Operate RHEL failover cluster instance (FCI) for SQL Server

Applies to: SQL Server - Linux

This document describes how to do the following tasks for SQL Server on a shared disk failover cluster with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

• Manually fail over the cluster
• Monitor a failover cluster SQL Server service
• Add a cluster node
• Remove a cluster node
• Change the SQL Server resource monitoring frequency

Architecture description

The clustering layer is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) HA add-on built on top of Pacemaker. Corosync and Pacemaker coordinate cluster communications and resource management. The SQL Server instance is active on either one node or the other.

The following diagram illustrates the components in a Linux cluster with SQL Server.

For more information on cluster configuration, resource agents options, and management, visit RHEL reference documentation.

Fail over cluster manually

The resource move command creates a constraint forcing the resource to start on the target node. After executing the move command, executing resource clear will remove the constraint so it's possible to move the resource again, or have the resource automatically fail over.

sudo pcs resource move <sqlResourceName> <targetNodeName>
sudo pcs resource clear <sqlResourceName>

The following example moves the mssqlha resource to a node named sqlfcivm2, and then removes the constraint so that the resource can move to a different node later.

sudo pcs resource move mssqlha sqlfcivm2
sudo pcs resource clear mssqlha

Monitor a failover cluster SQL Server service

View the current cluster status:

sudo pcs status

View live status of cluster and resources:

sudo crm_mon

View the resource agent logs at /var/log/cluster/corosync.log

Add a node to a cluster

1. Check the IP address for each node. The following script shows the IP address of your current node.

   ip addr show
   

2. The new node needs a unique name that is 15 characters or less. By default in Red Hat Linux the computer name is localhost.localdomain. This default name might not be unique and is too long. Set the computer name the new node. Set the computer name by adding it to /etc/hosts. The following script lets you edit /etc/hosts with vi.

   sudo vi /etc/hosts
   

   The following example shows /etc/hosts with additions for three nodes named sqlfcivm1, sqlfcivm2, andsqlfcivm3.

   127.0.0.1      localhost localhost4 localhost4.localdomain4
   ::1            localhost localhost6 localhost6.localdomain6
   10.128.18.128  fcivm1
   10.128.16.77   fcivm2
   10.128.14.26   fcivm3
   

   The file should be the same on every node.

3. Stop the SQL Server service on the new node.

4. Follow the instructions to mount the database file directory to the shared location:

   From the NFS server, install nfs-utils

   sudo yum -y install nfs-utils
   

   Open up the firewall on clients and NFS server

   sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=nfs
   sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=mountd
   sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=rpc-bind
   sudo firewall-cmd --reload
   

   Edit the /etc/fstab file to include the mount command:

   <IP OF NFS SERVER>:<shared_storage_path> <database_files_directory_path> nfs timeo=14,intr
   

   Run mount -a for the changes to take effect.

5. On the new node, create a file to store the SQL Server username and password for the Pacemaker login. The following command creates and populates this file:

   sudo touch /var/opt/mssql/passwd
   sudo echo "<loginName>" >> /var/opt/mssql/secrets/passwd
   sudo echo "<password>" >> /var/opt/mssql/secrets/passwd
   sudo chown root:root /var/opt/mssql/passwd
   sudo chmod 600 /var/opt/mssql/passwd
   

   Caution

   Your password should follow the SQL Server default password policy. By default, the password must be at least eight characters long and contain characters from three of the following four sets: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, base-10 digits, and symbols. Passwords can be up to 128 characters long. Use passwords that are as long and complex as possible.

6. On the new node, open the Pacemaker firewall ports. To open these ports with firewalld, run the following command:

   sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=high-availability
   sudo firewall-cmd --reload
   

   If you're using another firewall that doesn't have a built-in high-availability configuration, the following ports need to be opened for Pacemaker to be able to communicate with other nodes in the cluster:

   • TCP: Ports 2224, 3121, 21064
   • UDP: Port 5405

7. Install Pacemaker packages on the new node.

   sudo yum install pacemaker pcs fence-agents-all resource-agents
   

8. Set the password for the default user that is created when installing Pacemaker and Corosync packages. Use the same password as the existing nodes.

   sudo passwd hacluster
   

9. Enable and start pcsd service and Pacemaker. This will allow the new node to rejoin the cluster after the reboot. Run the following command on the new node.

   sudo systemctl enable pcsd
   sudo systemctl start pcsd
   sudo systemctl enable pacemaker
   

10. Install the FCI resource agent for SQL Server. Run the following commands on the new node.

    sudo yum install mssql-server-ha
    

11. On an existing node from the cluster, authenticate the new node and add it to the cluster:

    sudo pcs cluster auth <nodeName3> -u hacluster
    sudo pcs cluster node add <nodeName3>
    

    The following example adds a node named vm3 to the cluster.

    sudo pcs cluster auth
    sudo pcs cluster start
    

Remove nodes from a cluster

To remove a node from a cluster, run the following command:

sudo pcs cluster node remove <nodeName>

Change the frequency of sqlservr resource monitoring interval

sudo pcs resource op monitor interval=<interval>s <sqlResourceName>

The following example sets the monitoring interval to 2 seconds for the mssql resource:

sudo pcs resource op monitor interval=2s mssqlha

Troubleshoot Red Hat Enterprise Linux shared disk cluster for SQL Server

When you troubleshoot the cluster, it helps to understand how the three daemons work together to manage cluster resources.

Daemon	Description
Corosync	Provides quorum membership and messaging between cluster nodes.
Pacemaker	Resides on top of Corosync and provides state machines for resources.
PCSD	Manages both Pacemaker and Corosync through the pcs tools.

PCSD must be running in order to use pcs tools.

Current cluster status

sudo pcs status returns basic information about the cluster, quorum, nodes, resources, and daemon status for each node.

An example of a healthy pacemaker quorum output would be:

Cluster name: MyAppSQL
Last updated: Wed Oct 31 12:00:00 2016  Last change: Wed Oct 31 11:00:00 2016 by root via crm_resource on sqlvmnode1
Stack: corosync
Current DC: sqlvmnode1  (version 1.1.13-10.el7_2.4-44eb2dd) - partition with quorum
3 nodes and 1 resource configured

Online: [ sqlvmnode1 sqlvmnode2 sqlvmnode3 ]

Full list of resources:

mssqlha (ocf::sql:fci): Started sqlvmnode1

PCSD Status:
sqlvmnode1: Online
sqlvmnode2: Online
sqlvmnode3: Online

Daemon Status:
corosync: active/disabled
pacemaker: active/enabled

In the example, partition with quorum means that a majority quorum of nodes is online. If the cluster loses a majority quorum of nodes, pcs status returns partition WITHOUT quorum and all resources are stopped.

online: [sqlvmnode1 sqlvmnode2 sqlvmnode3] returns the name of all nodes currently participating in the cluster. If any nodes aren't participating, pcs status returns OFFLINE: [<nodename>].

PCSD Status shows the cluster status for each node.

Reasons why a node might be offline

Check the following items when a node is offline.

• Firewall

  The following ports need to be open on all nodes for Pacemaker to be able to communicate.

  • **TCP: 2224, 3121, 21064

• Pacemaker or Corosync services running

• Node communication

• Node name mappings

Related content

• Cluster from Scratch (from Pacemaker)
• Configure RHEL failover cluster instance (FCI) cluster for SQL Server