SQLServer.in

SQL Server 2008 got several changes with respect to the older versions of SQL Server. The GUI for 

implementation itself is quite different. 

 

SQL Server failover cluster instance has to be created on seperate resource group which will contain the

following resources

SQL Network Name
SQL IP Address
One or more share disks
SQL Server database engine service
SQL Server agent service
SQL Server analysis service if installed
File share resource if installed.

The most used cluster configurations with SQL 2008 would be as follows:-

Single failover cluster instance – 2 node cluster:
   This is the normal configuration , we say active-passive , with only 1 instance.
Multi-instance cluster:
-> All nodes with active instances
   In one scenario, a single node may be running more that 1 instance. In case of a failover all instances

failover to passive node.
-> n+1 , n instances with one spare node.
   The other case would be all nodes having mulitple instances running. In case of a failover all failover to the

available node.

 

Installation Options

There are two options for installing SQL Server 2008 failover cluster. Integrated & Advanced/Enterprise

installation. Each option is capable of delivering the exact requirement of the customer.

Integrated install involves the installation of a single node SQL Server 2008 failover cluster instance. If you

want the instance to be able to failover to a secondary node, you have to follow “add node” option by executing

the sql setup in the secondary node.

The advanced/enterprise install differs from the integrated install in that you prepare each node with SQL

binaries and services, and then select the active node that owns the SQL Server shared disk, and then bring the SQL Server instance

online in a separate step.

ie., a, On each node that will be part of the SQL Server failover cluster, run Setup with Prepare Failover Cluster functionality. This step

prepares the nodes ready to be clustered, but there is no operational SQL Server instance at the end of this step.

b, After the nodes are prepared for clustering, run Setup on the node that owns the shared disk with the Complete Failover Cluster

functionality. This step configures and completes the failover cluster instance. At the end of this step, you will have an operational

SQL Server failover cluster instance.

Integrated install option is the easy way to go with less steps & to create a cluster sooner.

Here am talking about Integrated Installation only.

 

Install SQL Server 2008

1) Run setup.exe from the installation media to start the setup. This will launch the SQL Server Installation Center.

 

 

2) Select Installation from the left hand menu.

 

 

3) Click on New SQL Server failover cluster installation to start the installation & will get the below screen.

 

 

4) Setup Support Rules will check for the requirements. There should be no failed to proceed.

 

 

5) This is where we have to enter the Product Key. Note here that am using an evaluation edition.

 

 

6) In the License Terms dialog box, click the I accept the license terms to continue.

 

 

7) In the Setup Support Files windows, click on install. This will install the required support files. The next 3 screen belongs to this step.

 

 

In the Feature Selection , select the components you require to be installaed. Also provide the installation location for the feature selection.

 

 

9) In the Instance Configuration window, enter the SQL Server Network Name. This is the name that will be available on the network for the clients. I have not changed the InstanceID here. I should recommend to change it to the SQL Server Network Name, this is useful for identifying installation directories & registry keys.

 

 

10) In the Disk Space Requirements review the disk availability. 

 

 

11) In the Cluster Resource Group screen select the resource group for SQL. I would recommed manually creating a group before starting the setup. Here note that I have created a group namely SQL 2008,  dedicated for this SQL instance.

 

 

12) In the Cluster Disk Selection, select the available disk groups for the new SQL 2008 cluster instance. Here we have Drive E, the shared drive.

 

 

13) In the Cluster Network Configuration,  enter the IP address & subnet mask for SQL instance. This is the SQL cluser Instance public IP.

 

 

 

14) In the Cluster Security Policy  give the domain groups, that can be used for sql service accounts. Make sure SQL service account is a member of this group.

Note here that, if we are installing on Windows Server 2008, we can see another option Use service SID.  More details about service SID could be found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143504.aspx#Service_SID. Microsoft recommend is to use service SID.

 

 

15) In the Server Configuration screen enter the SQL service account credentails as shown below.

 

 

16) In the Database Engine Configuration provide the authentication details, as well as the Data Directories, where the SQL data, log, backup files has to be stored. Also if you intend to use File Stream , enable it the last tab.

 

 

 

17) In the next screen , click next.

 

 

18) In the Cluster Installation Rules window , make sure all are Passed.

 

 

19) In the Ready to Install window, verify the slections we have made for this setup.

 

20) The installation is in progress.

 

 

 

21) In the Complete screen , check for the successfull installation. Click Close.

 

 

22) Make sure that Cluster is available & go to go using cluster administartor.

 

 

Here we have successfully installed a single node cluster. If needed to do a failover we need to add another node/s to the existing cluster. Adding a new node is explained …coming soon.