File Server Cluster along with SQL Cluster

Hello There,
I have got SQL 2008 R2 cluster running on Windows 2008 R2 Ent OS.
Can i use the same cluster to host file server cluster? If yes is it advisable to do so.
Regards,
Maqsood
Maqsood Mohammed Senior Systems Engineer MCITP-Enterprise Admin & ITILv3 Foundation Certified

I have got SQL 2008 R2 cluster running on Windows 2008 R2 Ent OS.
Can i use the same cluster to host file server cluster? If yes is it advisable to do so.
1) Upgrade to Windows Server 2012 R2
2) Virtualize all of your workload (SQL Server, File Server etc)
After you'll be done it would be much easier to handle isolation inside your VMs and with a decent level of hardware resources allocated you'll have no issues running SQL Server and File Server @ the same time. If you don't virtualize I agree with Tim -
doable but not desirable :)
StarWind VSAN [Virtual SAN] clusters Hyper-V without SAS, Fibre Channel, SMB 3.0 or iSCSI, uses Ethernet to mirror internally mounted SATA disks between hosts.

Similar Messages

Unable to install SQL Server 2012 along with BIDS & VS 2012 on Windows 7

Unable to install SQL Server 2012 along with BIDS & VS 2012 on Windows 7 professional.
I get the below error
Could not find vsjitdebugger.exe
Blogs say anti-virus is stopping but I dont have one on the system.
Note: I had used SQL 2008 on the system previously and has a refresh i have deleted all the software to speed up the system.
Now i could not install both the software.
Can I get some help regarding this?

Hi Nandu,
As your description, you come across an error(vsjitdebugger.exe cannot be found). Please confirm if the error occurs during the installation of SQL Server 2012. If so, please help post SQL Server setup logs. By default, SQL Server setup log file locates
in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Setup Bootstrap\Log.
Base on my research, this error could be caused by that the previous uninstallation is improper and vsjitdebugger.exe file could be mistakenly deleted.
To troubleshoot the issue, you could start your computer into Safe Mode and fix your problem with one of the following methods. For more information, please refer to the article:
http://www.fixerrorkit.com/fix-error/fix-vsjitdebugger.exe-error.html.
1. You could execute the sfc /scannow command following steps below.
a. Press "Windows+R", type in cmd and then right click "Run as administrator"
b. Type in sfc /scannow (There's a space between sfc and /scannow) into the dialog and hit Enter key and click ok.
c. Wait until the System File Checker finishes the check.
2. You could use a Windows repair installation, also known as a Startup Repair to repair your Windows system files.
3. You could install the latest Windows updates to fix vsjitdebugger.exe error. Microsoft often releases new service packs and system patches to replace or update some DLL files of Windows system.
4. You could use third-party tool such as Automatic Error Fix Tool to fix your vsjitdebugger.exe error. However, Microsoft cannot make any representations regarding the quality, safety, or suitability of any third-party software or information found there.
In addition, if you are unable to install Visual Studio, I suggest you post your question in Visual Studio Setup and Installation forum at
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/home?forum=vssetup . It is appropriate and more experts will assist you.
Regards,
Michelle Li

Shadow Copies on 2012 R2 File Server Cluster

Hello all!
I've inherited a two node physical 2012 R2 file server cluster that contains a few SMB shares on a single clustered disk. I'd like to enable shadow copies for this shared disk but want to store the shadow copy data on its own shared disk
as per shadow copy best practices (at least on non-clustered file servers).
I created a second cluster disk, assigned it to the same resources as the SMB clustered disk.
Now historically I've enabled shadow copies through computer management but I want to ensure the shadow copies are cluster aware so in the Failover Cluster Manager I open Storage | Disks and right click the SMB cluster disk and click the Shadow Copies tab.
From the tab I can Enable shadow copies, this sounds like what I'm looking for, unfortunately it does not give me an option to choose a disk/volume to store my shadow copy data, so this can't be right.
My next step was to connect computer management to the cluster virtual server name (NOCFS4) and through the System Tools | Shared Folders | All Tasks | Configure Shadow Copies it shows me the correct number of shares on the SMB cluster disk plus
I can see the Settings button for configuring the location and size limit for shadow copies, however once I tweak the shadow copy location and size settings, click Ok and click Enable to turn on the shadow copies I get a long pause and an error about
not being able to create a schedule. So it seems connecting to the cluster virtual object is not the answer either.
That leaves using computer management to connect to one of the physical server nodes of the cluster. When I open the shadow copy interface on the physical node I note that it shows a 0 for the number of shares it detects on the SMB clustered disk.
This doesn't surprise me since this interface isn't cluster resource aware.
So I'm stuck. Does anyone know the "Microsoft way" to enable shadow copies on a clustered disk while storing the shadow copy data on a second cluster disk both attached to the same cluster resource?

