Upgrades: Disable the HA cluster before you apply software upgrades. To upgrade an HA cluster,
upgrade each SMS server separately, and then re-establish the cluster. You cannot
upgrade the passive SMS server while HA is enabled because the low-level services
that are running on the passive node do not perform software upgrades or database
updates, and because database updates on the passive node break database replication
and as a result, data integrity.
Patches or hotfixes: Before applying a patch to an SMS HA cluster, determine whether the patch includes
database updates:
- If the patch contains database changes, be sure to disable the SMS HA cluster, apply the patch to each SMS server separately, and then re-establish the cluster. Applying a database patch while under SMS HA breaks database replication and as a result, data integrity. The patch process does not prevent you from applying a database patch while under SMS HA.
- If the patch does not contain database changes, initiate the patch process from the active SMS server. The active SMS server automatically propagates the patch to the passive SMS server. If the patch requires a restart of the SMS software or a reboot of the SMS server, the action takes place on both the active and passive SMS servers.