Setup SQL Server on cluster connected to SAN

[DannoSV]

Hello,

I have a project with the following goals:

1.) Upgrade SQL Server to the latest version. Currently running version 8.0 (is that sql 2000?)

2.) Migrate SQL Server to new hardware for high availability. Will run on a cluster connected to a SAN.

I am not a SQL Admin but will have the assistance of someone who has experience with SQL if necessary.

Are there any known issues running SQL on a cluster and/or connected to a SAN?

What should be completed first, the upgrade or the hardware migration?

There are probably a list of articles to read on this, any suggested reading?

Aside from not being a SQL Admin, I have never setup a cluster before. I will be testing the setup of the cluster and SAN connectivity before migrating the production database to the new hardware.

Thanks so much...

Danno

 

[pgaliardo]

We did exactly this at the beginning of the year. We installed SQL 2005 64 bit on a HP CLuster, then imported the databases over from our SQL 200 server. There are tons of articles. You should probably start with your hardware documentation. I started with:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189134.aspx.

That article contains links to several other articles. Do as much reading and research as possible before implementing this. We started with bringing over just a test database that we ran for a month, then brought over live data when we were certain the setup was correct. Good Luck.

 

[DannoSV]

Terrific! Thanks so much.

 

[mrdenny]

There aren't any issues running SQL on a cluster. We have several clusters setup.

We also did a SQL 2000 to SQL 2005 migration when moving a system to a cluster. As long as you have done a through code review and have checked that all the code will work correctly in SQL 2005 do everything in one night.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000) / MCTS (SQL 2005) / MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[DannoSV]

I need to order the hardware sooner than expected. The new cluster will be connected to a SAN.

I'm thinking that each node of the cluster will have dual HBA's incase one fails. Is this necessary on a clustered setup? I'm not clear if the node fails over for hardware issues or only for software?

Thanks!

 

[pgaliardo]

I don't think dual HBA's are a requirement in each node, because if the HBA fails in Node 1, it will lose connection to the SAN and then kick over to Node 2. But I guess having dual HBA's would get Node 1 back online that much quicker.

Yes, the nodes fail over for hardware issues. You can verify this by simply shutting down one of the servers, then looking in Cluster Administrator and notice that the resources are now owned by the failover node.

 

[mrdenny]

We have dual HBAs for our SAN. As pqaliardo stated the cluster will fail over for hardware or software.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000) / MCTS (SQL 2005) / MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com