Creating a 2 Node SQL Server 2008 Virtual Cluster Part 2

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Creating a 2 Node SQL Server 2008 Virtual Cluster Part 2

Perry Whittle

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July 12, 2011 at 12:04 am

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Comments posted to this topic are about the item Creating a 2 Node SQL Server 2008 Virtual Cluster Part 2
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Thomas-105733 SSC Enthusiast Points: 169 More actions · Answer 1

Hi Perry,

can you explain the calculation for:

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY ALIGN = 256

IMHO W2k8 chose the right alignment self?

Thanks

Perry Whittle SSC Guru Points: 234013 More actions · Answer 2

Thomas

it's not a given or set in stone or a recommendation, it's just an example i used for the diskpart tutorial. Windows 2008 applies a one size fits all and this is itself configurable through the Windows registry. Of course all this depends an other factors such a stripe size and NTFS cluster size. Did you like the article?

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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

Thomas-105733 SSC Enthusiast Points: 169 More actions · Answer 3

Hi Perry

your article is very profound and I love step by step tutorials with screenshots. I am using a similar configuration (StarWind free Target and VMWare Server) W2k8/W2k8R2 and MSSQL2k8/MSSQL2k8R2.

I have forgotten where to add the vmswitch in vmware an found your tutorial to solve the problem :-).

We are waiting for the next parts ..

ffoerster Right there with Babe Points: 796 More actions · Answer 4

Hi, very nice article. I am currently - enough spare time permitted - experimenting on a similar setup, just using Hyper-V and a Synology NAS System (DS1511).

Just a few comments/questions:

- the screenshots could be bigger, at the current size they are a bit difficult to decipher

- are you saying that you add the iSCSI targets (quorum, sqldata, logs and back) to both installed server clusters?

- would you need to enable iSCSI MCS (multiple connections to same target/lun?)

With VMWare I recently made an interesting observation. If you do not presize your virtual disk and attempt to create a 10GB LDF (MS SQL Log File) on such a virtual hard disk performance will be very high and on the host system the VMDK will not really consume the 10GB. When using a preallocated VMDK disk performance will be considerably slow/normal.

Best,

Frank

Perry Whittle SSC Guru Points: 234013 More actions · Answer 5

ffoerster (7/12/2011)
- the screenshots could be bigger, at the current size they are a bit difficult to decipher

thank you for that feedback

ffoerster (7/12/2011)
- are you saying that you add the iSCSI targets (quorum, sqldata, logs and back) to both installed server clusters?

The targets need to be added to all nodes that will use them. In this case the 2 node cluster will support failover for a SQL Server instance, so both nodes need to have the LUNs unmasked

ffoerster (7/12/2011)
- would you need to enable iSCSI MCS (multiple connections to same target/lun?)

MPIO may be a better option, i didnt go into this fully as this tutuorial is designed to ease the reader in to clustering gradually

ffoerster (7/12/2011)
with VMWare I recently made an interesting observation. If you do not presize your virtual disk and attempt to create a 10GB LDF (MS SQL Log File) on such a virtual hard disk performance will be very high and on the host system the VMDK will not really consume the 10GB. When using a preallocated VMDK disk performance will be considerably slow/normal.
Best,
Frank

For the NAS data drives i use pre allocated virtual disks. LUNs are then created on the pre allocated drives.

Glad you enjoyed the article

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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

Thomas-105733 SSC Enthusiast Points: 169 More actions · Answer 6

Perry, how did you change/modify the names of the of the Networkadapter in Virtual Network Editor?

OK its clear. Its an after screenshot. You did it in the network connection from windows ..

MasterShion Valued Member Points: 60 More actions · Answer 7

Hi, the tutorial is interesting, I have a question, must I repeat the step "Attach the iSCSI" in the second node?

thanks

Perry Whittle SSC Guru Points: 234013 More actions · Answer 8

Thomas-105733 (7/12/2011)
Perry, how did you change/modify the names of the of the Networkadapter in Virtual Network Editor?
OK its clear. Its an after screenshot. You did it in the network connection from windows ..

Yes, rename the virtual adapters in windows network connections, then in VMWare server console click refresh networks list

MasterShion (7/12/2011)
Hi, the tutorial is interesting, I have a question, must I repeat the step "Attach the iSCSI" in the second node?
thanks

That is exactly what you must do for each cluster node that will participate in the failover of those resources

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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

MasterShion Valued Member Points: 60 More actions · Answer 9

Thanks for your fast reply, I'll be testing your tutorial in a VM 🙂

nalinabey SSC-Addicted Points: 404 More actions · Answer 10

Hi Perry,

I was trying to set up domain controller and two VM's for this.I have a problem with assiging IP's for these three servers in order to create a cluster.I have just assigned Ip's as follows.

ClusterDC

IP Address : 10.10.10.1

subnet mask : 255.255.255.0

default gateway: 10.10.10.1

Node01

IP Address : 10.10.10.8

subnet mask : 255.255.255.0

default gateway: 10.10.10.1

Node02

IP Address : 10.10.10.9

subnet mask : 255.255.255.0

default gateway: 10.10.10.1

but when I tried to add Node01 to the domain it gives me a message saying cannot contatct the specified domain...

I was tring to ping the ClusterDC from Node01 but it's not receiveing any packets from clusterdc.

Could you advice me on this? What am I doing wrong here.I am not a network expert though.

I have followed VMWare network adapter settings as you mentioned in the part1 exactly

Thank you..

Perry Whittle SSC Guru Points: 234013 More actions · Answer 11

nalinabey (7/19/2011)
Hi Perry,
I was trying to set up domain controller and two VM's for this.I have a problem with assiging IP's for these three servers in order to create a cluster.I have just assigned Ip's as follows.

OK, for each VM clear the default gateway setting (blank) and move the IP address 10.10.10.1 to the DNS settings instead.

Remember to set your network bindings on the cluster nodes too once you have the extra virtual NICs installed to the VMs.

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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

nalinabey SSC-Addicted Points: 404 More actions · Answer 12

Thank you very much for your reply...I'll try with this..:)

nalinabey SSC-Addicted Points: 404 More actions · Answer 13

Hi Perry,

I did that but still no luck.Could you explain how to do network binding? Sorry I am new to this area.

Perry Whittle SSC Guru Points: 234013 More actions · Answer 14

what was the domain name you used when creating the domain on the DC VM?

what operating system have you used for the Clusterdc and the cluster nodes?

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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