Installing SnapManager into an MSCS environment

This section describes how to install SnapManager into an MSCS environment.

See the following topics for more information:

System configurations for SnapManager on a Windows cluster
Disk requirements for SnapManager on a Windows cluster
Installing SnapManager and creating a new Windows cluster
Note
You do not need to stop SQL Server instances before or during the SnapManager software installation process.

System configurations for SnapManager on a Windows cluster

When installing SnapManager on an MSCS cluster, consider the following system configuration requirements and limitations.

SnapManager must be installed on all nodes

SnapManager must be installed on all nodes of the cluster so that SnapManager backup and restore operations can be performed from any node.

Maximum cluster size

SnapManager supports a maximum cluster size of two or four nodes, depending on the operating system.

Operating system	Maximum cluster size
Windows 2000 Advanced Server	Two nodes
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition	Four nodes

Multiple-instance clusters

SnapManager supports multiple-instance clusters, provided that the following additional system requirements are met:

Each instance must have its own LUNs that cannot be used by other instances.
Each instance must be created in its own cluster group.
All LUNs assigned to a given instance must be in the cluster group for that instance.

Disk requirements for SnapManager on a Windows cluster

In a clustered environment, SnapManager disk requirements vary, depending on the cluster configuration.

Single-instance cluster example

In an Active/Passive two-node configuration, there are two clustered nodes and one SQL Server instance. If the active node (the node running SQL Server) fails, the cluster transfers the SQL Server instance to the other (previously passive) node, which then becomes the active node and takes over the LUNs previously used by the failed node.

For a single-instance SQL Server cluster, assuming that your SQL Server data is on a shared resource, your disk requirements are the same as for a stand-alone SQL Server system, with the addition of one LUN for the quorum disk. A minimum of three LUNs are required:

One LUN for the databases
One LUN for the SnapInfo directory
One LUN for the quorum disk

Multiple-instance cluster example

In an Active/Active two-node configuration, there are two clustered nodes and an SQL Server instance running on each node. If one node fails, the other node takes over the SQL Server instance running on the failed node. Because both nodes need to be able to run an active SQL Server instance, each node requires its own disks, as if it were a self-contained, stand-alone system. In addition, one extra LUN is needed for the quorum disk. Whether you use a hard disk or a LUN as the quorum disk, each configuration requires a minimum of five disks used for the following purposes:

For node 1
- One LUN to store the SQL Server 2000 or 2005 databases
- One LUN to store the SnapInfo directory
For node 2
- One LUN to store the SQL Server 2000 or 2005 databases
- One LUN to store the SnapInfo directory
- One LUN or hard disk to be used as the quorum disk

Each node must be able to own all clustered disk resources in a cluster at any given time.

For more information about MSCS clustering with SQL Server, see the SQL Server 2000 Failover Clustering document at the following URL: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/administration/2000.

Installing SnapManager and creating a new Windows cluster

The following procedure assumes the following:

You have two Windows host systems that you are ready to configure into an MSCS cluster.
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or 2005 is not yet installed on either system.
You will be using a LUN as the quorum disk.

To create the cluster and then install and configure SnapManager on the cluster, complete the following steps.

Step	Action
1	Install one of the following operating systems on all nodes of the cluster: Windows 2000 Advanced Server with SP4 Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition See your Microsoft documentation for information on how to do this.
2	Install and configure SnapDrive and the MSCS cluster using the detailed instructions in the SnapDrive Installation and Administration Guide for your version of SnapDrive.
3	Create a quorum disk. See the SnapDrive Installation and Administration Guide for your version of SnapDrive.
4	Configure MSCS. See both the SnapDrive Installation and Administration Guide (for the version of SnapDrive that you are running) and your Microsoft documentation.
5	Create the shared disks that will be used as the physical disk resources for the SQL Server instance. See both the SnapDrive Installation and Administration Guide (for the version of SnapDrive that you are running) and your Microsoft documentation.
6	Install SQL Virtual Server on the MSCS cluster. See your SQL Server documentation for information on how to do this.
7	If you are using SnapDrive 4.1, set the registry variable so that SnapDrive can restore the MSCS LUN without taking the LUN resource offline. Note This must be done on all nodes of the cluster. For detailed instructions, see the NetApp Knowledge Base article KB10590 "Restoring a Clustered LUN Resource without Taking the LUN Resource Offline" on the NOW site.
8	Install and configure SnapManager for SQL Server on all nodes of the cluster. To do this, go to Installing SnapManager on a stand-alone Windows host system, and use the procedures described in Interactive installation mode. Note You do not need to stop SQL Server instances before or during the SnapManager software upgrade process.
9	Start SnapManager (as described in Chapter 4, Starting SnapManager for the First Time).
10	Run the Configuration Wizard (as described in Chapter 7, Using the SnapManager Configuration Wizard).
11	Perform a test move group across the nodes to verify that you have your MSCS environment correctly configured.

Note
If an MSCS move group occurs during a SnapManager operation (for example, if the node that owns the resources fails), you need to restart the SnapManager user interface and run SnapManager Backup.