April 14, 2015 at 3:45 am
I'm building a new SQL Server that will be using Availability Groups (AG), the databases will be deployed by an external vendor using an automated tool they use.
My original plan was to have them initially deploy their databases connecting to the Primary Server as the AG won't exist, once they've deployed their databases I can create the AG and add the new databases to it. Once the AG is setup I'll have the new Listener running and the Vendor will need to re-deploy their application servers etc to update the connection details that their application will connect via.
To simplify things as the vendor is a little 'difficult', is it possible to create the Listener AD Object (Computer Name and IP Address) prior to setting up the AG, and have the IP Address point at the Primary Server, then after they've deployed their databases, I can create the AG, and repoint the Listener AD Object at the real IP Address I intend to use for the Listener?
If I do the above, it will simply be a matter of giving the external vendor the future Listener name, they will be able to deploy their databases, all of their apps will have the correct connection details, all prior to the AG and Listener existing. Is this possible? and does it make any sense?
Thanks in advance
April 14, 2015 at 4:21 am
April 14, 2015 at 4:52 am
bjcharles (4/14/2015)
check out this link: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731002(WS.10).aspx#BKMK_steps_precreating2
Thanks for the link, this appears to relate to the Failover Cluster AD Account, I've already created this and the Failover Cluster is up and running.
But it is similar to what I want to do, I'm looking at Prestaging the Listener AD Entries ...
April 14, 2015 at 5:42 am
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April 14, 2015 at 3:21 pm
Has anyone else done this successfully?
April 15, 2015 at 12:50 am
All appears to have worked fine, incase anyone is reading this in the future I did the following ...
- Created Active Directory Computer Object with the name of the future AG Listener
- Created a DNS A Record pointing the name of my future AG Listener at the IP Address of the current primary SQL Server
Once the new databases have been created by the Vendor, I'll delete the DNS Entry, then create the Availability Group aswell as the new Listener.
April 15, 2015 at 5:08 am
pre staging the AD computer account and DNS record for the listener is a common task and so wont be an issue. As you've found out already just unbind the IP from the NIC and then supply the name and IP to the wizard when you create the AG listener
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
April 16, 2015 at 8:36 pm
We tend to use DNS aliases (CNAME) for all our application connections so if we ever change servers we just update the alias in DNS and don't need to touch the app.
In your case I would have supplied the vendor with the alias dbNewApp and pointed that at the server. Once the AG environment was built and the listener live I would then update DNS to point dbNewApp at the listener instead.
That is similar to what you did but your application is currently hard configured to the listener name which makes it harder if you ever need to move it away from the AG servers if other apps share the listener.
Switching the app from using the server name to a listener name can then potentially be done without an outage as well.
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