Hi guys
I spotted exactly same problem right now on Windows 2012 R2 with latest updates.
Enabling Shadow Copy via Cluster Manager on disk will enable schedule and snapshots but schedule is not-cluster aware (is created locally on node) and "Previous Versions" are visible only locally but not via shared folders (UNC path accesible by
clients)
When I spotted this behavior I tried different way going via Computer Management and cluster resource name but console always hangs for me when using "Configure Shadow Copies". After many minutes configuration window is opened (Hurray!) but any
action there will hang whole console again. Enabling Shadow Copies will fail with "0x80004005: Unspecified
error" for creating scheduled task but "Next Run Time" column still shows "Disabled". Checking disk resource via Cluster Manager shows it is enabled and ?local? scheduled task is created.
Computer management console still shows DISABLED and any action freezes whole console (only when cluster resource name is used).
This fix I found, unfortunately, is not applicable to 2012 R2 OS: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2894464
To sum up there is a major bug in MS implementation in Shadow Copies for Shared Folders when clustering is used or it is still not supported in 2012 R2? Doing it outside cluster works as it should (without freezes and Previous Versions are available via
UNC)
There is no documentation about FileServer Clustering on 2012(R2) unfortunately.
Could someone from MS clarify it?
Many thanks
Filip
EDIT:
Ok, one correction:
Scheduled task is not created in "Failover Clustering" hive of Scheduled tasks as user may expect but failover of fileshare to other node will unregister/reregister it on active node only.

Can anyone help me?Creating the shadow copies in the file server cluster ,there are some errors occured, OS version is WSS 2012

I construct a failover cluster(file server,AP module) for sharing files by WSS 2012,and I want to use the shadow copies to backup my data,but when making a shadow copies on the volume which is added to the cluster(not the CSV,just add
it to the cluster and use it to share files,it plays the role of file server),there are some errors occured, these errors result in the shadow copies failed,error likes the following pictures:
1: the disk F is added to the cluster,first I make the shadow copies by click the right key of mouse on the disk F,and chouse the configeration shadow copies,and click the settings, then click the schedule , and I wait just a few seconds, the error is appeared,like
this picture 1, the wait operation timed out,and then ,
I click the schedule button once again,a different error occured,like the following picture," the object already exists",if i don't set the schedule at first ,use the default shedule,and click the enable button also the same error must
accure
but the only diffrence is that, a shadow copy time point is created, also ,you can make the shadow copies by click " create now", that is creating the shadow copies manually. Although it can succesfully make the shadow copies, but when I select
a time point to revert, error occured, "A volume that contains operating system files or resides on a cluster shared disk cannot be reverted"
In a word,all the errors above make the shadow copies by schedulling failed,except making the shadow copies manually,but what makes me confused is that I have ever maked the shadow copies succesfully by schedul a policy,I don't know what makes it succesful,
it's small probability, most of time ,it's failed.No matter what kind of situation, revert must be failed.
I'm sorry for my pool english , it's the first time for me getting help in forum by english ,I don't know if I descripe my question clearly, also ,other method like the link
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc784118(v=ws.10).aspx I have tried,but the same errors occured.Can anyone tell me How can I make the shadow copies in File Server
cluster（AP module）？And I make a mistake in operating？ Looking forward for your reply.Thanks!

Hi,
Please check the following 2 places:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Cluster\Tasks
C:\Windows\System32\Tasks
First please compare permission settings of the folder C:\Windows\System32\Tasks with a working computer. Correct permission settings if anything wrong. Specifically, confirm you current account do have permission on this folder.
As it said "object already exists", find the schedules you created before, backup and delete all these schedules in both registry key and folder.
Then test to create a new schedule to see if issue still exists.
Meanwhile what kind of storage device you are using? The issue could occur on specific storage device, so test to enable shadow copy on a local disk to see if that will work.
TechNet Subscriber Support in forum |If you have any feedback on our support, please contact [email protected]
Thank you for you reply.On the local volume,all of these errors will not occur, but the volume in the file server cluser.There is no value in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Cluster\Tasks. On local volume, everything goes well about the shadow copy, so I do not
think something is wrong about the permission settings of the folder C:\Windows\System32\Tasks.Storage device is a SAN,we use RAID6 and provide the LUNs to the NAS engine, and the make the volume on these LUNs, Is Angthing wrong? Hope for you
reply~~

Backup File Server Cluster

I have a windows 2008 file server cluster. We have an issue with our backups in backupexec where the jobs were decreasing performance on our network. We have our backup server configured for a new separate network. The file server cluster
is configured for our data network. Is there a way to make the file server cluster configured for both data network and backup network? I am trying to get out backup job of the file cluster to not degrade performance of our data network.

