How to: Upgrade a SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance (Setup)

SQL Server Setup

You can upgrade a SQL Server failvoer cluster to a SQL Server 2008 failover cluster using the SQL Server Installation Wizard or from the command prompt.

For upgrade information, see Version and Edition Upgrades and Upgrading to SQL Server 2005.

To install a stand-alone instance of SQL Server, see How to: Install SQL Server 2005 (Setup).

For sample syntax for command prompt installations, see How to: Install SQL Server 2008 from the Command Prompt.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, review the following important information:

  • Before Installing Failover Clustering
  • Review Using Upgrade Advisor to Prepare for Upgrades.
  • Upgrading the Database Engine
  • The Recommended private heartbeat configuration article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
  • For local installations, you must run SQL Server Setup as an administrator. If you install SQL Server from a remote share, you must use a domain account that has read and execute permissions on the remote share.
  • To upgrade an instance of SQL Server to a SQL Server 2008 failover cluster, the instance being upgraded must be a failover cluster. To upgrade a stand-alone instance of SQL Server to a SQL Server 2008 failover cluster, install a new SQL Server 2008 failover cluster, and then migrate user databases from the stand-alone instance using the Copy Database Wizard. For more information, see Using the Copy Database Wizard.
  • You must upgrade one failover cluster node at a time. Failover during the upgrade operation has several options:
    • Move the resource group to a node that has already been upgraded.
    • Move the resource group to a node that has not yet been upgraded.
    • In the case of a single-node failover cluster, SQL Server Setup will take the SQL Server resource group offline.
  • You cannot add features to an existing failover cluster.
  • Changing the edition of failover cluster is limited to certain scenarios. See Version and Edition Upgrades.
  • To control the failover behavior of cluster nodes during the upgrade process, run the upgrade operation from the command prompt and use the /FAILOVERCLUSTERROLLOWNERSHIP parameter. For more information, see How to: Install SQL Server 2008 from the Command Prompt.

To upgrade a SQL Server failover cluster

  1. Insert the SQL Server installation media, and from the root folder, double-click setup.exe. To install from a network share, navigate to the root folder on the share, and then double-click setup.exe.

  2. If the Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 installation dialog box appears, select the check box to accept the .NET Framework 2.0 License Agreement. Click Next. To quit SQL Server 2008 installation, click Cancel. When installation of .NET Framework 2.0 is complete, click Finish.

  3. Windows Installer 4.5 is also required, and may be installed by the Installation Wizard. If you are prompted to restart your computer, restart and then launch the SQL Server 2008 setup.exe again.

  4. Once prerequisites are installed, the Installation Wizard will launch the SQL Server Installation Center. To upgrade an existing instance of SQL Server 2008, click "Upgrade from SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005."

  5. If Setup support files are required, SQL Server Setup will install them. If you are instructed to restrat your computer, restart before you continue.

  6. The System Configuration Checker will run a discovery operation on your computer. To continue, click Ok. At this point, Setup log files have been created for your installation. For more information about log files, see How to: View SQL Server 2008 Setup Log Files.

  7. On the Product key page, click a radio button to indicate whether you are upgrading to a free edition of SQL Server, or whether you have a PID key for a production version of the product. For more information, see Editions and Components of SQL Server 2008 and Version and Edition Upgrades. Enter your PID key in the space provided, then click Next to continue. Note that the PID key you use for a failover cluster upgrade must be consistent across all failover cluster nodes. All failover cluster nodes in the same SQL Server instance must be of the same SQL Server edition.

  8. On the License Terms page, read the license agreement, and then select the check box to accept the licensing terms and conditions. To continue, click Next. To end Setup, click Cancel.

  9. On the Select Instance page, specify the SQL Server instance to upgrade to SQL Server 2008. To continue, click Next.

  10. On the Feature Selection page, the features to upgrade will be pre-selected. A description for each component group appears in the right-hand pane after you select the feature name. Note that you cannot change the features to be upgraded, and you cannot add features during the upgrade operation. To add features to an upgraded instance of SQL Server 2008 after the upgrade operation is complete, see How to: Add Features to an Instance of SQL Server 2008 (Setup).

  11. On the Instance Configuration page, specify whether to install a default or a named instance. For more information, see Instance Configuration. To continue, click Next.

