I’m working on an infrastructure upgrade for our BI 4.1 platform. I am looking to add a series of new host servers to an existing cluster.
The issues I am finding are as follows:
1: New servers being allocated are Windows Server 2012 R2. The existing hosts are Windows Server 2008 R2. While there’s nothing out there that says explicitly that this is ‘not supported’, there are notations in various spots that say all hosts should be the same build level, patch level, same disk, memory, cpu configurations, etc.
2: The existing cluster is at BI 4.1 SP5 patch 6. the Admin Guide states that adding a new host to a cluster should be at the same patch level.
Other than ‘while it’s not a supported solution, try it and see if it works’, are there any best practices or recommendations on how to go about bringing new hosts onto an existing cluster without a lot of extra legwork? Since the installations are long (and in many cases, quite painful) I am hoping to reduce the ‘overhead’ wherever possible, while trying to maintain a ‘supported platform configuration’.
Ideally, it would be ‘nice’ to be able to use the SP5 full build to install the new host, joining it to the existing cluster, then patching the new host to SP5 Patch 6 while under a ‘maintenance window’. I suppose if we moved to the root SP6, in theory we could do this, but I’ve historically never been one to go to a root build of a new SP, and instead have opted to at least wait until patch 1 before considering it.
That, and I really REALLY miss the ‘forward fit plan’… just sayin!
Correct. Simply put, if you don’t follow these two bit of advice you will face issues.
Make sure they are all patched to the same level before clustering is my advice.
These things take as long as they take, I know one thing, saving time now will cost you later, should you decide to go along the non-supported path.
Can you send me the link to the document/post that says "all hosts should be the same build level, patch level, same disk, memory, cpu configurations, etc. "
We currently have our setup where we have VM’s that do not have the same memory/cpu configurations but are on the same OS Version. (Plan is to add Windows Server 2012 at current BO patch levels and remove the older 2008 servers)
Our current setup is BI 4.1 SP5 Patch 6, 2 CMS (8 vCPU 40GB RAM) + 8 non-CMS (8 vCPU 20-40 GB) servers.
We are planning to go back to Physical servers as we have seen performance issues with the above VM’s.
The SAP BI 4.x nodes do not have to have the same hard disks, RAM, or CPUs. But they should be on the same OS Patch level and same SAP BI 4.x patch level.
Regarding Virtualization: All resources should be reserved on the virtual host!
Also look for contention, e.g. virtual machines competing for I/O or network bandwidth/virtual LAN adapters, etc.
I would suggest it is easier to configure a cluster if the component machines are the same HW specification. However, not a pre-requisite like the same level of BO software patches.
Appears they did not explicitly state disk, that may have just leaked into my mind. Some of these things state ‘for best performance’, but who really wants to have ‘meidocre’ performance?
Based on the feedback here, as well as the other pieces of information I have gathered, it would appear that my best bet is to stand up another environment and migrate to it, vs trying to have multiple staging environments to patch up hosts, then re-point them to the existing cluster.
As a secondary thought, I wonder what pain I would endure going to the root of SP6, onboarding the new hosts over a couple weekends, then patching to P1 or P2 after (assuming they will exist by then).
This way I can do it from a full build and not have to worry about the patch level mismatch…
Just seems painful that we can’t install direct into the existing SP5 P6 cluster from the SP5 full build, then immediately patch to P6 on the new host…
If only we had forward fit, where it was easy to see what I roll back by going to SP6 from SP5P6…
ideas.sap.com…if someone has had the idea already vote for it, if they haven’t create it - then come back to the sticky topic in General Discussion and tell us - you might even get a few votes
Nick,
I am familiar with the ‘Idea Graveyard’ .
This was a feature that SAP stopped maintaining in July 2014, and replaced it with "Please refer to issues SAP notes for their associated forward fit information. "
Patching takes enough time as it is, without having to open a few hundred SAP Notes to see which SP5 “Patches” are included in the root of the SP6 support pack.
(BOB member since 2009-06-11)
(BOB member since 2005-01-06)
(BOB member since 2002-06-20)
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