How to install Microsoft SQL Server for Multi-Node DLS

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A simple way to increase the capacity and efficiency of the DLS lies in employing Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition. This way, you can avoid the limitation to 4 GB which comes along with the Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition included in the DLS software package.

It is recommended to install the SQL server on a separate machine. Please ensure that the database directory is not located in a partition with the ’compressed’ property.

The communication between DLS node and SQL server proceeds in clear text. Therefore, it is necessary to take appropriate security measures.

As, for the configuration of database mirroring, the individual SQL servers are addressed via FQDNs (Fully Qualified Domain Names) , DNS names must be available at least for all SQL servers. Therefore, either a DNS server (recommended), or a name assignment for all participating machines by means of Windows workgroups.

You can find the configuration files in which IP addresses and workgroup names are assigned to each other in:

C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

For database mirroring, Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition expects names in one of these formats:

<IP address> <hostname>.<domain> (DNS)

or

<IP address> <hostname>.<workgroup> (Windows Workgroup)

The Windows Server operating system already contains a DNS server; please refer to the correspondant documentation.

NOTE: Please ensure that system time is synchronous on all machines.

The installation described here is required when the DLS database is to operate on a separate machine. For operating DLS server and database on the same machine in a single node solution, no special installation is required, as this is handled by the DLS installation routine (see the installation description in the DLS software package). With multi-node solutions, a separate database installation is definitely necessary, even if database and DLS reside on the same machine.

Be aware that Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition, which is required for multi node solutions, is not provided with the DLS software package, and must therefore be purchased separately.

Account for DLS and Database

Alternative A: Local user. On the machine designated for database hosting, create a local administrator account. For this purpose, e. g. "dls". Alternative B: Using Active Directory. Use a domain account existing in your Active Directory or create a new account for database access.

Alternatives A and B: Add the account to the group of local administrators. If a database with mirroring is to be used, the same account must be used on each database server.

As in the course of the installation, a stored procedure must be set up in the master database, this user should have the "sysadmin" role during installation. After the installation, the role for the server can be changed to "public", and the role for the database can be changed to "db_owner". A role for executing stored procedures can be created and assigned as follows:

USE [DLSdb]

GO

CREATE USER [<user full name>] FOR LOGIN [<user full name>]

GO

CREATE ROLE db_executor

GO

GRANT EXECUTE TO db_executor

GO

EXEC sp_addrolemember 'db_executor', '<user full name>’

GO

The <user full name> should be replaced with a valid user full name login.

The full name is constructed as follows: if a domain exists the full name is <domain>\<user name> otherwise it is <computer name>\<user name>

For example, if a domain exists with the name 'GLOBAL-AD.NET' and the user is 'DLSUSER' (case sensitivity does not matter) then the user full name would be: GLOBAL-AD.NET\DLSUSER

Another example, if a domain does not exist then the computer name is used instead, so if the computer name is 'DLSDBPRINCIPAL' and the user is 'DLSUSER' then the user full name would be:

DLSDBPRINCIPAL\DLSUSER

More complete examples using the above names:

CREATE USER [GLOBAL-AD.NET\DLSUSER] FOR LOGIN [GLOBAL-AD.NET\DLSUSER]

EXEC sp_addrolemember 'db_executor', 'GLOBAL-AD.NET\DLSUSER'

and also

CREATE USER [DLSDBPRINCIPAL\DLSUSER] FOR LOGIN [DLSDBPRINCIPAL\DLSUSER]

EXEC sp_addrolemember 'db_executor', 'DLSDBPRINCIPAL\DLSUSER'

Database Directory

On the database server, create a database directory, e. g. D:\DATA\DLSDB. This directory will be needed for the DLS installation later on.

For mirroring, the same local path must be given both on the main server and on the mirroring server.