Windows Server 2016 With Clustered SQL Server 2016 Instance #winserv #SQL #WS2016 #SQL2016

Now that Windows Server 2016 is there and SQL server 2016. you can build a default cluster with SQL but that is no fun. Building a SQL Cluster on Storage Spaces Direct or putting the Databases on storage replication.  or building a hybrid SQL cluster with Azure.

In my blog there are plenty off samples on how to build this. This blog is a easy step by step on hoe to create a cluster with the 2016 products.  ( basically the same as 2008,2012R2 )

Get your Windows server 2016 here :  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-technical-preview

What’s new in Windows Server 2016 ?

http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsserver/archive/2015/05/04/what-s-new-in-windows-server-2016-technical-preview-2.aspx

the Cluster is easy I use 3 lines of PowerShell to create this. needless to say the .net 3.5 is needed for SQL!

Installing the Cluster feature you will need to reboot this node.
install-WindowsFeature "Failover-Clustering","RSAT-Clustering" -IncludeAllSubFeature -ComputerName "mvpsql16-1.mvp.local","mvpsql16-1.mvp.local"
Test-Cluster -Node "mvpsql16-1.mvp.local","mvpsql16-1.mvp.local"
New-Cluster -Name Techdays01 -Node "mvpsql16-1.mvp.local","mvpsql16-1.mvp.local" -NoStorage -StaticAddress "10.255.255.10"

The Cluster is in place and yes you could do create a new failover cluster but that is to easy. command line is way faster with the advanced config.

 

Let’s pick the two steps installation in the advanced menu. cluster prep and cluster completion.

first step is advanced cluster preparation. when installing from command line you will need a ini file during the GUI setup you can save this ini file and use this for later or you can use an older file non 2016 if you just want to setup the DB.

If you are using named instances you can see this error if you are not using the right names

SQL named instance Requirements  : https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143531.aspx

 

Step 1

 

WHen using the Command line with the INI file you can do this :

D:\setup.exe /q /CONFIGURATIONFILE="C:\SQLSetup\Configstep1.ini" /AGTSVCPASSWORD="Password01" /ASSVCPASSWORD="Password01" /SQLSVCPASSWORD="Password01" /ISSVCPASSWORD="Password01" /RSSVCPASSWORD="Password01" /IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS /INDICATEPROGRESS
Remember to change the ini file and set the ignore to the UIMODE="Normal"

;UIMODE="Normal"

In just a few minutes you have completed the whole setup.  ( 5 minute Setup Windows Server 2012R2

Step 1 is done still there is nothing to see in the Cluster but the first part of SQL install is done.

 

Step2

Creating the Cluster with the advanced Cluster completion.

Important that you did run the cluster validation. else the setup will fail.

 

Using the named instance and using the Created ini file in step 2 if you haven’t had this file.

d:\setup.exe /q /CONFIGURATIONFILE="C:\SQLSetup\Configstep2.ini"  /IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS /INDICATEPROGRESS

 

Done in just a few minutes and ready for the next Cluster rollout using the unattended files just change the names and IP and or locations in the INI files and you are ready to go.

 

Done for Part 1 the cluster basics.

Happy clustering

Robert Smit

@clusterMVP

https://robertsmit.wordpress.com