Hi all,

we have two web servers talking to a clustered sql server 2000. all machines
are running on win2k3. The application running on the webservers is type
..NET and requires distributed transactions. we encountered some questions
regarding Best Practice:

a: How do you configure MSDTC in the cluster? In the same group with SQL
Server resources or in a seperate group with seperate resources (name, ip,
disk)?

b: In the latter case, how do you configure MSDTC or the virtuell SQL
Server, so that SQL Server can find the 'virtuell' MSDTC?

c: What could be an advantage/disadvantage of configuring MSDTC with a
seperate IP adress in a seperate group? An obvious disadvantage we see is,
that the application fails to run, since VSQL does not find VMSDTC.

Does anybody have any recommandations, experiences? Did anybody find White
Papers for Clustering SQL Server 2000 on Win2k3?

Any input is very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Kind Regards

Richard

Check out

How to Configure Microsoft Distributed Transaction
Coordinator on a Windows Server 2003 Cluster
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=301600

Linchi

Hi Linchi,

yes, the document states to configure MSDTC in its own group. But this
leaves the question, how to tell the SQL Cluster to use the virtual MSDTC.
Do you have any idea?

Or do you have a clustered SQL Server with MSDTC configured according to the
document, which works fine?

Richard

"Linchi Shea" <linchi_shea (AT) NOSPAMml (DOT) com> wrote

MSDTC on a cluster overrides any local instance of MSDTC and will be used by
all clustered resources. Once it is created and operating correctly, no
further action is needed.

--
Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Senior Database Administrator
Careerbuilder.com



"Richard" <donricardo (AT) gmx (DOT) com> wrote

Hi Goeff,

yes, you are right. I see this behaviour, when I configure MSDTC in the same
group with the SQL Server resources.

But when I configure MSDTC in a separate group from SQL Server, the
application fails.

On your clusters, do you have MSDTC in the same group with SQL Server?

Is there a way, how to trace or debug? I found logs for MSDTC in
system32\MSDTC, but they are binary. Is there a special tool to view them?
Any other logs to consider?

Richard


"Geoff N. Hiten" <SRDBA (AT) Careerbuilder (DOT) com> wrote

I have MSDTC in the Cluster (Quorum) group. That way if the cluster is up
MSDTC is running. Make sure you run comclust.exe on all cluster nodes to
switch to clustered MSDTC. That is part of the configuration.

--
Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Senior Database Administrator
Careerbuilder.com




"Richard" <donricardo (AT) gmx (DOT) com> wrote

I thank you for your recommendations. However, I am not
still clear for when a) MSDTC will be in a separate group
and when b) MSDTC would be preferred as part of cluster
group on Quorum disk?

IMHO, if you are running more than one instance on your cluster, put MSDTC
in the quorum group. That way if a single instance (virtual server) goes
down, it won't take MSDTC with it. Otherwise, it really doesn't matter. As
a preference only, I put MSDTC in the quorum group as a general rule.

--
Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Senior Database Administrator
Careerbuilder.com



"sarma pisapati" <sarma (AT) pisapati (DOT) com> wrote

There are two schools of thought when it comes to designing a server
cluster when MS DTC is used:

1) Use the default configuration, which will configure MS DTC to use the
quorum drive. This is the most popular, and most often, recommended
solution.

2) Plan in advance, and create a separate cluster disk that is dedicated to
MS DTC. While this may reduce contention on the quorum drive if MS DTC is
being used in the cluster, it may mean that not enough drives will be
available for the SQL Server instances. It also means a few more steps in
configuring the cluster. For example, a clustered BizTalk Server
configuration requires that MS DTC be placed on a separate drive and in a
separate cluster group. For more information on BizTalk Server clustering
considerations, see the link for the BizTalk Server clustering whitepaper
in Appendix A.

Microsoft Whitepaper - SQL Server 2000 Failover Clustering
http://www.microsoft.com/SQL/techinf...overcluster.as
p

Either way, make sure that the drive that is going to be associated with MS
DTC is about 500 MB. The drive does not need to be gigabytes in size. If MS
DTC is going to be placed on the quorum, make sure there is enough room for
the cluster files as well. Even if MS DTC is not going to be used
currently, it is easier to configure it during the initial installation in
the event that it may be used at some point.

If for some reason the server cluster design requires another cluster disk
for MS DTC, consult the Knowledge Base article "Q294209 - INF: Rebuilding
or Moving MSDTC Used with a Failover Clustered SQL Server" at:
http://support.microsoft.com/support.../Q294/2/09.asp

Other information about MS DTC and Windows clustering can be found in the
Knowledge Base article "Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator
Recovery Techniques in Windows 2000 Cluster Server", which can be found at:
http://support.microsoft.com/support.../Q243/2/04.asp


HTH,

Regards,

Uttam Parui
SQL Server Developer Support Engineer, MCDBA, MCSE, MCT
Product Support Services
Microsoft Corporation

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