Re: Passive node starting the SQL Server services - services set t

Failover and failback settings are for the instance, not the node, as you
discovered.

Possible owners list is not sorted, I.E. the order does not matter.

Preferred owners list IS sorted by most preferred owner first.

If you were having problems with internet connectivity, the system may have
lost the IP ADDRESS resource long enough to start a failover or restart
process. Bad hardware can cause some wierd cluster instabilities.

--
Geoff N. Hiten
Senior Database Administrator
Microsoft SQL Server MVP


"Christopher" <Christopher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:DD4224CF-4748-437F-AECA-11C23AF759B2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Geoff,

I'm not sure what you mean in regards to failover/failback option for each
node. Going to properties of each node yields only one tab. As mentioned
below, the preferred owners for the resource group and possible owners for
the resource were inverted:
Preferred owner(s)
NODE1
NODE2

Possible owner(s)
NODE2
NODE1
(someone changed the above. Now, both settings are the same).
Could you point me to the area you are referring to below - preferred node
settings?

The resource group has the "prevent failback" radio button selected.

The application logs on both machines have the same information: the data
drive not being available - the server name is the SQL Server Network
Name.

It turns out that there was a problem with backplane of this server which
controls internet connectivity. After this hardware was replaced and the
server rebooted, the problem ceased. I'm not sure if that has anything to
do
with the resolution.

Thanks in advance.
-C


"Geoff N. Hiten" wrote:

Manual start for services is correct for a cluster. The cluster should
control the services on each node. Look at the applicaiotn logs on both
nodes. Check the failover/failback settings. You may be seeing a
failback
condition due to different preferred node settings.

--
Geoff N. Hiten
Senior Database Administrator
Microsoft SQL Server MVP




"Christopher" <Christopher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:E5873D57-2A8F-4B7B-B76C-7146B8A629DD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello all,

I have a very bizarre situation with a single instance/two node/W2K3
cluster. The issue I am seeing is that the passive node is starting
the
sql
server services even though the resources are not owned by that node.
The
restarts are occuring every five minutes. The system log shows the
SYSTEM
account starting MSSQLSERVER. Then, 3 seconds later, I get a message
stating
the service stopped. About 5-8 seconds later, I get a message that the
SQLSERVERAGENT could not be started because sqlservr.exe is not
running.
The
cluster log is not showing anything being started/stopped. The
applicaiton
log is complaining about the errorlog being unavailable. However, this
is
correct because the resources are not on this node.

The SQL Server services are set to manual on both nodes. Both nodes
have
been rebooted in the past 24 hours due to EMC PowerPath upgrades. The
only
thing that is a little bizare is that the SQL Server resource group and
SQL
Server resource have the preferred owners/possible owners in reverse
order.
IE (SQL Server resource group has NODE1/NODE2; SQL Server Resource has
NODE2/NODE1). Right now all resources are on NODE1.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Chris.





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