I have a windows 2008 file server cluster. We have an issue with our backups in backupexec where the jobs were decreasing performance on our network. We have our backup server configured for a new separate network. The file server
cluster is configured for our data network. Is there a way to make the file server cluster configured for both data network and backup network? I am trying to get out backup job of the file cluster to not degrade performance of our data network.
Sure! You can make your file server "listen" and respond to multiple networks. See all options listed here:
Using multiple NICs with File Server
http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2010/09/03/using-the-multiple-nics-of-your-file-server-running-windows-server-2008-and-2008-r2.aspx
(one you should be interested in is 2.4 and below)
Good luck :)
Hyper-V Shared Nothing Cluster. Only two Hyper-V hosts needed.

Windows Server 2012 R2 Scale out file server cluster using server disks as CSV

Hi,
My question is if I can create a Scale Out File Server Cluster with CSV using the disks that comes with the servers, we have 2 servers with 2 arrays each one, 1 array for the OS files and 1 array that we could use for the CSV.
Regards.

Hi,
a SoFS needs some kind of shared Storage, this could be in the old days ISCSI or FC SAN and now also a Shared SAS JBOD with Clustered Storage Spaces.
If you have 2 Servers with "local" Disks you need some sort of Software to create a Shared Disk Layer out of that local Disks, like Starwind or DataCore.
Scale-Out File Server for Application Data Overview
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831349.aspx
check out Step 1: Plan for Storage in Scale-Out File Server
oh i forgot the normal 4th Option, some Kind of Clustered Raid Controller like HP or Dell offer in some Solutions.
Udo
Udo, clustered RAID controllers still require SAS disks mounted into external enclosure *OR* everything mounted into single chassis for Cluster-In-A-Box scenario (but that's for OEMs). The only two benefits somebody would have with them are a) ability to
privide RAID LUs to Clustered Storage Spaces (non-clustered RAID controllers would be used as a SAS controllers only in pass-thru mode) and b) abillity to have caches synchronized so VM moved from one physical host to another would not start from the "cold"
state. Please see LSI Syncro reference manual for details:
Syncro 8i
http://www.lsi.com/downloads/Public/Syncro%20Shared%20Storage/docs/LSI_PB_SyncroCS_9271-8i.pdf
"LSI Syncro CS solutions are designed to provide continuous application uptime at a fraction
of the cost and complexity of traditional high availability solutions. Built on LSI MegaRAID
technology, the Syncro CS 9271-8i enables OEMs and system builders to use Syncro CS
controllers to build cost-effective two-node Cluster-in-a-Box (CiB) systems and deliver high
availability in a single self-contained unit.
Syncro 8e
http://www.lsi.com/downloads/Public/Syncro%20Shared%20Storage/docs/LSI_PB_SyncroCS_9286-8e.pdf
LSI Syncro CS solutions are designed to provide continuous application uptime at a fraction
of the cost and complexity of traditional high availability solutions. Built on LSI MegaRAID
technology, the Syncro CS 9286-8e solution allows a system administrator to build a costeffective,
easy to deploy and manage server failover cluster using volume servers and an offthe-
shelf JBOD. Syncro CS solutions bring shared storage and storage controller failover into
DAS environments, leveraging the low cost DAS infrastructure, simplicity, and performance
benefits. Controller to controller connectivity is provided through the high performance SAS
interface, providing the ability for resource load balancing, helping to ensure that applications
are using the most responsive server to boost performance and help prevent any one server
from being overburdened.
So... Making long story short: 8i is for OEMs and 8e is for end-users but require a JBOD.
Hope this helped :)
StarWind VSAN [Virtual SAN] clusters Hyper-V without SAS, Fibre Channel, SMB 3.0 or iSCSI, uses Ethernet to mirror internally mounted SATA disks between hosts.

