SQL 2012 Installation on VM MS Cluster nodes.

SQL 2012 Installation on VM MS Cluster nodes.

To install Microsoft SQL 2012 on a cluster is not a difficult task however if we should do some real technical consideration then it will be reliable and will make your day if it is in production. For this installation I will use the Windows 2012 R2 Cluster which I have created earlier and if you want have a look on my post related to cluster configuration on VM. I don’t want to go into more details about the setup and so called theory… We will go live and feel the SQL cluster setup on VM nodes.

It was told that for the real SQL server we need to have at least 4 separate volumes (drives), like Database, Log, MSDTC (Distributed Transaction Coordinator) and System and Temp Database respectively. They even said it is recommended to have Temp and System database on separate Drives. However, for MSDTC it is still “debates” are going whether to keep in local or clustered, for Windows 2008 onwards Microsoft declared to keep in local nodes in a cluster or again if it is required you can have a cluster MSDTC also. We will discuss it later in the article.

Move all the resources to Node1

Confirm all the drives are available on node1 and also the SQL 2012 installation media

Select New SQL Server failover cluster installation from Installation Center.

Setup will check all the problems that can be occur when you install SQL. And it also installs the setup support files. If there is any error or warning, follow the fixes and rerun the checks. And click OK

Enter the product key or evaluation and click Next.

Accept the license agreements and click Next.

If you have internet connectivity the setup will search for new latest update for the SQL version which you are performing to install on this cluster. And click Next.

Here in setup, it will identify problems that might occur when you install SQL. This is one of the check point where the setup will inform us and you can check the status of the issues and correct and fix accordingly. It is good to fix the warning but certain warning can be ignored if it is known and accountable.

I have mentioned in the beginning of this article about MSDTC so it is clear about MSDTC service in Windows 2008 server. On cluster configuration. Look on the links below and decided whether it is required or not.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc759136(v=ws.10).aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc730992(W.S10).aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/alwaysonpro/archive/2014/01/15/msdtc-recommendations-on-sql-failover-cluster.aspx

Select the SQL Server feature Installation radio button and Next.

Choose the core components and the features to install and if possible you can change the installation directory form “C:\” to any other location which is recommended for larger installation. Click Next.

After the component selection, setup will again identify problems that might occur based on the component and features selection. And then click Next.

Here you can select the default instance name which is MSSQLSERVER. But if you select named instance then you can specify a name for your cluster instance. Here the difference is very simple, if you use default instances you can access the SQL by using the Computer Name (hostname), on the other hand if it is named instances then you will be able to access SQL by typing Computer name\SQL instance name. If you’re install one SQL Server on this machine, go with a default.  If you’re planning on multiple instances, go for named instance. There’s no major difference.  The benefit of the default instance is that you connect just by specifying the server name whereas a named instance will require an instance name as well. Click Next to continue.

Check the summary and click Next.

You can use SQL cluster resource group name here and Click Next.

Select the shared cluster disk resources presented and available for your SQL cluster failover cluster and click Next.

Select network resources for your SQL server failover cluster and type the IP address for the SQL server.

Specify the service account and password for the SQL server and click Next.

If required change the Collation, you can keep the default here and change collation when creating database. Click Next.

Specify the SQL engine authentication security mode, it is always good to choose Mixed mode unless otherwise windows authentication mode. Type the password for sa and SQL administrators. Click Next.

Choose Data root directory and change the database and Log drives according to the availability we have done in our previous sets. Click Next.

Add analysis services administrators. Click Next.

Specify the data directory and click Next.

Click Next.

Setup will check the failover cluster installation operation and click Next.

Check the summary of the collection of our setup consolidation and click install.

Installation progress.

Again progress…….

For this error you need to add the SQL virtual luster name in to AD and assign or grant Create object permission to the cluster name. And retry the setup. If your nodes are in default OU (Computer Container) then you don’t have this issue. Otherwise it requires and computer create account permission on the OU where the nodes and Cluster Name Object (CNO) are residing. Bottom-line is, the equivalent rights that are needed for this user or CNO on an OU, required are “Create Computer Objects” and “Read All Properties” and you can also delegate the cluster CNO account for “Create Computer Objects” or simply grant full control permission on MSDTC CNO account in Active Directory.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731002(v=ws.10).aspx

Now it is over and close the setup.

