Installing the SQL Failover Cluster in Windows Server 2008
Installing the Cluster Feature
To install and configure failover clustering, complete the following steps:
1. Right-click on My Computer and select Manage. 2. In the Server Manager window, select Features from the list and click on Add Features.
3. In the Add Features Wizard window, select the following features:
• Failover Clustering • Multipath IO (if you are planning to use MPIO)
4. Click Next. Confirm your selected features and click Install to continue. Confirm that the
Installations succeeded and click Close.
Installation is in progress.
Installation completed click Close.
5. Validate the cluster configuration using the Failover Cluster Management tool.
a. Ensure that all servers in your cluster are powered on and connected to the shared
storage.
b. Click Start?Programs?Administrative Tools?Failover Cluster Management to
run the Failover Cluster Management tool.
c. Right click on Failover Cluster Management àSelect Validate a Configuration… to run the validation wizard.
d. When prompted to select the servers you want to add, type in the system host name for each of the cluster nodes. Then click the Add button. When finished adding all nodes,click Next to continue. e. In the next screen, select which test to run for validation (selecting “Run all tests” is recommended, especially for the first validation attempt). Then click Next. f. After prompting you to confirm the tests you selected, the wizard runs the tests, and a Summary Report screen should display the results and indicate that all tests were completed successfully. All tests must pass with either a green check mark or in some cases a yellow triangle (warning).
Validation is in Process
Validation Result
g. When looking for problem areas (red X or yellow! marks), in the part of the report that summarizes the test results, click an individual test to review the details. Also review the summary statement for information about whether the cluster is considered a supported configuration. Active Directory Permission
Before creating the failover cluster delegate the object creation permissions to the user account which is going to use for cluster creation. Follow the steps to do it.
Select Delegate Control by Right click on sore.com domain. Give Next in Welcome to delegation control wizard.
From the Permission window check all and give Full control. Click Next.
6. Creating the Cluster.
Create Cluster Wizard appears, with some useful information regarding clustering. After reading, hit Next.
This is where you will enter the servers that will participate in you cluster. Just enter the name and hit Add for each one of them. I already did it for my two servers (Node1 & Node2).
b. Enter a Cluster Name - in our scenario cluster name is PaymentCluster. Only select the public network (with a check mark), and then assign a unique IP address for the cluster (100.101.102.111). Finally, click Next to create the cluster. c. After the cluster is created, make sure that the Public and Private networks are available,and that all shared storage disks are visible in the Failover Cluster Management tool.
Cluster is created
Configuring the Quorum in a Failover Cluster
In our scenario we are using 2 nodes cluster, so we have chosen the Quorum as Node and Disk Majority.
Quorum settings report.
SQL Server Installation in Node1
The system configuration is completed with no error.
System Configuration Report.
Correct any issues that are reported on the rules list. Errors block Setup, but warnings do not. It is a best practice to address all warnings and errors.
In the component selection window Select All. The default installation path is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\.
SQL Server Network Name — Specify a network name for the new SQL Server failover cluster. This is the name that is used to identify your failover cluster on the network. In our scenario PAYSQLSRV is SQL server name.
Instance ID — we have set instance name as PAYMENT. The instance name is used as the Instance ID. This is used to identify installation directories and registry keys for your instance of SQL Server.
Instance root directory — By default, the instance root directory is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\. To specify a no default root directory, use the field provided, or click the ellipsis button to locate an installation folder.
Detected SQL Server instances and features on this computer - The grid shows instances of SQL Server that are on the computer where Setup is running. If a default instance is already installed on the computer, you must install a named instance of SQL Server 2008.
Click Next to continue.
The cluster disk is where the SQL Server data will be stored. More than one disk can be specified. The Available shared disks box displays a list of available disks, whether each is qualified as a shared disk, and a description of each disk resource. Click Next to continue. In our scenario we have given F: (Cluster drive 4) drive to store the DB data.
Note: The first drive is used as the default drive for all databases, but it can be changed on the Database Engine or Analysis Services configuration pages.
On the Cluster Network Configuration page, specify the network resources for your failover cluster instance:
The following screenshot displays the cluster security policies available for Windows Server 2008. In Windows Server 2008 and later versions, service SIDs (server security IDs) are the recommended and default setting. The option to specify domain groups is available but not recommended. This is displayed in the following screen shot.
Click Next to continue.
You can assign the same login account to all SQL Server services, or you can configure each service account individually. The startup type is set to manual for all cluster-aware services, including full-text search and SQL Server Agent, and cannot be changed during installation. Microsoft recommends that you configure service accounts individually to provide least privileges for each service, where SQL Server services are granted the minimum permissions they have to have complete their tasks. To specify the same login account for all service accounts in this instance of SQL Server, provide credentials in the fields at the bottom of the page.
After a device establishes a successful connection to SQL Server, the security mechanism is the same for both Windows authentication and Mixed Mode.
Click OK. Verify the list of administrators in the configuration dialog box. When the list is complete, click Next.
We selected default settings.
Click Next to continue.
Click Next.
Adding Node to SQL failover cluster
The System Configuration Checker will run a discovery operation on your computer. To continue, click OK. Setup log files have been created for your installation.
When you are finished specifying login information for SQL Server services, click Next.
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