easy way to do rolling upgrades for sql server

SQL Server Rolling Upgrades—The Easy Way!

By Argenis Fernandez

Senior Database Engineer, SurveyMonkey

© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

About Your Speaker Today


» SQL Server MVP

» Member of the Database Engineering team at SurveyMonkey

» Formerly: Senior Consultant, Microsoft Consulting Services & Senior DBA at Outerwall and Ultimate Software

» Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008, Microsoft Certified Solutions Master: Charter - Data Platform

» 2014 Friend of Red Gate Software

» 2012-2013 Idera SQL Server ACE

» DBA/Dev/SysAdmin for 15 years

» Regular Speaker (PASS Summit, PASS SQLRally, SQLBitsXI, TechEd 2013, IT/DevConnections)

» Founded and lead the Security Virtual Chapter for PASS

» Twitter enthusiast; infrequent blogger.


What is a Rolling Upgrade?

“Upgrade of a software version, performed without a noticeable downtime or other

disruption of service”


Scope for Today’s Talk

» Heavy focus on Database Mirroring (Because it’s actually easy!)

» Will evaluate Log Shipping as an alternative for rolling upgrades

» Explore (not in detail) how to handle Availability Groups on SQL Server 2012 and SQL Server 2014

» FCI (Clusters) – brief mention

» We will NOT discuss OS-level upgrades. That’s an ENTIRELY different talk!


Features and Builds

» Database Mirroring: SQL Server 2005 SP1 and above

» Failover Cluster Instances: SQL Server 2008 RTM and above

» Availability Groups: SQL Server 2012 RTM and above


In-Place Upgrades Are Not Great.

» Too much risk inherent to upgrade process

» There is no easy way to test an in-place upgrade

» The last thing you want to find out is that the upgrade failed, and you’re left with a brick

» Clean installs on freshly imaged servers are always recommended, if you can afford to have them


Mirroring for Rolling Upgrades?

» High Availability!

» Available in Standard Edition

» No need for a WSFC (Windows Server Failover Cluster)

» Duplication of data offers a plausible rollback plan, while still maintaining minimal downtime

» You do NOT need similar hardware for the mirror


Rolling Upgrades with Mirroring: BOL Diagram Edition


Demo

Rolling Upgrade Using Database Mirroring


Log Shipping Is Underrated

» Included with every Edition of SQL Server

» Mirroring was once referred to as “Real-time Log Shipping”

» You can use the GUI to set it up, or roll your own

» SQL Server jobs can run every 10 seconds, but you can roll your own scripts and copy/restore even more frequently


Demo

Rolling Upgrade using Log Shipping


What About Availability Groups?

» “It’s Complicated!” – Not really

» It might indeed appear complex, but follow best practices and you’re on your way

» Always upgrade the remote instances first, then the local secondaries, THEN the primary

» Take cautionary measures to avoid downtime!

» Best reference I can point to is: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn178483.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn178483.aspx


Demo

Rolling Upgrade using Availability Groups


FCI (Failover Clustered Instances)

» Upgrade passive node(s), then failover and upgrade the active node

» The database will be upgraded upon failover, just like in all the previous cases.

Questions?



Download your free trial of SolarWinds DPA

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» Fast install, very minimal load

» www.solarwinds.com/dpa

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Thank You!

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easy way to do rolling upgrades for sql server

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