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Install SQL Server with SMB fileshare storage

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Applies to: SQL Server - Windows only

In SQL Server 2012 (11.x) and later versions, system databases (master, model, msdb, and tempdb), and Database Engine user databases can be installed with Server Message Block (SMB) file server as a storage option. This applies to both SQL Server stand-alone and SQL Server failover cluster installations (FCI).

Note

FILESTREAM is currently not supported on an SMB file share.

Installation considerations

SMB fileshare formats

When you specify the SMB file share, the following values are supported universal naming convention (UNC) path formats for standalone and FCI databases:

  • \\ServerName\ShareName\
  • \\ServerName\ShareName

For more information, see Universal Naming Convention.

The loopback UNC path (a UNC path whose server name is localhost, 127.0.0.1, or the local machine name) isn't supported. As a special case, SQL Server with File Server Cluster hosted on the same node as SQL Server is also not supported. To prevent this situation, you should create SQL Server and the File Server Cluster on separated Windows Clusters.

The following UNC path formats aren't supported:

  • Loopback path, such as \\localhost\...\ or \\127.0.0.1\...\
  • Administrative shares, such as \\servername\x$
  • Other UNC path formats like \\?\x:\
  • Mapped network drives

Supported data definition language (DDL) statements

The following Transact-SQL DDL statements and database engine stored procedures support SMB file shares:

  1. CREATE DATABASE
  2. ALTER DATABASE
  3. RESTORE statements
  4. BACKUP

Installation options

  • In the setup user interface, on the Database Engine Configuration page, on the Data Directories tab, set the parameter Data root directory as \\<FileServer>\<Share1>\. Replace <FileServer> and <Share1> with values from your environment.

  • In the command prompt installation, specify /INSTALLSQLDATADIR as \\<FileServer>\<Share1>\.

    Here's the sample syntax to install SQL Server on a standalone server using the SMB file share option:

    Setup.exe /q /ACTION=Install /FEATURES=SQL /INSTANCENAME=MSSQLSERVER /SQLSVCACCOUNT="<DomainName\UserName>" /SQLSVCPASSWORD="<password>" /SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS="<DomainName\UserName>" /AGTSVCACCOUNT="<DomainName\UserName>" /AGTSVCPASSWORD="<password>" /INSTALLSQLDATADIR="\\FileServer\Share1\" /IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS

    Beginning with SQL Server 2022 (16.x), read the Microsoft SQL Server Software License Terms at aka.ms/useterms.

    To install a single-node SQL Server failover cluster instance with the Database Engine and Analysis Services, default instance:

    setup.exe /q /ACTION=InstallFailoverCluster /InstanceName=MSSQLSERVER /INDICATEPROGRESS /ASSYSADMINACCOUNTS="<DomainName\UserName>" /ASDATADIR=<Drive>:\OLAP\Data /ASLOGDIR=<Drive>:\OLAP\Log /ASBACKUPDIR=<Drive>:\OLAP\Backup /ASCONFIGDIR=<Drive>:\OLAP\Config /ASTEMPDIR=<Drive>:\OLAP\Temp /FAILOVERCLUSTERDISKS="<Cluster Disk Resource Name - for example, 'Disk S:'" /FAILOVERCLUSTERNETWORKNAME="<Insert Network Name>" /FAILOVERCLUSTERIPADDRESSES="IPv4;xx.xxx.xx.xx;Cluster Network;xxx.xxx.xxx.x" /FAILOVERCLUSTERGROUP="MSSQLSERVER" /Features=AS,SQL /ASSVCACCOUNT="<DomainName\UserName>" /ASSVCPASSWORD="<password>" /AGTSVCACCOUNT="<DomainName\UserName>" /AGTSVCPASSWORD="<password>" /INSTALLSQLDATADIR="\\FileServer\Share1\" /SQLCOLLATION="SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CS_AS" /SQLSVCACCOUNT="<DomainName\UserName>" /SQLSVCPASSWORD="<password>" /SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS="<DomainName\UserName> /IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS

    For more information about the usage of various command-line parameter options in SQL Server, see Install and configure SQL Server on Windows from the command prompt.

