Improving Availability and enhancing Programmability - Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Administration - page 205

Getting ready

Although there is no pre-configured hardware requirement defined to install failover clustering,
it is essential to go through the following pre-installation check list of components for the
hardware, operating system, and environment versions that are being deployed. Ensure that
the following prerequisites are completed:

F The preliminary prerequisite for SQL Server Failover Cluster is having identical
hardware:
The system components such as CPU and Memory must be identical for all
the nodes within the failover cluster
SAN configuration: A combination of one or more disks as a resource group
in Microsoft Cluster Services (MSCS) group

A network name for failover cluster instances with relevant IP Address

F Ensure that the operating system is installed properly and designed to support
failover clustering. It is essential that the operating system is equipped with the latest
service pack on which SQL Server will run.
F Ensure that you configure MSCS on one node which is supported, if it is installed
on a hardware configuration that has been tested for compatibility with the MSCS
software.
F Ensure the hardware drivers for x64-bit such as network interface cards (NIC) and
host bus adapters (HBA) are available from the vendor and installed.
F Ensure that you deploy the Windows servers and clusters on SAN shared
storage devices.
F Ensure that you design the cluster disk for use as the quorum disk as a separate
physical or virtual disk on the shared cluster disk array.
F Ensure that there is 5 GB free disk space available on the server.
F Ensure that you install Microsoft Distribution Coordinator for distributed transactions
and also when installing Database Engine, SSIS service, and Workstation
components for SQL Server 2008 R2.
F Verify that NETBIOS is disabled for all private network cards and the network name
(virtual server name) and IP address of the SQL Server instance is not being used by
any other machine on the network.
F Ensure that the Remote Registry service is up and running. To access, click Start |
All Programs | Administrative Tools and navigate to Services.
F Identify and remove the disabled network adapters by opening Device Manager from
Control Panel | System right-click for properties and navigate to Network Adapters.
F When the source installation files are on a different domain, ensure that you copy the
installation files to the current domain available to the SQL Server failover cluster.