Professional Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Administration

20.7. Maintaining the Cluster

After you have your SQL Server 2008 cluster up and running (and tested), you are ready to put it into production. This may involve creating new databases, moving databases from older servers to this one, setting up jobs, and so on. In most cases, managing SQL Server 2008 on a cluster is the same as managing it on a noncluster. The key thing to keep in mind is that whenever you access your cluster with any of your SQL Server 2008 administrative tools, such as Management Studio, you will be accessing it using its virtual name and IP address; but if you are using any of the operating system tools, such as System Monitor, you need to point these directly to the node in question (which is usually the active node).

In most cases, as a DBA, you probably will be administering SQL Server 2008 using Management Studio, but sometimes you need to access the individual nodes of the cluster. If you have easy access to the cluster, you can always log on locally; if you prefer remote administration, you can use Terminal Services to access the nodes.

When DBAs begin to administer their first cluster, they get a little confused as to where SQL Server 2008 is actually running. Keep in mind that a clustered instance of SQL Server 2008 (even in a multinode cluster) consists of only two nodes: the active node and the passive node. At any one time, an instance of SQL Server 2008 is running on the active node only, so when you need to look at the nodes directly, generally ...