Storage Foundation and High Availability Solutions 8.0.2 HA and DR Solutions Guide for Microsoft SQL Server - Windows
- Section I. Getting started with Storage Foundation and High Availability Solutions for SQL Server
- Introducing SFW HA and the VCS agents for SQL Server
- About the Veritas InfoScale solutions for monitoring SQL Server
- How application availability is achieved in a physical environment
- How is application availability achieved in a VMware virtual environment
- Managing storage using VMware virtual disks
- Notes and recommendations
- Modifying the ESXDetails attribute
- How VCS monitors storage components
- Shared storage - if you use NetApp filers
- Shared storage - if you use SFW to manage cluster dynamic disk groups
- Shared storage - if you use Windows LDM to manage shared disks
- Non-shared storage - if you use SFW to manage dynamic disk groups
- Non-shared storage - if you use Windows LDM to manage local disks
- Non-shared storage - if you use VMware storage
- What must be protected in an SQL Server environment
- About the VCS agents for SQL Server
- About the VCS agent for SQL Server Database Engine
- About the VCS agent for SQL Server FILESTREAM
- About the VCS GenericService agent for SQL Server Agent service and Analysis service
- About the agent for MSDTC service
- About the monitoring options
- Typical SQL Server configuration in a VCS cluster
- Typical SQL Server disaster recovery configuration
- SQL Server sample dependency graph
- MSDTC sample dependency graph
- Deployment scenarios for SQL Server
- Workflows in the Solutions Configuration Center
- Reviewing the active-passive HA configuration
- Reviewing the prerequisites for a standalone SQL Server
- Reviewing a standalone SQL Server configuration
- Reviewing the MSDTC configuration
- VCS campus cluster configuration
- Reviewing the campus cluster configuration
- VCS Replicated Data Cluster configuration
- Reviewing the Replicated Data Cluster configuration
- About setting up a Replicated Data Cluster configuration
- Disaster recovery configuration
- Reviewing the disaster recovery configuration
- Notes and recommendations for cluster and application configuration
- Configuring the storage hardware and network
- Configuring disk groups and volumes for SQL Server
- About disk groups and volumes
- Prerequisites for configuring disk groups and volumes
- Considerations for a fast failover configuration
- Considerations for converting existing shared storage to cluster disk groups and volumes
- Considerations when creating disks and volumes for campus clusters
- Considerations for volumes for a Volume Replicator configuration
- Considerations for disk groups and volumes for multiple instances
- Sample disk group and volume configuration
- MSDTC sample disk group and volume configuration
- Viewing the available disk storage
- Creating a dynamic disk group
- Adding disks to campus cluster sites
- Creating volumes for high availability clusters
- Creating volumes for campus clusters
- About managing disk groups and volumes
- Configuring the cluster using the Cluster Configuration Wizard
- Installing SQL Server
- About installing and configuring SQL Server
- About installing multiple SQL Server instances
- Verifying that the SQL Server databases and logs are moved to shared storage
- About installing SQL Server for high availability configuration
- About installing SQL Server on the first system
- About installing SQL Server on additional systems
- Creating a SQL Server user-defined database
- Completing configuration steps in SQL Server
- Introducing SFW HA and the VCS agents for SQL Server
- Section II. Configuring SQL Server in a physical environment
- Configuring SQL Server for failover
- Tasks for configuring a new server for high availability
- Tasks for configuring an existing server for high availability
- About configuring the SQL Server service group
- Configuring the service group in a non-shared storage environment
- Verifying the SQL Server cluster configuration
- About the modifications required for tagged VLAN or teamed network
- Tasks for configuring MSDTC for high availability
- Configuring an MSDTC Server service group
- About configuring the MSDTC client for SQL Server
- About the VCS Application Manager utility
- Viewing DTC transaction information
- Modifying a SQL Server service group to add VMDg and MountV resources
- Determining additional steps needed
- Configuring campus clusters for SQL Server
- Configuring Replicated Data Clusters for SQL Server
- Tasks for configuring Replicated Data Clusters
- Creating the primary system zone for the application service group
- Creating a parallel environment in the secondary zone
- Setting up security for Volume Replicator
- Setting up the Replicated Data Sets (RDS)
- Configuring a RVG service group for replication
- Creating the RVG service group
- Configuring the resources in the RVG service group for RDC replication
- Configuring the IP and NIC resources
- Configuring the VMDg or VMNSDg resources for the disk groups
- Modifying the DGGuid attribute for the new disk group resource in the RVG service group
- Configuring the VMDg or VMNSDg resources for the disk group for the user-defined database
- Adding the Volume Replicator RVG resources for the disk groups
