Create SQL cluster on 2003

I have 2 2003 servers each running a separate copy of SQL. I have purchased
a external storage Dell Powervault running RAID 5 to serve as the shared disk
space. I would like to create a SQL cluster with these 2 machines. Each SQL
server has databases that will need to be moved to the shared space. What is
the easiest way to accomplish this?
I was thinking I would need to do backup my databases from both SQL servers.
Create a cluster in 2003 cluster management
Uninstall SQL server from both SQL servers
Install SQL server as a virtual server from one of the 2003 servers.
Restore the SQL databases to the shared disk space
Am I missing anything?
First, your configuration is unsupported. A cluster must be purchased as a
cluster, not just assembled ad-hoc from components that may or may not be on
the cluster Hardware Compatibility list in order to be a supported
configuration. Some storage vendors will certify the entire platform if you
purchase installation services along with the storage device.
Second, your RAID-5 Powervault will run very slowly in a cluster. RAID-5
has significant overhead for writes. Normally a caching controller can
mitigate these issues but with clustering, all SCSI controllers for shared
storage must disable write cache. Since you have the PowerVault divided
into a single array, you will have to install SQL onto the Quorum partition,
again an unsupported configuration. Note that Clustering will work at the
RAID container level, not at the logical partition level. Data and
transaction logs will be on the same physical device so there goes another
bit of performance and recoverability. The whole purpose of SQL Clustering
is to increase availability. I don't see how this configuration will help
reach that goal.
I would talk to my Dell representative about their certified cluster
offerings rather than pursue this path.
Since you did ask for how to do something instead of whether it should be
done, here goes. Create a cluster and install an instance of SQL onto the
cluster (likely a named instance since I would guess that the local
machine(s) already use a default instance). After that, it is a simple
matter to move the databases as you would between any two SQL servers.
Windows 2003 Server has a really great clustering wizard that keeps you from
building a non-functional cluster. Once that is working, you can easily
install SQL clustering according to the instructions in BOL.
HOW TO: Move Databases Between Computers That Are Running SQL Server
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;314546
Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Senior Database Administrator
"Amy Lewis" <AmyLewis@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:EF12ECFD-4BA7-48DD-8605-46D045E39532@.microsoft.com...
>I have 2 2003 servers each running a separate copy of SQL. I have
>purchased
> a external storage Dell Powervault running RAID 5 to serve as the shared
> disk
> space. I would like to create a SQL cluster with these 2 machines. Each
> SQL
> server has databases that will need to be moved to the shared space. What
> is
> the easiest way to accomplish this?
> I was thinking I would need to do backup my databases from both SQL
> servers.
> Create a cluster in 2003 cluster management
> Uninstall SQL server from both SQL servers
> Install SQL server as a virtual server from one of the 2003 servers.
> Restore the SQL databases to the shared disk space
> Am I missing anything?
|||Thanks for the response. I have actually talked with Dell about this and
given the small volume of SQL database activity - they recommended this.
I have not configured my PowerVault yet - would Raid 1 be better relating
to performance? My current 2003 servers have a single RAID 5 configuration -
and the databases are stored in the normal c:\program files\.... and it
seems to be working fine for us. We only about about 20 databases - all
small (the largest is 500M) and all with less than 20 users connected at 1
time.
"Geoff N. Hiten" wrote:

