Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2012
Node and Disk Majority – Recommended for clusters with an even number of nodes. Can sustain
(Total no of Node)/2 failures if a disk witness node is online. Can sustain ((Total no of Node)/2)-1
failures if a disk witness node is offline.
Node and File Share Majority- Clusters with special configurations. Works in a similar way to Node
and Disk Majority, but instead of a disk witness, this cluster uses a file share witness.
On the Server Roles Selection page, Select iSCSI Target and iSCSI target storage provider, Click Next
On the Feature page, Click Next. On the Confirm page, Click Install. Click Close.
On the Server Manager, Click File and Storage Services, Click iSCSI
On the Task Button, Click New iSCSI Target, Select the Disk drive from where you want to present storage,
Click Next
Type the Name of the Storage, Click Next
6. On one of the servers that you want to cluster, click Start, click Administrative Tools, click Computer
Management, and then click Disk Management. (If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm
that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.) In Disk Management, confirm that
the cluster disks are visible.
7. If you want to have a storage volume larger than 2 terabytes, and you are using the Windows interface
to control the format of the disk, convert that disk to the partition style called GUID partition table (GPT).
To do this, back up any data on the disk, delete all volumes on the disk and then, in Disk Management,
right-click the disk (not a partition) and click Convert to GPT Disk.
8. Check the format of any exposed volume or LUN. Use NTFS file format.
4. Follow the instructions in the wizard to complete the installation of the feature. When the wizard
finishes, close it.
5. Repeat the process for each server that you want to include in the cluster.
Step 3: Validate the cluster configuration
Before creating a cluster, I strongly recommend that you validate your configuration. Validation helps you
confirm that the configuration of your servers, network, and storage meets a set of specific requirements
for failover clusters.
1. To open the failover cluster snap-in, click Server Manager, click Tools, and then click Failover Cluster
Manager.
2. Confirm that Failover Cluster Manager is selected and then, in the center pane under Management,
click Validate a Configuration. Click Next.
3. On the Select Server Page, type the fully qualified domain name of the nodes you would like to add in
the cluster, then click Add.
4. Follow the instructions in the wizard to specify the two servers and the tests, and then run the tests. To
fully validate your configuration, run all tests before creating a cluster. Click next
5. While still on the Summary page, click View Report and read the test results.
To view the results of the tests after you close the wizard, see
SystemRoot\Cluster\Reports\Validation Report date and time.html
where SystemRoot is the folder in which the operating system is installed (for example, C:\Windows).
6. As necessary, make changes in the configuration and rerun the tests.
Step4: Create a Failover cluster
1. To open the failover cluster snap-in, click Server Manager, click Tools, and then click Failover Cluster
Manager.
2. Confirm that Failover Cluster Management is selected and then, in the center pane under Management,
click Create a cluster. If you did not close the validation nodes then the validation wizard automatically
open cluster creation wizard. Follow the instructions in the wizard to specify, Click Next
The servers to include in the cluster.
The name of the cluster i.e. virtual name of cluster
IP address of the virtual node
3. Verify the IP address and cluster node name and click Next
4. After the wizard runs and the Summary page appears, to view a report of the tasks the wizard
performed, click View Report. Click Finish.
Step5: Verify Cluster Configuration
On the Cluster Manager, Click networks, right click on each network, Click Property, make sure Allow
clients to connect through this network is unchecked for heartbeat network. verify IP range. Click Ok.
On the Cluster Manager, Click networks, right click on each network, Click Property, make sure Allow
clients to connect through this network is checked for domain network. verify IP range. Click Ok.
On the Cluster Manager, Click Storage, Click disks, verify quorum disk and shared disks are available. You
can add multiple of disks by simply click Add new disk on the Task Pan.
An automated MSCS cluster configuration will add quorum automatically. However you can manually
configure desired cluster quorum by right clicking on cluster>More Actions>Configure Cluster Quorum
Settings.
