Where do I go from here - multi master replication

[Robert Gunther]

I have had two Widnows servers running in multi-master configuration for a couple of years (currently v5.1.65) and everyone seems happy.

I would like to upgrade them to v5.5 - not for any specific reason or need of new features, I just do not want to get left behind.

Assuming I should even bother with the version upgrade (I see a lot of people on here still running 5.1), how can I go about it with NO downtime?

I do use both of the masters to perform write operations and I can direct all traffic to a single master do to maintenance on the second server.

So how can I go about it? I can't seem to grasp how to setup a new machine get it involved in the replication without keeping at least one of the servers online at all times.

I thought I would add a 3rd server and do a spoke type replication but I see that is not possible.

Most recently I was thinking about:

1) Moving all SQL tasks to point to Server A
2) Setup a new server (Server C)
3) Stop replication on Server B
4) Backup and restore the entire contents of Server B onto Server C

That would allow Server A to stay online at all times, allows me to upgrade and restore the databases from Server B.

Essentially Server C would become Server B.

How will the replication status information from Server B get restored onto Server C? Is the replication point information inone of the database tables?

Is what I'm thinking the way to go or can someone spot a better way to accomplish this?


Robert G.