creating a cluster for sql server 2000

[watts3000]

I would like to give out sql server database some redundacy. We have windows 2000 advanced server which has clustering a clustering service. I'm more concerned about the hardware requirements when doing win 2000 clustering for example do both systems have to be running scsi drives in order to accompish this task.

 

[Thor86]

Originally posted by: watts3000
I would like to give out sql server database some redundacy. We have windows 2000 advanced server which has clustering a clustering service. I'm more concerned about the hardware requirements when doing win 2000 clustering for example do both systems have to be running scsi drives in order to accompish this task.

Microsoft Cluster services use a shared disk. If you don't have external SCSI storage (Or Fibre Channel) that you can connect to both servers, you're not going to be able to setup a cluster (you also should stick with cluster hardware that is on the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) - www.microsoft.com/hcl - select cluster from the "in the following types" drop down.

The way microsoft clustering works is that one server runs the server based application using the shared disk and the other server just waits for the "heartbeat" from the main server to stop. At that point, the secondary server (node) considers the first node to have failed and transfers control of the shared harddisk to itself and resumes the operations where the first node left off.

In my own experimentation, I have sucessfully clustered an external SCSI storage array by taking two adaptec SCSI cards, setting each to a different ID (say 7 and 6) and then connecting each computer to the external SCSI enclosure (where the second computer connected to the SCSI connector the Terminator would normally have connected to. (and needless to say, the hard drive was SCSI ID 0).

Without the shared disk, Microsoft Cluster Service won't install.