We have a Hyper-V Cluster with 3 nodes, each running Windows Server 2008 R2 with the CSV on a Dell Equalogic iSCSI SAN. We want to upgrade the hosts (and therefore the cluster) from 2008 R2 to 2012 R2.
We have enough space on the SAN to create second CSV for the upgraded cluster.
While it is a High Availability failover cluster, we can certainly give up the high availability during the migration process.
I understand that this cannot be done "in-place" so here is our strategy:
- Migrate all VMS on node 1 to node 2
- Evict node 1, wipe it, clean-install 2012 R2, create a new 2012 R2 cluster on the second CSV
- Migrate VMs from node 2 over to node 1
- Evict node 2, wipe it, clean-install 2012 R2, add it to the new 2012 R2 cluster
- Migrate VMs from node 3 to the new cluster
- Evict node 3, wipe it, clean-install 2012 R2, add it to the new 2012 R2 cluster
Also, we may be bringing in a 4th server into the mix
Is the correct approach?
My problem is that just about every article I find talks about going from 2008 R2 to 2012, not 2008 R2 to 2012 R2. Would it be a two-step process (ie. 2008 R2 to 2012 to 2012 R2) or can we go directly from 2008 R2 to 2012 R2?
Any pointers to articles, "best practices", or suggestions are most appreciated!
Thanks!
Jim Barr