Cluster and VMWare

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CLUSTER and Virtual Machines

The goal to reach is to build two virtual machines that would become Cluster nodes so that we can test and build applications that use the cluster resource.

Virtual machines have always the same hardware, they don't depend from the HOST hardware type and for the same reasons you can save, move and load a virtual machine anywhere where VMWare is installed.

VMWare uses 2 main file type to run virtual machines .vmw file (Config File) and .vmdk file (virtual hard disk) to create a shared SCSI disk there are 2 things we need to change manually on the config file after you use the virtual disk configuration wizard, the following line need to be changed to "FALSE":

disk.locking = "FALSE"

This will allow any virtual machine to load a SCSI disk device even if it's in use by an other virtual machine (Cluster disk emulation). Create as many disk as you need, keep in mind that at least one will be internally used by the cluster service, so if you need 4 clustered data drives, create 5.

VMWare gets installed in the default directory C:\Program Files\VMWare and 4 CD images ISO come with it (VMWare Utilities and Drivers for guests OS: Windows, Linux, Netware and FreeBSD?).

After I installed the first Windows 2000 and 2003 server OS running with all the updates, I backed the images up so they can be loaded as manytimes we need, the computername is general (it needs to be renamed) and the administrator password is blank (need to be changed too).

Configuring Windows 2003 Cluster

I followed the following instructons on how to build a cluster: <b>[DEAD LINK]</b> http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/planning/server/clustersteps.asp

I created 2 Virtual Network Connections for each VMachine that was going to become a cluster node: the LAN connection (Bridged on the VMWare Network Configuration) and the "Heartbeat" crossover connection.

The host OS installed is Windows 2000 Server with basic configuration, McAfee? and winzip on it. The Guests's OS in Windows 2003 Enterprise Server (for Cluster support), McAfee?, Winzip and "VMWare tools for Windows Guest OS"

I configured The HOST to log automatically on with U/P on the local machine

3 batch files in the "vmuser" profile startup folder will automatically start the new nodes and lock the Host machine.

The Windows 2003 Cluster has been configured with the following IP addresses

IP Address	Description
10.10.30.110	Cluster NETBIOS name
10.10.30.111	Node 1 Server
10.10.30.112	Node 2 Server
10.10.30.113	Virtual SQL Server Name
10.10.30.114	Virtual MQ Series Name

Cluster SETUP First we need to setup the crossover connection which is needed for the Cluster to work: on Node1 I use 192.168.0.1/30 and Node2 192.168.0.2/30 Create a user on the domain that will be memeber of the local administrators on both nodes [i.e. "_Cluster"] find a good IP and NetBIOS? name to give to the cluster.

On Windows 2003 there is no need to reboot the machine to create the cluster, just open CLUSTER ADMINISTRATOR from the Administrators Tools and on the first node that is going to be member of the cluster choose "Create a new cluster", you will be guided thru a Wizard that will ask for the SCSI disks, the Virtual IP and NetBIOS? name that the cluster will have, you will also need the system account created to run the cluster. After the process complete succefully, Open Cluster Administrator on Node2 and select "Add nodes to Cluster", the wizard will guide you until the process complete.

Test the cluster moving the resources back and forth between the nodes.

DTC Resource Setup Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Cluster Administrator. In Open Connection to Cluster, select the applicable cluster or server in the Cluster or server name list. If you select a server, the name of the cluster to which it belongs will appear in the console tree. In the console tree, click the cluster group to which you want the DTC resource to belong. After the group is selected, on the File menu, point to New, and then click Resource. In the New Resource Wizard, in Name and Description, type a name and description for the DTC resource, and select Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC) in the Resource type list box. Then click Next. In Group, select the group that you want the DTC to belong to. By default, the DTC resource will install into the first group it locates that has an IP, Name, and Physical Disk resource, unless you identify a specific group. On the Possible Owners page, add the nodes that will own the DTC resource. If you want to add nodes to the automatically chosen list under Possible owners, select them from the list under Available nodes and click Add. If you want to remove nodes from the automatically chosen list under Possible owners, select them in this list and click Remove. Then click Next. On the Dependencies page, under Available resources, select name of the Physical Disk resource in the group and click Add. Then click Finish.

