Installing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Cluster Step-By-Step

This is a step by step guide on SQL Server 2008 R2 Cluster.
Let's begin with the pre-requisites

Pre-requisites:

In order to plan everything ahead, we need to prepare some IP's and names as well as Network Configuration. During the deployment you will be using IP's and Names for the following

1. Windows Cluster
2. DTC
3. SQL

You can plan for those and document them for use ahead of time, just to save yourself some time.

Please refer to the table below

Description	Hostname	IP Address	Subnet Mask	Default Gateway
Cluster IP Address	XXCLUSTER	172.21.XX.XX	255.255.255.128	N/A
SQL Instance IP Address	XX2010SQL	172.21.XX.XX	255.255.255.128	N/A
MSDTC Virtual IP	XX2010SQLDtc	172.21.XX.XX	255.255.255.128	N/A
SQL Cluster Node 1	Node1	172.21.XX.XX	255.255.255.0	172.21.X.1
SQL Cluster Node 2	Node 2	172.21.XX.XX	255.255.255.0	172.21.X..1

We then need to setup 2 Network Interfaces to be used in production and other as a heartbeat.

We need to configure the HeartBeat interface on each node as follows

Node 1

Node 2

We do a little test and make sure they can communicate

Now the heart beat has been configured, you need to assign IP's to the production interfaces, those are the interfaces that will communicate with the servers.

Now that the networking part is out of the way, let's go ahead and start the Failover Cluster Role installation.

Windows Failover Cluster Installation

The following steps need to be performed on both database tier machines.

1. Click on Server Manager > Features > Add Features 
2. Check the Failover Clustering checkbox and click Next
3. Click on Install to install the feature 
4. Click Close to conclude the installation wizard 

Host Validation Tests:

Now we need to run the validation tests to make sure our nodes are correctly configured

1. Click on Validate Configuration 
2. Click Next at the validation wizard's intro screen 
3. Click Browse in the Select Servers or a cluster window 
4. Set the Object Types to Computers and search for the two cluster nodes 
5. Once the two cluster nodes have been selected click on Next to proceed 
6. Leave radio button at its default position (Run all tests) and then click Next 
7. The validation wizard summary will be displayed. Review it and click Next to initiate the cluster validation 
8. If the validation wizard returns any errors review and resolve them before proceeding. Errors need to be resolved before creating the cluster. Ensure that you review warnings.

Creating Windows 2008 Cluster:

SQL Server 2008 R2 clustering requires a windows cluster to be setup prior to creating the SQL node. To create the windows cluster perform the following steps.

1. In the Failover Cluster Console click on Create a cluster 
2. Click Next on the welcome screen 
3. Click Browse and select the appropriate cluster nodes 
4. Click Next to run pre-configuration validation (essentially the same validation as before, but recommended to run again right before the cluster setup). 
5. Enter the following information in the Access point for Administering the Cluster window
• Cluster Name: SPSLUSTER
• IP Address: 172.21.x.x
• 
6. Review the summary in the confirmation window and click Next to proceed with the cluster installation 
7. If any warnings/errors were generated review them and retry if necessary. If none were generated click on Finish to close the wizard.

Verifying Cluster Storage and Quorum

Now in  windows server 2008 R2, the cluster Quorum and storage will be configured automatically, we need check on that 

And this seems right, now we need to check on the Quorum type to make sure that it is set to Node and Disk Majority.''

Configuring Windows 2008(R2) Application Server

We now need to start deploying the application server role on both the nodes

Configuring MSDTC

Installing SQL Server 2008 R2 Cluster

Now we are about to start the installation of the First Node in the cluster.
Enter your product key

Install the support files

Install Features

Configure the Network Name (this is going to be the cluster name) and the instances




Choose your Cluster Resource Group (I left it at default)









Configure the Service account Users and Passwords (Best practice is to use individual accounts)





Configure your locations (Best practice to separate Database File from Log Files)



The Install, But do not configure is the only option available as we haven't installed the pre-requisites for Reporting Services.



Make sure everything passes on the cluster installation Rules



Review your installation summary and click install



Now wait for installation to finish.



