"Jim Millard" wrote:

> I have a 2-node active/active cluster (SQL2KSP4 on Win2003sp1)
> supporting 3 instances (2 on one node, 1 on the other). I've received
> funding to upgrade the instances by adding new host nodes with
> better/faster hardware (Yay!).
>
> The end-result should be the 3 instances running active on the two new
> hosts (2 on one, 1 on the other, just like before), with each new host
> failing to an old host. Due to SQL licensing, I know I can't run active
> on more than 2 hosts; the third instance has very little load/activity,
> so I'm not concerned there.
>
> The questions are many:
>
> 1) can I accomplish this while keeping everything within the one windows
> cluster, or must I break it into two distinct clusters?
>
> 2) If I have to break it into two clusters, can I rename the existing
> cluster so that the old and new clusters (and their nodes) can fit a
> naming convention?
>
> 2a) Is possible to evict a node from a cluster, then bring it up as a
> different cluster (1-node) without re-installing SQL2K for each instance?
>
> 3) Is there any way to pre-install SQL2K on the cluster node that's
> being added to eliminate downtime?
>
> Any pointers or tips would be greatly appreciated!