- Linking the Volume Replicator RVG resources to establish dependencies
- Deleting the VMDg or VMNSDg resource from the SQL Server service group
- Configuring the RVG Primary resources
- Configuring the primary system zone for the RVG service group
- Setting a dependency between the service groups
- Adding the nodes from the secondary zone to the RDC
- Adding the nodes from the secondary zone to the RVG service group
- Configuring secondary zone nodes in the RVG service group
- Configuring the RVG service group NIC resource for fail over (VMNSDg only)
- Configuring the RVG service group IP resource for failover
- Configuring the RVG service group VMNSDg resources for fail over
- Adding nodes from the secondary zone to the SQL Server service group
- Configuring the zones in the SQL Server service group
- Configuring the application service group IP resource for fail over (VMNSDg only)
- Configuring the application service group NIC resource for fail over (VMNSDg only)
- Verifying the RDC configuration
- Additional instructions for GCO disaster recovery
- Configuring disaster recovery for SQL Server
- Tasks for configuring disaster recovery for SQL Server
- Tasks for setting up DR in a non-shared storage environment
- Guidelines for installing Veritas InfoScale Enterprise and configuring the cluster on the secondary site
- Verifying your primary site configuration
- Setting up your replication environment
- Assigning user privileges (secure clusters only)
- About configuring disaster recovery with the DR wizard
- Cloning the storage on the secondary site using the DR wizard (Volume Replicator replication option)
- Creating temporary storage on the secondary site using the DR wizard (array-based replication)
- Installing and configuring SQL Server on the secondary site
- Cloning the service group configuration from the primary site to the secondary site
- Configuring the SQL Server service group in a non-shared storage environment
- Configuring replication and global clustering
- Creating the replicated data sets (RDS) for Volume Replicator replication
- Creating the Volume Replicator RVG service group for replication
- Configuring the global cluster option for wide-area failover
- Verifying the disaster recovery configuration
- Adding multiple DR sites (optional)
- Recovery procedures for service group dependencies
- Configuring DR manually without the DR wizard
- Testing fault readiness by running a fire drill
- About disaster recovery fire drills
- About the Fire Drill Wizard
- About post-fire drill scripts
- Tasks for configuring and running fire drills
- Prerequisites for a fire drill
- Preparing the fire drill configuration
- System Selection panel details
- Service Group Selection panel details
- Secondary System Selection panel details
- Fire Drill Service Group Settings panel details
- Disk Selection panel details
- Hitachi TrueCopy Path Information panel details
- HTCSnap Resource Configuration panel details
- SRDFSnap Resource Configuration panel details
- Fire Drill Preparation panel details
- Running a fire drill
- Re-creating a fire drill configuration that has changed
- Restoring the fire drill system to a prepared state
- Deleting the fire drill configuration
- Considerations for switching over fire drill service groups
- Configuring SQL Server for failover
Creating temporary storage on the secondary site using the DR wizard (array-based replication)
To enable you to install applications, the DR wizard can create a temporary disk group, DR_APP_INSTALL_DG, which contains the volumes and mount points for use in application installation. The temporary configuration uses 500 MB volumes or the volume size at the primary site, depending on which is smaller. The wizard deletes the temporary configuration after application installation.
Note:
The DR wizard cannot be used if you are setting up DR in a non-shared storage environment.
If you have already installed the application on all nodes, you can skip this storage cloning step by unchecking the Perform storage cloning check box on the Storage Cloning panel.
If you are starting the wizard for the first time, refer to the following topic before continuing with the storage cloning procedure:
See About configuring disaster recovery with the DR wizard.
To create temporary storage for application installation (array-based replication)
- If you have not yet done so, start the Disaster Recovery Configuration Wizard and specify the information for the primary site system, the service group, and the secondary site system.
- In the Replication Options panel, select the array-based replication method you plan to use and click Next:
EMC SRDF
Hitachi TrueCopy
Global Cluster Option only (select if you are using another agent-supported array-based replication method)
- If you selected Hitachi TrueCopy replication, the Hitachi TrueCopy File Paths panel is displayed. The wizard populates the fields if it locates the files in the default location. Otherwise, fill in the file path information for both the primary and secondary sites as follows:
RAID Manager bin path
Path to the RAID Manager Command Line interface
The default path is C:\HORCM\etc, where C is the system drive.
HORCM files location
Path to the horcm configuration files (horcmnn.conf)
The default path is: C:\Windows, where C is the system drive.
