL Server seems to have problems with this, and basically, for a node to be part of a cluster it must be present at the initial install.
Is there a way around this?
You can have the node ready to join the cluster but it must actually be in
the cluster before SQL can install to it. Once the node is in the cluster,
you can install SQL and any service packs/hotfixes without taking SQL
offline. BOL has the procedure to replace a failed node in a SQL cluster.
So, you can't do exactly what you want but you can get very close.
Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Senior Database Administrator
Careerbuilder.com
I support the Professional Association for SQL Server
www.sqlpass.org
"Beverley" <Bev.Brindle@.barclays.co.uk> wrote in message
news:B41DAA45-424E-4970-ABF9-16243D76CEDC@.microsoft.com...
> We are trying to deploy a two node Active / Passive cluster. But would
like to test / ascertain the necessary steps to hot-swap one of the nodes
should the need arise. The scenario being that the node is unavailable for
longer than the time deemed acceptable to have a node down.
> We would aim to bring a spare node into the cluster, install it wil
binaries and allow it to replace the original failover node, whilst the
original failover node was being fixed.
> However, on initial testing SQL Server seems to have problems with this,
and basically, for a node to be part of a cluster it must be present at the
initial install.
> Is there a way around this?
>
|||Thanks, we're going into a phase of strategic testing for the Cluster, and this is very useful.
Thanks alot.
Bev