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We have a BizTalk Server install backed by a clustered SQL environment for high availability.

However, whenever the SQL environment is patched there is a momentary outage as part of node failover. Consequently the host instances stop and BizTalk shuts down (if we move to CU2 the host instances will automatically restart, but this is a separate issue).

This is undesirable, as it prevents incoming web requests and breaks open web service clients. As such, is there a strategy for gracefully patching SQL Server without a BizTalk outage?

Daniel Widdis
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Matt Mitchell
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    I don't think so - we've tried several tests as well - it seems when SQL fails over, it drops all connections. FWIW BizTalk is down for less than 60 seconds. More explanation on SQL failover here:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189134.aspx and here http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/1882/understanding-why-there-is-still-downtime-for-sql-server-with-microsoft-clustering/ – StuartLC Sep 07 '12 at 05:43
  • Is there a reason why you want don't want to patch BizTalk to CU2? – Nick Heppleston Sep 11 '12 at 10:43
  • @Nick Heppleston - It introduces a breaking change to SQL NULL handling that requires us to review existing apps and we haven't got around to this yet. However it's kind of beside the point (CU2 will bring the host instances back up, but there will still be a brief outage which will break open web requests for one). – Matt Mitchell Sep 12 '12 at 11:36

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It seems this is impossible. Marking this as the accepted answer until someone can pleasantly surprise me otherwise.

Matt Mitchell
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