Hello Guys, i'm not very SQL techie ...
I'm trying to think a way to upgrade a SQL 2005 Cluster Instance installed on windows 2003 Itanium to SQL 2008R2 Cluster Instance over a Windows 2008 R2 X64 Cluster (new Hardware and possible new SAN).
My primary requisite is the least downtime possible and having a way to fall back to SQL 2005 if the need arises. There are 2 small DB's and on big DB of 1 Tb.
With this in mind, Detach and Attach is no a possible path. Also Backup and restore was not my 1st shot because a full backup can take 20 hours to complete.
So I was thinking on Mirroring or log shipping migration, but I'm not sure if this is possible with this scenario from Cluster to Cluster and from Itanium to X64.
Also my original configuration as now a considerable usage on CPU medium of 70% give or take, so mirroring could really harm the CPU, can you guys share some thoughts? What main constrains will I face and the best way to go ...