Part 3 – Add a SQL node to the Clustered instance and test failover
So we are at the final part of this article focusing on installing a failover clustered SQL instance hence a SQL second node. In case you have missed the first two articles these can found here:
Part 1 – Create a Windows Cluster
Part 2 – Install the first SQL node of the clustered SQL instance
Part 3 – Add a node to the SQL clustered instance and test failover
Adding a SQL node to the existing cluster is a very easy operation. Before proceeding, it would be nice to check:
- Naming resolution Forward/ Reverse is working as expected for the VIP cluster names and SQL Servers
- All the required iSCSI drives are mounted and “Online” on the server we’re adding
So we run the setup again, and we choose the Add node to a SQL Server failover cluster option.
The installation steps are pretty much straightforward and is just the case of reviewing the actual options and add a few details. So off we go.
Let’s run the main SQL setup binary and let’s choose the option to add a SQL node.










This pretty much concludes the installation of the SQL node to the cluster.
But what if we want to test a failover?
It couldn’t get any easier! From the cluster manager it is sufficient to select the clustered Role of SQL Server (SharePoint) in my case right click and choose the “move” option. Then select the node name to failover to. And in matter of seconds the SQL node will become the owner of the clustered role as per screenshots below.
Should this not work let’s make sure the intended nodes are selected as the owners from the SQL Role properties. From this screen we can now choose the SQL node to run the SQL role:


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