The
horcmconfiguration file is required by the RAID Manager on all nodes; however, the wizard does not validate its presence. - In the Storage Cloning panel, you can choose whether or not to perform storage cloning, which creates a temporary storage disk group and volumes for application installation. The wizard will delete the temporary storage once you confirm application installation is complete.
Choose one of the following:
If you have not yet installed the application on all nodes, leave Perform storage cloning checked and click Next. Continue with the next step in this procedure.
If you have already installed the application on all nodes, uncheck Perform storage cloning and click Next. Continue with the procedure for service group cloning.
- The Storage Validation Results panel shows the temporary storage configuration that the wizard will configure at the secondary site. You can click Show Summary to toggle to a summary view and toggle back to a detailed view by clicking Show Details.
The detailed view shows the following:
Disk Group
Displays the name of the single disk group required on the secondary site for temporary storage: DR_APP_INSTALL__DG
Volume
Displays the list of volumes required at the secondary site.
Size
Displays the size of the volumes required on the secondary site.
Mount
Displays the mounts required at the secondary site.
Recommended Action
Indicates the action that the wizard will take at the secondary site.
The summary view shows the following:
Existing configuration
Displays the existing secondary configuration.
Free disks present on secondary
Displays the list of free disks that exist on the secondary along with details about the free space and total disk space information.
If the panel displays a message indicating that the available disks on the secondary are inadequate, you can free some disks on the secondary or add more storage. Then, click Refresh/Validate so that the wizard can update its information about the secondary storage configuration. Click Next.
- In the Disk Selection for Storage Cloning panel, a default disk selection is shown for the temporary storage at the secondary site. You can change the selection by moving disks to and from the Available Disks and Selected Disks pane. Under the Available Disks label, a drop-down list allows you to filter available disks by disk enclosure name. The default is All, which displays all free disks available on all enclosures. Click Next.
- The Volume Layout for Secondary Site Storage panel shows a default volume layout for the temporary storage based on the primary site volume layout. Optionally, you can change the default disk assignment and layout for any volume:
Disk Group
Displays the DR_APP_INSTALL__DG disk group.
Volume (Volume Size)
Displays the name and the size of the volume to be created on the secondary.
Available Disks
Displays the disks that are available for the volumes. To select a disk, either double-click on the host name or click the >> button to move the hosts into the Selected Disks pane.
Layout
By default, the same layout as the one specified for the primary volume is selected. Click Edit to change the layout to suit your specific requirements.
Selected Disks
Displays the list of disks that have been selected for the volume. To remove a disk from the list, select it and click the << button.
View Primary Layout
Displays the volume layout at the primary site.
Click Next.
- In the Storage Configuration Cloning Summary panel, review the displayed information. If you want to change any selection, click Back. Otherwise, click Next to allow the wizard to implement the temporary storage configuration at the secondary site.
- In the Implementation panel, wait until the status for all the completed tasks is marked with a check symbol, indicating successful completion. Wait until the wizard completes cloning the storage. The progress bar indicates the status of the tasks. If some task could not be completed successfully, then the task is marked with an (x) symbol. The Information column displays details about the reasons for task failure.
Click Next.
Note:
If SCSI-3 support is enabled for using Persistent Group Reservations (PGR), and if one of the selected disks is not SCSI-3 compliant, the following error is displayed: "Unable to reserve a majority of dynamic disk group members. Failed to start SCSI reservation thread."
Recommended action: Click Finish to exit the wizard. Either replace the non-compliant disk with a SCSI-3 compliant disk, or enable SCSI-2 support, and then run the wizard again.
- In the Storage Configuration Cloning Result screen, view the results and click Next.
In the SQL Server Installation panel, review the information and do one of the following:
Before you begin installation, ensure that your disk groups are imported and volumes are mounted. If volumes were mounted as drive paths (folder mount) on the primary site, the wizard does not mount the volumes on the secondary site. You must manually format the volumes and assign the drive path to the volumes using Veritas Enterprise Administrator. Use the same letters and folder names that were assigned on the primary site.
The system may get restarted when the SQL Server installation is complete. Therefore, if you are running the DR wizard from a system where you need to install SQL Server, click Finish to exit the wizard and proceed with installing the application on the required nodes. Afterwards, restart the Disaster Recovery wizard and continue through the wizard from the Welcome panel.
If the DR Wizard is run from a remote node, you can keep the wizard running on that node while you install the application locally on each of the required nodes. Once application installation is complete, click Next to proceed with service group cloning.
Once the application is installed, the temporary cloned storage is no longer needed. Before beginning service group cloning, the wizard displays the Temporary Storage Deletion panel to confirm the deletion of the temporary storage.