23 May 2006 15:42
tonyrogerson
Research SQL Server Clustering on single machine with Virtual Server 2005
It's taking me about a day to build this but I've got a fully working Windows 2003 cluster running on my development machine here.
My development machine is a Dual Core AMD 64bit with 4GB RAM and 2 SATA disks.
I use Windows 2003 Server R2 on it and also have Virtual Server 2005 R2 on it.
This article explains the steps to go through: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/virtualserver/deploy/cvs2005.mspx, note, when creating the virtual disks you have a choice of IDE or SCSI bus - use IDE otherwise you won't be able to create the shared SCSI bus later on.
If you need help setting up the SYSPREP.INF (as I did being a developer) then check out: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;302577.
Also, when you create the 'quorum' make it big, not the 500MB they say but enough to hold the databases you want on the shared disks, I know its not good practice putting stuff on the quorum but i can't see any other way to have multiple shared disks.
Once you have the cluster set up and working then follow these instructions: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/howtosql/ht_clustering_51rm.asp.
Remember to install SP4 at the end of it.
Once you've got it all installed remember to shut everything down and take a copy of the VHD and config files so you can play away!
Now, off to upgrade my 2000 to 2005 :)
Tony.
Filed under: SQL Server