Scan for newly grown space on RHEL 5

10:06 PM

Multipath

Multipathing in Linux is actually composed of 2 parts, the dm_multipath kernel module and the multipathd daemon. The kernel module handles the devices and paths and the daemon monitors the paths and performs failover and grouping.
Proper monitoring requires checking the paths for failures and verifying that multipathd is running. While multipathd will handle single path failures to keep I/O flowing, it does not perform notifications for failures and recoveries. We implemented the check_multipath script to provide notification of path failures and recoveries through NOCpulse.
The current version of the script, available from this page, will look for failed paths and verify that the multipathd daemon is running.

Installation

Download the script to any host using multipath to manage SAN exported from the 3par devices. Edit the /etc/sudoers file using the "visudo" command and make sure this line is present:

nocpulse ALL=NOPASSWD:/sbin/multipath -l

Copy the script to /usr/local/bin and make sure it has world read and execute privileges (eg: chmod 0755 /usr/local/bin/check_multipath)
Add a "Remote Program" check in NOCpulse and set the command to "/usr/local/bin/check_multipath" and push the new check to the appropriate scout.

Output

When the script runs, it will output up to 2 status lines. For normal operation, the first line gives the status of the paths and the other line gives the status of the multipathd daemon. The possible status lines are listed below:
MULTIPATH: UNKNOWN - sudo not configured
You did not install the check correctly. Re-read this page.
MULTIPATH: UNKNOWN - /sbin/multipath not found
The Device Mapper Multipath package may not be installed.
MULTIPATH: UNKNOWN - module dm_multipath not loaded
The multipath kernel module is not loaded. Multipath may not be installed.
MULTIPATH: WARNING - no paths defined
Multipath is set up and working but no SAN volume has been exported to the host.
MULTIPATH: OK - no failed paths
MULTIPATH: OK - multipathd running
Everything is ok.
MULTIPATH: OK - no failed paths
MULTIPATH: CRITICAL - multipathd NOT running
The paths are ok but the multipathd daemon is not running. Start it up.
MULTIPATH: CRITICAL - X paths failed
MULTIPATH: OK - multipathd running
At least one of the paths have failed but the multipathd daemon is running. Depending on how many SAN volumes are exported to the host and how many paths are failed, this may be a SAN outage for the host or degraded performance. Log in to the host and check the paths. Escalate appropriately.
MULTIPATH: CRITICAL - X paths failed
MULTIPATH: CRITICAL - multipathd NOT running
At least one of the paths have failed and the multipathd daemon is not running. Depending on how many SAN volumes are exported to the host and how many paths are failed, this may be a SAN outage for the host or degraded performance. Log in to the host, check the paths and start the multipathd daemon.

SAN

LUN expansion on Linux host without a reboot

10:01 PM

Expanding a LUN on a Linux host is possible without a reboot but a maintenance window is required

LUN expansion on Linux host without a reboot (umount still required)

LUN expansion is possible without rebooting a RHEL 5/6 host after the storage team has expanded the LUN under the following conditions:

A FULL backup of the LUN has been created before you start.
The LUN does NOT have multiple linux partitions defined. (example: /dev/sdd1 /dev/sdd2 ) The 'linux' partition is actually an MSDOS partition.

    There is a MAXIMUM 2TB FILESYSTEM limit on LUNS that have the linux (MSDOS) partitioning structure applied.
    If a single linux (MSDOS) partition exists, after the rescan, fdisk must be used to delete/recreate the partition with the new start/end blocks. (Remeber MAXIMUM 2TB filesystem limit)
   Execute partprobe to tell the OS of partition changes.

NOTE: partprobe does not work 100% of the time and a reboot may be required. if partprobe does not work some other commands may help to re-read the partition

    hdparm -z /dev/sda         -z Force a kernel re-read of the partition table of the specified device(s).
    echo 1 >  /sys/block/sda/device/rescan
    If these commands do not work then a reboot is required.

