SQL Server 2000: Capturing an Image and Creating a Tier

Intended for use with Cassatt Active Response V5.0.

The SQL Server 2000 blueprint describes how to create and deploy SQL Server in the Cassatt Active Response environment. If you haven't read Understanding Blueprints for Deploying Applications, read that first for background and context.

Prerequisites

	Software requirements: Windows SQL Server 2000 SP4
	Tier Settings: SLAs: Determine the capacity settings for the SQL Server tier. To understand how to determine capacity levels, see Understanding Tier Configuration and Personalization. Determine which VMware host tier (or tiers) will provide the VMs for your IIS tier. Tier Dependencies: Select at least one VMware host tier with as a tier dependency to ensure that VMs are available for this tier. For more information, read about tier dependencies. Custom Attribute: Use the custom attribute from the VMs in the host tier (or tiers). Because the custom attribute represents the storage access, use only one custom attribute to ensure that all VMs allocated to the tier have the same storage access. HBA key: FC SAN only—use the HBA key from the VMs in the host tier (or tiers).
	Network Requirements: Determine the network to associate with the tier. Make sure it has adequate IP addresses free to accommodate maximum nodes for the tier.
	Image host requirements: VMware installed with at least one VM configured; see VMWare ESX Server 3.0: Capturing an Image and Creating a Tier. CD-ROM drive if using a CD for software installation

The blueprint steps

This blueprint differs somewhat from the standard high-level blueprint steps. For this blueprint, reserving the image host is a prerequisite because VMware must already be running before starting this blueprint.

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Step 1: Install and configure the operating system

Select Windows.

Step 2: Install and configure your software

Many of the procedures in this section refer instructions and information in the MSDN library. You can use the links provided or navigate through the library on your own using search or the left navigation pane links.

Install SQL Server 2000

To install SQL Server, use the SQL Server 2000 Setup guide, available at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/howtosql/
ht_install_1xwl.asp.

Install SQL Server SP4

Use the download and instructions from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8E2DFC8D-C20E-
4446-99A9-B7F0213F8BC5&displaylang=en, or install from your CD.

Allow SQL Server authentication

Follow the instructions at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/howtosql/
ht_6_secrty_8k8p.asp to use Enterprise Manager to set up Mixed Mode security.

Set up an ODBC data source

Refer to the documentation at: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188681.aspx.

Configure the network for DHCP

Follow these steps to configure the Local Area Network for DHCP as follows:

1. From the desktop, right click My Network Places > Properties.
2. Right click Local Network Connection > Network Connections.
3. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties.
4. Select Obtain IP address Automatically.
5. On the DNS server settings, select Obtain DNS server address automatically.
6. Click OK.

Shut down Windows and VMware

To ensure proper capture of the Windows image in the next step, make sure Windows and VMware are not running.

1. Shut down Windows.
2. Exit VMware.

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Step 3: Capture the image

In this step, you will capture the base image from the image host using the cccapture command—an interactive script. Although you can change values later, it is most efficient to supply valid values now.

Follow these steps to capture the SQL Server image:

1. Make sure you have shut down Windows and VMware as directed in the previous section.

If you do not shut down Windows and VMware prior to image capture, the image capture will fail.

2. Log into the active control node as root.
3. Enter the following command to start the cccapture interactive script:
   
   /opt/cassatt/bin/cccapture
4. Answer each prompt.
   
   The next table lists the recommended values for the SQL Server blueprint; unless you have site specific reasons, you can accept the default values for other cccapture prompts.
   
   For names, descriptions, and other discretionary fields, use values that are meaningful to you. In the image name, do not use spaces or characters (for example, /) special to Unix-based file systems such as Linux and Solaris.
   
   

   At this prompt...	Enter
   Enter the image type (linux,vmhost,windows,solaris):	windows
   Do you want to specify the hardware requirements for a tier using this image? [n]	y
   Enter minimum amount of RAM (MBytes) per node for this image (128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192): [no minimum]	1024
   Enter the amount of time in seconds that the system should wait for the services provided by this image to start (after this time has passed, the system will attempt to reboot or replace the node): []	1800
   OS Monitoring Options Specify the operating system monitoring that will be used for this image (at least one monitoring option must be configured): Monitor via SNMP? [n]	y
   Monitor via ping? [n]	y



5. In the Controller, release the image host back to the free pool by selecting the node using the checkbox, then select Node Actions > Release from Image Capture.

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Step 4: Create the tier

Return to the Controller to define the SQL Server tier. Cassatt Active Response prepopulates tier values with the parameters you set during image capture. If necessary, you can change them during tier creation.

1. On the left navigation pane, click Tiers to display the Tier List.
   
2. On the Tier List page, click the New Tier button (on the right).
3. On the Properties page, set the properties for the SQL Server tier. The next table lists the suggested values for the SQL Server blueprint; unless you have site-specific reasons, you can accept the defaults in other fields.
   
   

   At this prompt...	Enter...	Notes
   Email Alerts	On
   Email On: Tier Critical Tier Non-Critical		Select all choices
   Reboot on failure	On
   Harvest priority	High
   Allow harvest	Off

   
   
4. On the Requirements page, set the hardware requirements for the tier.
   
   

   At this prompt...	Enter...	Notes
   Operational Target	TargetNodes
   Minimum Nodes	MinNodes
   Maximum Nodes	MaxNodes
   HBA	HBAKey	FC SAN only: select the checkbox and use the same HBA key that's assigned to the VMs that you want Cassatt Active Response to allocate to this tier.
   Custom Requirements	CustomAttribute	Assign the same custom attribute to this tier as you assigned to the VMs that you want Cassatt Active Response to allocate to this tier.
   Dependencies	VMBaseTier	Specify at least one VMware host tier. Note that: If you select more than one, every tier you select must be activated for this tier to activate. If you have multiple ESX host tiers that access different storage locations, you must select only ESX host tiers that access the same storage location.

5. On the Networks page, select the networks that this tier will run on.
6. On the IPs and Hostnames page, assign IP addresses or host names, or accept the default settings.
7. You can close the Creating Tier Progress page and continue with the next section.
   

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Step 5: Personalize the image instances

The blueprint does not require personalization.

Step 6: Allocate nodes and activate the tier

Follow these steps to allocate nodes and activate the tier.

1. From the Tiers table on the Domain page, select the checkbox for the SQL Server tier.
2. From the Tier Actions dropdown menu, select Allocate Nodes. Click Allocate Nodes on the confirmation page.
   
   Cassatt Active Response allocates nodes and displays the Tiers table.
3. Make sure none of the VMs allocated to the tier have a VMware Console attached.

The VMware Console can be attached to VMs that are not being activated in this tier, including those running on the same host server.

4. Again, select the checkbox for the IIS tier.
5. From the Tier Actions dropdown menu, select Activate. Click Activate on the confirmation page.
   
   Cassatt Active Response starts the operating system and the applications on each node in the tier.

Do not attach a VMware Console to an ESX VM before it has finished booting.

Attaching a VMware Console to an ESX VM while it is booting under Cassatt Active Response control can interrupt changes Cassatt Active Response makes to key definition items, disrupting the boot process.

To determine when it is safe to attach a remote console to a VM, do one of the following in the Controller:

1. On the Tier Activation status page, click Show Details.
2. In the events table, watch for an event called "Power Cycle Node" with status "Complete."
   
   OR
   
3. In the node list for the tier, wait until the node is "online."

When either of these things happens, it is safe to attach a remote console to the VM.

This completes the procedure to create and deploy a SQL Server image.

Troubleshooting

Read additional information and tips about using VMs in your Cassatt Active Response environment.

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