When installing SQL Server onto a two node cluster setup -
how many shared disk drives do you need ie am I right in
thinking that you should have the following shared drives
C:\ for SQL Server installation
D:\ for data files
E:\ for log files
Q:\ for quorum disk

Also I am right in thinking that SQL Server gets installed
on a shared disk - or does it get installed locally on
both servers in the cluster?

You are very close. SQL Clusters use a local binary and a 'shared' data
storage model. 'Shared' in that all host nodes can access the physical
disks, but only one node at a time actually owns each disk. Changing
ownership requires taking the resource offline. C: should be local for each
machine and will be where the binaries are installed unless you specify
otherwise. You can only specify local disks. Q for Quorum is correct. You
will need M: for MSDTC. You can use Q, but best practices changed with
Windows Server 2003 and now recommend using a separate disk for MSDTC. D:
and E: for logs and data. SQL only allows you to pick a single data drive
during installation, but it is very easy to add another disk to the cluster
group. I typically select my log device for my system databases and move
tempdb after I add the extra disk(s).

--
Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Senior Database Administrator
Careerbuilder.com

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