If there are more than one partition on the LUN DO NOT use these procedures, it is better to start with a NEW LUN with a larger size and copy data.
The LUN must NOT be part of an LVM volume
The LUN must have an ext3/ext4 partition. Oracle OCFS2 partitions can also be expanded but are not covered here.
Don't try this with Oracle RAW partitions.

Summary

The LUN must be umounted and the work performed during a maintenance window, The LUN integrity is checked with e2fsck -f and then increased with resize2fs.
Each device that is used for the multipath map must be rescanned to detect the new LUN size and multipath restarted.

Determine what devices are the in the multipath map of the LUN you are working with.

Example: for mpath3, devices /dev/sda, /dev/sdd are used.

mpath3 (350002ac0009b0ace) dm-0 3PARdata,VV
[size=50G][features=0][hwhandler=0][rw]
_ round-robin 0 [prio=2][active]

_ 0:0:0:3 sda 8:0 [active][ready]

_ 1:0:0:3 sdd 8:48 [active][ready]

umount the filesystem

umount /mountpoint (stop all access to the device by stopping services, killing processes, etc.)

Force check the integrity of the unmounted filesystem

sudo /sbin/e2fsck -f /dev/mapper/mpath3
e2fsck -f /dev/mapper/mpath3
e2fsck 1.39 (29-May-2006)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information

Rescan the devices to report the new sizes to the OS

Once the filesystem integrity is checked, Send an "1" to the devices to rescan for the new size
echo 1 > /sys/block/sda/device/rescan
echo 1 > /sys/block/sdd/device/rescan

Confirm size changes

After the rescan commands are sent. check dmesg to confirm for device changes.
(detect capacity change)
dmesg
SCSI device sda: 419430400 512-byte hdwr sectors (214748 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 7f 00 10 08
SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back w/ FUA sda: detected capacity change from 53687091200 to 214748364800
SCSI device sdd: 419430400 512-byte hdwr sectors (214748 MB)
sde: Write Protect is off
sde: Mode Sense: 7f 00 10 08
SCSI device sdd: drive cache: write back w/ FUA sdd: detected capacity change from 53687091200 to 214748364800

Restart multipathd

After the device has been rescanned, restart multipathd to display the new sizes for the multipath map.
sudo /sbin/service multipathd restart

Confirm the new multipath map size.

sudo /sbin/multipath -ll
mpath3 (350002ac0009b0ace) dm-0 3PARdata,VV
[size=200G][features=1 queue_if_no_path][hwhandler=0][rw]
_ round-robin 0 [prio=2][active]

_ 0:0:0:3 sda 8:0 [active][ready]

_ 1:0:0:3 sdd 8:48 [active][ready]
Once the host recognizes the new size of the LUN the filesystem can be checked again and resized.

Recheck filesystem integrity

If the LUN has no linux partition, move onto Reconfirm filesystem integrity
If has a single linux partition, use fdisk to delete and recreate the linux partition. DO NOT MAKE ANY OTHER MODIFICATIONS TO THE PARTITION OR DATA COULD BE CORRUPTED (REMEMBER THE 2TB LIMIT)
     fdisk /dev/mapper/mpath3
       delete partition 1
       create new primary partition 1 with starting and ending blocks using all available blocks.
       write partition.

Reconfirm the integrity of the filesystem before expanding with resize2fs

Resize the ext3/ext4 partition

Resize the ext3 partition with resize2fs to increase the size of the multipath map.
sudo /sbin/resize2fs /dev/mapper/mpath3 (do not specify a size to use all avalable LUN space)
resize2fs /dev/mapper/mpath3
resize2fs 1.39 (29-May-2006)
Resizing the filesystem on /dev/mapper/mpath3 to 214748364800 (4k) blocks.
The filesystem on /dev/mapper/mpath3 is now 214748364800 blocks long.

Remount the partition and confirm the new sizes.

mount /dev/mapper/mpath3 /mountpoint

SAN

LUN expansion on Linux host without a reboot

10:01 PM

Expanding a LUN on a Linux host is possible without a reboot but a maintenance window is required

LUN expansion on Linux host without a reboot (umount still required)

LUN expansion is possible without rebooting a RHEL 5/6 host after the storage team has expanded the LUN under the following conditions:

A FULL backup of the LUN has been created before you start.
The LUN does NOT have multiple linux partitions defined. (example: /dev/sdd1 /dev/sdd2 ) The 'linux' partition is actually an MSDOS partition.

