Dear Friends,
Recently I've configured Clustering as a Disaster Recovery (DR) and High Availability (HA) solution for one of my project. You might find many blogs on this topic explaining the concept and how to configure SQL Clustering.
Here I will try to explain the same in my terms and keep it as much as simple. And yes it will be from starch i.e. We will first see the how to configure Windows Cluster and then on top of it will configure SQL Server Clustering. It will be a multi part series.
Brief on Clustering:
Cluster can be defined as when two independent machine come into existence with each other by sharing the disks in common. This is done because, just in case of any disaster on physical machine, it will automatically failover the disks to another machine as the disks are shared between the Servers. This will recover the Database in disaster. So this solution can be used as Disaster Recovery (DR) solution along with High Availability (HA).
I. Step for configuration of Windows Clustering Using GUI:
1. To start with the Windows Clustering; it is mandatory to have the Shared Storage between the Servers (which should be setup by the SAN Administrator).
To verify these disks open Server Manager and verify if the Shared Disks are visible on both the Servers like you can see in the below snapshot.
2. Now we have to add "Failover Cluster" Roles on the Server. Open "Server Manager" then click "Add Roles And Feature".
Below snapshot means:
i. Select Roles-based option.
ii. Select the appropriate Server name.
iii. Click Next
iv. Check "Failover Cluster"
v. Click "Add Feature" then click install
3. Once the roles is added, go to Service manager and then, Tools and then, Failover Cluster Manager. Open Failover Cluster Manager GUI.
4. As shown in the below snapshot, Go to extreme Right and click Validate Configuration.
5. Validate Configuration step will basically check Storage, Network, etc. One need to check the recommended setting and validate the configuration.
The Disk will go offline and come back online; if Disk Validation is checked. (Disk validation is basically unchecked when the Cluster is in production.)
Below snapshot means:
i. Enter the both the Server Names.
ii. Run the recommended setting.
iii. You can view the progress
iv. View the error if any or click finish.
6. Once it is successfully validated, you need to mention a Windows Cluster Name and an IP Address for that Windows Cluster as you can see in the below snapshot. Once you have successfully completed click Finish.
You can cross verify by cmd command and ping the Windows Cluster name or the IP Address provided above in point 5.
II. Step for configuration of Windows Clustering Using Power Shell:
1. We need to first install the Cluster Failover Management Tools:
Following commands can be run from the Power Shell:
a. Get-WindowsFeature Failover*
b. Install-WindowsFeature -Name Failover-Clustering -IncludeManagementTools --This command will install the Windows Feature Failover tools on the local Server but if you want to install the same on remote Server as well we have to run the following command:
c. Install-WindowsFeature -Name Failover-Clustering -IncludeManagementTools -ComputerName XYZ
2. Till now you have installed Failover feature on the Servers, next you have to configure Windows Cluster on these Servers:
Following commands can be run from the Power Shell:
d. New-Cluster -name SQL_Cluster -Node ABC, XYZ -StaticAddress xxx.xx.xx.xxx
where SQL_Cluster is Windows Cluster Name
ABC and XYZ are the Server Names between which Cluster needs to be installed
xxx.xx.xx.xxx is the static IP Address for Windows Cluster.
So you have seen how simple is to build Windows Clustering through GUI as well as Poser Shell. This is not just limited as a pre- requisite to SQL Server Clustering but also for Configuring AlwaysON.
Here's the end of Part 1 of SQL Server 2012 Clustering. We have seen how to configure the Windows Server Clustering which is the first step towards configuring SQL Server Clustering.
Now next will be configuring the Quorum for the Cluster.
Click here to refer Part 2 and Part 3 of this topic.
Thank you for reading this post. So stay tuned and share your comments too.
Keep Learning and Happy Learning!!!
Here I will try to explain the same in my terms and keep it as much as simple. And yes it will be from starch i.e. We will first see the how to configure Windows Cluster and then on top of it will configure SQL Server Clustering. It will be a multi part series.
Brief on Clustering:
Cluster can be defined as when two independent machine come into existence with each other by sharing the disks in common. This is done because, just in case of any disaster on physical machine, it will automatically failover the disks to another machine as the disks are shared between the Servers. This will recover the Database in disaster. So this solution can be used as Disaster Recovery (DR) solution along with High Availability (HA).
I. Step for configuration of Windows Clustering Using GUI:
1. To start with the Windows Clustering; it is mandatory to have the Shared Storage between the Servers (which should be setup by the SAN Administrator).
To verify these disks open Server Manager and verify if the Shared Disks are visible on both the Servers like you can see in the below snapshot.
 |
| Server Manager GUI |
2. Now we have to add "Failover Cluster" Roles on the Server. Open "Server Manager" then click "Add Roles And Feature".
Below snapshot means:
i. Select Roles-based option.
ii. Select the appropriate Server name.
iii. Click Next
iv. Check "Failover Cluster"
v. Click "Add Feature" then click install
3. Once the roles is added, go to Service manager and then, Tools and then, Failover Cluster Manager. Open Failover Cluster Manager GUI.
The Disk will go offline and come back online; if Disk Validation is checked. (Disk validation is basically unchecked when the Cluster is in production.)
Below snapshot means:
i. Enter the both the Server Names.
ii. Run the recommended setting.
iii. You can view the progress
iv. View the error if any or click finish.
You can cross verify by cmd command and ping the Windows Cluster name or the IP Address provided above in point 5.
II. Step for configuration of Windows Clustering Using Power Shell:
1. We need to first install the Cluster Failover Management Tools:
Following commands can be run from the Power Shell:
a. Get-WindowsFeature Failover*
b. Install-WindowsFeature -Name Failover-Clustering -IncludeManagementTools --This command will install the Windows Feature Failover tools on the local Server but if you want to install the same on remote Server as well we have to run the following command:
2. Till now you have installed Failover feature on the Servers, next you have to configure Windows Cluster on these Servers:
Following commands can be run from the Power Shell:
d. New-Cluster -name SQL_Cluster -Node ABC, XYZ -StaticAddress xxx.xx.xx.xxx
where SQL_Cluster is Windows Cluster Name
ABC and XYZ are the Server Names between which Cluster needs to be installed
xxx.xx.xx.xxx is the static IP Address for Windows Cluster.
So you have seen how simple is to build Windows Clustering through GUI as well as Poser Shell. This is not just limited as a pre- requisite to SQL Server Clustering but also for Configuring AlwaysON.
Here's the end of Part 1 of SQL Server 2012 Clustering. We have seen how to configure the Windows Server Clustering which is the first step towards configuring SQL Server Clustering.
Now next will be configuring the Quorum for the Cluster.
Click here to refer Part 2 and Part 3 of this topic.
Thank you for reading this post. So stay tuned and share your comments too.
Keep Learning and Happy Learning!!!
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