upgrading Hyper-V 2008 R2 cluster to 2012 cluster
Got a 2008 R2 Hyper-V cluster with two hosts and an iSCSI SAN
I understand that you can't do an in-place upgrade of an existing 2008 R2 cluster. I've spoken to some of the Microsoft engineers at Tech-Ed a few years ago about how to turn my 2008 R2 cluster into a 2012 cluster and i get the high level steps below:
my question basically is about the subtle steps that go into some of those high level steps (i may have missed a step or two as well in there, or some could be in the wrong order)
Do I need to break the cluster shared volumes on the original cluster at all for the first rebuilt host to speak to the SAN?
Do I delete any old original VM files from the 2008 Hyper-V version due to the export/import process?
Are there any tricks in order to have the 2008 R2 and 2012 Hyper-V servers talk to the iSCSI SAN at the same time? (so that both see the files), or do i need to Export EVERYTHING, then break communication to the SAN from the 2008 box, before i can communicate with the SAN on the 2012 box?
Just trying to make sure i have the subtle detailed steps in mind before I go about trying to upgrade the cluster. It's possible i may buy a 3rd host during the upgrade process, so that i could create a hyper-v 2012 cluster before i wipe and rebuild the other server into 2012 and then add that machine to the cluster. i just don't want to lose the VM's.
I understand that you can't do an in-place upgrade of an existing 2008 R2 cluster. I've spoken to some of the Microsoft engineers at Tech-Ed a few years ago about how to turn my 2008 R2 cluster into a 2012 cluster and i get the high level steps below:
1
Move all VM's to single host2
Evict empty host from cluster3
Rebuild server as a 2012 machine, with Hyper-V4
Export all VM's, save them on the SAN5
Connect 2012 machine to SAN6
Import VM's onto 2012 box7
Rebuild the other server8
Connect other server to SAN9
Create the cluster, along with CSV's and all thatmy question basically is about the subtle steps that go into some of those high level steps (i may have missed a step or two as well in there, or some could be in the wrong order)
Do I need to break the cluster shared volumes on the original cluster at all for the first rebuilt host to speak to the SAN?
Do I delete any old original VM files from the 2008 Hyper-V version due to the export/import process?
Are there any tricks in order to have the 2008 R2 and 2012 Hyper-V servers talk to the iSCSI SAN at the same time? (so that both see the files), or do i need to Export EVERYTHING, then break communication to the SAN from the 2008 box, before i can communicate with the SAN on the 2012 box?
Just trying to make sure i have the subtle detailed steps in mind before I go about trying to upgrade the cluster. It's possible i may buy a 3rd host during the upgrade process, so that i could create a hyper-v 2012 cluster before i wipe and rebuild the other server into 2012 and then add that machine to the cluster. i just don't want to lose the VM's.
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ASKER
this is a good start and will help in my research. I'll post further questions once i begin this project.
My cluster migration went through very well and managed to migrate 3 clusters to 2012.
In reply to your question, yes it discovers all VMs on the respective storage LUNs. Don't worry about the export / import method.
Yes you need to break your cluster, wipe, setup a new cluster - don't present the storage. Once the cluster migration has completed, unmap your hba connection to your storage from existing cluster host and map to new cluster host. Turn on your VMs on your new host to register your VMs. Wipe your existing 2008R2 node to 2012, join to domain, join to cluster. Don't worry about your quorum it will correct itself once the second node joins.
I'm happy to provide further assistance if you need. Best of luck!
In reply to your question, yes it discovers all VMs on the respective storage LUNs. Don't worry about the export / import method.
Yes you need to break your cluster, wipe, setup a new cluster - don't present the storage. Once the cluster migration has completed, unmap your hba connection to your storage from existing cluster host and map to new cluster host. Turn on your VMs on your new host to register your VMs. Wipe your existing 2008R2 node to 2012, join to domain, join to cluster. Don't worry about your quorum it will correct itself once the second node joins.
I'm happy to provide further assistance if you need. Best of luck!
ASKER
So I'm finally getting around to this project.
I have 2 2008 R2 Hyper-V nodes connected to my iSCSI SAN. I've got two new 2012R2 boxes, already clustered. I've created the iSCSI connections to my SAN already and the disk management shows the LUN's, but in an "offline" state.
Are these disks supposed to appear in my new target cluster? or do the CSV disks come across AFTER I run the migration wizard? what about the witness disk?
I have 2 2008 R2 Hyper-V nodes connected to my iSCSI SAN. I've got two new 2012R2 boxes, already clustered. I've created the iSCSI connections to my SAN already and the disk management shows the LUN's, but in an "offline" state.
Are these disks supposed to appear in my new target cluster? or do the CSV disks come across AFTER I run the migration wizard? what about the witness disk?
ASKER
I'm not adding a new host, so can i break the existing cluster by evicting the host, rebuild it, and create the new 2012 server, then create the cluster with only 1 node, and then do the migration process? will that work? Can i add the other host to the new cluster after we've migrated the HA VM's over? (as a 2012 node now)
I'll check out that video in the article. thanks!