There are some time since I tried this, so please take my comments with a grain of salt.

With native backup, you can only specify whether to use backup compression...

What kind of drive are you backing up to. As far as I remember, SQL Server can only back up to shared disks that SQL Server has a dependency to...

As far as I remember, you get an error message like "The SQL Server failover cluster instance name 'YourServerName' already exists as a server on the network."

Because you cannot create an object in AD that already exists, and as such the installation will fail.

Edit:That said: If you WERE able to install multiple instances in one cluster...

Let me repeat: The AD computer name object of the instance is created during setup, so no.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189910.aspx:

"During SQL Server 2008 R2 Failover Cluster installation, computer object (Active Directory computer accounts) for the SQL Server Network Resource Name is created."

You have no guarantee that all the virtual instances are running on a specific node, so each instance must have its own IP address and name. My general recommendation is...

Thanks for the reply. I'm asking in general terms, if it is possible to answer generally.

In one specific scenario there are a three node cluster with three database engine...

If you find SQL Server "miss" when it chooses between loop, merge and hash join, I would have a look at the Actual Execution plan (deviation between estimated and actual...

Actually, there is no way to tell. It all depends on your requirements. I will point out a few things though: Even with two 1Gbps ports for iSCSI, you have...

Could it be that some drives has not got their drive letters (or mount points) assigned?

Status 87

You should not by chance use teaming of network ports? I've seen this strange behavior a few times, where the problem was unstable teaming.

What information does the following query show for your database with trouble?

SELECT DB_NAME(fs.database_id) AS [Database Name], mf.physical_name, io_stall_read_ms, num_of_reads,

CAST(io_stall_read_ms/(1.0 + num_of_reads) AS NUMERIC(10,1)) AS [avg_read_stall_ms],io_stall_write_ms,

num_of_writes,CAST(io_stall_write_ms/(1.0+num_of_writes) AS NUMERIC(10,1)) AS [avg_write_stall_ms],

io_stall_read_ms...

In Cluster Manager, is NodeB in the Possible Owners List if your Cluster Group?

It's not just that you can, you do actually have to.