NOTE: partprobe does not work 100% of the time and a reboot may be required. if partprobe does not work some other commands may help to re-read the partition

If there are more than one partition on the LUN DO NOT use these procedures, it is better to start with a NEW LUN with a larger size and copy data.
The LUN must NOT be part of an LVM volume
The LUN must have an ext3/ext4 partition. Oracle OCFS2 partitions can also be expanded but are not covered here.
Don't try this with Oracle RAW partitions.

Summary

Determine what devices are the in the multipath map of the LUN you are working with.

Example: for mpath3, devices /dev/sda, /dev/sdd are used.

mpath3 (350002ac0009b0ace) dm-0 3PARdata,VV
[size=50G][features=0][hwhandler=0][rw]
_ round-robin 0 [prio=2][active]

_ 0:0:0:3 sda 8:0 [active][ready]

_ 1:0:0:3 sdd 8:48 [active][ready]

umount the filesystem

umount /mountpoint (stop all access to the device by stopping services, killing processes, etc.)

Force check the integrity of the unmounted filesystem

Rescan the devices to report the new sizes to the OS

Once the filesystem integrity is checked, Send an "1" to the devices to rescan for the new size
echo 1 > /sys/block/sda/device/rescan
echo 1 > /sys/block/sdd/device/rescan

Confirm size changes

Restart multipathd

After the device has been rescanned, restart multipathd to display the new sizes for the multipath map.
sudo /sbin/service multipathd restart

Confirm the new multipath map size.

Recheck filesystem integrity

Reconfirm the integrity of the filesystem before expanding with resize2fs

Resize the ext3/ext4 partition

Remount the partition and confirm the new sizes.

mount /dev/mapper/mpath3 /mountpoint

SAN

How to perform LUN Migration using EMC Open Migrator in Linux ?

10:00 PM

Download Latest version of Open Migrator for Linux (EMCom.LINUX_3.12.0.12.tar at the time of writing) from EMC site (Storage team would be able to download and provide you as it requires to login to EMC site or one should register at their site https://powerlink.emc.com) and upload it to server from where migration LUN migration has to be performed.

Once untarred, you will find a set of rpms each for each linux make and architecture, assuming server make is RHEL 5 and architecture x86_64. we will install EMC open migrator as follows:

# rpm -ivh EMCom-V3.12.0.12-rhel-5-x86_64-as.rpm

# rpm -qa |grep -i emc

EMCom-V3.12.0.12-1

You should now be able to find stormigrate utility which will be used for migration

# which stormigrate

/usr/sbin/stormigrate

Before starting with LUN migration, ensure that new LUNs are provisioned and presented to the server. Identify the old and new mpaths carefully. This is most important step as we are performing disk level migration, if not identified correctly, it can result in loss of data.

Let us consider an example, assume mpath2 DGC,RAID 5 is old LUN and mpath7 DGC,VRAID is new LUN in the below output of "multipath -ll" command (We have shown here single paths to each LUN via a single port for convenience)

mpath2 (3600601606f371a008ee411882fcce111) DGC,RAID 5

[size=350G][features=1 queue_if_no_path][hwhandler=1 emc][rw]

 \_ round-robin 0 [prio=0][active]

  \_ 3:0:0:1 sdc 8:32  [active][ready]

mpath7 (3600601606f403100c6be74a522dde111) DGC,VRAID

[size=350G][features=1 queue_if_no_path][hwhandler=1 emc][rw]

\_ round-robin 0 [prio=1][active]

 \_ 4:0:0:0 sdf 8:80  [active][ready]

Our objective here would be to copy data from mpath2 to mpath7. It is also important to make a note of output of the above command or at least the wwids associated with these mpaths. Additionally, take a backup of /var/lib/multipath/bindings as it defines bindings for each wwid.
Let us assume mpath2 has Oracle ASM/raw data.

