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In-place upgrade of SQL Failover Cluster Instance

Marcus Wong Theen Nam 1,111 Reputation points
2021-03-25T04:55:31.81+00:00

I'm about to perform a in-place upgrade of existing SQL Failover Cluster Instance. I found this link from Microsoft but would like to confirm something.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/failover-clusters/windows/upgrade-a-sql-server-failover-cluster-instance?view=sql-server-ver15

  1. If I'm about to upgrade the SQL Server version only without updating the Windows Server version, is it just by running the SQL Setup.exe on each of the node will do? For eg: currently is SQL FCI 2012, if I want to upgrade to 2016, just running SQL Server 2016 setup.exe on each node will do?
  2. What are the risks of doing this rolling upgrade? Because I don't any info about this from above URL.
  3. Appreciate to have a steps by steps instruction/anything I need to take care before doing this upgrade?

Thank you.

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  1. Shashank Singh 6,246 Reputation points
    2021-03-25T07:21:09.813+00:00

    For eg: currently is SQL FCI 2012, if I want to upgrade to 2016, just running SQL Server 2016 setup.exe on each node will do?

    First please make sure that SQL Server 2016 is supported on OS where SQL Server 2012 was running. See hardware-and-software-requirements-for-installing-sql-server 2016. Now for the question, yes, if you go ahead and upgrade each node then your SQL Server will be upgraded. Make sure you always update passive node.

    What are the risks of doing this rolling upgrade? Because I don't any info about this from above URL.

    The risk is if upgrade fails, for some reason you would have to work hard to resolve it. Some components might get upgraded and some might not. So you may be have to remove SQL Server and add it back and then do upgrade again. To avoid this run DMA first to be sure.

    Appreciate to have a steps by steps instruction/anything I need to take care before doing this upgrade

    See the plan-and-test-the-database-engine-upgrade-plan

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  1. CarrinWu-MSFT 6,856 Reputation points
    2021-03-26T07:02:37.863+00:00

    Hi @MarcusWong-9726,

    1. If I'm about to upgrade the SQL Server version only without updating the Windows Server version, is it just by running the SQL Setup.exe on each of the node will do? For eg: currently is SQL FCI 2012, if I want to upgrade to 2016, just running SQL Server 2016 setup.exe on each node will do?

    Yes, just running setup.exe in the root folder. But before you upgrade sql server, please do checklist as below:
    • Before upgrading from one edition of SQL Server 2016 (13.x) to another, verify that the functionality you are currently using is supported in the edition to which you are moving.
    • Before upgrading SQL Server, enable Windows Authentication for SQL Server Agent and verify the default configuration: that the SQL Server Agent service account is a member of the SQL Server sysadmin group.
    • To upgrade to SQL Server 2016 (13.x), you must be running a supported operating system.
    • Upgrade will be blocked if there is a pending restart.
    • Upgrade will be blocked if the Windows Installer service is not running.
    Please refer to Supported version & edition upgrades (SQL Server 2016) to get more details.

    1. What are the risks of doing this rolling upgrade? Because I don't any info about this from above URL.

    If the upgrade is failed, need to find the root cause according to different environments. So before you upgrade it, do checklist and test. Here has an example about Error when you try to upgrade the cluster node

    1. Appreciate to have a steps by steps instruction/anything I need to take care before doing this upgrade?

    Before upgrading the Database Engine, review the Pre-upgrade planning checklist.

    Best regards,
    Carrin

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