Configuring a Hyper-v Cluster
In the previous steps you have configured a MSCS cluster, to configure a Hyper-v cluster all you need to
do is install Hyper-v role in each cluster node. from the Server Manager, Click Add roles and features,
follow the screen and install Hyper-v role. A reboot is required to install Hyper-v role. Once role is
installed in both node.
Note that at this stage add Storage for Virtual Machines and networks for Live Migration, Storage network
if using iSCSI, Virtual Machine network, and Management Network. detailed configuration is out of scope
for this article as I am writing about MSCS cluster not Hyper-v.
from the Cluster Manager, Right Click on Networks, Click Network for Live Migration, Select appropriate
network for live Migration.
If you would like to have virtual machine additional fault tolerance like Hyper-v Replica, Right Click Cluster
virtual node, Click Configure Role, Click Next.
From Select Role page, Click Hyper-v Replica broker, Click Next. Follow the screen.
From the Cluster manager, right Click on Roles, Click Virtual machine, Click New Hard Disk to configure
virtual machine storage and virtual machine configuration disk drive. Once done, From the Cluster
manager, right Click on Roles, Click Virtual machine, Click New Virtual machine to create virtual machine.
9. In the console tree, make sure Services and Applications is expanded, and then select the clustered file
server that you just created.
10. After completing the wizard, confirm that the clustered file server comes online. If it does not, review
the state of the networks and storage and correct any issues. Then right-click the new clustered
application or service and click Bring this service or application online.
Perform a Failover Test
To perform a basic test of failover, right-click the clustered file server, click Move this service or
application to another node, and click the available choice of node. When prompted, confirm your choice.
You can observe the status changes in the center pane of the snap-in as the clustered file server instance
is moved.
Configure a clustered
file server using Add-ClusterFileServerRole -Storage "Cluster Disk 4"
defaults for most Where Cluster Disk 4 is the disk that the clustered file server will
settings. use.
Configure a clustered
print server using Add-ClusterPrintServerRole -Storage "Cluster Disk 5"
defaults for most Where Cluster Disk 5 is the disk that the clustered print server
settings. will use.
Configure a clustered
virtual machine using Add-ClusterVirtualMachineRole -VirtualMachine VM1
defaults for most Where VM1 is an existing virtual machine that you want to place in a
settings. cluster.
Suspend-ClusterNode node2
Pause a node. Where node2 is the node that you want to pause.
Stop-ClusterNode node2
Stop the Cluster Where node2 is the node on which you want to stop the Cluster
service on a node. service.
Start-ClusterNode node2
Start the Cluster Where node2 is the node on which you want to start the Cluster
service on a node. service.
After the nodes are prepared for clustering, run Setup on one of the prepared nodes. This step configures
and finishes the failover cluster instance. At the end of this step, you will have an operational SQL Server
failover cluster instance and all the nodes that were prepared previously for that instance will be the
possible owners of the newly-created SQL Server failover cluster.
Follow the procedure to install a new SQL Server failover cluster using Integrated Simple Cluster
Install
1. Insert the SQL Server installation media, and from the root folder, double-click Setup.exe. To install
from a network share, browse to the root folder on the share, and then double-click Setup.exe.
2. The Installation Wizard starts the SQL Server Installation Center. To create a new cluster installation of
SQL Server, click New SQL Server failover cluster installation on the installation page
3. The System Configuration Checker runs a discovery operation on your computer. To continue, click
OK.
4. You can view the details on the screen by clicking Show Details, or as an HTML report by clicking View
detailed report. To continue, click Next.
5. On the Setup Support Files page, click Install to install the Setup support files.
6. The System Configuration Checker verifies the system state of your computer before Setup continues.
After the check is complete, click Next to continue.
8. You can view the details on the screen by clicking Show Details, or as an HTML report by clicking View
detailed report.
9. On the Product key page, indicate whether you are installing a free edition of SQL Server, or whether
you have a PID key for a production version of the product.
10. On the License Terms page, read the license agreement, and then select the check box to accept the
license terms and conditions.
10. To help improve SQL Server, you can also enable the feature usage option and send reports to
Microsoft. Click Next to continue.