What is EMC Open Migrator? EMC Open migrator is an online tool to perform online data migration and comparison, where data copying between storage arrays is performed from the host/server. It is implemented as a host based kernel driver and command line interface (CLI) and is used to migrate data from source to target volumes with only a single disruption to the server and applications.

Per EMC Documentation, during migration the source volume can be available for I/O to production applications. The target volume is set to read write disabled. But, while we performed the migration with Oracle running, we noticed some inconsistencies and it was not happy with the state of the ASM diskgroup. So, Oracle team recommended us to have Oracle stopped before the migration is performed. Have a DBA stop Oracle or you can stop with following command.

# crsctl stop cluster -all

The Open Migrator/LM command (stormigrate) allows you to perform copy, control and comparison operations between between volumes that are accessible to the production host within a session. We recommend to refer to documentation and man pages to explore all options available with this command. Before we start with actual migration, let us do some tuning that increase the transfer rate.

The transfer copy rate by default is set to 1Mb/s. This transfer rate can be adjusted by setting the iosize and ceiling value. Please do tuning as follows:

# stormigrate tune -iosize 128

Default is 64K, recommend to increase I/O transfer buffer rate to 128 for faster transfer rate.
You can set the operating bandwidth (in megabytes) for target devices by using the -ceiling option. Setting the bandwidth allows the software to throttle all data transfer operations so that the aggregate bandwidth remains at or below the set ceiling value. Values can range from 1 to 10,000 megabytes per second,depending on your system, with the default value being 1 MB. To set the operating bandwidth for all sessions to 50 MB, type:

# stormigrate tune -ceiling 50

I have set it to 100 MB other day, but I was getting around 25 MB/S, so do not be greedy to get higher transfer rate as it depends on various factors like I/O, network speed etc.

Data migration and comparison operations that use the stormigrate command are performed from a production host and are completed in sessions. Volume pairs consisting of source and target devices can be located on the same array or separate arrays. A device file can be used to specify a list of the volume pairs for the operation at the time the session is created. The production host for the kernel driver must have access to the volumes for the session, and is responsible for controlling data migration between the volume pairs. A session is first defined by using the "stormigrate create" command and specifying a session name. An additional option parameter (-file) can be used to define volume pairs by attaching as separate device file to the create command.

Create a volume_pairs file using vi or any text editor and add source first and then destination as shown below:

# cat volume_pairs

/dev/mapper/mpath2 /dev/mapper/mpath7

Once done, create a session for copying data:

# stormigrate create -session session1 -file volume_pairs

Before you proceed with activating the session as described in next step, please check the tuning values viz I/O Size and Ceiling for final confirmation, lest you may end up getting default of 1 MB/S which is default.

# stormigrate tune

System wide Open Migrator Tune Parameters

 Parameter                                  Value

 -----------------------------------     --------

 I/O Size                                     128 kb

 Ceiling                                       50 MB/s

 Mover threads                                 16

 Checkpoint Size                              256 MB

 Mirror I/O Throttle Performance Ratio        200 %

 Mirror I/O Throttle Recovery Action     Terminate

Next step is to activate the session. The "stormigrate activate" command is used to activate a session. When a session is activated, it becomes established in the kernel driver under the defined session name.

# stormigrate activate -session session1

To begin volume copying for an activated session, use the "stormigrate copy" command. The copy command begins the transfer of data between the source and target devices associated with the session. The session must be activated before copying can begin. To begin transferring data from the source to target devices, use the following example:

# stormigrate copy -session session1

Data copying operations are processed in the kernel driver for each task comprised in the session. When all subsequent copy tasks have completed, session volumes continue to be mirrored for as long as the session remains in an activated session state.

