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SQL Server 2014 – Install a clustered instance – step-by-step (3/3)

March 12, 2015 by Murilo Miranda

This article is divided in three parts, if you started here, check the first and second part to find the previous
steps.

Now we need to define if the instance will work in “Windows Authentication Mode” or “Mixed Mode”. I usually
choose “Mixed Mode” because there’s always an application that don’t work with domain accounts. By choosing
this option you need to specify the password for the famous “sa” login. Notice that you can change the
authentication mode anytime! You also need to add accounts to receive the Sysadmin privilege, this is very
important… Even more if you choose the “Windows Authentication Mode”.

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 Let’s jump to the “Data Directories” tab. Here we need to define the disks/path of the root/system databases
directory, user databases, log files, backup and TempDB. If you click in the “…” button, you will have all the
available disks to pick. Attention that only the TempDB supports a local disk, the other items need to be placed in
a shared disk.

If you want to configure the “filestream” feature, you can do in the respective tab.

After all the needed configuration, go ahead and click on “Next”.

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 As we choose a local disk to place the TempDB, this confirmation message will appear. Basically we need to
make sure that the path referred in the “Backup Directory” exists in all the other nodes, so in case of a failover
the instance won’t fail to create the TempDB, which obviously can compromise the instance startup.

Now one more check will run, this time to check if the failover cluster installation will be blocked. Click “Next”, if
this wasn’t done automatically.

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 Now we are ready to rock! Just review all the configurations that you did during the process and click on “Install”!

Now it’s time to get one more coffee and watch a nice progress bar for some minutes… The installation is
running!

We are done with the main installation! Verify that all the items were successfully installed. And click close.

You can also look to the Failover Cluster Manager and check the SQL Server role, and its components,
reflecting the options taken during the installation wizard, like the IP address, Computer Name and disks.

Even with SQL Server installed on only one node, we can use the instance. We can use the SQL Server
Management Studio to perform that, as we just installed this tool.

Ok, we are done with the first node. Now we need to proceed to the all other nodes. In our case, we are
installing the instance of SQL Server in a two nodes cluster. Sometimes I hear people naming this configuration
an “active-active” cluster, but this is not right. To complete our clustered instance installation, we just need to add
another node to the installation. The following steps are showing how to perform this. If you need to install a
clustered instance with more nodes, just follow the same steps.
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 clustered instance with more nodes, just follow the same steps.

Adding a node to a SQL Server clustered instance

Now that we have the first node installed, we need to add the other node to our clustered instance, this way we
will be able to successfully perform a failover to the other node.

To start the installation, run the SQL Server setup as Administrator, as did in the first node installation.

Go to the “Installation” panel, by clicking in the respective menu and, this time, choose the option “Add node to a
SQL Server failover cluster”, as shown in the image:

One more time, confirm your product key and click on “Next”.

Now check the box to accept the license terms and procced.

As done before, leave the “check for update” box unchecked and proceed.

Check if all the rules passed the test and resolve if something wrong was found.

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 Now select the instance that you want to add the node. Notice that you have a “Nodes” column with all the
current installed nodes for the instance. In this example, we have only one instance installed, so there’s no room
to fail the right one. In case of have more than one clustered instance installed in the same cluster, pay attention
in when choosing the instance.

Select the expected networks.

At this stage, you need to confirm the password for the Engine and Agent service account:

Once again, more rules verification will be checked. Just proceed.

Finally, just confirm the settings and click on “Install”.

The SQL Server wizard will start the installation, just wait for some minutes…

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 Now the installation is complete! The node was added and is ready to be used.

So, let’s test it by doing a failover…

Success! Everything is online on node 02!

When adding this other node to the instance we didn’t select any features, anyway the shared tool were brought
to this server, and SQL Server Management Studio is also available in this node.

About the updates

I’m writing this article in February 2015, and we still don’t have any Service Pack for SQL Server 2014. However,
some fixes were released. So, let’s complete the clustered instance installation by updating it.

I use this blog as reference: http://sqlserverbuilds.blogspot.pt/. This is very useful and updated. You can find a
nice hotfix/service pack history list here. Whoever maintains this, thank you!

Looking into the SQL Server Builds blog, we can find that the current SQL Server 2014 version is 12.0.2000.8.

So I clicked in the link and was redirected to the Microsoft download page. After downloading the file we need to
apply it in all the nodes, in our case two.

Click in the executable file and extract it into some folder.

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 Click in the executable file and extract it into some folder.

Now, run the extracted file as Administrator.

The setup will load and once opened, you some rules will be checked. Just proceed.

Now accept the license terms and proceed.

Select the desired features and click on “Next”.

Now the installation will check if there’s some SQL Server file in use. Make sure to be running this setup in a
passive node for the instance, also close de SQL Server management Studio. After the check, just proceed.

Verify the chosen setting and click on “Update”.

Now, just wait for the installation…

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 One more time, success!

The above procedures must be made on all the nodes that the instance is installed, like we did during the SQL
Server installation, when adding a node to an existing installation.

So, that’s it! This article showed how to fully install a SQL Server clustered instance, and how to update it. Now
all we need is configure the MSDTC, make some server tweaks (like instant file initialization, lock pages in
memory, etc…), configure the instance settings (memory settings, adjust MaxDOP) and create the maintenance
(backups, indexes and statistics maintenance…).

I hope the article was useful! And I need to let you know that this won’t stop here, based on this clustered
instance we will have more things to show, so keep in touch

Murilo Miranda
Murilo Miranda is a Luso-Brazilian blogger and speaker. SQL Server MVP, living in the
UK. Nowadays he's Database Consultant at Pythian, company based in Ottawa - Canada.

With experience working in Portugal, Holland, Germany and United Kingdom, he's always
available to learn and share his knowledge, in order to contribute to SQL Server community,

View all posts by Murilo Miranda

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 See also

How to quickly search for SQL database data and objects

Synchronize SQL Server databases in different remote sources
Automatically compare and synchronize SQL Server data
SQL Formatting standards – Capitalization, Indentation, Comments, Parenthesis

Related Posts:
1. SQL Server 2014 – Install a clustered instance – step-by-step (1/3)
2. SQL Server 2014 – Install a clustered instance – step-by-step (2/3)
3. AlwaysOn Availability Groups – How to setup AG between a clustered and standalone instance (Part 2)
4. AlwaysOn Availability Groups – How to setup AG between a clustered and standalone instance (Part 3)
5. AlwaysOn Availability Groups – How to setup AG between a clustered and standalone instance (Part 1)

SQL Database design

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 Name

Karthick • 4 months ago

Thank you for such a Awesome document.....
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shridhar078 • 8 months ago

Awesome!! This article is good.

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skumarnavis • 8 months ago

Thank you for such a nice document, which gives a full picture of Failover Cluster implementation. Suggesting to add few more details like
WFSC installation, &#160Network Requirements, shared disks for Quorum and Cluster data.
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WaihiBeachian • 8 months ago

Nice job! Great article.
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gkarung • 8 months ago

Best site for clustering and easy to understand... DONT miss it..

Arunagiri Gopal
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JLucena > gkarung • 8 months ago

gkarung&#160 I agree
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 gkarung&#160 I agree
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