Solaris

Yesterday my customer told me to expect a vcs upgrade to happen in the future. He also plans to stop using HDS and move to EMC.

Am thinking how to migrate to sun cluster setup instead.

My plan as follows leave the existing vcs intact as a fallback plan.

Then install and build suncluster on existing production servers which are connected to both HDS and EMC storage. configure the suncluster to use emc disk whilst vcs is still attached to HDS storage.

Once suncluster+EMC and all filesystems are created and working properly get a downtime copy data over from old vcs setup. then test with the application in the sun cluster.

My questions as follows:
1) Does anybody forsee any problems if vcs and suncluster cluster setups co-exist side by side?

2) Anybody done any similar cluster migrations in the past?

Assuming that your using SVM to mirror your root disk, I would, first be sure to break the root mirror and make the mirror bootable to ensure you have a way to get back to a working cluster. Disable VCS. Install Sun Cluster and migrate your data to the EMC frame. Then configure your Sun Cluster.

hi garskoci,

They have a couple of old clusters running on veritas. The os disk all are svm except for one that is still using veritas volume manager.

Can I build a sun cluster that is running parallel to the old vcs without disabling the old vcs?

It sounds like you want to build a parallel Sun Cluster while VCS is active. WOW! My initial reaction would be no. But.... Why not? Since you're going to be using on a completely different storage frame. You would be looking at a second set of resources, such as VIP's. You already have the SAN. Even if you're able to get fairly far into the build, you won't be able to test it very well. Honestly, I don't know the answer you're looking for. If it were me, I would start by disabling and shutting down VCS. If they can't give you a maintenance window to do the work, do they understand the risk of having this box sitting there like a dead fish? Be sure to break the mirroring so you have a quick way to get back to a running and healthy cluster.
"I" still would not go this route. You will most likely create a lot more headaches than what you may be prepared for.
Is it possible for you to take one of the nodes out of the VCS cluster and build that one as a Sun Cluster? Easily done if you have a active/passive cluster. Then you would have two one node clusters. Your VCS cluster can keep your production apps up and running during your build of the Sun Cluster node. Once finished, you can add the VCS node to your Sun Cluster node.

garskoci,

yes that was my plan to have 1 sun cluster and keep the other vcs running parallel the purpose is for safety to keep the old vcs configuration just in case the sun cluster setup is a bust but I have to agree with you that this may create many problems and new unforseen ones and more risky than anticipated.

I think your approach to have 2 single node cluster will be a better idea and less complex.

thanx for your advice (=

Good luck! Please post an update. I'd like to know how it works out for you.