How to: Add Dependencies to a SQL Server Resource
If you install SQL Server into a Windows cluster group with multiple disk drives and choose to place your data on one of the drives, the SQL Server resource will be set to be dependent only on that drive. To put data or logs on another disk, you must first add a dependency to the SQL Server resource for the additional disk.
It is important to note that if you add any other resources to the SQL Server group, those resources must always have their own unique SQL network name resources and their own SQL IP address resources.
Do not use the existing SQL network name resources and SQL IP address resources for anything other than SQL Server. If SQL Server resources are shared with other resources, the following problems may occur:
Outages that are not expected may occur.
Service pack installations may not be successful.
The SQL Server Setup program may not be successful. If this problem occurs, you cannot install additional instances of SQL Server or perform routine maintenance.
Consider these additional issues:
FTP with SQL Server replication: For instances of SQL Server that use FTP with SQL Server replication, your FTP service must use one of the same physical disks as the installation of SQL Server that is set up to use the FTP service.
SQL Server resource dependencies: If you add a resource to a SQL Server group and you have a dependency on the SQL Server resource to make sure that SQL Server is available, Microsoft recommends that you add a dependency on the SQL Server Agent resource. Do not add a dependency on the SQL Server resource. To make sure that the computer that is running SQL Server remains highly available, configure the SQL Server Agent resource so that it does not affect the SQL Server group if the SQL Server Agent resource fails.
File shares and printer resources: When you install File Share resources or Printer cluster resources, they should not be put on the same physical disk resources as the computer that is running SQL Server. If they are put on the same physical disk resources, you may experience performance degradation and loss of service to the computer that is running SQL Server.
MS DTC considerations: After you install the operating system and configure your cluster, you must configure MS DTC to work in a cluster by using the Cluster Administrator. Failure to cluster MS DTC will not block SQL Server Setup, but SQL Server application functionality may be affected if MS DTC is not properly configured.
If you install Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) in your SQL Server group and you have other resources that are dependent on MS DTC, MS DTC will not be available if this group is offline or during a failover. Microsoft recommends that you put MS DTC in its own group with its own physical disk resource, if it is possible.
To add a dependency to a SQL Server resource
Open the Cluster Administrator in Windows Administrative Tools.
Locate the group that contains the applicable SQL Server resource that you would like to make dependent.
If the resource for the disk is already in this group, go to step 4. Otherwise, locate the group that contains the disk. If that group and the group that contains SQL Server are not owned by the same node, move the group containing the resource for the disk to the node that owns the SQL Server group.
Bring the SQL Server resource offline. This step applies to Windows 2003 failover clusters. Windows 2008 clusters do not require this step.
Select the SQL Server resource, open the Properties dialog box, and use the Dependencies tab to add the disk to the set of SQL Server dependencies.