Restoring the primary host

After a disaster, if the original Primary becomes available again you may want to revert the role of the Primary back to this host.

To restore the Primary role to the original Primary host

  1. Detach the user database. See the Microsoft documentation for instructions.

    Note that the master, model, and tempdb, databases cannot be detached.

  2. Take the RVG resource offline on both the clusters.
  3. Depending on whether you performed Takeover with or without fast-failback option, do one of the following:

    • For Takeover with the Fast-failback option, the original Primary, after it has recovered, will be in the Acting as Secondary state. If the original Primary is not in the Acting as Secondary state, verify whether your network connection has been restored.

      To synchronize this original Primary and the new Primary, use the Resynchronize Secondaries option from the right-click menu of the new Primary.

    • For Takeover without the Fast-failback option, after you have performed this operation, you must convert the original Primary to a Secondary using the Make Secondary option.

      Before performing the Make Secondary operation, the original Primary's RVG and the new Primary's RVG will be shown in separate RDSs. However, after this operation they will be merged under a single RDS.

      After the Make Secondary operation, the original Primary will be converted to a secondary. Right-click this secondary RVG and select Start Replication with Synchronize Automatically option.

  4. After the synchronization is complete, perform a migrate operation to transfer the Primary role back to the original Primary. To do this, right-click the Primary RVG and select Migrate from the menu.
  5. Ensure that the volumes have retained the same drive letters that existed before the disaster.
  6. Bring the RVG resource online on the Secondary.
  7. Bring the SQL group online on the original Primary.
  8. Attach the databases on the original Primary. See the Microsoft documentation for instructions.