Removing AG and clustering - make nodes stand-alone

Question

I am wanting to make a 2-node Always On cluster no longer a cluster (make them (2) stand-alone machines). I am trying to upgrade Sql and the wizard keeps getting stopped before it does it checks because it is detecting it is a cluster and the two machines no longer are able to talk to each other. I have already deleted the AG and removed the Always-On check from the properties of the instance. The application is already coded to connect to the Primary so this is not an issue. I am now thinking I will need to break (delete) the cluster and remove it but I want to keep one of the nodes from being affected (they are prod servers) and up and running with no outage. Again, this is a 2-node Always-On cluster without shared storage (each server has it own local attached).

Has anyone ever done this? After the cluster is deleted, do the individual machines stay okay (up) and functional during it (deleting the cluster)?

Thanks

Answer 1

Yes, the machines stay up and running when the cluster is destroyed and it does not require a reboot. However, I would still recommend doing this after business hours if possible because things don't always work as designed.