11. On the Feature Selection page, select the components for your installation. You can select any
combination of check boxes, but only the Database Engine and Analysis Services support failover
clustering. Other selected components will run as a stand-alone feature without failover capability on
the current node that you are running Setup on.
11. The prerequisites for the selected features are displayed on the right-hand pane. SQL Server Setup
will install the prerequisite that are not already installed during the installation step described later in
this procedure. SQL Server setup runs one more set of rules that are based on the features you
selected to validate your configuration.
13. On the Instance Configuration page, specify whether to install a default or a named instance. SQL
Server Network Name — Specify a network name for the new SQL Server failover cluster. that is the
name of virtual node of the cluster. This is the name that is used to identify your failover cluster on
the network. Instance ID — By default, the instance name is used as the Instance ID. This is used to
identify installation directories and registry keys for your instance of SQL Server. This is the case for
default instances and named instances. For a default instance, the instance name and instance ID
would be MSSQLSERVER. To use a nondefault instance ID, select the Instance ID box and provide a
value. Instance root directory — By default, the instance root directory is C:\Program Files\Microsoft
SQL Server\. To specify a nondefault root directory, use the field provided, or click the ellipsis button
to locate an installation folder.
19. Detected SQL Server instances and features on this computer – The grid shows instances of SQL
Server that are on the computer where Setup is running. If a default instance is already installed on
the computer, you must install a named instance of SQL Server. Click Next to continue.
20. The Disk Space Requirements page calculates the required disk space for the features that you
specify, and compares requirements to the available disk space on the computer where Setup is
running. Use the Cluster Resource Group page to specify the cluster resource group name where SQL
Server virtual server resources will be located. To specify the SQL Server cluster resource group name,
you have two options:
Use the drop-down box to specify an existing group to use.
Type the name of a new group to create. Be aware that the name “Available storage” is not a valid
group name.
22. On the Cluster Disk Selection page, select the shared cluster disk resource for your SQL Server failover
cluster. More than one disk can be specified. Click Next to continue.
23. On the Cluster Network Configuration page, Specify the IP type and IP address for your failover
cluster instance. Click Next to continue. Note that the IP address will resolve the name of the virtual
node which you have mentioned earlier step.
24. On the Server Configuration — Service Accounts page, specify login accounts for SQL Server services.
The actual services that are configured on this page depend on the features that you selected to
install.
27. Use this page to specify Cluster Security Policy. Use default setting. Click Next to continue. Work flow
for the rest of this topic depends on the features that you have specified for your installation. You
might not see all the pages, depending on your selections (Database Engine, Analysis Services,
Reporting Services).
28. You can assign the same login account to all SQL Server services, or you can configure each service
account individually. The startup type is set to manual for all cluster-aware services, including full-text
search and SQL Server Agent, and cannot be changed during installation. Microsoft recommends that
you configure service accounts individually to provide least privileges for each service, where SQL
Server services are granted the minimum permissions they have to have complete their tasks. To
specify the same logon account for all service accounts in this instance of SQL Server, provide
credentials in the fields at the bottom of the page. When you are finished specifying login information
for SQL Server services, click Next.
Use the Server Configuration – Collation tab, use default collations for the Database Engine and
Analysis Services.
Use the Database Engine Configuration — Account Provisioning page to specify the following:
select Windows Authentication or Mixed Mode Authentication for your instance of SQL Server.
32. Use the Database Engine Configuration – Data Directories page to specify nondefault installation
directories. To install to default directories, click Next. Use the Database Engine Configuration –
FILESTREAM page to enable FILESTREAM for your instance of SQL Server. Click Next to continue.
32. When you are finished editing the list, click OK. Verify the list of administrators in the configuration
dialog box. When the list is complete, click Next.
33. Use the Analysis Services Configuration — Account Provisioning page to specify users or accounts
that will have administrator permissions for Analysis Services. You must specify at least one system
administrator for Analysis Services. To add the account under which SQL Server Setup is running, click
Add Current User. To add or remove accounts from the list of system administrators, click Add or
Remove, and then edit the list of users, groups, or computers that will have administrator privileges
for Analysis Services. When you are finished editing the list, click OK. Verify the list of administrators in
the configuration dialog box. When the list is complete, click Next.
