ADVICE: setup Win2008 R2 / SQL 2008 R2 cluster in ESXi 5.5 U3b

[MichaelLeone]

I need to set a 2 node Win2008 R2/SQL 2008 R2 cluster on ESXi 5.5 U3b. This will be only for testing; I have a production cluster on 2 physical nodes already, but what I need to do is test making some changes to the configuration, so I thought I would test the procedure on a couple VMs, rather than barrel ahead on the production machine.What I need to test is first removing one of the SQL instances, then removing one of the nodes completely.

I know this cluster is supported on my ESXi; what I don't have is a specific HOWTO. My production cluster is 2 nodes SQL 2008 R2 cluster, and it has 2 SQL instances. What I need to test is first removing one of the instances, then removing one of the nodes completely.

This test cluster only needs a small shared disk; I'm not actually storing anything on it, merely replicating my other cluster.

I know I need 2 NICs, one for the heartbeat, one for the public IP of the node. I'm a bit hazy about the virtual switch that the heartbeat connects to, how to configure that so that only these 2 VMs use it.(this can be one of those cluster-in-a-box configs, I don't mind if they stay on the same ESXi server. I just care that the cluster itself works ...).

I only need like a 2G shared disk (I'm not really going to have any data on it, I just need it to exist as a cluster shared storage), but I know it has to be shared between both VMs. It doesn't have to be RDM, right? I can do this with a regular virtual disk? Do I need a special SCSI adapter for each VM? And just tell node #2 to reuse an existing virtual disk? (I've found an article that says that, but I don't know if that's still required?).

I'm searching, but getting confused at what I am finding. Anyone know of a good step-by-step article to follow, along with GOTCHAs? As I said, what I need to do is test the process of removing a named SQL instance from a SQL cluster, and then removing the SQL node from the SQL cluster, and then removing that same node from the Windows cluster. I'm pretty sure I know how to do the last 2, it's the remove an instance without screwing up the remaining instance I am leery about ...

Thanks

[MichaelLeone]

No one? I can't be alone in this ..

[BenLiebowitz]

If you're willing to have both cluster nodes on the same host, then the heartbeat network is easy.  You just need a switch portgroup with no uplinks and have that vNIC for each VM for heartbeat to be on that portgroup.  Then, you can set any IP you want, be it 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 or whatever. 

This is the document I followed when I setup my Microsoft Failover Clusters on vSphere 5.5.  We setup VMs on different hosts using RDMs, but if you're going to put them on the same host, you can use Shared VMDKs. 
https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-55-setup-...

Hope this helps.

[MichaelLeone]

I saw an earlier version of that document, for ESXi 5.0. I will look again, see what I can do. I already have the 2 nodes ready, with Windows installed. I just need to add the heartbeat NICs, and the big one - the shared storage. Then I can install SQL, and try the removal, which is the main objective.

The link makes it look not too hard  .. I think .. LOL