Clustered SQL Server Service Won’t Start
I had the joy of moving the Master Database Files in a clustered SQL Server environment. This isn’t a very hard task
to do, normally.
Windows Server 2008 has a great utility recently named Windows Cluster Manager which makes managing a failover cluster much easier to get your head around. So, I follow straight forward instructions to move the files.
- In SQL Server Configuration Manager I modify the SQL Server Instance settings for where I want the files to be located
- In Windows Cluster Manager I stop the Cluster SQL Server Service so I can move the files
- I copy the files to the new location
- In Windows Cluster Manager I start the Cluster SQL Server Service…I thought
FAIL! Nothing I could do would allow SQL Server to start again; even setting the configuration back to the original values. I look in all the error logs and event viewer and nothing shows up except that the SQL Server Service failed to start with an error code.
Net HelpMsg [ErrorNumber] in a Command shell provides a little more information…login failed for the service.
Finally I look in the System events in Event Viewer, instead of the Application events, and there was the problem…the individual creating the Active Directory Service Account used to run the SQL Server Service had not set the password to never expire. The password had expired earlier, but since we had never stopped the SQL Server service since the password had expired it had not been detected.
Changing the password to not expire set things right. The service started right up in Cluster Service Manager. I was lucky to find this configuration mishap during configuration rather than at a time when an actual failover occurred.
So, this little story is simply to emphasize the need to configure your service accounts correctly for reliable operations. It is a good practice to use a Service Account you create rather than the default account for the SQL Server Service. In a clustered environment it is mandatory. Take the time to learn about Service Account configuration to reduce the permissions, manage passwords, grant necessary disk rights, etc.
Share your war stories by sending an email to btaylor@sswug.org.
Cheers,
Ben
$$SWYNK$$
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