Server 2012 File Server Cluster Shadow Copies Disappear Some Time After Failover

Hello,
I've seen similar questions posted on here before however I have yet to find a solution that worked for us so I'm adding my process in hopes someone can point out where I went wrong.
The problem: After failover, shadow copies are only available for a short time on the secondary server. Before the task to create new shadow copies happens the shadow copies are deleted. Failing back shows them missing on the primary server as
well when this happens.
We have a 2 node (hereafter server1 and server2) cluster with a quorum disk. There are 8 disk resources which are mapped to the cluster via iScsi. 4 of these disks are setup as storage and the other 4 are currently set up as shadow copy volumes
for their respective storage volume.
Previously we weren't using separate shadow copy volumes and seeing the same issue described in the topic title. I followed two other topics on here that seemed close and then setup the separate shadow copy volumes however it has yet to alleviate the
issue. These are the two other topics :
Topic 1: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/ba0d2568-53ac-4523-a49e-4e453d14627f/failover-cluster-server-file-server-role-is-clustered-shadow-copies-do-not-seem-to-travel-to?forum=winserverClustering
Topic 2: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/c884c31b-a50e-4c9d-96f3-119e347a61e8/shadow-copies-missing-after-failover-on-2008-r2-cluster
After reading both of those topics I did the following:
1) Add the 4 new volumes to the cluster for shadow copies
2) Made each storage volume dependent on it's shadow copy volume in FCM
3) Went to the currently active node directly and opened up "My Computer", I then went to the properties of each storage volume and set up shadow copies to go to the respective shadow copy volume drive letter with correct size for spacing, etc.
4) I then went back to FCM and right clicked on the corresponding storage volume and choose "Configure Shadow Copy" and set the schedule for 12:00 noon and 5:00 PM.
5) I noticed that on the nodes the task was created and that the task would failover between the nodes and appeared correct.
6) Everything appears to failover correctly, all volumes come up, drive letters are same, shadow copy storage settings are the same, and 4 scheduled tasks for shadow copy appear on the current node after failover.
Thinking everything was setup according to best practice I did some testing by changing file contents throughout the day making sure that previous versions were created as scheduled on server1. I then rebooted Server1 to simulate failure. Server2
picked up the role within about 10 seconds and files were avaiable. I checked and I could still see previous versions for the files after failover that were created on server1. Unfortunately that didn't last as the next day before noon I was going
to make more changes to files to ensure that not only could we see the shadow copies that were created when Server1 owned the file server role but also that the copies created on Server2 would be seen on failback. I was disappointed to discover that
the shadow copies were all gone and failing back didn't produce them either.
Does anyone have any insight into this issue? I must be missing a switch somewhere or perhaps this isn't even possible with our cluster type based on this: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc779378%28v=ws.10%29.aspx
Now here's an interesting part, shadow copies on 1 of our 4 volumes have been retained from both nodes through the testing, but I can't figure out what makes it different though I do suspect that perhaps the "Disk#s" in computer management / disk
management perhaps need to be the same between servers? For example, on server 1 the disk #s for cluster volume 1 might be "Disk4" but on server 2 the same volume might be called "Disk7", however I think that operations like this
and shadow copy are based on the disk GUID and perhaps this shouldn't matter.
Edit, checked on the disk numbers, I see no correlation between what I'm seeing in shadow copy and what is happening to the numbers. All other items, quotas, etc fail and work correctly despite these diffs:
Disk Numbers on Server 1:
Format: "shadow/storerelation volume = Disk Number"
aHome storage1 = 16
aShared storage2 = 09
sHome storage3 = 01
sShared storage4 = 04
aHome shadow1 = 10
aShared shadow2 = 11
sHome shadow3 = 02
sShared shadow4 = 05
Disk numbers on Server 2:
aHome storage1 = 16 (SAME)
aShared storage2 = 04 (DIFF)
sHome storage3 = 05 (DIFF)
sShared storage4 = 08 (DIFF)
aHome shadow1 = 10 (SAME)
aShared shadow2 = 11 (SAME)
sHome shadow3 = 06 (DIFF)
sShared shadow4 = 09 (DIFF)
Thanks in advance for your assistance/guidance on this matter!

Hello Alex,
Thank you for your reply. I will go through your questions in order as best I can, though I'm not the backup expert here.
1) "Did you see any event ID when the VSS fail?
please offer us more information about your environment, such as what type backup you are using the soft ware based or hard ware VSS device."
I saw a number of events on inspection. Interestingly enough, the event ID 60 issues did not occur on the drive where shadow copies did remain after the two reboots. I'm putting my event notes in a code block to try to preserve formatting/readability.
I've written down events from both server 1 and 2 in this code block, documenting the first reboot causing the role to move to server 2 and then the second reboot going back to server 1:
JANUARY 2
9:34:20 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 1074 - INFO - Source: User 32 - Standard reboot request from explorer.exe (Initiated by me)
9:34:21 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The Volume Shadow Copy service entered the running state."
9:34:21 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 60 - ERROR - Source: volsnap - "The description for Event ID 60 from source volsnap cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy49
F:
T:
The locale specific resource for the desired message is not present"
9:34:21 PM - Server 1 - Event ID 60 - ERROR - Source: volsnap - "The description for Event ID 60 from source volsnap cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy1
H:
V:
The locale specific resource for the desired message is not present"
***The above event repeats with only the number changing, drive letters stay same, citing VolumeShadowCopy# numbers 6, 13, 18, 22, 27, 32, 38, 41, 45, 51,
9:34:21 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 60 - ERROR - Source: volsnap - "The description for Event ID 60 from source volsnap cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy4
E:
S:
The locale specific resource for the desired message is not present"
***The above event repeats with only the number changing, drive letters stay same, citing VolumeShadowCopy# numbers 5, 10, 19, 21, 25, 29, 37, 40, 46, 48, 48
9:34:28 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The NetBackup Legacy Network Service service entered the stopped state."
9:34:28 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The Volume Shadow Copy service entered the stopped state.""
9:34:29 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The NetBackup Client Service service entered the stopped state."
9:34:30 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The NetBackup Discovery Framework service entered the stopped state."
10:44:07 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The Volume Shadow Copy service entered the running state."
10:44:08 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider service entered the running state."
10:45:01 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 48 - ERROR - Source: bxois - "Target failed to respond in time to a NOP request."
10:45:01 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 20 - ERROR - Source: bxois - "Connection to the target was lost. The initiator will attempt to retry the connection."
10:45:01 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 153 - WARN - Source: disk - "The IO operation at logical block address 0x146d2c580 for Disk 7 was retried."
10:45:03 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 34 - INFO - Source: bxois - "A connection to the target was lost, but Initiator successfully reconnected to the target. Dump data contains the target name."
JANUARY 3
At around 2:30 I reboot Server 2, seeing that shadow copy was missing after previous failure. Here are the relevant events from the flip back to server 1.
2:30:34 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 60 - ERROR - Source: volsnap - "The description for Event ID 60 from source volsnap cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy24
F:
T:
The locale specific resource for the desired message is not present"
2:30:34 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 60 - ERROR - Source: volsnap - "The description for Event ID 60 from source volsnap cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy23
E:
S:
The locale specific resource for the desired message is not present"
We are using Symantec NetBackup. The client agent is installed on both server1 and 2. We're backing them up based on the complete drive letter for each storage volume (this makes recovery easier). I believe this is what you would call "software
based VSS". We don't have the infrastructure/setup to do hardware based snapshots. The drives reside on a compellent san mapped to the cluster via iScsi.
2) "Confirm the following registry is exist:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\Settings"
The key is there, however the DWORD value is not, would that mean that the
default value is being used at this point?

