Failover Clustering FAQ

Troubleshooting SQL Server

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Troubleshooting

Failover Clustering FAQ

Is the use of software fault-tolerant disk sets for cluster storage supported?

Answer:

No. For more information, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q171/0/52.asp

Software FT Sets Are Not Supported in Microsoft Cluster Server.

Does SQL Server 2000 clustering provide load balancing?

Answer:

No. SQL Server 2000 clustering does not provide load balancing; it provides failover clustering. To achieve load balancing between instances of SQL Server, you will need additional software.

Does SQL Server 2000 full-text search support clustering?

Answer:

Yes.

How do I upgrade SQL Server 6.5 or SQL Server 7.0 to SQL Server 2000 when SQL Server version 6.5 or SQL Server 7.0 is part of a cluster?

Answer

If your installation of SQL Server 6.5 or SQL Server 7.0 is part of a cluster, you must perform certain steps to upgrade the server to SQL Server 2000. For information, see Upgrading to a SQL Server 2000 Failover Cluster.

For specific procedures, see the following topics:

For more information, see Failover Clustering.

What hardware is required to run SQL Server 2000 in a clustering environment?

Answer:

Check the Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility List for a list of clustering-compatible servers at:

Microsoft Web site

Note  Search by using the word "cluster" because individual components cannot be combined to create a supported system.

In addition, refer to the Microsoft Cluster Server Administrator's Guide for a list of supported hardware configurations and hardware configuration information.

Can SQL Server 6.5 or SQL Server 7.0 be installed on one node and SQL Server 2000 be installed on the other node of a cluster?

Answer:

No. For two instances of SQL Server to participate in a failover cluster, they must be the same version of SQL Server. You can have a local SQL Server 7.0 installation and a failover cluster SQL Server 2000 instance.

Where do I place the SQL Server 2000 files to provide failover support?

Answer:

SQL Server setup installs a new instance of SQL Server binaries on the local disk of each computer in the cluster and installs the system databases on the specified shared cluster disk. The binaries are installed in the same path on each cluster node, so you must ensure that each node has a local drive letter in common with all the other nodes in the cluster.

How do I shut down SQL Server from the command line without the Cluster Service interpreting the shutdown as a failure?

Answer:

Use the Service Manager. For information, see How to stop a clustered instance of SQL Server (Service Manager). Alternatively, use the Cluster.exe application that comes with Microsoft® Windows NT® Enterprise Edition, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, or Microsoft Windows 2000 Data Center. Cluster.exe is installed as part of the typical Cluster setup, which can also be run on a Microsoft Windows NT Workstation, Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, or Microsoft Windows 2000 Server member server computer to install just the Cluster Administrator and the other administrative applications. The basic syntax for this command is:

cluster [cluster name] RESOURCE [resource name] /option

In the preceding command syntax, the /option switch controls this functionality.

The specific options to be used are /online and /offline. These options are equivalent to the commands net start mssqlserver (to start SQL Server from the command line) and net stop mssqlserver (to shut down SQL Server from the command line) for a nonvirtualized server, respectively. You can perform this procedure on the SQL Server Fulltext, the SQL Server Agent, and the SQL Server resources.

Following are some examples of how to use this command syntax:

  • To take the SQL Server 2000 resource offline if the Cluster Name is "SQLCluster" and the resource is named "SQL Server" (where "SQL Server" is the name of the SQL Server 2000 resource:

cluster "SQLCluster" resource "SQL Server" /offline

  • To bring the SQL Server 2000 resource back online:

cluster "SQLCluster" resource "SQL Server" /online

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