MSDTC Required?

I am preparing for the installation of SQL Server 2005 Standard on a
two-node cluster. The SQL Server books Online" topic named "Before
Installing Failover Clustering" indicates that you must install MSDTC if you
are installing the Database Engine and SSIS, Notification Services or
Workstations components. I am not planning on installing SSIS or
Notification Services but would like to install the Workstations components
(specifically SSMS and the other tools) on the clustered nodes.
Is it really necessary to install MSDTC in the cluster if I don't plan on
doing distributed transactions? I want to keep the installation as simple
as possible and don't see why I need to install MSDTC in the cluster with
the Workstation components.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Chris
SQL works a lot better with MSDTC. You can go ahead and install it in the
cluster group if you do not have a lot of distributed transactions.
Geoff N. Hiten
Senior Database Administrator
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
"Cgal" <cgallelli@.newsgroups.nospam> wrote in message
news:eN61fcOZHHA.348@.TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>I am preparing for the installation of SQL Server 2005 Standard on a
>two-node cluster. The SQL Server books Online" topic named "Before
>Installing Failover Clustering" indicates that you must install MSDTC if
>you are installing the Database Engine and SSIS, Notification Services or
>Workstations components. I am not planning on installing SSIS or
>Notification Services but would like to install the Workstations components
>(specifically SSMS and the other tools) on the clustered nodes.
> Is it really necessary to install MSDTC in the cluster if I don't plan on
> doing distributed transactions? I want to keep the installation as simple
> as possible and don't see why I need to install MSDTC in the cluster with
> the Workstation components.
> Any help would be appreciated.
> Thanks!
> Chris
>
|||Can you clarify "Works a lot better with..."
I always install it as a matter of procedure but if it's not necessary, how
does it help?
"Geoff N. Hiten" wrote:

> SQL works a lot better with MSDTC. You can go ahead and install it in the
> cluster group if you do not have a lot of distributed transactions.
> --
> Geoff N. Hiten
> Senior Database Administrator
> Microsoft SQL Server MVP
>
> "Cgal" <cgallelli@.newsgroups.nospam> wrote in message
> news:eN61fcOZHHA.348@.TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
|||SQL tries to initialize a DTS connection when it starts up. When MSDTC is
not there, SQL has to wait for a timeout so you get slower startups and
failovers.
Geoff N. Hiten
Senior Database Administrator
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
"burt_king" <burt_king@.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:CA063DB1-C405-44E5-9628-9C10AE5C7630@.microsoft.com...[vbcol=seagreen]
> Can you clarify "Works a lot better with..."
> I always install it as a matter of procedure but if it's not necessary,
> how
> does it help?
>
> "Geoff N. Hiten" wrote:
|||MS DTC is installed on each cluster node as part of the Windows OS
installation. What is required is to make it "clustered."
If you will only be installing a single SQL Server instance, then you can
configure the MS DTC cluster resource to use the same cluster resource group
as the SQL Server installation.
Otherwise, follow the instructions to set up a dedicated cluster resource
group for MS DTC, which will require a dedicated shared cluster disk, IP
address, and Network Name resources.
Do not run MS DTC as a resource in the Quorum cluster resource group.
Sincerely,
Anthony Thomas

"Cgal" <cgallelli@.newsgroups.nospam> wrote in message
news:eN61fcOZHHA.348@.TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> I am preparing for the installation of SQL Server 2005 Standard on a
> two-node cluster. The SQL Server books Online" topic named "Before
> Installing Failover Clustering" indicates that you must install MSDTC if
you
> are installing the Database Engine and SSIS, Notification Services or
> Workstations components. I am not planning on installing SSIS or
> Notification Services but would like to install the Workstations
components
> (specifically SSMS and the other tools) on the clustered nodes.
> Is it really necessary to install MSDTC in the cluster if I don't plan on
> doing distributed transactions? I want to keep the installation as simple
> as possible and don't see why I need to install MSDTC in the cluster with
> the Workstation components.
> Any help would be appreciated.
> Thanks!
> Chris
>
|||What if this were active/active sql 2000 instances. Still one MSDTC?
"Anthony Thomas" wrote:

> MS DTC is installed on each cluster node as part of the Windows OS
> installation. What is required is to make it "clustered."
> If you will only be installing a single SQL Server instance, then you can
> configure the MS DTC cluster resource to use the same cluster resource group
> as the SQL Server installation.
> Otherwise, follow the instructions to set up a dedicated cluster resource
> group for MS DTC, which will require a dedicated shared cluster disk, IP
> address, and Network Name resources.
> Do not run MS DTC as a resource in the Quorum cluster resource group.
> Sincerely,
>
> Anthony Thomas
>
> --
> "Cgal" <cgallelli@.newsgroups.nospam> wrote in message
> news:eN61fcOZHHA.348@.TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> you
> components
>
>
|||Each cluster can only have a single MSDTC instance.
Geoff N. Hiten
Senior Database Administrator
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
"SQLdba" <burt_king@.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:D7919F72-F753-4232-80CE-DCD52FA271EA@.microsoft.com...[vbcol=seagreen]
> What if this were active/active sql 2000 instances. Still one MSDTC?
>
> "Anthony Thomas" wrote:
|||In which case, the recommended solution is to have a dedicated MS DTC
cluster resource group with dedicated dependencies (Shared Disk, IP Address,
and Network Name).
In times past, Microsoft recommended adding this resource to the Quorum
group; however, it was determined that this was a bad practices because
whenever the quorum goes offline, and DTC handles are destroyed if the two
resources are collocated.
In a dedicated group, even if the quorum group is moved, or the DTC group is
moved, pending DTC transactions and SQL Server handles are maintained.
Sincerely,
Anthony Thomas

"Geoff N. Hiten" <SQLCraftsman@.gmail.com> wrote in message
news:eKAYYTxaHHA.3272@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...[vbcol=seagreen]
> Each cluster can only have a single MSDTC instance.
> --
> Geoff N. Hiten
> Senior Database Administrator
> Microsoft SQL Server MVP
>
> "SQLdba" <burt_king@.yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:D7919F72-F753-4232-80CE-DCD52FA271EA@.microsoft.com...
can[vbcol=seagreen]
resource[vbcol=seagreen]
IP[vbcol=seagreen]
plan
>
|||Actually, the recommendation was changed based on testing high-volume
systems where certain storage systems could be saturated by the DTC traffic
to the point where the Quorum disk appeared unresponsive, thus causing a
cluster failure. Since Microsoft is officially hardware agnostic, this led
to a blanket recommendation for a dedicated MSDTC group, which later was
modified to apply only to high volume systems.
Geoff N. Hiten
Senior Database Administrator
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
"Anthony Thomas" <ALThomas@.kc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:eZDWpk7aHHA.4140@.TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> In which case, the recommended solution is to have a dedicated MS DTC
> cluster resource group with dedicated dependencies (Shared Disk, IP
> Address,
> and Network Name).
> In times past, Microsoft recommended adding this resource to the Quorum
> group; however, it was determined that this was a bad practices because
> whenever the quorum goes offline, and DTC handles are destroyed if the two
> resources are collocated.
> In a dedicated group, even if the quorum group is moved, or the DTC group
> is
> moved, pending DTC transactions and SQL Server handles are maintained.
> Sincerely,
>
> Anthony Thomas
>
> --
> "Geoff N. Hiten" <SQLCraftsman@.gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:eKAYYTxaHHA.3272@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> can
> resource
> IP
> plan
>