Convert a Clustered Server

[RogerAli]

Hey all, we have converted a Physical Sever that is the primary node on the cluster. The cluster is a Microsoft Windows 2003 SP1 Cluster. The Cluster is no longer needed and we only want to bring over the OS and the D Drive with the data.

We decided to Convert before we destroy the cluster. After the conversion, the server comes up correctly but the Cluster Disk (D Drive) is unavailable. We can see the drive, its folder structure but when we click on any branch (including the root) of the drive, we get an error that the disk is unavailable.

Does anyone know how to properly convert a Cluster node to a standalone VM or a method to fix the D Drive for accessibility.

Thanks

Roger

[JeffST]

Hi,

I have the same setup. I would like to convert a Active/Passive (SQL) cluster to a standalone VM.

Has anyone done this already? Is Cold Migration the way to go?

Any tips? do's and donts?

Building a new VM is not really an option because of the amount of time the configuration of that particular machine will take.

[theanykey]

Was there any log of unreadable files in the agent log? Can you copy the files over as local admin? You could also try cold clone with the disk on just the D:\ drive.

[admin]

Most people who have converted clustered machines typically take a node and remove it from the cluster before converting. Trying to convert a node that is still part of a cluster will cause the resulting VM to have issues because it is still trying to connect to the cluster.

[SRVESX]

We are planning to convert MS SQL cluster to standalone VM using P2V. Thinking of removing one of the node and P2V the remaining node. Pangchen mentioned that resulting VM will have some issue. What are those issues and are there any workarounds? Has anyone successfully use this method? Thank you.

[ROBUS]

you have to remove the cluster settings of you VM manualy ! After you can access the disk !

use regedit32 ! take a look on microsoft documents ( how to remove cluster manualy )

ragards

[NavalgundRaj]

Hi RogerAli,

yes, we can convert using a free VMware converter and while converting include D drive also.

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Regards
Basavaraj.R Navalgund
banavalg@yahoo.com