I discuss the entire TCP/IP connection settings here, but only do one node at a time.
Keeping a notepad next to you and jotting down notes on how to configure the other node helps. Then, you can simply do it after you read this and configure the first node.
Now that you have your node network connection properties labeled correctly, you can begin to configure your TCP/IP properties. The dialog box shown in the following illustration has a title bar that reads Heartbeat properties. The bottom of the dialog box shows a check box that enables the Show icon in taskbar when connected option.
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Die-hard Windows veterans know this is a slight mistake in wording as the icon really appears in the systray but, no matter, you understand the difference. You should check this box to help you look at something quickly. Simply hover your mouse over the connection (it will read heartbeat in the popup) and you can double-click it to get to the properties quickly. You can also see incoming and outgoing data flow by hovering your mouse over the icon or by double-clicking it.
I selected two identical 3COM NICs for both servers and, because they are identical, they’re named in an ordinal fashion. Be sure to document which connection goes where and apply labels on the server. Feel free to get a niceP-Touch—a device that enables you to make labels—with markable tape to label everything you feel you need to see on the server. Also, always take notes to log in as documentation later, to use for troubleshooting. You can configure the NIC from here, as well as in the Device Manager discussed earlier.
Your next configuration centers on the TCP/IP protocol. As mentioned in prerollout design, you can’t use anything but TCP/IP. Not IPX/SPX or AppleTalk—only TCP/IP.
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Highlight your TCP/IP protocol and select the Properties button. You will open a dialog box, as seen in the next illustration.
You now need to configure static IP addressing for the clustered nodes. You should have any server, printer, or network device set statically and configure all your network clients’ PCs and laptops to grab an address from a DHCP server. You will need to configure four interfaces with IP addresses. I list them here initially, so you can implement for the second node that you’ll need to configure. These are the settings I configured on my servers, so yours might be different or you can choose my settings. Just make sure you understand the concepts explained. I also configured my Node A, so I’m in the process of configuring Node B now. I set the TCP/IP addressing as follows:
• Cluster-Node-B has a Heartbeat Connection IP address of 192.168.1.2, with a 24-bit subnet mask.
• Cluster-node-B also has a Local Area Connection IP Address of 10.0.0.3, with a 24-bit subnet mask.
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• Cluster-node-A has a Heartbeat Connection IP address of 192.168.1.1, with a 24-bit subnet mask.
• Cluster-Node-A has a Local Area Connection IP Address of 10.0.0.2, with a 24-bit subnet mask.
Both Cluster-Node-A and B have a default gateway of 10.0.0.1 /24 and I’ll be logging into a domain controller with an IP address of 10.0.0.4, with a 24-bit subnet mask. I’ll break these settings down for you as you configure it step-by-step. Figure 2-6 shows you what this will look like on a topology map.
Once you get deeper into the install, you’ll see another address is needed. Don’t worry about this now, though. Just remember I mentioned earlier that you’ll need to
Figure 2-6. High-level overview of TCP/IP configuration
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allocate five IP addresses and a specific NetBIOS name for the cluster you’re configuring.
We’ve just configured the IP address for one node (192.168.1.2 /24). This is for the Heartbeat network. Now you need to configure the node’s other network connection, called Local Area Connection. You can select that one the same way you selected the Heartbeat network, by right-clicking the icon in the Network Connections dialog box and selecting Properties. When you open the dialog box, you need to configure it the same way as you configured the Heartbeat connection, except you enter the IP address of 10.0.0.2 with a 24-bit subnet mask. On this network connection, however, you must configure more than just an IP address and a subnet mask. The server needs a default gateway on the local segment to which it’s connected. Remember, this server needs to respond to and serve resources to the network clients. You might have to configure a default gateway (local router) if you have clients accessing your cluster from other networks or from across a wide area network (WAN).
You eventually need an IP address for every resource you set up in your cluster.
If you set up a SQLServer 2000, you need a new IP address for it (something like 10.0.0.6 /24), but you’ll still be using the two-node cluster with IP addresses of 10.0.0.2 and 10.0.0.3. If you know you’ll be setting up quite a few clustered solutions, you might want to ask your Network Engineer (or slot them yourself) for a block of IPs. You could use 10.0.0.2–10.0.0.10 for the nodes and quite a few resources. If you expect more growth, then block out some more.