SQL Server 2005 - Cluster Tips

1. Installing Tools and Documentation
SQL Server 2005 Setup no longer installs the tools and documentation components of SQL Server 2005 on all the nodes of a cluster. The wizard will only install these
components on the node that the Setup routine is initiated from. If tools and documentation is required on the other nodes, you will need to install these components
manually after finishing the setup of the cluster.

2. Install SQL 2005 Analysis Services on separate Resource group
Microsoft recommends installing Analysis Services clustered installations in a single group with its own disk and IP resources and not on a resource group that has
the database engine installed on it.

3. Create Windows Domain Groups
It is usually recommended that you create four different domain groups when creating a cluster. One for each of the following:
1. SQL Server 2005 DB Service,
2. SQL Server 2005 Agent service,
3. SQL Server 2005 Full-Text Search service,
4. SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services service.

4.Installing Reporting Services
Unfortunately, Reporting Services is not cluster-aware and will have to be installed as stand-alone components on all nodes in the clustered environments. Reporting Services can make use of clustered databases. But when a node fails over the connections to any Reporting Services, instances on the failed node will not be automatically reconnected to the new node. Connections will have to attempt to connect to the new node using a new IP address

5. Installing SQL Server Integration Services
To install SSIS, you must install SSIS on all active nodes and then make the SSIS Service a clustered resource. To make SSIS a clustered resource, perform the following tasks:
1. Open the Cluster Administrator
2. On the File menu, point to New and then click Resource
3. On the New Resource page of the Resource Wizard, type a Name and choose “Generic Service” as the Service Type. Change the value of Group to SQL group. Click Next.
4. On the Possible Owners page, add or remove the nodes of the cluster as the possible owners of the resource. Click Next.
5. To add dependencies on the Dependencies page,select a resource under Available resources, and thenclick Add. In case of a failover, both SQL Server 2005
and the shared disk that stores Integration Services packages should come back online before Integration Services is brought online. After you have selected the
dependencies, click Next.
6. On the Generic Service Parameters page, enter MsDtsServer as the name of the service. Click Next.
7. On the Registry Replication page, click Add to add the registry key that identifies the configuration file for the Integration Services service.
a. This file needs to be located on a shared disk that is in the same group for the Integration Services service, and fails over to the next node along with for
the Integration Services service.
b. In the Registry Key dialog box, type SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSDTS\ServiceConfigFile. Click OK, and then click Finish. The Integration Services service
has now been added as a clustered service.
8. Locate the configuration file at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SQL Server 2005\90\DTS\Binn\MsDtsSrvr.ini.xml. Copy it to the shared disk.
9. Create a new folder named Packages on the shared disk. Grant List Folders and Write permissions on the new folder to the built-in Users group.
10. Open the configuration file from the shared disk in a text or XML editor. Change the value of the ServerName element to the name of the virtual SQL Server 2005 which is in the same group.
11. Change the value of the StorePath element to the fully-qualified path of the Packages folder created on the shared disk in a previous step: ??:\Packages.
12. Update the value of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSDTS\ServiceConfigFile in the Registry to the fully-qualified path and filename of
the service configuration file on the shared disk
13. In the Cluster Administrator, select the Integration Services service, right-click, and select Bring Online from the popup menu. The Integration Services service
is now online as a clustered service