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kcode
Asked: 2009-10-06 22:37:03 +0800 CST

Running Windows 2008 Server in Windows 2003 Cluster

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we run a cluster using 2xWindows 2003 Server + 2x Windows 2003r2 Server. Now we want to add 2 Windows 2008(r2?) Server to the fail over cluster. Is that possible? Or is it required to use the same OS (2008/2003) for all cluster nodes?

Thank you

windows

2 Answers

  1. You can do a "rolling upgrade", i.e. upgrade each node at a time to Windows Server 2008.

    http://blogs.msdn.com/clustering/archive/2008/08/28/8904281.aspx

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  2. Best Answer

    I believe that you have to go all Windows Server 2008 for a cluster. There are MANY new features in Windows Server 2008 clustering, plus it's built on a different kernel than Windows Server 2003.

    If you're running a cluster, I'm guessing it's because you need the availability, so I'd advice against messing with such a setup as you propose..

    Now, W2k8 clustering isn't as picky as previous versions when it comes to hardware, you may want to set up a separate cluster with Windows Server 2008, then move workloads over from the W2k3 cluster manually, and then finally reinstall the older nodes with W2k8 and add them to the cluster. Should get away with very little downtime.. :)

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