You can check the session status for copy completion completion by using the stormigrate show, query or verify commands. To check progress of copy, use following command:

# stormigrate query -session session1 -summary

Once copy is 100%complete, you are free to do clean up of sessions

To list all sessions:

# stormigrate list

To deactivate the active session session1

# stormigrate deactivate -session session1

To do a clean up:

# stormigrate cleanup

Oracle team needs mpaths be same after copy is complete, that is to say, new LUNs should use old mpaths in order to maintain binding. So, the next step is to interchange wwids. This is done in /var/lib/multipath/bindings, so here in this example you will change mpath2 wwid with mpath 7 and vice versa. Do a reboot and then check "multipath -ll", you should find wwid interchanged between mpath2 and mpath7. Hand it over to DBA to check data consistency.

mpath2 (3600601606f403100c6be74a522dde111)  DGC,VRAID

[size=350G][features=1 queue_if_no_path][hwhandler=1 emc][rw]

\_ round-robin 0 [prio=1][active]

 \_ 4:0:0:0 sdf 8:80  [active][ready]

mpath7 (3600601606f371a008ee411882fcce111)  DGC,RAID 5

[size=350G][features=1 queue_if_no_path][hwhandler=1 emc][rw]

 \_ round-robin 0 [prio=0][active]

  \_ 3:0:0:1 sdc 8:32  [active][ready]

Once DBA has confirmed all good, you can ask Storage to disconnect the old LUNs.

SAN

How to find World Wide Name (WWN) for a fibre channel HBA in Windows

9:58 PM

SAN

How to Find Qlogic Fiber Channel HBA WWN's (World Wide Number)

9:57 PM

SAN

How to Find Emulex Fiber Channel HBA WWN's (World Wide Number)

9:56 PM

SAN

How to display EMC Powerpath and LUN details in Windows 2008.

9:56 PM

SAN

Emc san client setup

9:55 PM

SAN

EMC PowerPath Software Installation

9:54 PM

SAN

3par san client setup

9:51 PM

1. Deploy Linux RHES 4 32bit
2. Fully up2date the host, including the kernel and check packages
a. up2date -u
b. up2date -f kernel-smp kernel-smp-devel
c. ensure the following packages are installed:
1. sysfsutils
2. sysfsutils-devel
3. udev
4. device-mapper
5. device-mapper-multipath
d. If the package isnt there, run "up2date <package name>"
REBOOT (if you haven't loaded with the new kernel)
3. Install qlogic drivers
a. copy util01:/usr/local/store/Qlogic/qlafc-linux-8.00.03-6-install.tgz to host
b. on host cd /usr/local/src
c. run "tar -xvf qlafc-linux-8.00.03-6-install.tgz"
d. cd qlafc-linux-8.00.03-6-install
e. run ./qlinstall -dp
f. things should look like this - make sure both cards are online:
OPS:rootatiadjaquidb01p qlafc-linux-8.00.03-6-install# ./qlinstall -dp
QLogic HBA Linux Driver Installation
Version: 1.00.00b2pre10
Kernel version: 2.6.9-34.0.2.ELsmp
Distribution: Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES release 4 (Nahant Update 3)
Found QLogic Fibre Channel Adapter in the system
1: QLA2312
Installation will begin for following driver(s)
1: qla2xxx version: v8.00.03
Preparing...
qla2xxx
QLA2XXX – Building the qla2xxx driver...
\
QLA2XXX – Installing the qla2xxx modules to
/lib/modules/2.6.9-34.0.2.ELsmp/kernel/drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/...
Setting up QLogic HBA SNIA API library...
Unloading any loaded drivers
Unloaded module qla2300
Saved copy of /etc/modprobe.conf as
/usr/src/qlogic/v8.00.03-4/backup/modprobe.conf-2.6.9-34.0.2.ELsmp-071706-205444.bak
Saved copy of /boot/initrd-2.6.9-34.0.2.ELsmp.img as
/usr/src/qlogic/v8.00.03-4/backup/initrd-2.6.9-34.0.2.ELsmp.img-071706-205444.bak
QLA2XXX – Rebuilding ramdisk image...
Ramdisk created.
Going to load QLogic FC HBA driver....
Loading module qla2xxx_conf version: v8.00.03....
Loaded module qla2xxx_conf
Loading module qla2xxx version: v8.00.03....
Loaded module qla2xxx
Loading module qla2300 version: v8.00.03....
Loaded module qla2300
Installing scli....
Preparing...
scli
Installation completed successfully.
Target Information on all HBAs:
==============================

