Adding disk to SQL cluster changes drive letter and does not appear in File Explorer

Question

I have done this many times in our old SQL cluster and this will be my fourth time on our new cluster. I created the new disk to add to the SQL cluster, but this time it is not working. I notice a few things are happening. Adding the disk to the cluster is changing the configured drive letter, it shows as NTFS instead of CSVFS, and it cannot be seen in File Explorer. Also adding the CSV file system completely removes any drive letters.

1.      I created a volume in our PowerStore SAN and assigned it to the SQL volume group.

2.      From the SQL servers, I use Disk Management to scan and find the disks. I then bring it online, rename and assign the drive letter to disk. This process is repeated in other the cluster server.

3.      From Server Manager, I use the Failover Cluster Manager to add the disk. At this point, I usually see it in File Explorer and am finished. But this time, it keeps changing the assigned drive letter and I cannot see it in File Explorer. Using Disk Management, I manually change the drive letter in Disk Management. However, I still cannot see it in File Explorer and notice that the file system shows NTFS instead of CSVFS. When I add the disk to the CSV file system, it completely removes any assigned letter, and it still cannot be seen in File Explorer.

Answer 1

Hi Doug,

Hope you're doing well.

1. Make sure that the newly added disk is using a CSV-compatible file system (e.g., NTFS). If desired, it can be converted to a CSV-compatible file system via a formatting operation.

To reconfigure the drive letter:

2. In Disk Management, right-click on the partition and select "Change Drive Letter and Path" and follow the prompts to finish.
3. Make sure the SQL Server installation process is correct:
4. During the SQL Server installation process, make sure that you have completely exited the installer before adding the disks, and that you select the correct disk group when you restart the installer.
5. Use Failover Cluster Manager to verify that the disks meet the cluster requirements, especially if the SAS or NVMe type disks must support specific pages.

Best Regards,

Ian Xue

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Answer 2

Hey,

You are adding your Volume to Cluster Shared Volume, so it won't have the letter assigned. CSVs are located via "C:\ClusterStorage". You should find your shared volume there after adding it to CSV. https://www.sqlshack.com/deploy-sql-server-with-cluster-shared-volumes-part-2/

Might also help with configuration: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/resource-library/starwind-virtual-san-installing-and-configuring-sql-server-2019-tp-failover-cluster-instance-on-windows-server-2016/

Cheers,

Alex Bykovskyi

StarWind Software

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Answer 3

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