Hi!

I am planiing to install SQL 2000 EE on Win 2003 Cluster:

2 node cluster, Windows 2003
1 SQL Server instance (active/passive)

In order to do so I need some answers:

1. Should I install Win 2003 SP1 on both nodes (what are the
experiences?, any problems?).
2. What is recommended practice: default instance or named instance?
3. I plan to Install hotfix SQL2000-KB815495-8.00.0818-ENU.exe
Is there a newer hotfix that should be installed and where to find
it?
4. Each node has 2GB of RAM so /3GB switch in boot.ini should be used?
5. MSDTC will have it's own group and disk resource, it's own IP and
network name.
Because of lack of disk space Quorum, MSDTC, and system databases
(master, model, msdb)
will be on different disk resources but on the same physical disk
(mirrored-RAID 1) (the disk will have
three volumes each forming its own disk resource). Quorum, MSDTC,
and system databases
are not heavily used so we should not have IO contention problems.
Right?
6. Database, Log and Tempdb (with log) each on it's own disk (mirrored
w. RAID 1). The question is:
TempDb and it's log on the same drive - BOL mentions putting tempdb
on the separate disk but
says nothing about it's log.
7. Because the server is SQL Server dedicated we can leave Dynamic SQL
Server memory and use
"Boost SQL Server priority on Windows" option. Is this OK?

All advices are welcome,

Tom

Answers below...

Cheers,

Rod

MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
http://www.nw-america.com - Clustering Website
http://www.msmvps.com/clustering - Blog

"Tom" <ts (AT) nospam (DOT) nospam> wrote

Yes. Mine have been very good. If you add in the Security Configuration
Wizard, read the screens carefully.

If you are going to have more then one named instance, then the popular vote
is go with only named instances and not to install a default instance. The
call is really yours. You can have one default instance, and 15 named
instances or 16 named instances in a SQL cluster.

Good question! I don't put this one on. You should only install a hotfix, if
you have the problem that the hotfix solves.

Testing will tell you for sure, but in general, yes.

Again, you will have to test. How busy will the system be? How many
concurrent users? Will MSDTC actually be used and how hard?

Databases and Logs should be on seperate disk subsystems, this includes
TempDB.

Yes

1. No problems so far.
2. Named instance if you are going to be installing more later (subject to
application compatability)
3. 878 is later.
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;838166
4. No
5. Never put anything else on the quorum drive other than the quorum. If
need be, partition the drive so that the quorum is 1Gb and then the rest for
another drive letter with the rest of the stuff. Not a formula for high
availability.
6. Unlesss you do a lot of work in TempDB, it does not really matter
7. Dynamic on, but do NOT select "boost" as there is not need to do it as it
is not sharing the server with anything else. I have found there is actually
no need to use it ever.

Regards
Mike

"Tom" wrote:

Thanks a lot!



You helped me, but now I have a few more questions:



1. What is the preferred order of installation for

Windows 2003 SP1, MSCS, SQL, SQL SP3a.

Is it OS, SP1, virtual server, SQL, SQL SP3a, or maybe

Windows 2003 SP1 goes last, or ...???



2. To my question: <default or named instance?> Mike responded: <Named
instance if you are going to be installing more later (subject to
application compatibility)> Please explain application compatibility issue
or provide link.



3. <SQL Server Failover Clustering> whitepaper and Rod say to put /GB
switch into boot.ini file on system with 2GB of RAM. Mike said NO to /3GB
switch. Please explain.



4. Although the server is going to be SQL Server dedicated I presume
some vendor specific monitoring software will be installed along with IIS to
support it. Mike's advice is NOT to use "Boost SQL Server priority on
Windows" option.





Thanks,



Tom

Comments Inline
"Tom" <ts (AT) nospam (DOT) nospam> wrote

Exactly this order. Document each step and any choices different from
defaults. That will be the start of your disaster recovery procedure.

your users why one instance has a name <DefaultName> while all the others
look like <VirtualServerName\InstanceName>. It is easier if the names all
look alike. If you have client connectivity issues, make sure to use MDAC
version 2.7 or higher so it will recognize named instances.
physical RAM. Having said that, I strongly suggest you add more memory to
your servers. SQL Enterprise Edition can use up to 32GB of RAM and SQL
really likes as much as you can give it. I would take the boxes up to at
least 8GB to start. Then I would use /3GB and /PAE in the boot.ini file.
You can then use AWE memory for SQL.
the cluster software. That may lead to a false failover.>
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Senior Database Administrator.

Geoff is completely correct on the priority boost. It's NOT recommened on
SQL Servers running on a cluster. MS will promptly tell you to turn it off.
:-)

Donna

"Geoff N. Hiten" wrote: