installing SQL SERVER 2000 on Windows 2003 cluster

  • Hi

    We have just  embarked on a project to install  sql server 2000 on

    a windows server 2003  cluster  ..

    Wanted to know whether we could simply  install  sql server (non cluster mode)  and let the windows server 2003  cluster  do the clustering at windows  level  instead

    of having  to install  sql server in a cluster mode - active/active or active/passive  .. 

     

    Thanks

  • First of all: Don't just start on something like this!!!!

    This is not very easy done, there is a lot to take care of before you can start installing SQL Server on a cluster.

    • Are you going to use MSDTC? - Then get good informed, there are several issues with MSDTC on a cluster of Windows 2003 machines.
    • Are you familiar with clustering on OS level? - It is very good to understand the basics of clustering on OS level before you insert the CD of SQL Server 2000 on a cluster.
    • There are a lot of KB articles on clustering and SQL 2000, but.... Do not take for granted, that Windows 2000 clustering is the same as Windows 2003 clustering when combined with SQL Server 2000. Again there are many articles you cannot use.
    • How many instances are you going to use?
    • Do you have different lun's from your SAN to use? You at least need 1 quorum, 1 msdtc, 1 or more SQL data/log/index lun's
    • Read, read, read and finally 'understand what you are going to do' before you begin.

    This is not to scare you, but it takes some good preperation!

  • Hello,

    I'm actually working with the orignal poster on this issue, so maybe I can give some more information.

    To answer your questions:

    • We are not using MSDTC
    • The Windows 2003 Cluster is setup with two nodes into a EMC SAN
    • We have LUN's setup for the Quroum, data(14), logs(2), temp(2), system tables(1) (we are estimating the DB to grow to 1.5TB within the next 2 years)
    • The LUN's are all configured as shared resources on the first node and set to fail over to the second node.
    • There is only going to be one instance at this time with failover clustering to the second node.

    We are running Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition, and SQL 2000 Enterprise Server. The SQL CD has SP2 on it and I get the warning message when first installing that SP2 is not compatiable with 2003. In the past I have continued and applied SP3 afterwards with no issues.

    Now I am having an issue while installing the Virtual Server on the first node. I get as far into the install wizard to where I am supposed to select the location for data files and it hangs. I can get past this if I remove the shared drives from the OS cluster, but of course there is no place to put the data files.

    Now one thing I can think that might be a problem is, we have the SAN drives mounted to empty NTFS directories instead of individual drive letters. I have not been able to find anything that says this might be an issue. Has anyone here done this before, or know of a problem with it?

    Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.

    Ben

     

  • I did not do that before, and i thought is was not recommended to do so. I think it is better to use drive letters.

  • Hi. I saw your discussions above. I am doing the same thing, but the difference is that i am putting MSDTC. On doing that as soon as i start the MSDTC service, i am getting the following error "Could not start the Distributed Transaction Coordinator service on local computer. The service did not return an error. This could be an internal windows error or an internal service error. if problem persists contact your system administrator" . Can anyone help me please. I appreciate it.

  • This link is the road to the MSDTC hotfix needed when you have trouble in the starting order of MSDTC in combination with SQL Server 2000 on a Windows 2003 cluster.

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821751/en-us

    It is not directly downloadable, but when you contact Microsoft you can get it. But remember, it can be another problem too!

    The following link is also of great value

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817064/en-us

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