SQL Server 2005 replaced with SQL Server 2014 trying to connect front end Access as guest (read only ODBC)

We have replaced a SQL Server 2005 with a SQL Server 2014 (new physical server.) Have the new server set up to use SQL Server login OR Windows user login. Had old server connecting (for a particular DB) to front end Access (2010 or 2013) as guest for
anyone logged into the Windows NT Network with a read only ODBC connection. Have the DB in the new server set to include guest as db_datareader (with only SELECT permission for the securables of each table and view being linked) but when any Windows user not
specifically listed as a SQL DB user tries to use the front end they get an error of:
Microsoft SQL Server Login
Connection failed:
SQL State: '28000'
SQL Server Error: 18456
[Microsoft][OCBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server] Login failed for user {domain\user}.
After closing that pop-up window a server login window appears. Of course, since the guest user is not specifically listed as a user in the DB that fails also. It seems like there should be a very simple solution to this, but I can't seem to find it. I want
to allow anyone logged in on the Windows system (locally) to be able to open the MS Access file (on their work station machine) and run their own (read only; select) queries on the SQL Server database. Any suggestions?
Thanks a billion in advance ----

Thanks for the response Olaf. I have now spent weeks researching this. I realize that using the guest account in most situations is not advised. As mentioned, I have restricted the guest account to allow the db_datareader role only, and have explicitly denied
all other roles, as well as allowing select only, and still have no access for the guest account.
The suggested fix in the second link you provided, of using Windows groups is not plausible for my situation either. We are a scientific field research institution, with a few long term users and lots of users that may have Windows accounts for a few months,
and then they are gone. It would be a nightmare for the network tech to try to keep a group account up to date, and we need to give access (read only, of course) to anyone logged into the system. Realize that the ONLY access of any kind to this database is
thru MS Access ACCDB, using a (by default) read only OCDB connection.
This type of access is used particularly because researchers need to be able to set up their own queries, and the MS Access query interface is particularly convenient for people who are not themselves SQL experts, yet are trying to get some very advanced
levels of output. Putting the database online is not practical because then we are back to the need for a comprehensive query interface, and just picking up general subsets of the data online (from a basic web page search feature) would be out of the question,
since the result set would involve hundreds of thousands if not millions of records.
So - that said - what exactly would you suggest, assuming we don't have the funds to buy a whole new system, and have spent plenty of money with Microsoft's Enterprise level MS Office so that all work stations have MS Access, and Microsoft's SQL Server,
as well as running our network on Microsoft's network software.

High availability for file server and exchange with 2 physical servers

Dear Experts,
I have 2 physical server with local disks only. I want to setup below on same with high availability, please advise best prossible options. We will be using windows 2012 R2 Server..
1. Domain controller
2. Exchange 2013
As of now I am thinking of setting up below:
1. Install Hyper-v on both and create 3 VM on each as
-On Host A- 1 VM for DC, 1 VM for File server with DFS namespace and replication for file server HA and 1 VM for Exchange 2013 with CAS/MBX with DAG and DNS RR for Exchange HA
-On Host B - 1 VM for ADC, 1 VM for File server DFS member for above and 1 VM for Exchange 2013 CAS/MBX with DAG member
I have read on internet about new features called scale out file server (SoFS) in Windows 2012 Server but not sure that will be preferred for file sharing.
Any advise will be highly appreciated..
Thanks for the help in advance..
Best regards,

