Connect to Clustered Instance via IP and Naming Question

  • Hi all,

    set up a 2008 Ent edt cluster with 3 instances on it (default, test test02)

    The naming convention has come out as

    MyCluster - connect to default instance

    MyClusterTest/Test - Connects to Test instance

    MyclusterTest02/Test - connects to TEst02

    Is there no way to remove the mycluster"test"/ part?

    Also my instances all have a different IP address but when i try and connect to the instances via the ip address it also fails in SSMS..

    I can ping via: MYClusterTest, MyClusterTest02 Mycluster where as i have to connect with the /Test.

    not sure if this is how its meant to be or if i have made a error!

    Cheers

    S

    Any help most welcome!

    S

  • check all IPs and port of all instances should be different and not default(for the security reason) , you can check these stuff in the SQL Server Configurations Tools

    Instance Protocols

    Client Protocols

    Regards,
    Syed Jahanzaib Bin Hassan
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  • you can alias an instance to any name you like, use the client tools on your workstation.

    It's juts that managing this type of stuff for lots of users is a pain, but for a dba it can be a neat way to give meaningless server and instance names something more intuitive. I usually alias to an ip.

    [font="Comic Sans MS"]The GrumpyOldDBA[/font]
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  • thanks for the replies!

    aliases seems a good option if the app allows it! will play around with them Thanks!

    I was mainly curious on weather when you create multiple instances on a cluster that they have to be

    CLUSTERNAME + SQL SERVER NETOWRK NAME \ INSTANCE NAME

    Where as on a normal install of multiple instances you have have

    SERVERNAME \ INSTANCE NAME

    If there is!? Is it possible to change it after setting it up as above?

    And Secondly:

    For a clustered Instance is possible to connect via just the IP address for the instance? I can connect with say 192.168.10.10/Test (OR does it have to be done with Aliases?)

    Ps

    for aliases in a cluster would you do it in Config manager? or in Windows Clustering?

    Thanks for all help

  • As far as renaming it you might look at:

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178083.aspx

    As for naming, here are some rules.

    1. You may only have one default instance on a cluster, it doesn't matter that they all have different IP addresses, there can be only one default.

    2. Every named SQL instance must have a unique name in the form of NetworkName\InstanceName, cluster name is NOT necessarily related unless YOUR naming convention requires it.

    3. your network name and instance name must *each* be unique in the cluster, ie: networkname\instance1 and networkname\instance2 is not allowed nor is networkname1\instance1 networkname2\instance1.

    Your problem with refering to them by IP was that SSMS tried to access them by using port 1433, which is only used for the default server, all the others are on a random port, you could access them by ipaddress,port.

    Clear?

    CEWII

  • Thanks elliot clears. Up everything except anew query on adding an aliase to a cluster. Are changes on sscm held on all nodes of a cluster.

    Thanks to all that replied

  • If I understand your question, about all the nodes, I think you might be misunderstanding clustering. You should generally never refer to the actual underlying machine only the virtual name, that will always line up to the node that the SQL server is running on. for example the sql server networkname\instancename, if you wanted to connect to the physical machine that it was running on with RDP or such you could simply use the name networkname.

    Did I misunderstand? I have spent a lot of time with clusters so ask away.

    CEWII

  • Hi Elliot,

    No im happy with clustering. What im wondering is,is sql server configuration manager cluster aware. IE if i create a alias in SSCM while the cluster is on Node A when i roll over to Node B will the alias still be there?

    And what do i point the alias at? I take it would be the full "MyclusterInstance/Instance01" ? or IP address and port?

    Thanks again for the help!

  • As far as I know it isn't cluster aware, however, I think there is some registry replication that takes place from the active to passive nodes, but I can't look at it right now.

    I would be cautious using alias', they aren't particularly visible and they get forgotten when moving or creating new servers. I try to not use them if possible and allow DNS and such to resolve the names, this way I don't have to worry about changing anything else when a server gets moved.

    CEWII

  • When building a wsfc with 2, 3 etc number of nodes and then placing SQL server ( in your case 3 instances) you need to understand the overall set of the cluster. It should look something like this -

    Cluster Name (ip address)

    Node1 (ip address)

    Node2 (ip address)

    All ip address should be different as stated in a prevois post.

    When installing SQL server this will create a virtual server name. (cluster resource group in cluster manager)

    This has it's own ip address as well. This can be either a default or named instance.

    When you access this instance you are accessing via the virtual server name Ie - VRSQL1\instance1

    MCT
    MCITP Database Admin 2008
    MCITP Database Admin 2008
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  • New question has arisen today regarding clustering and connecting. Which is related to this so hoping you still reading these Elliot!

    We have a VPN rule pointing to our old cluster to send SQL info to a 3rd party.

    The VPN rule has 1433 and 1434 UDP and TCP open.

    This worked fine. Now its on a SQL Clustered Instance. Its not working.

    I kinda of expected it not to after what you said yesterday.

    "

    Your problem with refering to them by IP was that SSMS tried to access them by using port 1433, which is only used for the default server, all the others are on a random port, you could access them by ipaddress,port."

    But im not sure what to open to allow it.

    Thanks

    S

  • With your cluster and your 3 instances did you do some post configuration changes after your install completed and set the port number for each instance to a static port or leave them as dynamic ?

    With how you have created 3 virtual servers and have 1 instance on each you can actually use the same port number for each instance. You have indicated your VPN worked fine on the old server using 1433. As I said you could use this port number for each instance however I would recommend you change from the default for security reasons especially if your cluster is externally facing.

    MCT
    MCITP Database Admin 2008
    MCITP Database Admin 2008
    MCITP Database Dev 2008
    www.jnrit.com.au/Blog.aspx

  • stebennettsjb (6/1/2011)


    New question has arisen today regarding clustering and connecting. Which is related to this so hoping you still reading these Elliot!

    Alas, I still am..

    Luckily once the port is chosen I don't see it change, theoretically it could but it doesn't usually happen.. The easiest way to tell is to open your errorlog and look for a line kind of like this:

    "Server is listening on [ 'any' <ipv4> 1433]."

    It will be near the top of the errorlog (earliest entries), shortly after is states the server name. The IP address should be the same as the virtual IP address, and the port afterward is the port it is listening on. That port can be opened on the firewall for traffic INTO this server.

    Does that answer your question?

    CEWII

  • Warwick rudd (6/1/2011)


    With your cluster and your 3 instances did you do some post configuration changes after your install completed and set the port number for each instance to a static port or leave them as dynamic ?

    With how you have created 3 virtual servers and have 1 instance on each you can actually use the same port number for each instance. You have indicated your VPN worked fine on the old server using 1433. As I said you could use this port number for each instance however I would recommend you change from the default for security reasons especially if your cluster is externally facing.

    you are absolutely correct you can, but in a cluster config I don't like to tweak those settings too much.

    Mileage may vary..

    CEWII

  • Hi all so update

    I changed the firewall rule to allow any ports to the clustered instances IP. Thinking this would get them connected in the first instance and i can close it down after. But still no joy.

    So i got them try a sqlcmd connect to get an error message to help resolve.

    From my work machine i can connect with:

    sqlcmd -S servername\instance -U SA

    When they try we get:

    Error locating server\instance specified.

    SQlcmd: error: Microsoft sql native client : An error occurred while establishing a connection to the server. When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections..

    Im confused to be honest. I thought they couldn't connect to the instance because the port was being blocked but since ive now allowed all ports, i figure thats ones closed.

    Another thing ive found: when i look at the SQL Logs, I can see me connect, but no sign of there attempts! (Back to the firewall?)

    Thanks

    S

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