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Manually installing SQL Backup server components on clusters (Windows Server 2003)

This article applies to:

You can install SQL Backup on a Microsoft Cluster Service without using the clustering functionality of the SQL Backup installer. For example, you may want to do this if you have already experienced problems using the installer on a cluster.

This article describes:

  • the licensing requirements
  • how to clean up following a previous SQL Backup installation
  • how to manually install SQL Backup as a clustered resource
  • how you can test the installation

Licensing

You must have a SQL Backup Pro license for each server on which you want to install the SQL Backup server components. This means that each node (physical computer) must have its own license.

For example, a two node active-active cluster must have two licenses, and a two node active-passive cluster must also have two licenses.

A SQL Backup Pro license is always required because clustered SQL Server instances use a distinct IP address which is considered 'remote' when managed from the SQL Backup graphical user interface.

Cleaning up an existing installation

If you have already attempted to install SQL Backup on the cluster but the installation did not complete successfully, you must 'clean up' the SQL Server instances.

To do this, perform the following steps on each of the SQL Server instances on which the installation failed:

  1. Uninstall the server components using the Add or Remove Programs dialog box.

    You will be asked whether you want to remove the SQL Backup file containing the history of the backup and restore activity. If you want to save or archive the data store, ensure you click No on this dialog box.

  2. Go to the SQL Backup branch in the registry editor:

    To open the registry editor, on the Start menu, click Run, and then type regedit.

    For all versions of SQL Backup on 32-bit servers, and for SQL Backup 6.4 and later on 64-bit servers, the branch is in:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Red Gate

    For SQL Backup 6.3 and earlier on 64-bit servers, the branch is in:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Red Gate

  3. In the next step you will delete the contents of the SQL Backup branch, so if you want to copy your settings back later you should export the branch; select the SQL Backup branch, and on the File menu, click Export.
  4. Delete the following settings from the SQL Backup branch:

    BackupSettings\<instance>

    BackupSettingsGlobal\<instance>

    InstalledInstances\<instance>

    where <instance> is the name of the SQL Server instance.

When you have performed these steps on the SQL Server instances as required, you can start the manual installation.

Installing manually

Important: Although they are similar, this manual installation process (for SQL Backup versions 5, 6 and 7) has critical differences from version 4. If you do not observe these differences, the installation will not be fully cluster-aware.

To install the SQL Backup server components, perform the following steps on each SQL Server instance in the cluster.

  1. To start the SQL Backup (server components) Setup Wizard, run SQBServerSetup.exe on the cluster node.

    See Installing on a SQL Sever cluster for more details.

    The clustered SQL Server instances will be shown in the list of available instances in the wizard. When you select a clustered instance and click Next, the wizard displays the option to Install SQL Backup on all cluster nodes. Ensure you clear the check box.

    Note:

    • The account for the SQL Backup Agent Service application must be a domain account, and it must have sufficient privileges to run as a service, including the Log on as a service permission.
    • The location for the SQL Backup data store must be a shared drive, accessible by all nodes in the cluster.
    • The location for the SQL Backup server component files must be a local drive.

    When the installation finishes, a warning will be displayed to inform you that the service is not running. This is expected for manual installation of a cluster.

  2. Stop the SQL Backup Agent Service application if it is running, using the Services application.

    Note: If you are stopping this service on a non-default instance, the service name will be in the form: SQL Backup Agent-<instance>.

  3. Go to the SQL Backup branch of the registry as follows:

    To open the registry editor, on the Start menu, click Run, and then type regedit.

    For all versions of SQL Backup on 32-bit servers, and for SQL Backup 6.4 and later on 64-bit servers, the branch is in:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Red Gate

    For SQL Backup 6.3 and earlier on 64-bit servers, the branch is in:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Red Gate

  4. Create or modify the registry keys in the SQL Backup branch as follows:

    In BackupSettingsGlobal\<instance>:

    Key

    Type

    Value

    DataPath

    string

    A folder on the shared storage, for example:

    S:\Program Files\Red Gate\SQL Backup\Data\<instance>

    In InstalledInstances\<instance>:

    Key

    Type

    Value

    IsCluster

    dword

    1

    where <instance> is the name of the SQL Server instance.

When you have completed these steps on all the SQL Server nodes in the cluster, create the clustered resource using the Cluster Administrator tool:

  1. Right-click on the SQL Server group, click New, and then click Resource.
  2. On the New Resource page, enter the following details:

    Name:

    SQL Backup Agent - <instance>

    Description:

    Optional.

    Resource type:

    Generic Service

    Group:

    The group to which the SQL Server instance is registered.
  3. On the Possible Owners page, ensure that the nodes listed match those that the SQL Server instance can run on.
  4. On the Dependencies page, you are recommended to add the SQL Server instance and the physical disk.
  5. On the Generic Service Parameters page, ensure the Service name is listed as SQLBackupAgent for the default instance, or SQLBackupAgent_<instance> for a named instance.

    For a named SQL Server instance, enter the Start parameters as -i <instance>

  6. On the Registry Replication page, add the following registry keys (do not include the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE prefix):

    For all versions of SQL Backup on 32-bit servers, and for SQL Backup 6.4 and later on 64-bit servers:

    SOFTWARE\Red Gate\SQL Backup\BackupSettings\<instance>

    SOFTWARE\Red Gate\SQL Backup\BackupSettingsGlobal\<instance>

    For SQL Backup 6.3 and earlier on 64-bit servers:

    SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Red Gate\SQL Backup\BackupSettings\<instance

    SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Red Gate\SQL Backup\BackupSettingsGlobal\<instance>

  7. Bring the Clustered Resource online.

You have now completed the manual installation.

Testing the installation

To ensure that SQL Backup is clustered correctly, you can perform the following test. This procedure includes at least one failover of the resource group.

  1. Use the SQL Backup graphical user interface Back Up wizard to perform a backup, ensuring that you save the backup settings to a template by selecting the Save as template check box on Step 5 of the wizard.

    The template will be included in the registry under BackupSettings\<instance>

  2. In Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, list the backup that you have just performed by typing the following query:

    master..sqbdata 'SELECT * FROM backuphistory'

  3. Fail over to the second node.
  4. Use the Back Up wizard to perform a second backup using the template you created.

    If the registry keys have been correctly replicated, the template will be displayed in the list of templates in Step 1 of the wizard.

  5. In SQL Server Management Studio, list the backups you have performed by typing the following query:

    master..sqbdata 'SELECT * FROM backuphistory'

    If the data store has been correctly replicated, this will list both backups.

  6. If required, fail over to the first node.

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