Ensure the following before configuring the SQL service group:

• Verify that VCS, along with the VCS database agent for SQL Server, is installed on all the cluster nodes.

• Verify that you have configured a VCS cluster using VCS Cluster Configuration Wizard (VCW).

• Verify that SQL Server is identically installed on all the cluster nodes that will participate in the service group.

• Verify that you have VCS Administrator privileges. This user classification is required to create and configure a service group.

• The logged-on user account must be a local Administrator on the node where you run the wizard. If you wish to configure detail monitoring for a SQL instance, the logged-on user must have the permission to log on to that SQL instance.

• You must be an Administrator for the NetApp filer containing the LUNs created to store SQL Server components.

• In case of a shared storage configuration, run the SQL Server Agent Configuration Wizard from the first cluster node where you installed SQL Server. Do not run the wizard from the additional nodes.

  This is required as the wizard configures the resources for the SQL Server database and registry information installed on the shared storage and propagates this information to the remaining nodes that are part of the SQL service group.

• Verify that the Veritas High Availability Engine (HAD) is running on the system from where you run the wizard.

• Verify that the volumes or LUNs (virtual disks) created to store the following data components are mounted or connected to the node where you run the wizard and dismounted or disconnected from other nodes in the cluster:

  • SQL Server system data files

  • Registry replication information.

  • User database files

  • User database log files

  • FILESTREAM database objects

  For creating a service group, this must be the first cluster node where you installed SQL Server.

• If you wish to configure high availability for FILESTREAM, ensure that FILESTREAM is configured and enabled for the SQL instance on the first cluster node where you installed SQL, and disabled on all the remaining nodes.

  Refer to the Microsoft SQL Server documentation for more information.

• In case of IPv4, assign a unique virtual IPv4 address to the SQL Server instance. You specify this IP address when configuring the service group.

  In case of IPv6, the configuration wizard automatically generates an IPv6 address based on the network selected. The IPv6 address is valid and unique on the network.

• In an IPv6 environment, the Lanman agent relies on the DNS records to validate the virtual server name on the network. If the virtual servers configured in the cluster use IPv6 addresses, you must specify the DNS server IP, either in the network adapter settings or in the Lanman agent's AdditionalDNSServers attribute.

• If you wish to use a script for detail monitoring, either save the script file in shared storage or ensure that the same file exists in the same location on all the cluster nodes.

  A sample script is supplied in C:\Program Files\Veritas\cluster server\bin\SQLServer\sample_script.sql. The same script can be used to monitor SQL Server 2008, 2008 R2, and 2012.

  If the script is successfully executed during monitoring, the agent considers the database instance available. If the execution fails, the database instance is considered not available and the service group faults and fails over to the failover nodes. You can customize the script to meet your configuration requirements.

  Note:

  You should use a separate script for each SQL Server service group that exists in the cluster. The script should exist on all the nodes in the service group.

• Make sure that the following services are stopped on the first cluster node where you are running the wizard:

  • SQL Server

  • SQL Server Agent

  • SQL Server Analysis Services

  Stop these services for the SQL instances that you wish to configure in the service group.

• Review the resource types and the attribute definitions of the agents.

• If you have configured Windows Firewall, add the following to the Firewall Exceptions list:

  • Port 14150 or the VCS Command Server service, %vcs_home%\bin\CmdServer.exe.

    Here, %vcs_home% is the installation directory for VCS, typically C:\Program Files\Veritas\Cluster Server.

  • Port 14141

  For a detailed list of services and ports used by VCS, refer to the Symantec Cluster Server for Windows Installation and Upgrade Guide.