Testing Cluster Configuration:

Most people never like to test what they can done. Assuming that things have been done perfectly which results in a situtation of panic sometimes. So i thought that i could let you all know the steps to check after completing a cluster configuration.

1. Check if the Nodes are available and able to ping each other.
2. Check if you are able to reach the nodes from the client machines both with the names and IP address.
3. Try validating a failover and check if it failsover successfully. This can be done as given in the topic Validation Failover.
4. Check if all the disks are seen in the cluster group. This is the place most DBAs could go wrong. They might not have added the disks as dependencies in their configuration. To check and add disks as dependecies look on the topic Disk resources in cluster.
5. Verify error log and event viewer log.
6. Try connecting to the SQL Server management studio to check if it succedds.

Validating Failover:

1. Start Cluster Administrator.
2. In the left pane, expand Groups, right-click a cluster group, select the Move Group option, and finally select a node to move the resource group.
If the failover is functioning properly, the owner of the resources will change to the new node name.
3. Repeat step 2 to move the resource to all other nodes of the server cluster.

Disk resources in cluster:

1. Start Cluster Administrator.
2. Select the group that contains the disk resource you want to use with SQL Server Services.
3. Make sure the disk resource is owned by the node you are currently logged on to..
4. In the right pane, select the disk resource, right-click, select Change Group, and then select
the group that contains your SQL Server.
5. When prompted to confirm the move action, click Yes.
6. Once again, you will be prompted to confirm the disk resource move to the other group, Click Yes.
The disk will now be moved to the target group.
7. Take the SQL Server resource offline.
8. Right-click the SQL Server resource, and select Properties; alternatively,
double-click the resource. Select the Dependencies tab. Click Modify.
9. In the Modify Dependencies dialog box, select the new disk resource listed under Available
Resources. And move that resource to Dependencies;
10. The Dependencies tab will now show that the disk is added as a dependency of the
resource. Click Apply. Click OK.
11. Bring the offline resources online. SQL Server will be able to use the newly added disk.