HBA Port 0 - QLA2312 Port Name: 50-05-08-B2-00-B9-3E-A2 Port ID: 67-0A-13

Path : 0
Target : 0
Device ID : 0x81
Port ID : 65-07-EF
Product Vendor : 3PARdata
Product ID : VV
Product Revision : 0000
Node Name : 2F-F7-00-02-AC-00-03-23
Port Name : 27-52-00-02-AC-00-03-23
Product Type : Disk
Number of LUN(s) : 1
Status : Online

Path : 0
Target : 1
Device ID : 0x82
Port ID : 65-09-EF
Product Vendor : 3PARdata
Product ID : VV
Product Revision : 0000
Node Name : 2F-F7-00-02-AC-00-03-23
Port Name : 26-51-00-02-AC-00-03-23
Product Type : Disk
Number of LUN(s) : 1
Status : Online

HBA Port 1 - QLA2312 Port Name: 50-05-08-B2-00-B9-3E-A3 Port ID: 68-0A-13

Path : 0
Target : 0
Device ID : 0x81
Port ID : 66-09-EF
Product Vendor : 3PARdata
Product ID : VV
Product Revision : 0000
Node Name : 2F-F7-00-02-AC-00-03-23
Port Name : 27-51-00-02-AC-00-03-23
Product Type : Disk
Number of LUN(s) : 1
Status : Online

Path : 0
Target : 1
Device ID : 0x82
Port ID : 66-07-EF
Product Vendor : 3PARdata
Product ID : VV
Product Revision : 0000
Node Name : 2F-F7-00-02-AC-00-03-23
Port Name : 26-52-00-02-AC-00-03-23
Product Type : Disk
Number of LUN(s) : 1
Status : Online

INSTALLATION SUCCESSFUL!!
QLogic HBA Linux driver installation completed.
4. Edit /etc/multipath.conf
a. at the top, comment out the following:
devnode_blacklist {
devnode "*"
}
c. Change default_prio_callout to "none":
d. Uncomment out the blacklist and fix the hd line:
devnode_blacklist {
wwid 26353900f02796769
devnode "||(ram|raw|loop|fd|md|dm-|sr|scd|st)0-9*"
devnode "||hda-z (0-9*"
devnode "||cciss!c0-9d0-9*]"
}
5. edit /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
a: add this:
#3par mapper
if OPS: -c -dev-mapper-control; then
if OPS: -f -etc-multipath.conf -a -x -sbin-multipaht; then
modprobe dm-multipath > /dev/null 2>&1
/sbin/multipath -v 0
/sbin/multipath -l | fgrep 2ac | awk '

Unknown macro: {print "/sbin/kpartx -a /dev/mapper/" $1' |sh fifi right after the lvm2 initialization, but before the SELinux Labels 6. run "chkconfig multipathd on" 7. ls /dev/mapper a. ensure that it exists and there is a control file within 8. create the devices on the 3par and export to the new host a. add host WWNs to the 3par SAN switch zone b. define host in the 3par when it can see those WWNS c. create volume d. create vlun exported to new host 9. reboot the host 10. cat /proc/scsi/scsi to make sure the devices got attached 11. multipath a. run "multipath" b. run "multipath -l" this will show you the disks and paths}

Cloud Computing

SQL cluster installation

10:36 PM

The Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) is a transaction manager that permits client applications to include several different data sources in one transaction and which then coordinates committing the distributed transaction across all the servers that are enlisted in the transaction. A lot of people ask why we need to install MSDTC prior to installing SQL Server. If you are using distributed transactions or running SQL Server on a cluster, this is definitely a must. SQL Server uses the MSDTC service for distributed queries and two-phase commit transactions, as well as for some replication functionality.

Configuring MS DTC in Windows Server 2003 clusters as defined in this Microsoft KB article is not pretty straight-forward. Windows Server 2008 made it simpler by providing a more straightforward process with fewer steps and less configuration.

