Adding SQL Server Availability Group (AG) to an Exiting Failover Cluster Instance (FCI) – Part2 of 2

 

4. Validate Windows Failover Cluster Owners

Click on "Roles in "Failover Cluster Manager" then Right Click on “SQL Server” and Select “Properties”

Make sure Preferred Owners are set to the 2 FCI Nodes and clear the check from the DR Node then click “OK”

Scroll down and select “SQL Server” from “Other Resources”

Right Click and select “Properties” then go to "Advanced Policies (tab item)". Validate that the possible owners as set to the 2 FCI Nodes then Click “OK”

5. Activate SQL Server AlwaysOn

We need to activate the SQL Server AlwaysOn Feature on All Servers (On the FCI you can activate it on the active instance only and it will reflect on the other node). The below script must be ran from the Active FCI Node:

6. Configure SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Group

To configure the AlwaysOn Availability Group we need to Login to the Active FCI Node and do the following steps:

· Create a new Database that will be used to prestige the Availability Group.

· Take a full backup of the new Database.

Notes:

· Creating the Database is straight forward and will not be covered within this post for simplicity.

· This database will be deleted after the completion of AlwaysOn Configuration

· In my scenario I create a new database called “TempDB1”.

Open SQL Server Management Studio >> Connect to the FCI >> Right click and select "New Availability Group Wizard… (menu item)"

Click on "Next" in "New Availability Group"

Enter "Availability group name:" in "New Availability Group” then click on "Next" in "New Availability Group"

Select the “TempDB1” we created earlier and click “Next”.

Click on “Add Replica” and “Connect” to the DR Instance

After adding the DR as a Replica, validate the Availability Group Settings and Click on “Next”.

Select “Full" and enter the “Shared Network Path” then Click “Next”

Click “Next” on “Validation Screen”.

Click on "Finish” in "New Availability Group" and make sure that the wizard completes successfully.

Expand the Availably Group Listeners and click on "Add Listener… (menu item)"

Fill the listener information and click OK to complete the Listener Configuration.

After following these steps the configuration Failover Cluster Instance is extended to use the Availability Group in DR and the scenario is completed, hope you find it useful.