February 7, 2012 at 9:55 am
Hi,
I have a two node cluster. can i change the allocation unit size and partition offset of the drives on active active node clusters.
I have sql server 2008 r2 enterprise edition 64 bit running on windows server 2008 r2 sp1 enterprise edition 64 bit.
I have one instance of SQL Server running on each node.
If I change these setting what would be the effect on the current cluster which is up and running.
Can you please tell me the procedure to implement this(changing the allocation unit size and partition offset of the drives on active active node clusters) with the minimal impact on the current running cluster.
Thank You,
February 7, 2012 at 10:01 am
sql2k8 (2/7/2012)
with the minimal impact on the current running cluster
There is no minimal impact. To change these you must delete and re create the partitions, period.
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
February 7, 2012 at 11:12 am
Perry Whittle (2/7/2012)
sql2k8 (2/7/2012)
with the minimal impact on the current running clusterThere is no minimal impact. To change these you must delete and re create the partitions, period.
Agreed - no two ways about it.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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February 7, 2012 at 11:54 am
But what will happen to the cluster configuration . will it work after we change the allocation unit size and partition offset. my stipe unit size is 320 kb for raid 5 and 128 kb for raid 10. with default sizes of allocation unit size and partition offset i found that the disks are not aligned. so i am planning to align the disks and then do the format of the disks using alloation unit size .
when i format the disks the data will be gone from the disks . my main concern is if the data is gone will the old cluster work.
when i am doing this do i have to leave the allocation unit sizes and partition offset as it is for the drives containing os, sql binnaries and system databases and backup files.
February 7, 2012 at 11:55 am
when i recreate the partition will the old cluster still work or do i have to rebuilt the cluster again
February 7, 2012 at 12:07 pm
sql2k8 (2/7/2012)
when i format the disks the data will be gone from the disks .
Backup the data first??? 😉
sql2k8 (2/7/2012)
when i am doing this do i have to leave the allocation unit sizes and partition offset as it is for the drives containing os, sql binnaries and system databases and backup files.
With windows 2008 the OS partition will already be aligned as usually are further partitions that are created. How are you checking the alignment of the drives\partitions?
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
February 7, 2012 at 12:32 pm
you have to check for stripe unit size/ file allocation unit size and partition offset/stripe unit size
if these values are not integer then the disks are not aligned
February 7, 2012 at 12:52 pm
sql2k8 (2/7/2012)
you have to check for stripe unit size/ file allocation unit size and partition offset/stripe unit sizeif these values are not integer then the disks are not aligned
As Perry said, on windows 2008 it should not be necessary to manually align the disks.
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February 7, 2012 at 1:04 pm
sql2k8 (2/7/2012)
you have to check for stripe unit size/ file allocation unit size and partition offset/stripe unit sizeif these values are not integer then the disks are not aligned
Could you post the results of the following when run from the command prompt
Wmic partition get startingoffset, name
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
February 7, 2012 at 2:06 pm
If you find yourself in the situation whereby you need to rebuild a disk to reset the starting offset you'll need to start by moving all of the databases on that partition on to a different one.
Once you've done that I would remove the partition from the SQL Server cluster group (alternatively you could remove all dependencies that SQL has for that particular disk and ensure that the disk being offline did not affect the cluster).
From there you would run diskpart, reset your starting offset and format the partition with the appropriate block size.
From there add the disk back to the cluster group, setup the appropriate dependencies and move the databases back.
February 11, 2012 at 9:34 am
Hi,
here are the results which you are asking
wmic partition get startingoffset, name
Name StartingOffset
Disk #10, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #1, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #1, Partition #1 105906176
Disk #9, Partition #0 65536
Disk #11, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #8, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #3, Partition #0 65536
Disk #2, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #15, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #12, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #4, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #13, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #14, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #5, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #6, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #7, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #16, Partition #0 65536
Disk #17, Partition #0 1048576
Disk #0, Partition #0 1048576
Thank You,
February 11, 2012 at 10:24 am
all partitions are using either a 1MB offset (Windows 2008 default) or 64K offset.
Only partition 1 on disk 1 has different alignment offset.
Now, can you post your calculations you used for the alignment on each disk?
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
February 20, 2012 at 8:39 am
Hi,
I had changed the allocation unit size and partition offset of the drives( only the drives which doesn't contain the cluster configuration ) on active active node clusters.
Thank You very much for your help
Thank You,
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