To install and configure MSDTC:

Open the Failover Cluster Managementconsole on any of the cluster node.
Under the cluster name, right-click on Server and Applications and select Configure a Service or Application. This will run the High Availability Wizard
In the Service or Application dialog box, select Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC) and click Next.
In the Client Access Point dialog box, enter the name and IP address of the clustered MSDTC. This should be a different IP addresses and host name from the one that the Windows Server 2008 cluster is already using. ClickNext.
In the Select Storage dialog box, select the disk subsystem that will be used by MSDTC. These disk subsystems have to be defined as available storage in your cluster. In the example below, I have used the disk volume F:\ and left the disk volume E:\ for SQL Server later in the installation process. Click Next
In the Confirmation dialog box, validate the configuration you have selected for MSDTC and click Next
In the Summary dialog box, click Close. This completes the installation of MSDTC on the cluster.

You can validate your installation of MSDTC by expanding the Services and Applications node and check the cluster name of MSDTC. Make sure that all of the dependency resources are online

Installing SQL Server 2008 on a Windows Server 2008 cluster

You've gone this far, don't stop now. Only after we have managed to prepare everything can we proceed to install SQL Server 2008 on this cluster. Since we've already installed .NET Framework 3.5 with Service Pack 1 and Windows Installer 4.5 from Part 1, we no longer have to worry about them as they both are prerequisites whether you are doing a single server or a cluster installation. There are two options to install SQL Server 2008 on a cluster. The first one is by using the Integrated failover cluster install with Add Node option and the second one is the Advanced/Enterprise installation option. The process outlined below will take into account the first option.

To install SQL Server 2008:

Run setup.exe from the installation media to launch SQL Server Installation Center. Click on the Installationlink on the left-hand side
Click the New SQL Server failover cluster installation link. This will run the SQL Server 2008 Setupwizard
In the Setup Support Rules dialog box, validate that the checks return successful results and click Next.
In the Product Key dialog box, enter the product key that came with your installation media and click Next.
In the License Terms dialog box, click the I accept the license terms check box and click Next. You probably haven't read one of these, but if you feel inclined go for it.
In the Setup Support Rules dialog box, click Install. Validate that the checks return successful results. If the checks returned a few warnings, make sure you fix them before proceeding with the installation. An example of this is the Network binding order. The public network cards should be first on both nodes. Also, you can disable NETBIOS and DNS registration on the network cards to avoid network overhead. Be sure to check your binding order as well. For more details on the network binding order warning, see Microsoft KB 955963.
For the Windows Firewall, make sure that you open the appropriate port number on which SQL Server will communicate. You can do this after the installation. Alternatively, you can disable Windows Firewall during the installation and enable it later with the proper configuration. Click Next to proceed.
In the Feature Selection dialog box, select only the components that you want installed. For the Shared feature directory, you can keep the default path if you have sufficient disk space on your C:\ drive or anywhere that is alocal disk as this will be used by the SQL Server installation process later on. The directory for the clustered database engine will be different. Click Next.
In the Instance Configurationdialog box, enter the SQL Server Network Name. This is the name that will be available on the network for the clients. This will vary depending on your selection of whether it is a default or named instance. In this example, default instance is selected.
A couple of things need highlighting in this section. By default, the instance name is used as the Instance ID. This is used to identify installation directories and registry keys for your instance of SQL Server and is helpful when you want to run multiple instances in a cluster. This is the case for default instances and named instances. For a default instance, the instance name and instance ID would be MSSQLSERVER. To use a non-default instance ID, you should select the Instance IDbox and specify a value.
The section on Detected SQL Server instances and features on this computer would make sense if there are other SQL Server instances running on your server.
In the Disk Space Requirements dialog box, check that you have enough space on your local disks to install the SQL Server 2008 binaries and click Next.
In the Cluster Resource Group dialog box, check the resources available on your Windows Server 2008 cluster. This will tell you that a new Resource Group will be created on your cluster for SQL Server. To specify the SQL Server cluster resource group name, you can either use the drop-down box to specify an existing group to use or type the name of a new group to create it. Click Next.
In the Cluster Disk Selection dialog box, select the available disk groups that are on the cluster for SQL Server 2008 to use. In this example, two clustered disk groups – APPS and APPS2 – have been selected to be used by SQL Server 2008. I will be using one disk resource for the system databases while the other one for the user databases. Click Next.
In the Cluster Network Configuration dialog box, enter the IP address and subnet mask that your SQL Server 2008 cluster will use. Deselect the checkbox under the DHCP column as you will be using static IP addresses. If you have not disabled your IPv6 adapters and protocols, it would be better to uncheck the row for IPv6
In the Cluster Security Policy dialog box, accept the default value of Use service SIDs (recommended). In Windows Server 2003, we specify domain groups for all SQL Server services but in Windows Server 2008, this is the recommended option. For more information on using service SIDs for SQL Server 2008, check out this MSDN article
In the Server Configuration dialog box, enter the credentials that you will use for your SQL Server service accounts in the Service Accounts tab. In the Collation tab, select the appropriate collation to be used by SQL Server. Note that the startup type is set to manual for all cluster-aware services and cannot be changed during the installation process. Click Next.
In the Database Engine Configuration dialog box, select the appropriate Authentication Mode. If you want to add the currently logged on user to be a part of the SQL Server administrators group, click the Add Current Userbutton.

