Installing the Distributed Replay Utility
Install the Microsoft SQL Server Distributed Replay Utility features with the SQL Server “Denali” Installation Wizard. When planning where to install the features, consider the following:
- You can install the administration tool on the same computer as the controller, or on different computers.
- There can only be one controller in each Distributed Replay Utility environment.
- You can install the client service on up to 16 (physical or virtual) computers.
- Only one instance of the client service can be installed on the controller computer. If your Distributed Replay Utility environment will have more than one client, we do not recommend installing the client service on the same computer as the controller. Doing so may decrease the overall speed of the distributed replay.
- For performance testing scenarios, we do not recommend installing the administration tool, controller service, or client service on the target instance of SQL Server. Installing all of these features on the target server should be limited to functional testing for application compatibility.
- After installation, the controller service, SQL Server Distributed Replay Controller, must be running before you start the client service on the clients.
Prerequisites:
- Make sure that the computers that you want to use meet the requirements that are described in the topic Distributed Replay Requirements.
- Before you begin this procedure, you create the domain user accounts that the controller and client services will run under. We recommend that these accounts are not members of the Windows Administrators group. For more information, see the User and Service Accounts section of the topic Distributed Replay Security.
- Before installing the controller service, the SQL Server feature that is named Management Tools - Basic must be installed. Use the SQL Server Installation Wizard Shared Features page to install this feature.
- Before installing the client service, the SQL Server feature that is named Client Tools Connectivity must be installed. Use the SQL Server Installation Wizard Shared Features page to install this feature.
Note: To remove or change the Distributed Replay Utility features, use the Windows Programs and Features window in Control Panel. The Distributed Replay Utility can be found in the Programs and Features windows by the name Microsoft SQL Server Distributed Replay Utility.
To install Distributed Replay Utility features |
1. To start the installation of any of the Distributed Replay Utility features, start the SQL Server “Denali” Installation Wizard. 2. Click Tools to reveal the Distributed Replay Utility installation link. 3. Click Install Distributed Replay Utility to start the Distributed Replay Utility Installation Wizard. 4. On the Welcome page, click Next. 5. On the License Agreement page, read and accept the agreement, and then click Next. 6. On the Registration Information page, enter your name and organization, and then click Next. 7. On the Feature Selection page, configure which features you want to install.
Note: To cancel a selection, click the drop-down arrow next to the feature, and then click Entire feature will be unavailable. 8. Optionally, click Browse to change the installation path. a. On 32-bit computers, the default installation path is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server Distributed Replay Utility b. On 64-bit computers, the default installation path is C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Distributed Replay Utility 9. When you are finished, click Next. 10. On the Ready to Install the Program page, click Install. |
To complete post-installation steps |
1. Configure the service accounts that are used by the controller and client service: Use the Windows Services tool to specify the Log On account and Startup type for the controller and client services on the computers that they are installed. For more information, see the User and Service Accounts heading in the topic named Distributed Replay Utility Security. a. On the controller computer: Configure the service named SQL Server Distributed Replay Controller. b. On each client computer: Configure the service named SQL Server Distributed Replay Client. 2. Configure folder and file permissions for the service accounts that are used by the controller and client service: Grant the service accounts that are used by the controller and client services permissions to key files and folders. For more information, see the File and Folder Permissions heading in the topic named Distributed Replay Utility Security. 3. Grant each client permissions on the target server: After you have completed installing the client service on the client computers, you must manually add the client service accounts to the sysadmin role on the target instance of SQL Server. 4. Specify client configuration settings: Modify the default client configuration file, DReplayClient.xml, for first use. For more information, see Distributed Replay Configuration Files. On each client, configure the following elements in the client configuration file: a. In the Controller element, specify the name of the computer name of the controller. b. In the WorkingDirectory element, specify where the dispatch files will be saved. c. In the ResultDirectory element, specify where the result trace file will be saved. d. (Optional) In the LoggingLevel element, specify the logging level of the client service. The default value, INFORMATION, is the most detailed. 5. (Optional) Specify the controller logging level: If you want to change the logging level of the controller service, modify the controller configuration file, DReplayServer.xml. For more information, see Distributed Replay Configuration Files. 6. Create firewall rules: On the controller and client computers, you must allow inbound traffic through the firewall for the corresponding service. Specify the firewall rules for the service executables, located in the installation folders. a. For the controller service, create a rule for DReplayController.exe, located in the installation folder. For example, the following command enables this rule, where %InstallPath% is the installation folder of the service: netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="allow dreplay controller" dir=in program="%InstallPath%\DReplayController\DReplayController.exe" action=allow b. For the client service, on each client computer, create a rule for DReplayClient.exe, located in the installation folder. For example, the following command enables this rule, where %InstallPath% is the installation folder of the service: netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="allow dreplay client" dir=in program="%InstallPath%\DReplayClient\DReplayClient.exe" action=allow 7. Configure DCOM permissions on the controller: Configure the DCOM application on the controller named ProfilerServer; grant computer-wide and application-specific DCOM permissions to the account using the administration tool and the client service accounts. For more information, see the DCOM Permissions heading in the topic named Distributed Replay Utility Security. 8. Start the Distributed Replay Utility services: The services must be started in a specific sequence. You can use the Windows Services tool, the SC tool (SC.exe), or the CMD.exe net start command. Start the services in this order: a. On the controller, start the controller service named SQL Server Distributed Replay Controller. b. After the controller service is running, start the client service named SQL Server Distributed Replay Client on each client. |
Security
You must have administrative permissions in order to install any of the Distributed Replay Utility features. Only a SQL Server login having sysadmin permissions can add the client service accounts to the sysadmin server role of the test server. For more information about Distributed Replay Utility security considerations, see Distributed Replay Utility Security.
See Also
Distributed Replay Utility Concepts
Distributed Replay Utility Requirements
Administration Tool Command-line Options (Distributed Replay Utility)
Distributed Replay Configuration Files