    Instance ID suffix - By default, the instance name is used as the Instance ID suffix. This is used to identify installation directories and registry keys for your instance of SQL Server. This is the case for default instances and named instances. For a default instance, the instance name and instance ID suffix would be MSSQLSERVER. To use a non-default instance ID suffix, select the Instance ID suffix check box and provide a value.

    Note:
    Typical stand-alone instances of SQL Server 2008, whether default or named instances, do not use a non-default value for the Instance ID suffix check box.

    Instance root directory - By default, the instance root directory is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\. To specify a non-default root directory, use the field provided, or click Browse to locate an installation folder.

    All SQL Server service packs and upgrades will apply to every component of an instance of SQL Server.

    Detected instances and features - The grid will show instances of SQL Server that are on the computer where Setup is running. If a default instance is already installed on the computer, you must install a named instance of SQL Server 2008. To continue, click Next.

  12. The Disk Space Requirements page calculates the required disk space for the features you specify, and compares requirements to the available disk space on the computer where Setup is running. For more information, see Disk Cost Summary.

  13. Work flow for the remainder of this topic depends on the features you have specified for your installation. You might not see all of the pages, depending on your selections.

  14. On the Server Configuration - Service Accounts page, specify login accounts for SQL Server services. The actual services that are configured on this page depend on the features you are upgrading.

    Authentication and login inromation will be carried forward from the previous SQL Server instance. You can assign the same login account to all SQL Server services, or you can configure each service account individually. You can also specify whether services start automatically, are started manually, or are disabled. Microsoft recommends that you configure service accounts individually to provide least privileges for each service, where SQL Server services are granted the minimum permissions they need to complete their tasks. For more information, see SQL Server Configuration - Service Accounts and Setting Up Windows Service Accounts.

    To specify the same logon account for all service accounts in this instance of SQL Server, provide credentials in the fields at the bottom of the page.

    Security Note   Do not use a blank password. Use a strong password.

    When you are finished specifying login information for SQL Server services, click Next.

  15. Use the Server Configuration - Collation tab to specify non-default collations for the Database Engine and Analysis Services. For more information, see SQL Server Configuration - Collation.

  16. On the Full-Text Search Upgrade Options page, specify the upgrade options for the databases being upgraded. For more information, see Full-Text Search Upgrade Options.

  17. On the Error and Usage Reporting page, specify the information you would like to send to Microsoft that will help to improve SQL Server. By default, options for error reporting and feature usage are enabled. For more information, see Error and Usage Report Settings.

  18. The System Configuration Checker will run one more set of rules to validate your computer configuration with the SQL Server features you have specified before the upgrade operation begins.

  19. On the Cluster Upgrade Report page, specify the failover behavior while the node is offline during the upgrade operation. You can choose to failover to a node that has already been upgraded, or failover to a node that is at the previous version level. Use the Failover Behavior drop-down box to make your selection.

  20. The Ready to Upgrade page displays a tree view of installation options that were specified during Setup. To continue, click Install.

  21. During installation, the progress page provides status so you can monitor installation progress as Setup proceeds.

  22. After installation, the Complete page provides a link to the summary log file for the installation and other important notes. To complete the SQL Server installation process, click Close.

  23. If you are instructed to restart the computer, do so now. It is important to read the message from the Installation Wizard when you are done with Setup. For information about Setup log files, see How to: View SQL Server 2008 Setup Log Files.

Next Steps

After upgrading to SQL Server 2008, complete the following tasks:

  • Register your servers - Upgrade removes registry settings for the previous SQL Server instance. After upgrading, you must reregister your servers.
  • Update statistics - To help optimize query performance, we recommend that you update statistics on all databases following upgrade. Use the sp_updatestats stored procedure to update statistics in user-defined tables in SQL Server databases.
  • Update usage counters - In earlier versions of SQL Server, the values for the table and index row counts and page counts can become incorrect. To correct any invalid row or page counts, we recommend that you run DBCC UPDATEUSAGE on all databases following upgrade.
  • Configure your new SQL Server installation - To reduce the attackable surface area of a system, SQL Server selectively installs and activates key services and features. For more information about surface area configuration, see the readme file for this release.

See Also

Concepts

How to: Install SQL Server 2008 from the Command Prompt
How to: View SQL Server 2008 Setup Log Files

Other Resources

How to: Verify a Successful Installation of SQL Server 2005 Services