How to Install a Clustered SQL Server 2012 Instance – Part 3

In continuation of our series on how to install a SQL Server 2012 clustered instance, let’s discuss how to add a node into an existing SQL Server clustered instance. The following steps are performed either to add one more node to some already installed clustered instance, or to continue the installation of a brand new clustered instance — It all boils down to the same thing. To perform this phase, you will need to have at least one node installed. In this case, we installed a new SQL Server failover instance in the Part 2 of this series.

So connect to the next node, in this case W2012SRV04, and perform the following steps:

1. Make sure that you have the same SQL Server 2012 media used to install in the other node available and execute the “Setup” binary.

2. The “SQL Server Installation Center” will be opened.

3. Still on “SQL Server Installation Center”, click “Installation” and select “Add node to a SQL Server failover cluster”.

4. A check will run in order to verify the setup support rules. Click “OK”.

5. Now the setup will check and install the latest updates. Keep the “Include SQL Server product updates” checked and click “Next”.

6. Another check will run in order to identify problems within the installation process. Click “Next”.

7. Insert the product key and click “Next”.

8. Accept the terms and click “Next”.

9.  On this step you need to pick the instance where this installation will be related. Notice that you have a list of installed instances, as well as the nodes that the instances are already installed.
In our case, the Instance Name “DB” is installed in only one node, and we need to choose this instance in the list box in the top to proceed to the node addition.

10. Now. confirm the IP settings as you did in the first node installation. Click “Next”.

11. Fill the passwords for the Engine and Agent service account, and click  “Next”.

12. Like in the other (first) node, you have the option to send error reports to Microsoft. Click on “Next”.

13. Now the setup will verify if the installation process can be blocked. In the end, click “Next”.

14. Review the options and click on “Install”.

15 Now you can watch the installation progress. Click “Next” when it is done.

16. Now the node addition is complete! Just verify if all of the features have succeeded. Click “Close” and you are done!

At the end of this installation, you will have one more node available to run out our instance. This means that we can now perform a failover from W2012SRV03 to W2012SRV04, so we have now a high availability (HA) solution. In case of a hardware failure on the active node, we will have a failover action.

For some reason, such as a test or for maintenance purposes, you can do a failover manually. To perform this, open the Failover Cluster Manager tool (the same used on step 2), right-click over the role name (in our case “SQL Server (DB)” and then select the “Move” option. Two options will be shown — the first “Best Possible Node” and the second one “Select Node…” Both are valid, but the second gives you the chance to choose the node to move the Role, which is useful when you have more than two nodes.

That’s it for today. I will be back soon with the last part of this series, talking about MS DTC on clustered instances.

If you have’t read the first blog post in this series, here is Step-by-Step Installation of a SQL Server 2012 Clustered Instance — Part 1.
Then find the second blog post in this series, Step-by-Step Installation of a SQL Server 2012 Clustered Instance — Part 2.
Finally, find the fourth blog post in this series, Step-by-Step Installation of a SQL Server 2012 Clustered Instance — Part 4.

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