Hello,
We have 2-node Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition failover cluster with Fibre shared storage (SAN) running SQL Server 2012 SP1. Below is current configuration - very simple and classic, I would say everything by the book:
This is what I think we want to achieve:
Objectives:
1. Upgrade Windows Operating System from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012
2. Migrate to SQL Server 2012 Always On Availability Group (AAG) for High Availability and Disaster Recovery
My question is how to achieve both goals?
If possible I would like to upgrade OS first. Ideally I would like to upgrade on the same hardware (because it should be minimal impact - no need to migrate data). If this is not possible, we have new hardware I can use also. But I guess it will be more impact and actual data migration will be required.
For AAG what I'm honestly missing is what would be the name of the second SQL server? Lets say my servers called DB1 and DB2, and SQL server called DB. If I create AAG, and fail-over to replica server, would SQL server name be DB as well?
I know there is lots of documentation on AAG and I went through it but I cannot find any specific information about names.
Another question I have - would 3rd server (DB3) be part of the same MSCS cluster? Or it will be separate server? How fail-over exactly works - do I use Fail-over cluster Manager to initiate failover?
Sorry for lots of questions, but any information would be appreciated very much.
Thanks!