Open the management studio and you will have the clustered SQL 2012 ready for use.

 

Adding another node

Load the SQL installer media in node 2 and run the SQL setup

Select Add node to a SQL failover cluster.

Look for errors and warning and click OK.

If there is internet, then it will list eh latest update otherwise clicks Next.

Again setup is checking for errors and warning and fix accordingly and click Next.

Enter Product key and click Next

Accept the license and lick Next.

Add the node to the existing SQL failover cluster and Click Next.

Specify the IP address and click Next.

Specify the password for the service account which we have used in our first node installation and click Next.

Click Next.

Setup will check for the nodes installation process and provide you with errors and warning. If passed then click Next.

Summary for the installation steps which you have selected in the previous steps. And Click Install.

Node adding progress bar…

Again node adding Progress….

The completed node adding screen and click close. Now you will be able to access the SQL engine form node 2 also and it will failover to the other node if there is any critical issue in node 1.
By default, your Windows Cluster heartbeat connection will fail when 5 pings are lost (1 ping per second for a total of 5 seconds).

SQL 2012 SP2 update installation

This warning you can safely ignore and click Next.

Click Next.

Then click Update to update the SQL installation.

Update progress….

Click close to finish the update.

Before upgrade.

Verify the SQL update by running the @@Version query and confirm the changes.

 

To Configure MSDTC (Distributed Transaction Coordinator)

Go to Failover cluster Manager and select Roles and click Configure Role

Click Next

Select Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC) and click Next

Type the Name of DTC and specify the IP address and Click Next.

Select the Drive from the list presented by the setup wizard and click Next.

Verify the confirmation page for DTC and click Next.

View the report for the installation of DTC and click Finish.

Go to the Failover Cluster manager and Start Role.

And that is the end … please comment about and I will try to improve….

 

 

How to create Microsoft Cluster using vCenter and VM nodes

How to create Microsoft Cluster using vCenter and VM nodes

To make Microsoft Cluster usually everybody goes the Physical Servers whether it two node or more. But it is also possible to configure MS cluster using VM also. There are some important configuration and consideration we have to follow while clustering the VM into MS Custer. I am not going into more details. Let’s act.

For this installation I have created 2 VM SQLN1 and SQLN2 in our vCenter and based the resource availability and requirement proved proper CUP and Memory and other hardware items. We need 2 NIC Private and Public for cluster heartbeat and client use.

Edit the settings of the node1 in our MS Cluster. Here we need to add Hard disk which will be shared for both the nodes which involved in the 2 node cluster. I will use here RDM (Raw Disk Mapping) which is suitable for SQL database and Log volumes, because of high read and write seek. But before adding the Disk we should add another SCSI controller to the node to configure the shared disk to a separate SCSI controller and make that one a Physical controller for RAW disk.

Select RDM Disk from New device dropdown menu and click Add you will be listed with the target LUN available.

Select the volumes and add to the node according to the requirement. We need one for Quorum and others for DB and Log respectively.

To view more disk, click other disk and manage other disks.

Same steps we have to do on the other node

Add the SCSI controller and change the SCSI Bus to Physical and LSI Logic SAS is better for cluster.

Now add Disk and select Existing Hard Disk and click Add Browse to the same location of the 1^st node drive location in the data store and add with same SCSI ID and Controller used in previous node configuration. This step is the key setup when we setup MS Cluster in VM environments.

 

 

Do the same steps for all the other Disk we have added in the first node and complete the configuration of the disks in our cluster.

The other way, you can use vSphere console and complete the same steps.

Edit settings on the node VM and select Hard Disk and click Next.

Select Raw Device Mappings and Click Next.

Select the LUN mapping available and click Next.

Select the Shared Datastore and click Next.

Here selects compatibility as Physical and click Next.

Specify the SCSI adaptor from the dropdown menu and Next.

Verify the summary and click Finish.

Now the RDM is mapped to the node and now configure SCSI adaptor.

And select SCSI Bus sharing type to Physical and click OK

 

On the second node

Select Hard Disk and click Next

Select the radio button for use existing virtual disk which is a very critical setting when dealing with cluster in VM environment and click Next.

Browse to the first node of the Datastore and select the disk created and added earlier.

Here specifies the same SCSI controller which we have configured in the earlier node and click Next.

Verify the configuration summary and click Finish.

If all are configured correctly your node one data store will be look something like this.

If all are fine, then we will be able to format and assign drive letters to all the volumes which we have add in the 2 VM nodes. It is very important to verify that the drives which we are added on both the nodes should be available and accessible to both the nodes.

Now it is time to configure the Failover Cluster, here I am going to configure and MS clusters 2012 R2. To start the cluster admin creation wizard, go to administrative tools and click Failover Cluster Manager and before starting the creation better to validate the cluster hardware and other cluster settings in our VM nodes.

 

Click the Validating Cluster and select the nodes involved in this cluster configuration

After finish the Validating Cluster Configuration view the repot and find and verify that, there is any serious issue. If everything is normal, then go ahead and create the cluster.

Type the name of the Cluster Name Object (CNO) and provide the IP address and click Next.

Validate the confirmation page and click Next.

After the progress the wizard will finish the cluster and will form the failover cluster by using the 2 VM nodes we have configured in our earlier sets in the documents.

 

Now our cluster on VM nodes are working fine we need to test our setup by moving the node and resources to different nodes and check the functionality before move in to real production. And next we will install SQL 2012 On this cluster.

How to Upgrade and Configure VMware vCenter 5.5 To 6.x and Configure the Update manager.

How to Upgrade and Configure VMware vCenter 5.5 To 6.x and Configure the Update manager.

Grab the Installation Media

And Attach to the vCenter Server

Start the setup

Click the Installation button

The Setup will have detected the existence of vCenter server 5.5 and will upgrade to vCenter 6 rest of the explanation is clear for the screen, click Next

Accept the agreement and Click Next

Provide the credential and click Next

Click Next

Click Next

Select the database backup verification and Click Upgrade

Setup is importing the vCenter 5x data from the existing version as part of the upgrade process

And then End of up and setup. Click the Launch vSphere Web Client.

 

For this to work need flash and other components

Some version of the browser is not combatable so upgrade accordingly and Login with proper credential

To install VMware vSphere Update Manager

Click Next

Accept and Click Next

If required select the Download update (Recommended) and Click Next

Feed proper Credentials and Click Next

Select the database and DSN and Click Next

Go for New or Upgrade up the current setup and Click Next

If you have proxy for internet you can configure it now and Click Next

Click the Install

Click Ok here and proceed

Click Next after finish the process

Click Finish to end the installation.

You have two ways to access the update manager one form the vSphere console the other the web console.

On vSphere console go the Plugins and download and install the update manager.

on the web client

Detailed configuration and other settings are beyond the scope of this document and we will address it later.

How to install and Access VMware ESXi5.xxx

How to install VMware ESXi5.xxx

VMware one of the virtualizing platform leaders in the industries for a long time was tremendously introducing and updating their technology in various angle. VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) is the basic and core building blocks for vCenter and other VM infrastructure. In this article we will cover a basic installation of ESXi server, which I have done on a VM Virtual Box.

Select the installer for fresh installation

Loading ….

Wait……

Press Enter

Press F11

Again Enter

…Enter

Password for security reason if not bothered also press Enter Net few screens Press F11 and Enter will reboot to the configuration console

Press F11

Press F2 to customize System.

As you can see in the System Customization, you can setup almost all the parameters which are mentioned there, like, IP, DNS, hostname and other settings for accessing this ESXi host form vSphere client which you can install on any windows platform. And create Virtual Machine for your need.

Go to Configure Management Network

Select Network adapters

Select the Adapter using space bar

If required you can configure tag a VLAN ID here

Select IP Configuration, here you can assign Dynamic or static IP address. Same way you can configure you DNS and other networking parameters.

To install vSphere Client either you can download from VMware website or just type https://<ip.add.re.ss> of the ESXi server which you have installed just now on your web browser. If, sometimes may receive a certificate error then just ignore and Continue and install the vSphere client.

Click on the Download vSphere Client Link after installation you will prompted like the screen below and your credential to login to the installed ESXi server.

Ignore this warning

You can do the entire configuration form this configuration tab. We will cover these details in another post. As you can see in the screen there are various types of backup and replication solutions available for VMware form third party and VMware itself, which I will prepare and publish on coming article. I hope this article will give you a basic idea of the installation of VMware ESXi installation. This article will also help you when you are going to create Virtual Center and Cluster configuration because ESXi hosts are the back bone of VMware vCenter and Cluster.