13-part deep dive into SQL Server Always On Failover Cluster Instance: lab architecture, iSCSI shared storage, multi-node setup, failover testing, scaling.
13 articles • follow them in order
Welcome to part 1 of a 13-part deep dive into SQL Server Always On Failover Cluster Instance (FCI). Before any wizard screens, before any PowerShell, you need the architecture in…
Part 1 covered architecture; this part is the network plumbing. Three subnets, three named adapters per node, every link ping-tested before any cluster bit gets installed. Skip a ping test,…
Networks done in Part 2; now we build the SAN. The iSCSI-Target VM gets the iSCSI Target Server role, the iSCSI service gets bound to the storage NIC ONLY, and…
SAN built in Part 3; now we connect the nodes to it. The iSCSI initiator on each node binds to its Storage NIC, discovers the target portal, logs in, and…
Plumbing is in. Storage is connected. Time to merge two standalone servers into a single Windows Failover Cluster — the brain that orchestrates failover for SQL Server (and any other…
The big moment. Five parts of plumbing — networks, SAN, initiators, cluster, validation — have led here. Now we install SQL Server itself, but in a special mode: Failover Cluster…
SQL Server is installed on Node-01 only — that’s technically a single point of failure dressed up as a cluster. This part fixes that. We run the same setup.exe on…
Eight parts of work get tested in 30 seconds. We create some baseline data on the active node, kill the active node hard, watch the cluster move SQL to the…
Two-node FCI works. Tested it. But the design from Part 1 reserved a third node IP — this part builds it. The work splits into two posts: Part 9 (this…
Node-03 prepared in Part 9. Now we formally add it to the Windows Failover Cluster as a voting member. Short post — the Add Node wizard does most of the…
Node-03 is in the Windows cluster (Part 10) but has no SQL binaries. This part installs SQL Server in Add Node mode on Node-03 — functionally identical to Part 7…
3-node FCI is built. Now we use it. This part covers the real-world “go-live” flow: migrate a database from a legacy standalone SQL Server into AOFCI via backup/restore, then perform…
The grand finale. Twelve parts of building — this part is about tearing down gracefully when nodes need to be replaced or decommissioned. Plus advanced cluster moves: shuffling individual disks,…
