Prepare SharePoint Farm – Part 2 Prepare SQL Cluster

Thanks to: http://blogs.technet.com

1. Install SQL 2008 R2 setup , make sure to select  New SQL Server failover Cluster

2. Click next , until reaching the below screen, select all features

3. Provide SQL Server a new Cluster name as below:

4. Place SQL resources in the SQL Group created previously

5. Assign SQL disks to the SQL Group

6. Give a proper SQL IP address for the clustered SQL instance :

7. For the service account , place a dedicated service account for the SQL services

Note: SQL Reporting cant be clustered.
8. Make sure to add the current user and to select mixed mode:

9. Make sure to point to the proper disk drives in the Data Directories tab:

10. Make sure to point to the proper disk drives in Analysis screen

11. Next to Finish.
12. Make sure you can connect to SQL Instance from management studio:

13. Join the other node, by running the setup and selecting

14. Click next until reaching to the below page, make sure the correct SQL Cluster name is provided

15. Install SP1 on each node (to consider high availability, make sure to install SP1 on the passive node) , from SQL Management Studio à help –> about check after SQL version it should be as below: