Cluster solution certification

Hi All,
We are currently working on setting up a 2-Node cluster using SQL Server
2005.
Hardware :
HP Blade servers : BL 460c (c7000 enclosure)
SAN from Compellent Technologies
Fiber channel network.
OS : Windows Server 2003.
My understanding is that this cluster solution (as a whole not individual
components)needs to be certified by Microsoft in order to get support from
them in the future.
I checked the microsoft site www.windowsservercatalog.com but couldn;t find
the entire system as a whole for the above combination. There were other
combinations of SAN from Compellent and Proliant servers from HP.
I spoke to Compellent, and they directed me to the "wondowsservercatalog"
site.
I'm trying to get hold of someone from HP who can help me with this ,so far
no success.
Does anyone of you use the above platform for Clustering without any issues.
If so, for how long?
I appreciate your input.
SJ
Blade cluster = Low Availability Cluster, regardless of the certification.
Blades share too many critical components (Power Supplies, inbuilt network
switches, etc.) for me to count them as truly redundant solutions. Some
blade systems are less "interdependent" than others, but when you are trying
for both hardware redundancy (Clustering) AND lower cost through combined
hardware (blade platform), something has to give.
Geoff N. Hiten
Senior SQL Infrastructure Consultant
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
"SJ" <SJ@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C314632E-B342-45E7-86F8-CB0F8F1DD230@.microsoft.com...
> Hi All,
> We are currently working on setting up a 2-Node cluster using SQL Server
> 2005.
> Hardware :
> HP Blade servers : BL 460c (c7000 enclosure)
> SAN from Compellent Technologies
> Fiber channel network.
> OS : Windows Server 2003.
> My understanding is that this cluster solution (as a whole not individual
> components)needs to be certified by Microsoft in order to get support from
> them in the future.
> I checked the microsoft site www.windowsservercatalog.com but couldn;t
> find
> the entire system as a whole for the above combination. There were other
> combinations of SAN from Compellent and Proliant servers from HP.
> I spoke to Compellent, and they directed me to the "wondowsservercatalog"
> site.
> I'm trying to get hold of someone from HP who can help me with this ,so
> far
> no success.
> Does anyone of you use the above platform for Clustering without any
> issues.
> If so, for how long?
> I appreciate your input.
>
> --
> SJ

Cluster name with multiple IP addresses?

Can multiple IP addresses be assigned to a cluster and/or virtual name?
I have a 2-node Active/Passive cluster on a switched (not routed) network.
Each node has 3 NICs, each on its own subnet;
a) public/client access - 192.168.10.0
b) private/cluster traffic - 10.0.0.0
c) data backup network - 192.168.20.0
The cluster name "SQLCLST" and the virtual machine name "SQLSVR" have been
defined with IP addresses on the public/client network.
My backup software is cluster aware but because the traffic is separated via
switched network, I need the cluster and/or virtual machine name to respond
to IP addresses on two different subnets. Is this possible? Did this make
sense? ;)
TIA
It is not an uncommon request, nor is it too difficult. Once you have the
NICs and networks defined in the cluser configuration, you run the SQL setup
wizard to add the networks to SQL Server. To use them effectively, look
into connection-specific suffixes. That way you can force traffic to a
particular network.
Geoff N. Hiten
Senior SQL Infrastructure Consultant
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
"Structured Chaos" <jeffery_tyree@.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:%23Y%23s8Mv0HHA.5380@.TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Can multiple IP addresses be assigned to a cluster and/or virtual name?
> I have a 2-node Active/Passive cluster on a switched (not routed) network.
> Each node has 3 NICs, each on its own subnet;
> a) public/client access - 192.168.10.0
> b) private/cluster traffic - 10.0.0.0
> c) data backup network - 192.168.20.0
> The cluster name "SQLCLST" and the virtual machine name "SQLSVR" have been
> defined with IP addresses on the public/client network.
> My backup software is cluster aware but because the traffic is separated
> via switched network, I need the cluster and/or virtual machine name to
> respond to IP addresses on two different subnets. Is this possible? Did
> this make sense? ;)
> TIA
>
|||Thanks for the quick info. Apparently it is a little more difficult than
that, heheh
I did not see any dialog/screen that allowed for the addition of new
network - only to modify node membership.
I have a ticket opened with MS. They have escalated it stating that they
don't even know if SQL will support this configuration and are attempting to
duplicate it in their labs. The MS SQL Data Engine Team manager stated they
may even have to look at the code...
Should you happen to have any detailed steps on making this work, I'd
appreciate it and apparently MS would too! LOL
"Geoff N. Hiten" <SQLCraftsman@.gmail.com> wrote in message
news:OQYwDPx0HHA.1184@.TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> It is not an uncommon request, nor is it too difficult. Once you have the
> NICs and networks defined in the cluser configuration, you run the SQL
> setup wizard to add the networks to SQL Server. To use them effectively,
> look into connection-specific suffixes. That way you can force traffic to
> a particular network.
> --
> Geoff N. Hiten
> Senior SQL Infrastructure Consultant
> Microsoft SQL Server MVP
>
>
> "Structured Chaos" <jeffery_tyree@.yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:%23Y%23s8Mv0HHA.5380@.TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
|||OK, you are not trying to stack multiple IP addresses on a single NIC, you
are using a unique IP address for each NIC. That isn't a problem.
The problem comes from having the same DNS alias (network name) respond on
two different subnets. That is a networking issue, not a clustering issue.
I would use connection-specific domain suffixes to differentiate the
networks. Also, I would use DNS SRV records to abstract the names. I.E.
MySQLCluster points to the IP and port of the normal public NIC.
MySQLClusterBackup points to the IP and port on the backup LAN.
I have used this setup in the past and it works just fine.
Geoff N. Hiten
Senior SQL Infrastructure Consultant
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
"Structured Chaos" <jeffery_tyree@.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Ooh45iT2HHA.2752@.TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Thanks for the quick info. Apparently it is a little more difficult than
> that, heheh
> I did not see any dialog/screen that allowed for the addition of new
> network - only to modify node membership.
> I have a ticket opened with MS. They have escalated it stating that they
> don't even know if SQL will support this configuration and are attempting
> to duplicate it in their labs. The MS SQL Data Engine Team manager stated
> they may even have to look at the code...
> Should you happen to have any detailed steps on making this work, I'd
> appreciate it and apparently MS would too! LOL
>
> "Geoff N. Hiten" <SQLCraftsman@.gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:OQYwDPx0HHA.1184@.TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>