Dear Experts,
I have 2 physical server with local disks only. I want to setup below on same with high availability, please advise best prossible options. We will be using windows 2012 R2 Server..
1. Domain controller
2. Exchange 2013
As of now I am thinking of setting up below:
1. Install Hyper-v on both and create 3 VM on each as
-On Host A- 1 VM for DC, 1 VM for File server with DFS namespace and replication for file server HA and 1 VM for Exchange 2013 with CAS/MBX with DAG and DNS RR for Exchange HA
-On Host B - 1 VM for ADC, 1 VM for File server DFS member for above and 1 VM for Exchange 2013 CAS/MBX with DAG member
I have read on internet about new features called scale out file server (SoFS) in Windows 2012 Server but not sure that will be preferred for file sharing.
Any advise will be highly appreciated..
Thanks for the help in advance..
Best regards,
DFS is by far the best way to implement any sort of file server. Because a) failover is not fully transparent and does not happen always (say not on copy ) b) DFS cannot replicate open files so if you edit a big file and have node rebooted you're going to
lose ALL transactions/updates you've applied c) actually slows down the config. See:
DFS for failover
http://help.globalscape.com/help/wafs3/using_microsoft_dfs_for_failover.htm
DFS FAQ
http://technet.microsoft.com/library/cc773238(WS.10).aspx
(check "open files" point here)
DFS Performance
http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2009/08/22/windows-server-dfs-namespaces-performance-and-scalability.aspx
SoFS a) requires shared storage to run and you don't have one b) does not support generic workloads
(only Hyper-V and SQL Server) and c) technically makes sense to expand SAS JBOD or existing FC SAN to numerous Hyper-V clients over 10 GbE w/o need to invest money into SAS switches and HBAs and FC HBAs and new licenses FC ports. Making long story short:
SoFS is NOT YOUR CASE.
SoFS Overview
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831349.aspx
http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=12786
http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=12786
For now you need to find some shared storage to be a back end for your hypevisor config (SAS JBOD from supported list, virtual SAN from multiple vendors like for example StarWind see below, make sure you review ALL the vendors) and then you create a failover
SMB 3.0 share for your file server workload. See:
Clustered Storage Spaces over SAS JBOD
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj822937.aspx
Virtual SAN from inexpensive SATA and no SAS or FC
http://www.starwindsoftware.com/native-san-for-hyper-v-free-edition
Failover
SMB File Server in Windows Server 2012 R2
http://www.starwindsoftware.com/configuring-ha-file-server-on-windows-server-2012-for-smb-nas
Fault
tolerant file server on just a pair of nodes
http://www.starwindsoftware.com/ns-configuring-ha-file-server-for-smb-nas
For Exchange you use SMB share from above for a file share witness and use DAG. See:
Exchange DAG
Good luck! Hope this helped :)
StarWind VSAN [Virtual SAN] clusters Hyper-V without SAS, Fibre Channel, SMB 3.0 or iSCSI, uses Ethernet to mirror internally mounted SATA disks between hosts.

SQL 2000 LINKED SERVER ERROR 7303 WITH SQL 2012 ON WINDOWS SERVER 2012 R2

Hi all,
I have a problem with SQL Server 2012 and a linked server for SQL 2000 database.
System specification:
Windows server 2012 64 bit
SQL SERVER 2012 64 bit
REMOTE SERVER SQL 2000 32 bit
I've installed sql native client 32bit,create a SYSTEM DSN odbc connection with "SQL Server" driver named "MYSERVER".
Create a linked server with the query below in SQL 2012:
EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedserver @server =N'MYSERVER', @srvproduct=N'MYSERVER', @provider=N'MSDASQL', @datasrc =N'MYSERVER', @location=N'System';
EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedsrvlogin @rmtsrvname=N'MySERVER',@useself=N'True',@locallogin=NULL,@rmtuser=NULL,@rmtpassword=NULL
GO
but when i browse the linked server i receved error 7303.

You need 64-bit MSDASQL. It is the bitness of the server you are connecting from that matters. 64-bit executables cannot hook into 32-bit DLL.
However, I suspect that you will not get things to work anyway. At least I have not seen anyone this far who has been able to set up a linked server from SQL 2012 to SQL 2000. I know that when I tried this, the following providers had this result:
SQLNCLI11 - does not support connections to SQL 2000.
SQLNCLI10 - failed with some obscure message that I don't recall.
SQLNCLI - Don't recall that the problem was here.
SQLOLEDB - SQLOLEDB is always replaced with the most recent version of SQLNCLI, so this fails because of lack of support.
I don't think I got through all version of the ODBC drivers, though.
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, [email protected]

WSUS 3.2 on Server 2008 R2 with SQL 2012 STD

Hi
I have a Windows 2008 Server R2 with SQL server 2012 STD on it, his is a VM(hyper v) and not connected to the internet machine.
I want to install the WSUS Role on it an it fails every time..
When installing the Role it fails with this error:
"he update could not be found. there may be a network connection issue."
I tried installing it using the installation .exe from Microsoft website
and also faild with this message:
"Windows server upate services 3.0 sp2 setup cannot continue. please resolve the following issues, and the run the setup again.Internet Information Services (IIS) or additional IIS role service
must be installed.
please refer to windows server update services 3.0 sp2 release notes for more information about prerequisites"
I must point that IIS IS INSTALLED and running on this server.
Does anyone knows how to solve this problem?
Thank you!!

