Migration issue using OR/Hot Pull on Windows 2003 Cluster- nodes hang while boot

Hi All;

I need your help regarding an issue I had while migrating a Windows 2003 2-node cluster.

I need to know the correct timings of the events to be carried out while migrating the servers – So here are the details of the events on the migration day: 

Ist Attempt:

-         Stopped applns

-         Moved all cluster resources to node 1, set cluster service to manual  and shut down node 2

-         Shut down the node 1

-         Create and activated OR session.

-         Bring node 1 up after 5% copy

When we tried this; the server was hanging while booting. (I guess this was due to the SCSI Reservations held by the OR session on the devices; and the OS was not able to claim the devices and hence it was hanging - correct me if I am wrong. )

So; nodes were shut down and we terminated the session using –force and –symforce flags.

And brought up node 1. (which came up without issues this time – and was able to see new disks)

IInd Attempt:

-         While node 1 was up and running; I created the OR session;

-         Attempted to activate the session – but session failed.

Again; node 1 was brought down and we terminated the session using –force and –symforce flags.

IIIrd Attempt:

-         Created OR session

-         Brought node 1 up and running

-         Activated OR session – so far everything was looking fine -

-         We attempted to bring cluster resource online – few were able to come online; but couple of them failed.

-         We proceeded with bringing node 2 online – but it was hanging while booting as before.

So we terminated the session; and backed out to the CX storage.

Should I have brought cluster resources and node 2 up and running before activating the OR session (in the 2nd step of 3rd attempt).  I didn’t  try that as we were running out of time – please let me know what you think.

Your input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,