> First, your configuration is unsupported. A cluster must be purchased as a
> cluster, not just assembled ad-hoc from components that may or may not be on
> the cluster Hardware Compatibility list in order to be a supported
> configuration. Some storage vendors will certify the entire platform if you
> purchase installation services along with the storage device.
> Second, your RAID-5 Powervault will run very slowly in a cluster. RAID-5
> has significant overhead for writes. Normally a caching controller can
> mitigate these issues but with clustering, all SCSI controllers for shared
> storage must disable write cache. Since you have the PowerVault divided
> into a single array, you will have to install SQL onto the Quorum partition,
> again an unsupported configuration. Note that Clustering will work at the
> RAID container level, not at the logical partition level. Data and
> transaction logs will be on the same physical device so there goes another
> bit of performance and recoverability. The whole purpose of SQL Clustering
> is to increase availability. I don't see how this configuration will help
> reach that goal.
> I would talk to my Dell representative about their certified cluster
> offerings rather than pursue this path.
> Since you did ask for how to do something instead of whether it should be
> done, here goes. Create a cluster and install an instance of SQL onto the
> cluster (likely a named instance since I would guess that the local
> machine(s) already use a default instance). After that, it is a simple
> matter to move the databases as you would between any two SQL servers.
> Windows 2003 Server has a really great clustering wizard that keeps you from
> building a non-functional cluster. Once that is working, you can easily
> install SQL clustering according to the instructions in BOL.
> HOW TO: Move Databases Between Computers That Are Running SQL Server
> http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;314546
> Geoff N. Hiten
> Microsoft SQL Server MVP
> Senior Database Administrator
>
> "Amy Lewis" <AmyLewis@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:EF12ECFD-4BA7-48DD-8605-46D045E39532@.microsoft.com...
>
>
|||I am assuming a PV 220S with 14 slots.
2ea RAID-1 drives for Quorum and MSDTC (36GB 15KRPM) Normal best practices
has them apart but with your small scale combining them should be safe.
2ea RAID-1 drives for Logs (73GB 15KRPM)
2ea RAID-1 drives for Data (146GB 15KRPM)
That leaves 8 slots for future expansion. Make sure you have blanks so the
airflow works correctly. You can adjust the sizes of the drives to meet
your needs, but try to keep the Quorum and Logs drives at 15KRPM. The speed
definitely makes a difference. Since you are in a cluster configuration,
the physical location of the drives in the individual slots makes no
difference. This will give you a decent performing system that is also
pretty reliable and recoverable.
Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
"Amy Lewis" <AmyLewis@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F0ECD371-DAB4-433C-8445-750EB2D45AA3@.microsoft.com...[vbcol=seagreen]
> Thanks for the response. I have actually talked with Dell about this and
> given the small volume of SQL database activity - they recommended this.
> I have not configured my PowerVault yet - would Raid 1 be better relating
> to performance? My current 2003 servers have a single RAID 5
> configuration -
> and the databases are stored in the normal c:\program files\.... and it
> seems to be working fine for us. We only about about 20 databases - all
> small (the largest is 500M) and all with less than 20 users connected at 1
> time.
> "Geoff N. Hiten" wrote:

create database at shared hoster site

I have an sql script that I ran on my local system using osql. It
created all the tables, views, and even inserted sample data into the
tables.

Now I need to create that same database on a shared hoster site. Only
the hoster does not allow the running of osql.

How can I create my sql server database on my shared hoster site?

Can I save and restore my database somehow?

Is there a stored procedure I can run which will run the .sql script
file?

thanks,

-SteveThat depends on how your provider expects you to execute SQL code - if
they don't allow osql.exe, then what do they allow? And how do you
connect to the hosted database - do you use Enterprise Manager? Since
osql.exe is just a client application, if you can connect to the SQL
server then you should be able to use it.

Simon|||Simon Hayes wrote:
> That depends on how your provider expects you to execute SQL code -
if
> they don't allow osql.exe, then what do they allow?

the hoster is godaddy.com You do get a panel where you can manually
config the database. There is something called "Query Analyser" which
provides a window to run sql statements. I dont think this is the same
as the Microsoft Query Analyzer that I read about yesterday. In this
godaddy qa window I cannot "run sqlscript.sql" like I think you can do
in Microsoft Query Analyzer.

What I was able to do was cut and paste large sections of my script.sql
from my PC editor into the GoDaddy "Query Analyser" window. Then I
clicked the "submit" button and it basically worked.

> And how do you
> connect to the hosted database - do you use Enterprise Manager?

> Since
> osql.exe is just a client application, if you can connect to the SQL
> server then you should be able to use it.

well my asp.net code can use the SqlConnection class to connect to the
database, then use SqlCommand to run SQL commands. Can osql be run in
that context?

I am curious to know if there is a stored procedure I can use which
will run an .sql script.

thanks,

-Steve|||You might be able to re-use this code in ASP:

http://groups-beta.google.com/group...e72b5441b?hl=en

A web interface which doesn't allow uploading scripts is quite limited
- I would definitely ask the provider if they can enhance it.

There's no stored proc to run a file, probably because the server would
need to have access to the script file somehow, which is tricky if it's
on your workstation. It's common to use xp_cmdshell to call osql.exe as
a way of executing scripts, but that's only really useful for syadmins,
because of the security implications.

Simon|||Simon Hayes wrote:
> You might be able to re-use this code in ASP:
>
http://groups-beta.google.com/group...e72b5441b?hl=en

that looks to be exactly what I am looking for.

thanks very much,

-Steve

> A web interface which doesn't allow uploading scripts is quite
limited
> - I would definitely ask the provider if they can enhance it.
> There's no stored proc to run a file, probably because the server
would
> need to have access to the script file somehow, which is tricky if
it's
> on your workstation. It's common to use xp_cmdshell to call osql.exe
as
> a way of executing scripts, but that's only really useful for
syadmins,
> because of the security implications.
> Simon