August 18, 2010 at 2:34 am
No cheeky answers, please!
Hello everyone. I am new to clustering, but getting the opportunity to build one at long last. I have looked at the options for the Quorum Resource (I'm using Windows and SQL 2008 64bit with shared storage SAN), but I am slightly confused on what option I can use.
It will be a 2 node failover cluster, and have I read about the elimination of the single point of failure from the Quorum point of view. From what I understand its called the 'Node and File Share Quorum', but I am not sure I understand it correctly. Does this mean that each node has a copy of the Quorum? Or does anyone think I am just better of having the quorum made available on the shared resource?
Any advice here would be great, and I thank you in advance for any help given.
Kind Regards,
Paul.
August 18, 2010 at 8:07 am
which version\edition of the Windows operating systsem are you using?
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
August 18, 2010 at 8:40 am
Hello, thanks for getting back.
I'll be using SQL 2008 64bit Enterprise Edition.
Regards,
D.
August 18, 2010 at 8:40 am
Release 2.
D.
August 18, 2010 at 9:32 am
Perry Whittle (8/18/2010)
which version\edition of the Windows operating system are you using?
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
August 18, 2010 at 9:36 am
I am using WINDOWS 2008 R2 Enterprise.
Regards,
D.
August 18, 2010 at 10:12 am
Duran (8/18/2010)
No cheeky answers, please!
Would I?? 😉
Duran (8/18/2010)
It will be a 2 node failover cluster, and have I read about the elimination of the single point of failure from the Quorum point of view. From what I understand its called the 'Node and File Share Quorum', but I am not sure I understand it correctly. Does this mean that each node has a copy of the Quorum?
'Node and file share' is designed to support a cluster with an even number of nodes which otherwise wouldn't have quorum as at least 3 nodes are required for majority.
'Node and file share' exploits a new cluster option in Windows 2003 and 2008 clustering called 'file share witness'. You have the 2 nodes using an MNS (majority node set) and then set up a file share on a 3rd machine which is not part of the Windows cluster. However, the implementation tells the cluster that this remote file share is a witness to the Quorum! Essentially all 3 machines have a copy of the Quorum file share!
Does this make sense?
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
August 18, 2010 at 10:19 am
Thank you, that makes perfect sense. Does this also mean that the file share, in some sense, can work as a backup copy?
Regards,
D.
August 18, 2010 at 3:21 pm
No, it just provides the required node count for the majority scenario to operate correctly and prevent any split brain occurrence!
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
August 19, 2010 at 3:34 am
Thanks again for getting back, I have one other question. Does the number SQL instances have an effect on the size of the quorum? And if so, by how much?
Apologies if these are basic questions, I've done a fair bit of reading to help myself but cant find anything that points to that kind of info.
Regards,
D.
August 19, 2010 at 4:27 am
Duran (8/19/2010)
Does the number SQL instances have an effect on the size of the quorum? And if so, by how much?
no, the quorum holds cluster configuration info and logs. 512MB is the Microsoft recommended size for a quorum disk so file share should not be any different.
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
August 19, 2010 at 4:45 am
ok, thats good to know, as someone told me that I would need to set aside 15GB for a quorum, which seemed excessive to me. I take it 2GB would be more than enough.
Regards,
D.
August 19, 2010 at 8:56 am
Duran (8/19/2010)
set aside 15GB for a quorum,
no you dont!
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
August 19, 2010 at 9:08 am
I don't think my Quorums have ever grown over 4mb, for what it's worth 🙂
At least not while I was looking..I always allocate a 1GB lun for them, since that's as small as our SAN will go.
I also typically just add it as a cluster resource allowed to run on any node..I've never had to do anything fancy with it.
August 23, 2010 at 9:01 am
Hello,
There was one more thing I wanted to ask, as I understand it, in a Windows 2003 cluster it was good practice to put the heartbeat network as 2 NICs connected to each other with some crossover cable. From what I have read this is no longer necessary with Windows 2008, is this correct?
Thank you,
D.
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