I want to install the WSUS Role on it an it fails every time..
While not directly related to your situation, it's important to note that SQL2012 is
not a supported platform for WSUS v3.2. Be sure to install with the Windows Internal Database instead.
When installing the Role it fails with this error:
"The update could not be found. there may be a network connection issue."
The key here is in understanding HOW the WSUS role gets installed on a Server 2008 R2 system. The binaries used to install the role are NOT present on the OS image, they must be either downloaded from the Internet or obtained from another WSUS server with
the Dynamic Installer approved.
My guess would be that this system does not have Internet access. If you don't have another operational WSUS server, then this system will need to have Internet access to download the required binaries from MU, or else you'll need to download the standalone
installer and install it manually.
I tried installing it using the installation .exe from Microsoft website and also faild with this message:
"Windows server upate services 3.0 sp2 setup cannot continue. please resolve the following issues, and the run the setup again. Internet Information Services (IIS)
or additional IIS role service must be installed.
I must point that IIS IS INSTALLED and running on this server.
Ahhh.. was it previously installed for some other application. Have you *verified* that it is installed in a configuration that is compatible with WSUS?
HINT: WSUS is, fundamentally, an IIS6/ASP.NET v2 application. My first guess would be that your existing installation of IIS7.5 does not have the IIS6 components enabled.
Lawrence Garvin, M.S., MCSA, MCITP:EA, MCDBA
SolarWinds Head Geek
Microsoft MVP - Software Packaging, Deployment & Servicing (2005-2014)
My MVP Profile: http://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/mvp/Lawrence%20R%20Garvin-32101
http://www.solarwinds.com/gotmicrosoft
The views expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of SolarWinds.

Simple file server accessible remotely with managed access. Do I need ML Server for this?

Hello,
I have a Mac Mini that will be dedicated to serving 15 folders of documents to 7 people. It would be great if each person had their own password and I'd like to be able to decide what folders each user will have access to. The people need to be able to access the files from home and on the office network.
Do I NEED to run OS X server for this Or can i accomplish this in OS X?
I have to get this running quickly and I may not have time for the ML Server learning curve (even though it has been simplified).
I tried to get ML server running on my machine a few weeks ago but got stuck. If setting up ML server with JUST the file server is dramatically easier I will try again. Can anyone please suggest a tutorial that takes me through simply setting up a remotely accessible file server with managed access with ML Server?
V

OS X client can serve files to remote clients, via both SMB/CIFS and AFS; via the Windows and OS X fiel services. That's cheap, uses hardware you already have, and works fine.
Most NAS boxes don't do distributed authentication. Typically, you have credentials for the box at most. Some of the mid- and upper-end boxes do offer distributed authentication, but that means having that authentication around. At the low end, an Apple Time Capsule is a reasonable NAS box, and you can add an external disk. And can be used for backups via Time Machine, too. The mid- and upper-end boxes from Synology have a reputation for capabilities and flexibility. There are (many) other vendors.
I'm not a huge fan of LogMeIn for various reasons that I won't get into here, but that service does work for accessing hosts. I don't know if that allows access to NAS directly, but I'd tend to doubt it. You'd need to check with both LogMeIn and with the specs for whatever NAS box you're using.
Given the choice, I'd use a VPN.
Using a VPN does mean you can control — at the VPN level — who can access your private network, so that can provide a broad-brush form of access control to your NAS device or your OS X client or your OS X Server box, if you go that route.
I don't prefer to openly serve files to the internet, as the underlying protocols have occasionally had security issues and vulnerabilities, and the internet gremlins will find and will poke at any open ports and any accessible file servers. I prefer to configure these services via VPN.
VPNs are also more involved to set up, where LogMeIn can be simple.
As mentioned previously, I'm also not a huge fan of the host-based VPN servers in OS X, though those do work. The gateway boxes I've been using in the last year or so are probably not a good choice for a user that isn't familiar with networking — the boxes provide a user interface that very definitely expect the user to understand IP and routing and related, but is both self-consistent and quite powerful — and they're cheap for what they can do, and they do work nicely. ZyXEL ZyWALL USG series. If you are evaluating any of these firewall boxes, then I'd definitely encourage downloading the manuals and making sure you can understand the available information. The server-grade firewall boxes are almost inherently flexible and thus complex devices.
One of the easiest ways is to work with somebody that does this sort of thing to sort through the options and requirements and trade-offs available here, and potentially to set up your VPN or NAS or server configuration for you. (Disclosure: I offer this.)

