Windows Server

  • Build a SQL Cluster Lab Part 4

    Build a SQL Cluster Lab Part 4

    You are going to create a SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance in Part 4 of our series on how to build a SQL Cluster Lab. The FCI will only be installed on Node1 and Node2. FCIs require shared storage so you will make your domain controller an iSCSI target. Last you will create your FCI…

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  • Build a SQL Cluster Lab Part 3

    Build a SQL Cluster Lab Part 3

    You are going to create a multi-subnet Availability Group in Part 3 of our series on how to build a SQL Cluster Lab. First you give the Cluster Name Object rights in Active Directory and then install your AG. You will also ensure the AG endpoints are using the dedicated network created for them in…

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  • Build a SQL Cluster Lab Part 2

    Build a SQL Cluster Lab Part 2

    You are going to create a Windows Cluster in Part 2 of our series on how to build a SQL Cluster Lab. You will run cluster validation followed by creating the Windows Server Failover Cluster. In addition, you configure the Cluster Networks and a File Share Witness. Here are links to the other articles in…

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  • Build a SQL Cluster Lab Part 1

    Build a SQL Cluster Lab Part 1

    This article is Part 1 in a series of articles showing how to build a SQL Cluster Lab. It covers building a Windows Cluster in Hyper-V that supports both Availability Groups and Failover Cluster Instances. Once you build the environment, you can use it for training purposes, POCs, or the testing of features and functions…

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  • Configure SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance on Azure Virtual Machines with MSDTC

    Configure SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance on Azure Virtual Machines with MSDTC

    Configure SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance If you are running a SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance on premises and looking to migrate to Azure, you might be a little intimidated. This architecture is a bit complex because it uses quite a few different technologies all working together. My goal is to help clarify the pieces…

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  • Read-Scale Availability Group Setup

    Read-Scale Availability Group Setup

    What is a Read-Scale Availability Group? A Read-Scale Availability Group is a Clusterless Availability Group.  It’s sole purpose and design is to scale out a read workload.  More importantly is what it is not.  It is NOT a High Availability or Disaster Recovery solution.  Since this design has no cluster under it, you lose things…

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  • Domain Independent Cluster and Availability Group

    Domain Independent Cluster and Availability Group

    What is a Domain Independent Cluster? Did you know that you can have a Windows cluster that is a domain independent cluster and run a SQL Server Availability Group on top of it?  The technology has been around for a while, but a lot of DBAs are not aware of it.  Why?  All the glory…

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  • How to Upgrade an AG Cluster to Windows 2016

    How to Upgrade an AG Cluster to Windows 2016

    Starting in Windows Server 2012 R2 you now have a way to upgrade a cluster to Windows 2016.  The best part is it’s not an OS upgrade, but a rebuild.  The magic is that you can join a Windows 2016 server to a Windows 2012 R2 cluster.  You can upgrade your cluster with as little…

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  • Fix a Network Binding Order Warning

    Fix a Network Binding Order Warning

    Network Binding Order Warning One of the more common errors I see when setting up a Windows cluster (usually in preparation for a SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance or a SQL Server Availability Group) is regarding an incorrect network binding order.  You will see this presented as a warning in the Cluster Validation Report.  There…

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  • Precon in Columbus OH

    Precon in Columbus OH

    I’ll be doing a precon for SQLSaturday #421 in Columbus Ohio on July 10th, 2015 titled “Planning a High Availability and Disaster Recovery Plan” .  If you are in the area or thinking of attending this event, I would love to have you in the class.  We are going to cover backups, windows clustering, AlwaysOn Failover Cluster…

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  • Planning a High Availability and Disaster Recovery Plan in Puerto Rico

    Planning a High Availability and Disaster Recovery Plan in Puerto Rico

    I’ll be doing a precon for SQLSaturday #373 in Puerto Rico on May 8th, 2015 titled “Planning a High Availability and Disaster Recovery Plan” .  If you are in the area or thinking of attending this event, I would love to have you in the class.  We are going to cover backups, windows clustering, AlwaysOn Failover Cluster…

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  • Planning a High Availability and Disaster Recovery Plan in Madison, WI

    Planning a High Availability and Disaster Recovery Plan in Madison, WI

    I’ll be doing a precon for SQLSaturday #387 in Madison Wisconsin on April 10th, 2015 titled “Planning a High Availability and Disaster Recovery Plan” .  If you are in the area or thinking of attending this event, I would love to have you in the class.  We are going to cover backups, windows clustering, AlwaysOn Failover Cluster…

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