Now after the installation finishes, make sure your resources are up.



Now all that is good and green we need to start the installation on the second node.
So fire up the setup  and choose


Install Support rules and make sure all passes



Enter the Product Key





You will see that the setup has detected the current single node cluster from above, click next



Enter the same accounts and password and make sure everything is green



Review your installation



Click on install and wait the install to finish

Verify the Cluster

Now if you go to the SQL Server Clustered application properties you see both nodes added

I hope this document will help you in "Installing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Cluster".

Installing Failover Clustering With Windows Server 2008 R2

Introduction:

Creating a Cluster with Windows Server 2003 was a little bit confusing for administrators.Now with Windows Server 2008, its much easier.In this article I will be showing you how to setup a cluster with two nodes using Windows Server 2008 R2 Failover Clustering feature.

Creating a failover cluster means you have atleast two servers connected to a shared storage.

Failover Clustering System Requirement:

• Windows Server 2008 R2 - Failover Clustering feature is available with Windows Server 2008/R2 Enterprise/Data Center editions. You don't have this feature with the Standard edition of Windows Server 2008/R2.
• Domain role - All servers in the cluster must be in the same Active Directory domain.
• DNS - The servers in the cluster must be using Domain Name System (DNS) for name resolution.
• Account for administering the cluster - When you create a cluster or add servers to it, you must be logged on to the domain with an account that has administrator rights on all servers in that cluster (if the account is not a Domain Admins account, the account must be given the Create Computer Objects and Read All Properties permission in the domain).
• Servers - Two identical servers in brand, model and configuratons.
• Device Controllers (HBA) - i/SCSI or Fiber, both also to be identical.
• Storage - You must use shared storage that is compatible with Windows Server 2008 R2.

Now that you know the requirement for Failover Clustering, lets start

Configuration on Server A:

1. To install Failover feature, open Server Manager, click on Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Server Manager
2.  Expand Features, and then click on Add Feature.The list of available features will be listed, select the Failover Clustering and click NextClick Install
3. The Failover Clustering feature will be installed.Click Close.

Configuration on Server B:

1. Again on Server B, we will need to install Failover Clustering feature as well, so click Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Server Manager Click on Features and then click on Add Features
2. Choose the Failover Clustering feature and click Next
3. Confirm installing Failover Clustering by clicking on install Close the Add Feature Wizard once installation is completed Now that both servers have Failover Clustering feature installed on them, we can create the cluster on one of these server and join the other one to the cluster.

Now, we need to open and configure our cluster name, IP address and nodes.

To open Failover Clustering, click on Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Failover Cluster Manager
>> This need to be done on a single server only << 

1. The first step in creating a successful failover clustering, is by validating the existing systems and shared storage. This is done by the option Validate a Configuration                                          When you click on Validate a Configuration, you will need to browse and add the cluster nodes, these are the servers that will be part of the cluster, the click next  Choose to Run all tests and click Next The available tests will be displayed in the confirmation window, click Next to begin validating you cluster.  Review the validation report, as you configuration might have few issues with it and needs to be addressed before setting up cluster. 
2. Now that the configuration is validated and you are ready to setup your cluster. Click on the second option, Create a Cluster, the wizard will launch, read it and click Next 
3. You need to add the names of the servers you want to have in the cluster. You can start creating your cluster with a single server and then add other nodes in the future. Browse to your servers and then once all the servers (nodes) are listed click Next 
4. After the servers are selected, you need to type a name and IP for your cluster 
5. On the Confirmation window, review your settings. The following will be displayed in this window: cluster name and IP address, selected servers name. If all info is proper, then click Next else click Previous and correct which setting needs to be adjusted.  After you click Next, creating the cluster will begin.
6. The summary windows will be displayed after a successful setup of the cluster. 
7. Open Failover Cluster Manager and you will see your nodes and setting inside the MMC. Here you can configure your cluster, add new nodes, remove nodes, add more disk storage and so on.

Summary:

In this article, we have created a two node cluster using Failover Clustering feature which is available with Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise and Data Core editions.