In order to plan everything ahead, we need to prepare some IPs and names as well as Network Configuration
How many nodes can have in a Windows cluster?
What is the Maximum number of supported nodes in a cluster?
Operating SystemNodes
Windows Server 2012, Enterprise x64 Edition1-64 Nodes
Operating System Nodes
Windows Server 2008, Enterprise x64 Edition 1-16 Nodes
Windows Server 2008, Datacenter x64 Edition 1-16 Nodes
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise  1-16 Nodes
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter  1-16 Nodes
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 1-16 Nodes
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition 1-16 Nodes
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition 1-16 Nodes
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems 1-16 Nodes
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition 1-16 Nodes
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition 1-16 Nodes
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-based Systems 1-16 Nodes
Windows 2000 Datacenter Server 1-4 Fibre Channel 1-4 Nodes
Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition 1-4 Nodes
Windows 2000 Advanced Server  1-4 Nodes
Windows 2000 Datacenter Server  1-4 Nodes
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition 1-4 Nodes
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition  1-4 Nodes
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition  1-4 Nodes
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition                            1-4 Nodes
Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition  1-4 Nodes
Windows 2000 Advanced Server 1-4 Nodes

In order to plan everything ahead, we need to prepare some IPs and names as well as Network Configuration
During the deployment you will be using IPs and Names for the following
1- Windows Cluster
2- DTC
3- SQLYou can plan for those and document them for use ahead of time, just to save yourself some time
How many IP addresses/names do you need for 2 node cluster? 
Here’s a list:
IP(Public & Private)  Required :( Check below for more details)
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1 : For Sql Server Clustering : 2 node Active/Passive Cluster with 1 SQL Instance ? How many ip:7
2 : For Sql Server Clustering : 2 node Active/Passive Cluster with 2 SQL Instance  ?how many  ip:8
Require IP Address/Names for 2 Node SQL/Windows Cluster:
Resources  Number of IPs
Private Network,i,e Heart Beat (one per node) : 2 IP's
Public Network (one per node)                       : 2 IP's
MSDTC                                                         : 1 IP's
Windows Cluster Name                                  : 1 IP's
SQL Server Cluster Name                                : 1 IP's
In case for installing a Multi-instance Failover Cluster,
then it should have additional SQL Server Cluster names and IP addresses.


No.IP Description Hostname IP Address Subnet Mask Default Gateway
IP Add:1 Cluster IP Address XXCLUSTER 192.168.1.3 255.255.255.0 N/A
IP Add:2 SQL Instance IP Address XX2010SQL 192.168.1.5 255.255.255.0 N/A
IP Add:3 SQL Instance IP Address XX2010SQL 192.168.1.6 255.255.255.0 N/A
IP Add:4 MSDTC Virtual IP XX2010SQLDtc 192.168.1.4 255.255.255.0 N/A
IP Add:5 SQL Cluster Node 1 Node1 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0 172.21.X.1
IP Add:6 SQL Cluster Node 2 Node 2 192.168.1.2 255.255.255.0 172.21.X.1
IP Add:7 HeartBeat interface on Node1 Node1 10.10.10.1 255.0.0.0 N/A
IP Add:8 HeartBeat interface on Node1 Node 2 10.10.10.2 255.0.0.0 N/A

Detail Description Cluster Expressions and Descriptions ( IP Address and Name Conversions)


Parameter Expressions Example Describe
Domain Name MyDomain.com jayant.com
Node 1 Name ClusterNode1 ClusterNode1
Node 2 Name ClusterNode2 ClusterNode2
Node 1 Public Network IP Address/Mask 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0 IP Add:1
Node 2 Public Network IP Address/Mask 192.168.1.2/255.255.255.0 192.168.1.2/255.255.255.0 IP Add:2
Private Network IP Address on Node1 10.10.10.1/255.0.0.0 10.10.10.1/255.0.0.0 IP Add:3
Private Network IP Address on Node2 10.10.10.2/255.0.0.0 10.10.10.2/255.0.0.0 IP Add:4
Admin Account Name and Password Administrator/P@sswOrd101 UserID/P@sswOrd101 UID1
Windows Cluster Virtual Name WindowsCLUSTER WindowsCLUSTER
Windows Cluster IP Address 192.168.1.3/255.255.255.0 192.168.1.3/255.255.255.0 IP Add:5
MSDTC IP Address 192.168.1.4/255.255.255.0 192.168.1.4/255.255.255.0 IP Add:6
MSDTC Network Name MSDTC MSDTC
Virtual SQL Server Name (default or named)/SQL Inst1 SQLCLUSTER\MyInstance1 Jayant\SQLServerInst1
Virtual SQL Instance1   IP Address 192.168.1.5/255.255.255.0 192.168.1.5/255.255.255.0 IP Add:7
Virtual SQL Server Name (default or named)/SQL Inst2 SQLCLUSTER\MyInstance Jayant\SQLServer
Virtual SQL Instance2   IP Address 192.168.1.6/255.255.255.0 192.168.1.6/255.255.255.0 IP Add:8
Cluster Service Account Name and Password ClusterSVC/P@sswOrd101 ClusterSVC/P@sswOrd101 UID2
SQL Service Account Name and Password SQL2K5SVC/P@sswOrd101 SQL2K5SVC/P@sswOrd101 UID3
SQL Server Domain Group Name SQL Server Admins SQL Server Admins
MSDTC Disk Letter M: M:
Quorum Disk Letter Q: Q:
Share Drives: Drive letter for SQL Server database files N, O, P N, O, P