35. Use the Analysis Services Configuration — Data Directories page to specify nondefault installation
directories. To install to default directories, click Next.
36. Use the Reporting Services Configuration page to specify the kind of Reporting Services installation to
create. For failover cluster installation, the option is set to Unconfigured Reporting Services
installation. You must configure Reporting Services services after you complete the installation.
However, no harm to select Install and configure option if you are not an SQL expert.
37. On the Error Reporting page, specify the information that you want to send to Microsoft that will help
improve SQL Server. By default, options for error reporting is disabled.
38. The System Configuration Checker runs one more set of rules to validate your configuration with the
SQL Server features that you have specified.
39. The Ready to Install page displays a tree view of installation options that were specified during Setup.
To continue, click Install. Setup will first install the required prerequisites for the selected features
followed by the feature installation.
40. During installation, the Installation Progress page provides status so that you can monitor installation
progress as Setup continues. After installation, the Complete page provides a link to the summary log
file for the installation and other important notes. To complete the SQL Server installation process,
click Close.
41. If you are instructed to restart the computer, do so now. It is important to read the message from the
Installation Wizard when you have finished with Setup.
42. To add nodes to the single-node failover you just created, run Setup on each additional node and
follow the steps for Add Node operation.
SQL Advanced/Enterprise Failover Cluster Install
Step1: Prepare Environment
1. Insert the SQL Server installation media, and from the root folder, double-click Setup.exe.
2. Windows Installer 4.5 is required, and may be installed by the Installation Wizard. If you are prompted
to restart your computer, restart and then start SQL Server Setup again.
3. After the prerequisites are installed, the Installation Wizard starts the SQL Server Installation Center.
To prepare the node for clustering, move to the Advanced page and then click Advanced cluster
preparation
4. The System Configuration Checker runs a discovery operation on your computer. To continue, click
OK. You can view the details on the screen by clicking Show Details, or as an HTML report by clicking
View detailed report.
5. On the Setup Support Files page click Install to install the Setup support files.
6. The System Configuration Checker verifies the system state of your computer before Setup continues.
After the check is complete, click Next to continue. You can view the details on the screen by clicking
Show Details, or as an HTML report by clicking View detailed report.
7. On the Language Selection page, you can specify the language, to continue, click Next
8. On the Product key page, select PIDed product key, Click Next
9. On the License Terms page, accept the license terms and Click Next to continue.
10. On the Feature Selection page, select the components for your installation as you did for simple
installation which has been mentioned earlier.
11. The Ready to Install page displays a tree view of installation options that were specified during Setup.
To continue, click Install. Setup will first install the required prerequisites for the selected features
followed by the feature installation.
12. To complete the SQL Server installation process, click Close.
13. If you are instructed to restart the computer, do so now.
14. Repeat the previous steps to prepare the other nodes for the failover cluster. You can also use the
autogenerated configuration file to run prepare on the other nodes. A configurationfile.ini is
generated in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Setup BootStrap\Log\20130603_014118\
configurationfile.ini which is shown below.
Step2 Install SQL Server
1. After preparing all the nodes as described in the prepare step, run Setup on one of the prepared
nodes, preferably the one that owns the shared disk. On the Advanced page of the SQL Server
Installation Center, click Advanced cluster completion.
2. The System Configuration Checker runs a discovery operation on your computer. To continue, click
OK. You can view the details on the screen by clicking Show Details, or as an HTML report by clicking
View detailed report.
3. On the Setup Support Files page, click Install to install the Setup support files.
4. The System Configuration Checker verifies the system state of your computer before Setup continues.
After the check is complete, click Next to continue. You can view the details on the screen by clicking
Show Details, or as an HTML report by clicking View detailed report.
