Installing a SQL failover cluster using the configuration file
A SQL failover cluster can also be configured with the configuration file. This approach significantly speeds up the setting up of SQL FCIs by reducing the time for SQL setup and node configuration:
Before the installation, make sure that your infrastructure meets failover cluster requirements ( https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/failover-clusters/install/before-installing-failover-clustering).
- Launch the SQL Server setup and choose the New SQL Server failover cluster installation option as shown in the following screenshot:
The Database Engine and Analysis Services are the only components that are cluster-aware. Other features are not cluster-aware and do not have high availability through failover.
- Proceed with the installation wizard and capture the configuration file. Save the captured configuration as sqlfciconfiguration.ini in c:\sqlconf.
- Navigate to SQL Server Source Media path and type the following:
Setup.exe /IAcceptSQLServerLicenseTerms=True /SQLSVCPASSWORD="P@ssw0rd1" /AGTSVCPASSWORD="P@ssw0rd1" /ASSVCPASSWORD="P@ssw0rd1" /ConfigurationFile=c:\sqlconf\sqlfciconfigurationfile.ini
Press Enter for the installation to start.
To enable SQL quiet installation modes, you need to open the configuration file and comment out the UIMODE parameter. Then add the switch /q for silent installation or /qs to show only the installation progress.
- On the additional SQL node, launch Add node to a SQL Server failover cluster, proceed with the wizard, and capture the configuration file. Save the captured file as sqlfcinodeconf.ini in c:\sqlconf:
- Run the following command to add a node to the existing failover cluster:
Setup.exe /IAcceptSQLServerLicenseTerms=True /SQLSVCPASSWORD="P@ssw0rd1" /AGTSVCPASSWORD="P@ssw0rd1" /ASSVCPASSWORD="P@ssw0rd1" /ConfigurationFile=c:\sqlconf\sqlfcinodeconf.ini - Repeat the previous step on all the additional nodes using the same configuration file.