Note

Your passwords 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.

Operating system considerations (SMB protocol vs. SQL Server)

Different Windows operating systems have different SMB protocol versions, and the SMB protocol version is transparent to SQL Server. You can find the benefits of different SMB protocol versions with respect to SQL Server.

Operating system SMB2 protocol version Benefits to SQL Server
Windows Server 2012 and later versions, including Server Core 3.0 Support for transparent failover of file shares providing zero downtime, with no intervention required for the database administrator or file server administrator in file server cluster configurations.

Support for IO using multiple network interfaces simultaneously, and tolerance to network interface failure.

Support for network interfaces with RDMA capabilities.

For more information on these features and Server Message Block, see Server Message Block overview.

Support for Scale Out File Server (SoFS) with continuous availability.
Windows Server 2012 R2 and later versions, including Server Core 3.2 Support for transparent failover of file shares providing zero downtime, with no intervention required for the database administrator or file server administrator in file server cluster configurations.

Support for IO using multiple network interfaces simultaneously, and tolerance to network interface failure, using SMB Multichannel.

Support for network interfaces with RDMA capabilities using SMB Direct.

For more information on these features and Server Message Block, see Server Message Block overview.

Support for Scale Out File Server (SoFS) with continuous availability.

Optimized for small random read/write I/O common to SQL Server transactional style workloads.

Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) is turned on by default, which significantly enhances performance in large sequential transfers like SQL Server data warehouse and database backup or restore.

Security considerations

  • The SQL Server service account and SQL Server agent service account should have FULL CONTROL share permissions and NTFS permissions on the SMB share folders. The SQL Server service account can be a domain account or a system account if an SMB file server is used. For more information about share and NTFS permissions, see Share and NTFS Permissions on a File Server.

    Note

    The FULL CONTROL share permissions and NTFS permissions on the SMB share folders should be restricted to the SQL Server service account, the SQL Server Agent service account, and Windows users with administrator server roles.

    Use a domain account as a SQL Server service account. If system account is used as a service account, grant the permissions for the machine account in the format <domain-name>\<computer-name>*$*.

    Note

    During SQL Server setup, you must specify the domain account as a service account if the SMB file share is specified as a storage option. With SMB file share, the System account can only be specified as a service account after installing SQL Server.

    Virtual accounts can't be authenticated to a remote location. All virtual accounts use the permission of the machine account. Provision the machine account in the format <domain-name>\<computer-name>*$*.

  • The account used to install SQL Server should have FULL CONTROL permissions on the SMB file share folder used as the data directory, or any other data folders (User database directory, user database log directory, tempdb directory, tempdb log directory, backup directory) during Cluster Setup.

  • The account used to install SQL Server should be granted SeSecurityPrivilege privileges on the SMB file server. To grant this privilege, use the Local Security Policy console on the file server to add the SQL Server setup account to the Manage auditing and security log policy. This setting is available in the User Rights Assignments section under Local Policies.

Known issues and limitations

After you detach a SQL Server database that resides on network-attached storage, you might run into database permission issues while trying to reattach the SQL Server database. For more information, see Error 5120.

If SMB file share is used as a storage option for a clustered instance of SQL Server, by default the SQL Server Failover Cluster Diagnostics Log can't be written to the file share because the SQL Server Resource DLL lacks read/write permission on the file share. To resolve this issue, try one of the following methods:

  1. Grant read/write permissions on the file share to all computer objects in the cluster.

  2. Set the location of the diagnostic logs to a local file path. See the following example:

    ALTER SERVER CONFIGURATION SET DIAGNOSTICS LOG PATH = 'C:\logs';

When you host SQL Server data files on SMB file shares, all I/O against the files goes through the network interface on the server or virtual machine. Ensure that there's enough network bandwidth to support the I/O required by the workload.

Unavailability of the file share hosting the SQL Server data files due to network connectivity issues or other failure might result in I/O delays or failures in SQL Server. For mission critical workloads, ensure there's redundancy built into the network and file share and that the file share supports SMB 3.0 transparent failover, also known as continuous availability.

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