5. On the Language Selection page, you can specify the language, To continue, click Next.
6. Use the Cluster node configuration page to select the instance name prepared for clustering
7. Use the Cluster Resource Group page to specify the cluster resource group name where SQL Server
virtual server resources will be located. On the Cluster Disk Selection page, select the shared cluster
disk resource for your SQL Server failover cluster.Click Next to continue
8. On the Cluster Network Configuration page, specify the network resources for your failover cluster
instance. Click Next to continue.
9. Now follow the simple installation steps to select Database Engine, reporting, Analysis and Integration
services.
10. The Ready to Install page displays a tree view of installation options that were specified during Setup.
To continue, click Install. Setup will first install the required prerequisites for the selected features
followed by the feature installation.
11. Once installation is completed, click Close.
Follow the procedure if you would like to remove a node from an existing SQL Server failover
cluster
1. Insert the SQL Server installation media. From the root folder, double-click setup.exe. To install from a
network share, navigate to the root folder on the share, and then double-click Setup.exe.
2. The Installation Wizard launches the SQL Server Installation Center. To remove a node to an existing
failover cluster instance, click Maintenance in the left-hand pane, and then select Remove node from
a SQL Server failover cluster.
3. The System Configuration Checker will run a discovery operation on your computer. To continue, click
OK.
4. After you click install on the Setup Support Files page, the System Configuration Checker verifies the
system state of your computer before Setup continues. After the check is complete, click Next to
continue.
5. On the Cluster Node Configuration page, use the drop-down box to specify the name of the SQL
Server failover cluster instance to be modified during this Setup operation. The node to be removed is
listed in the Name of this node field.
6. The Ready to Remove Node page displays a tree view of options that were specified during Setup. To
continue, click Remove.
7. During the remove operation, the Remove Node Progress page provides status.
8. The Complete page provides a link to the summary log file for the remove node operation and other
important notes. To complete the SQL Server remove node, click Close.
Using Command Line Installation of SQL Server
1. To install a new, stand-alone instance with the SQL Server Database Engine, Replication, and Full-Text
Search component, run the following command
Setup.exe /q /ACTION=Install /FEATURES=SQL /INSTANCENAME=MSSQLSERVER
/SQLSVCACCOUNT=”<DomainName\UserName>” /SQLSVCPASSWORD
2. To prepare a new, stand-alone instance with the SQL Server Database Engine, Replication, and Full-Text
Search components, and Reporting Services. run the following command
Setup.exe /q /ACTION=PrepareImage /FEATURES=SQL,RS /InstanceID =<MYINST>
/IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS
3. To complete a prepared, stand-alone instance that includes SQL Server Database Engine, Replication,
and Full-Text Search components run the following command
Setup.exe /q /ACTION=CompleteImage /INSTANCENAME=MYNEWINST /INSTANCEID=<MYINST>
/SQLSVCACCOUNT=”<DomainName\UserName>” /SQLSVCPASSWORD
4. To upgrade an existing instance or failover cluster node from SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, or SQL
Server 2008 R2.
Setup.exe /q /ACTION=upgrade /INSTANCEID = <INSTANCEID>/INSTANCENAME=MSSQLSERVER
/RSUPGRADEDATABASEACCOUNT=”<Provide a SQL DB Account>” /IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS
5. To upgrade an existing instance of SQL Server 2012 to a different edition of SQL Server 2012.
Setup.exe /q /ACTION=editionupgrade /INSTANCENAME=MSSQLSERVER /PID=<PID key for new
edition>” /IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS
6. To install an SQL server using configuration file, run the following command
Setup.exe /ConfigurationFile=MyConfigurationFile.INI
7. To install an SQL server using configuration file and provide service Account password, run the
following command
Setup.exe /SQLSVCPASSWORD=”typepassword” /AGTSVCPASSWORD=”typepassword”
/ASSVCPASSWORD=”typepassword” /ISSVCPASSWORD=”typepassword”
/RSSVCPASSWORD=”typepassword”
/ConfigurationFile=MyConfigurationFile.INI
8. To uninstall an existing instance of SQL Server. run the following command
Setup.exe /Action=Uninstall /FEATURES=SQL,AS,RS,IS,Tools /INSTANCENAME=MSSQLSERVER
Reference and Further Reading