  • Windows Failover Cluster Name and IP: The windows cluster itself gets a name, but you won’t use that to access the SQL Server. (It’s just for cluster management purposes.)
  • SQL Server Network Name and IP: Each SQL Server instance gets its own name and IP that can move around the cluster. This is a good thing. This *is* what you use to talk to the SQL Server.
  • DTC Name(s) and IP(s): The number you need depends on how your cluster and DTC are configured. See the link on the MSDTC question above.
  • Physical Server Names and IPs: Just like any other server, each physical node gets a name and IP so you can manage it.
How do you determine the "active" node inside a stored proc for an active/passive 2-node cluster?
SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('ComputerNamePhysicalNetBIOS')
How to change cluster IP address or move the default cluster group in Windows Server 2008?
In WS2003 it was possible from cluadmin UI interface. This time I spent half an hour looking through the UI but could not find such an option (I provided the IP on creation of the cluster and from then on it seems gone from UI). so the option is to use cluster.exe:
c:\cluster res
Listing status for all available resources:
Resource             Group                                                  Node              Status
——————–     ——————–                                   —————    ——
Cluster Disk 1           Cluster Group                                           HV1DC2          Online
Cluster Disk 2           SCVMM WS08_1 Resources                       HV1DC1          Online
Cluster IP Address     Cluster Group                                           HV1DC2          Online
Cluster Name            Cluster Group                                           HV1DC2          Online
SCVMM WS08_1        SCVMM WS08_1 Resources                       HV1DC1          Offline
SCVMM WS08_1        Configuration SCVMM WS08_1 Resources    HV1DC1          Online
c:\cluster res "Cluster IP Address" /priv
Listing private properties for ‘Cluster IP Address’:
T  Resource             Name                           Value
– ——————– —————————— ———————–
FTR Cluster IP Address   LeaseObtainedTime              1601-01-01 01:00:00
FTR Cluster IP Address   LeaseExpiresTime                 1601-01-01 01:00:00
SR Cluster IP Address   DhcpServer                            255.255.255.255
SR Cluster IP Address   DhcpAddress                          0.0.0.0
SR Cluster IP Address   DhcpSubnetMask                    255.0.0.0
S  Cluster IP Address   Network                                   Cluster Network 1
S  Cluster IP Address   Address                                   172.0.30.102
S  Cluster IP Address   SubnetMask                              255.255.0.0
D  Cluster IP Address   EnableNetBIOS                         2 (0×2)
D  Cluster IP Address   OverrideAddressMatch               0 (0×0)
D  Cluster IP Address   EnableDhcp                              0 (0×0)
c:\cluster res "Cluster IP Address" /priv address=172.0.30.101
With cluster.exe you can see the cluster groups and resources that normally are not exposed in the Failover Cluster Management UI.
The other option you might find useful is moving the default cluster group to another node (e.g. a simple patch Tuesday scenario):
c:\cluster group
Listing status for all available resource groups:
Group                  Node                       Status——————–  —————              ——
Available Storage     HV1DC2                     Offline
Cluster Group          HV1DC2                     Online
SCVMM WS08_1 Resources HV1DC1          Offline
c:\cluster group "Cluster Group" /Move:hv1dc1
Moving resource group ‘Cluster Group’…
Group                Node            Status
——————– ————— ——
Cluster Group        HV1DC1          Online

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MS SQL Server DBA Checklist - High Availability - Clustering
-- Detailed planning is critical to the success of every SQL Server cluster installation. Fully plan the install before performing the actual install.
-- An expensive cluster is of little value if the supporting infrastructure is not also fault tolerant. For example, don’t forget power redundancy, network redundancy, etc.
-- Run only a single instance of SQL Server per node. Whether you have two or eight nodes in your cluster, leave at least one node as a failover node.
-- Cluster nodes must not be domain controllers, and all nodes must belong in the same domain and should have access to two or more domain controllers.
-- Since clustering is not designed to protect data (only SQL Server instances), the shared storage device used by the cluster must incorporate fault tolerant technology. Consider log shipping or mirroring to further protect your production databases.
-- When initially installing Windows and SQL Server Clustering, be sure that all drivers and software are up-to-date, including the latest service packs or hot fixes.
-- Each node of a cluster should have identical hardware, drivers, software, and configuration settings.
-- Once the cluster has been installed, test it thoroughly for every possible failure scenario.
-- Do not run antivirus or antispyware on a SQL Server cluster.
-- Monitor active production clusters on a daily basis, looking for any potential problems. Periodically test failover on production servers to ensure all is working well.
-- Once you have a stable SQL Server Cluster running, be very leery about making any changes to it, whatsoever.