I'm currently working with a two-node Windows Server 2019 cluster connected to iSCSI storage using MPIO. I paused one of the nodes, drained all its roles, and proceeded to upgrade it to Windows Server 2022. Unfortunately, I hit a couple of snags that I wasn't expecting. For starters, all my network adapters seemed to have reset, losing their configurations. Thankfully, I had backed up the details, but as I tried to rename them back, I discovered the names had been renumbered, making it a challenge to restore them as they used to be. It's as if there are orphaned devices that aren't showing up in Device Manager, no matter how I look. I'm baffled as to where they're hiding.
On top of that, the MPIO setup for my iSCSI connections is also acting weird—while it seems to be connecting, the disks aren't appearing in Disk Management, and my event log is flooded with issues regarding the LUN. I'm seriously considering removing the MPIO configuration and setting it up again from scratch. Has anyone else dealt with this kind of mess during an upgrade? I even spotted some registry keys that look like they were meant to save settings during the process, but it feels like the entire upgrade process has wreaked havoc on my setup. I thought in-place upgrades would be smoother than this, but it seems rebuilding might have been the better option all along.
2 Answers
For future upgrades, it's often simpler to add a third node with the new OS to your cluster rather than doing an in-place upgrade. Cycle out the older nodes one at a time for minimal downtime. Just a heads up, custom names for network interfaces typically don’t survive an upgrade cleanly, which can make this process more complex.
Did you not check the official documentation for the Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade? You might’ve missed some important steps!
Yeah, I did use that document for the upgrade process.
So true! These 2-node clusters can be a pain, especially with shared storage. They tend to run into issues, and having only two nodes just means more downtime if something goes wrong.