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Creating the First Node's Base Virtual Machine
The following steps describe how to create the base virtual machine that serves as the first node in the cluster (and as a template for the additional node), and how to create the two preallocated virtual disks that are shared among the virtual machines in the cluster.
Note: The virtual disks used to store the operating system and clustering software for each virtual machine (node) in the cluster do not have to be preallocated virtual disks.
1. Log on to your GSX Server host as the user who will own the virtual machine.
2. Launch a VMware Virtual Machine Console and create a new virtual machine (for information on creating a new virtual machine, see Creating a New Virtual Machine). Follow the Custom path. Choose the settings you want (for example, the size of the virtual disk or the amount of memory), but make sure you specify
  • Windows 2000 Advanced Server or Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition as the guest operating system.
  • SQL1 as the virtual machine name.
  • The virtual machine directory as d:\cluster\SQL1 (on a Windows host) or /home/cluster/SQL1 (on a Linux host).
  • Bridged networking for the virtual machine.
  • SQL1 as the disk filename.
    • 3. Open the virtual machine settings editor. Choose VM > Settings.
    4. Add a new network adapter that uses either another external adapter or the VMnet1 host-only adapter. (For complete isolation from the host, you may also use any unused virtual Ethernet switch, typically VMnet2 through VMnet7.) For information, see Adding and Modifying Virtual Network Adapters.
    This adapter is used as the virtual private Ethernet connection for heartbeat monitoring.
    5. Add the two virtual disks that are to be shared:
  • A shared data disk (call it data.vmdk, for example)
  • A shared quorum disk (call it quorum.vmdk, for example) to store transactions before they are committed to the data disk
    • For information, see Adding Virtual Disks to a Virtual Machine.
    6. Click OK to save your changes and close the virtual machine settings editor.
    7. Using a text editor, manually edit the configuration file d:\cluster\SQL1\SQL1.vmx (on a Windows host) or /home/cluster/SQL1/SQL1.vmx (on a Linux host).
    8. Add the following lines to the configuration file:
    scsi1.sharedBus = virtual
    disk.locking = "false"
    This enables SCSI reservation, which is described in more detail in the section Using SCSI Reservation to Share SCSI Disks with Virtual Machines.
    You are finished creating the virtual machine for the first node in your cluster. The next step is to install a guest operating system in the virtual machine.


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