How to Upgrade a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Cluster to a Windows Server 2003 Cluster (301538)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
- Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition 4.0
This article was previously published under Q301538 SUMMARY This article describes how to upgrade a Windows NT Server,
Enterprise Edition 4.0 server cluster to a Windows Server 2003 Enterprise
Server cluster. Because there is a two version difference between Windows NT
4.0 and Windows Server 2003 in the Cluster service, a rolling upgrade is not
supported. This means that the server cluster will be unavailable for client
access during the upgrade to Windows Server 2003. How to Upgrade The following procedure describes the upgrade to Windows Server
2003. Both nodes in the cluster must be running Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 5
or higher. Verify that the programs that are running on the Windows NT 4.0
cluster will run in Windows Server 2003 after the upgrade. If you are upgrading
a server cluster that contains an IIS or MSMQ resource type, see the online
help or the "Getting Started" guide. The following instructions assume two
nodes that are labeled NodeA and NodeB. NodeA is upgraded first, followed by
NodeB. Before you start the upgrade, verify that all users are disconnected
because all cluster resources will be unavailable during the upgrade.
- Create a complete backup of NodeA, NodeB, and all of the
shared disks in the server cluster.
- Set the Cluster service on NodeA and NodeB to
manual.
- Turn off NodeB.
NOTE: To prevent possible damage to the shared disk, note that only
one node can be turned on during the upgrade to Windows Server 2003 in a
Windows NT 4.0 server cluster. - Stop the Cluster service on NodeA.
- Upgrade NodeA to Windows Server 2003 by following the
instructions on the screen.
- Once the upgrade finishes, manually start the Cluster
service on NodeA.
- Start Cluster Administrator, and then verify that all of
the resources are online.
IMPORTANT: If all of the resources do not come online as expected, do not
continue. You can use one of the following two options if there is a failure
and the server cluster needs to be brought back online:
- Turn off NodeA (newly upgraded to Windows Server 2003),
and then turn on NodeB (still running Windows NT 4.0) bring online all of the
resources and run the server cluster with one node. When there is downtime,
troubleshoot NodeA and the resources that will not come online.
- Restore NodeA from your backup to restore the original
Windows NT 4.0 installation.
- Set the Cluster service back to automatic on
NodeA.
- Turn off NodeA.
- Upgrade NodeB to Windows Server 2003 by following the
instructions on the screen.
- Once the upgrade finishes, manually start the Cluster
service on NodeB.
- Start Cluster Administrator, and then verify that all
resources are online.
- Set the Cluster service back to automatic on
NodeB.
- Turn on NodeA and it will automatically join the cluster
that NodeB is hosting.
MORE INFORMATION If a rolling upgrade is required, complete a rolling
upgrade from Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition 4.0 to Microsoft Windows
2000 Advanced Server on both nodes in the cluster, and then complete a rolling
upgrade to Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Server.
Modification Type: | Minor | Last Reviewed: | 2/27/2006 |
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Keywords: | kbPubTypeKC kbClustering kbhowto kbsetup KB301538 |
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