Installing ConfigMgr on a clustered SQL Server Instance

When installing ConfigMgr 2007 on a clustered SQL Server Instance, specific configuration is needed. Then preparing for a ConfigMgr installation must happen on all servers which are part of the SQL cluster. How that works I will explain in this blog. Because it's not always usual to install ConfigMgr on a clustered SQL Server Instance, remember to follow these steps!

First open this TechNet article: How to Install Configuration Manager Using a Clustered SQL Server Instance, which can be found on http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680513.aspx

The steps which are needed:

1. Create the virtual SQL Server cluster to host the site database on an existing Windows Server cluster environment.
2. Add the machine account of the primary site server machine to the Local Administrators group of each Windows Server cluster node computer. This is required to allow the site server to install and configure settings later.
3. In the virtual SQL Server instance, assign the sysadmin SQL Server role to the user account running Configuration Manager Setup.
4. Start Configuration Manager Setup, and select to install Configuration Manager using custom settings.
5. On the Configuration Manager Database Server page of the Configuration Manager Setup Wizard, enter the name of the clustered virtual SQL Server instance to host the site database and the name for the site database to be created on that instance by setup.

Important: During setup, you must enter the name of the virtual SQL Server cluster instance, and not the virtual Windows Server name created by the Windows Server cluster. Installing the site database using the Windows Server cluster virtual instance name will result in the site database being installed on the local hard drive of the active Windows Server cluster node, and it will prevent successful failover if that node fails.

Also have a look at "To verify that the site database was installed successfully", to check if installation was done right!

But what to do when things goes wrong?

The following errors can be shown:

SQL Server sysadmin rights: Either the user account running Configuration Manager Setup does not have sysadmin SQL Server role permissions on the SQL Server instance targeted for site database installation or the SQL Server instance could not be contacted to verify permissions. Setup cannot continue.

SMS Provider Communication: A communication error has been detected between the SMS Provider computer and the site database computer. This error can occur when the site database server is offline or if a valid SPN has not been registered in Active Directory Domain Services for the SQL Server instance hosting the site database. Setup cannot continue.

When this errors are seen during setup (or during prerequisite check), check the following steps: 

• Is the machine account of the primary site server added to the Local Administrators group of each Windows Server cluster node computer?
• Is the virtual SQL Server instance, with the sysadmin SQL Server role assigned to the user account running Configuration Manager Setup?
• Is the name of the virtual SQL Server cluster instance entered during setup? (format: SQL Server cluster name\Instance name)

The solution was found with configuring the clustered SQL Server Instance right:

• The Service Pack level from the clustered SQL Server and the new Instance created must be on the same level.
• Because the new Instance must be installed on each Windows Server cluster node computer, make sure the installation (database/log) paths are same on each node.
• Make sure permissions are set right on the clustered SQL Server Instance. (double check)

This can also be validated using "ODBC Data Source Administrator". Choose the System DSN tab, and add the clustered SQL Server Instance. This because it has nothing to do with ConfigMgr, but all with SQL Server configuration.

I hope this information will be useful for future installations!