SQL Server 2008 failover cluster rolling patch and service pack process

• If you update a SQL Server failover cluster instance on an active node, SQL Server services will be stopped. This causes SQL Server downtime. To avoid downtime, install a rolling update on passive nodes as explained in this article.
• To avoid a mixed version of possible owner nodes in the failover cluster instance, use the Cluster Administrator tool (Cluadmin.exe), to remove nodes from the possible owner nodes list in the failover cluster instance. You should avoid having a mixed version of possible owner nodes to prevent possible data corruption.
• In SQL Server 2008, the cluster service checks the SQL Network Name resource for a list of possible owners. The SQL Network Name resource is also checkpointed. This behavior differs from SQL Server 2005. In SQL Server 2005, the SQL Server resource itself is checkpointed.

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Installing SQL Server 2008 rolling updates on a failover cluster

1. Before you start updates, make sure that you collect a list of possible owners for the specific SQL Server clustered instance. To find a specific SQL Server network resource name, run the following command:
   cluster.exe resource
   You see output that resembles the following:

   Resource                          Group                             Node              Status
   --------------------              --------------------              ----------        ------
   Cluster Disk 1                    Cluster Group                     NODE1             Online
   Cluster Disk 2                    SQL Server (INST1)                NODE1             Online
   Cluster Disk 3                    SQL Server (INST2)                NODE1             Online
   Cluster Disk 4                    Available Storage                 NODE1             Online
   Cluster IP Address                Cluster Group                     NODE1             Online
   Cluster Name                      Cluster Group                     NODE1             Online
   SQL IP Address 1 (SQLVS1)         SQL Server (INST1)                NODE1             Online
   SQL Network Name (SQLVS1)         SQL Server (INST1)                NODE1             Online
   SQL Server                        SQL Server (INST1)                NODE1             Online
   SQL Server Agent                  SQL Server (INST1)                NODE1             Online
   SQL IP Address 2 (SQLVS2)         SQL Server (INST2)                NODE1             Online
   SQL Network Name (SQLVS2)         SQL Server (INST2)                NODE1             Online
   SQL Server                        SQL Server (INST2)                NODE1             Online
   SQL Server Agent                  SQL Server (INST2)                NODE1             Online
   

   In this example, you can use the following commands to create a list of possible owners for each SQL Network Name resource:
   • cluster.exe resource “SQL Network Name (SQLVS1)” /listofowners > c:\SQLVS1_list_of_owners.txt
   • cluster.exe resource “SQL Network Name (SQLVS2)” /listofowners > c:\SQLVS2_list_of_owners.txt
2. In the Cluster Administrator tool, use the corresponding SQL Network Name resource to remove half of the nodes from the possible owners list in the failover cluster instances on which you want to apply the updates. Remove the passive nodes first from the possible owners. Keep the list of nodes that you remove from the possible owners for future reference during this update process.
   
   Note We recommend that you remove half of the nodes from the possible owners to maintain high availability.
3. After you have removed the nodes from the possible owners list in the failover cluster instance, apply the SQL Server update on the nodes that you removed in step 2. To apply the update on each node that has been removed from the possible owners, refer to the documentation that is supplied within the update package that you are applying.
   
   Note If this is the first time that you are applying the update on an instance for a node, move any active resource groups to another node before you apply the update. This helps avoid downtime or a restart operation that may occur when shared components that are being used are updated.
4. After the update has been applied on the nodes that were removed from the possible owners, use the SQL Network Name resource on the Cluster Administrator tool to add the updated nodes back to the possible owners list in the failover cluster instance.
   
   To make sure that you will add back nodes for the correct SQL Server instances, use the list of possible owners that you collected before you performed the update. Make sure that you mark nodes that were already updated in your list.
5. Based on the SQL Network Name resource, find the correct resource group, application, or services in Windows Server 2008, and then move that group, application, or service to one of the nodes that was updated.
6. Verify that all SQL Server resources are online on the currently active node.
7. In the Cluster Administrator tool, use the SQL Network Name resource to remove the nodes that were not updated from the possible owners in the failover cluster instance.
8. Apply the SQL Server update to the nodes that you removed in step 7.
9. Repeat step 4 to add all the nodes that were updated back to the possible owners for the failover cluster instance that you updated.
10. Verify that the cluster is running without any issues. Try to move the instance of SQL Server between nodes in the cluster.

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