To bring the DTC resource online: Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Cluster Administrator. In the console tree, click the Resources folder. In the details pane, click the resource you want to bring online. On the File menu, click Bring Online. This also brings the Physical Disk resource online that the DTC resource is dependent on.

MSMQ 3.0 Cluster Resource Setup To install MSMQ 3.0 on a cluster node Click Start, point to Control Panel, and then select Add or Remove Programs. Click Add/Remove? Windows Components. In the Windows Components Wizard, select the Application Server check box, click Details, select the Message Queuing check box, and then click Details. On the Message Queuing page, you can select the following subcomponents that you want to install: To provide message routing services, select the Routing Support check box. To install the MSMQ directory service, which provides access to MSMQ objects in Active Directory for MSMQ 1.0 clients on computers running Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows Millennium Edition (Me), and Windows NT ® 4.0, and for MSMQ 2.0 clients on computers running Windows 2000, select the Downlevel Client Support check box. If the computer belongs to a domain and you want it to operate in workgroup mode, clear the Active Directory Integration check box. In this case, you cannot install Routing Support. If you want to install MSMQ Triggers, select the Triggers check box. If you intend to send messages by HTTP transport, select the MSMQ HTTP Support check box. Click OK, and then click Next. Follow the remaining instructions in the wizard.

SQL Server on Cluster SQL Server doesn't work on Windows 2003 w/o SP, SQL is compatible with at least SP2 installed. On a cluster environment it cannot be installed and left it OFFLINE, after the installation is complete the SETUP will try to start the SQL Cluster Resource and ,failing, will then uninstall it and clean both nodes. To workaround this problem Microsoft wrote an article, Knowledge Base # 815431 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;815431

To get to the supported configuration of SQL Server 2000 SP3 on a Windows Server 2003-based computer, use the following method: Use Client Network Utility to Create a Named Pipes Alias Before you install a named instance of SQL Server 2000 virtual server, use Client Network Utility (CNU) to create a server alias to make a connection over named pipes (during Setup) while creating and bringing the SQL Server resources Online. Repeat this process for each named instance installation. From the node where you intend to run Setup, create a server alias for the client connection:

Run Cliconfg.exe on the cluster node where you will run Setup.

Note If Cliconfg.exe is not installed on your computer, install it by running Sqlredis.exe from the SQL Server 2000 installation files: to do so, type the following information at a command prompt:

   \x86\Other\sqlredis.exe /q:a /C:"setupre.exe WARN=1 -s -SMS

You may have to restart your computer if Cliconfg.exe is not immediately available. For additional information about SQL Server 2000 Setup, click the following article number257716 to view the article257716 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 257716 INF: Frequently Asked Questions - SQL Server 2000 - Setup

In the SQL Server Client Network Utility dialog box, click the Alias tab. Click Add to open the Add Network Library Configuration dialog box. Click to select the Named Pipes check box. Type the alias name in the Server alias box. For example: VIRTUALSERVERNAME\INSTANCENAME. Type the virtual server instance name in Server name box. For example: VIRTUALSERVERNAME\INSTANCENAME. Verify the name in the Pipe name box. By, default, the value in the Pipe name box is: \\VIRTUALSERVERNAME\pipe\MSSQL$instancename\sql\query

Run SQL Server 2000 Setup. For the virtual server name, use the same virtual server name and instance name that you used in steps e and f. Run SQL Server 2000 SP3 Setup. After Setup completes successfully, run the Server Network Utility. Select the instance, select TCP/IP, and then click Properties. Type 0 in the Default port box. Re-start the SQL Server resource from Cluster Administrator. Remove the named pipes alias that you created in step 1.

With this procedure SQL should work on the Cluster resource, try to fail over to test it.

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