I'm planning a migration and could use some feedback on the best approach. Here's what we have currently:
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise configured in a 2-node fail-over cluster
- SQL Server 2005 Enterprise clustered
This is where we need to go using the existing cluster:
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise configured in a 2-node cluster (same as above)
- SQL Server 2014 Standard clustered
Restrictions/complications that I'm aware of:
- Upgrading from Enterprise to a Standard edition instance is not permitted and I wouldn't allow an in-place upgrade in production anyway.
- SQL Server 2005 is a default instance and I also want 2014 to be the default instance.
- I want to maintain the same virtual cluster name and IP address.
- We don't have any servers available to add additional nodes to the cluster.
- Shared SAN storage is limited so I'm hoping to reuse the same shared volumes.
Given these restrictions, I'm thinking about the following general approach:
- Stop SQL Server Agent and restart the instance in single-user mode.
- Create multiple redundant backups of all databases.
- Detach all user databases.
- Shut down and uninstall SQL Server 2005 Enterprise on both nodes.
- Install SQL Server 2014 Standard cluster
- Attach/upgrade SQL Server user databases from 2005 to 2014.
Any comments on this approach or additional things to consider?