On the Data Directories tab, enter the path where your system and user database files will be created. This will default to the first shared disk in the cluster so in case you want to change it to the other shared disks to be used by SQL Server 2008, modify accordingly. If you intend to use the new FILESTREAM feature, click the FILESTREAMtab and set the appropriate configurations. Click Next
In the Error and Usage Reporting dialog box, click Next.
In the Cluster Installation Rules dialog box, verify that all checks are successful and click Next.
In the Ready to Install dialog box, verify that all configurations are correct. Click Next.
In the Complete dialog box, click Close. This concludes the installation of a SQL Server 2008 Failover Cluster

At the completion of a successful installation and configuration of the node, you now have a fully functional failover cluster instance. To validate, open the Failover Cluster Management console, and click on SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) under Services and Applications. Make sure that all dependencies are online

Although we do have a fully functioning SQL Server 2008 failover cluster, it does not have high-availability at this point in time because there is only one node in the failover cluster. We still have to add the second node to the SQL Server 2008 cluster. In the last part of this series, we will add the second node in the failover cluster and install the latest cumulative update

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Multipath

Installation

Output

LUN expansion on Linux host without a reboot (umount still required)

LUN expansion is possible without rebooting a RHEL 5/6 host after the storage team has expanded the LUN under the following conditions:

Summary

Determine what devices are the in the multipath map of the LUN you are working with.

Example: for mpath3, devices /dev/sda, /dev/sdd are used.

umount the filesystem

Force check the integrity of the unmounted filesystem

Rescan the devices to report the new sizes to the OS

Confirm size changes

Restart multipathd

Confirm the new multipath map size.

Recheck filesystem integrity

Reconfirm the integrity of the filesystem before expanding with resize2fs

Resize the ext3/ext4 partition

Remount the partition and confirm the new sizes.

LUN expansion on Linux host without a reboot (umount still required)

LUN expansion is possible without rebooting a RHEL 5/6 host after the storage team has expanded the LUN under the following conditions:

Summary

Determine what devices are the in the multipath map of the LUN you are working with.

Example: for mpath3, devices /dev/sda, /dev/sdd are used.

umount the filesystem

Force check the integrity of the unmounted filesystem

Rescan the devices to report the new sizes to the OS

Confirm size changes

Restart multipathd

Confirm the new multipath map size.

Recheck filesystem integrity

Reconfirm the integrity of the filesystem before expanding with resize2fs

Resize the ext3/ext4 partition

Remount the partition and confirm the new sizes.

Find the instance of the card's name in the /proc filesystem

Change into the qla2xxx directory

To find the WWN for each of the two "ports," check the egrep results for the files that came back with the word "adapter-port" in them.

Alternate Methods

To find the WWN for each of the two "ports," check the grep results for the files that came back with "Emulex PPN".

Prerequisite: Ensure multipath is disabled and the module is unloaded. Use the steps below to confirm this.

Install PowerPath:

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