2012 R2 Standard File Server Cluster Confusion

Hi All:
I have 2 VMware 5.5 VMs running 2012 R2 Standard that have the Failover Cluster Manager role installed. I was having trouble validating the cluster before creating it & received this error:
Failed to find or allocate arbitration sectors for physical disk {fbf0422f-6844-4a3d-9ad9-542e8eebfec1} from node <SERVER>. These sectors are used to test reads
and writes to the disk. On a GPT disk, these sectors are located within the Cluster Metadata Partition, and this partition may need to be created from the Microsoft Reserved Partition so that the storage will validate. Please ensure that all GPT disks have
a Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR) present. Error: 0x80070022.
I've been working w/Dell's VMware & SAN Support Teams & they sent me a link
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/d1524238-a891-4c7d-84ae-e885a9f59861/server-2012-clustering that says "you need to create an MSR partition on the drives", which I did on both my RDMs (1 for quorum; 1 for shared
storage). I ran the command after I selected the disk and now the disks look completely blank in Disk Management (I'd have to send a screenshot).
After that, cluster validation has no issues & I create the cluster. Now I cannot add either of the disks b/c:
Error Code: 0x8007174c
The disk is not configured in a way to be used with CSV. CSV disks must have a t least one partition that is formatted with NTFS or REFS.
So what did I do incorrectly? I had to use MSR to format the RDMs to validate the cluster, but now it wants another format. If anyone can find an actual MS document that goes into detail on where I went wrong, please include it,
as I've found nothing.
Thanks.

Just as the error say - you need to format the disks.
There are two steps to preparing a raw disk for use in a cluster. The first is to initialize it. That is what you did to get the cluster to actually see there were disks there to be used. The second is to put a file system on it by formatting
it. I recommend you use NFTS. Perform the format on just one of the nodes of the cluster.
Once you have an NTFS file system on the disk, you should be good to go.
. : | : . : | : . tim

Windows 2012 R2 File Server Cluster Storage best practice

Hi Team,
I am designing Solution for 1700 VDi user's . I will use Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 Fileserver Cluster to host their Profile data by using Group Policy for Folder redirection.
I am looking best practice to define Storage disk size for User profile data . I am looking to have Single disk size of 30 TB to host user Profile data .Single disk which will spread across two Disk enclosure .
Please let me know if if single disk of 30 Tb can become any bottle neck to hold user active profile data .
I have SSD Writable disk in storage with FC connectivity.
Thanks
Ravi

Check this
TechEd session,
the
Windows Server 2012 VDI deployment Guide (pages 8,9), and
this article
General considerations during volume size planning:
Consider how long it will take if you ever have to run chkdsk. Chkdsk has gone significant improvements in 2012 R2, but it will still take a long time to run against a 30TB volume. That's down time..
Consider how will volume size affect your RPO, RTO, DR, and SLA. It will take a long time to backup/restore a 30 TB volume.
Any operation on a 30TB volume like snapshot will pose performance and additional disk space challenges.
For these reasons many IT pros choose to keep volume size under 2TB. In your case, you can use 15x 2TB volumes instead of a single 30 TB volume.
Sam Boutros, Senior Consultant, Software Logic, KOP, PA http://superwidgets.wordpress.com (Please take a moment to Vote as Helpful and/or Mark as Answer, where applicable) _________________________________________________________________________________
Powershell: Learn it before it's an emergency http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/powershell.aspx http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/dd793612.aspx

Sql server 2005 reports with sql server 2014

Can i upload SSRS 2005 reports as it is on SSRS 2014 and use it without doing anything extra or without changing anything ??
I can use SSRS 2005 reports as it is with SSRS 2012. But for SSRS 2014 not sure.
h2007

You can upgrade the the RDL schema will be upgraded.
Report definition (.rdl) files are automatically upgraded in the following ways:
When you open a report in Report Designer in SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), the report definition is upgraded to the currently supported RDL schema. When you specify a SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2 report server in the project properties, the report
definition is saved in a schema that is compatible with the target server.
When you upgrade a Reporting Services installation to a SQL Server 2014 Reporting Services (SSRS) installation, existing reports and snapshots that have been published to a report server are compiled and automatically upgraded to the new schema the first
time they are processed. If a report cannot be automatically upgraded, the report is processed using the backward-compatibility mode. The report definition remains in the original schema.
Reports are not upgraded when you upload a report definition file directly to the report server or SharePoint site. Upgrading a report definition in SQL Server Data Tools is the only way to upgrade the .rdl file.
After a report is upgraded locally or on the report server, you might notice additional errors, warnings, and messages. This is the result of changes to the internal report object model and processing components, which cause messages to appear when underlying
problems in the report are detected. For more information, see Reporting Services Backward Compatibility.
For more information about new features for SQL Server 2014 Reporting Services (SSRS), see
What's New (Reporting Services).
Check the below Microsoft link for more information
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143674.aspx
Mudassar

File Server Cluster along with SQL Cluster

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