Cluster Log error message

Hello to all,
I'm investigating an application outage issue on a 2-node W2K Adv Server
cluster. A Generic Application is running on the cluster in a remote site,
and connects to a UNIX-based Oracle db at my site. There are intermittent
MRxSMB 3019 Event IDs which I'm not too worried about. I just used Q138365
to adjust the autodisconnect value to -1.
But I'm finding this error message in the Cluster log:
Network Name <Network Name CLUSTER VIRTUAL NAME>: Failed to register DNS PTR
record X.X.X.X.in-addr.arpa. for host CLUSTER VIRTUAL NAME FQDN, status 9005
I can't find anything documented about this error, so I can't tell if this
is something to be concerned about. Is it nothing, a cluster service
problem, DNS registraion problem?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Hey I had this error as well when I was setting up my cluster
To fix it:
o Right-click the network connection for your heartbeat adapter, and then
click Properties.
o Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties
o On the DNS tab, verify that no values are defined. Make sure that the
Register this connection's address in DNS is cleared.
Hope this helps!!
"Chris" <Chris@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:932C28D9-F8C2-4F83-BE57-AA149AF27065@.microsoft.com...
> Hello to all,
> I'm investigating an application outage issue on a 2-node W2K Adv Server
> cluster. A Generic Application is running on the cluster in a remote
site,
> and connects to a UNIX-based Oracle db at my site. There are intermittent
> MRxSMB 3019 Event IDs which I'm not too worried about. I just used
Q138365
> to adjust the autodisconnect value to -1.
> But I'm finding this error message in the Cluster log:
> Network Name <Network Name CLUSTER VIRTUAL NAME>: Failed to register DNS
PTR
> record X.X.X.X.in-addr.arpa. for host CLUSTER VIRTUAL NAME FQDN, status
9005
> I can't find anything documented about this error, so I can't tell if this
> is something to be concerned about. Is it nothing, a cluster service
> problem, DNS registraion problem?
> Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
> Thanks in advance.
sqlsql

cluster hardware - CPU, memory

1. In MSCS and SQL Server 2-node clustering on windows 2000 advance server,
are there any restrictions on the hardware. That is, do the 2 nodes
necessarily should have the same number of CPU and memory?
2. when we have 2 node with sql server in cluster, can we install another
non-clustered instance on the same server?
3. is there a link which describes the difference between 1 sql instance
cluster and 2 sql instance cluster?
1). Certified cluster configurations must be symmetrical. That is all
nodes indentical. It is possible to run asymmetrical clusters, but they are
often more trouble and less reliable than a stand-alone SQL instance.
2). Yes.
3). The Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Resource Kit has some good information on
clustering, including using more than 2 nodes and multi-instance support.
BOL also has some basic information.
Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
"Pari" <Pari@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2E64C5E8-A0BB-41AB-8174-FF26137A1F17@.microsoft.com...
> 1. In MSCS and SQL Server 2-node clustering on windows 2000 advance
> server,
> are there any restrictions on the hardware. That is, do the 2 nodes
> necessarily should have the same number of CPU and memory?
> 2. when we have 2 node with sql server in cluster, can we install another
> non-clustered instance on the same server?
> 3. is there a link which describes the difference between 1 sql instance
> cluster and 2 sql instance cluster?
sqlsql