Installing Master Data Services in an AlwaysOn
environment
SQL Server Technical Article
Writer: Jim van de Erve
Technical Reviewer: Alexander Tolpin, Anand Subbaraj, Minh Pham, Bogdan Pienescu
Published: November 2012
Applies to: SQL Server 2012 SP1
Summary: This white paper describes how to set up a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn
environment with SQL Server Master Data Services. This requires Master Data Services in SQL
Server 2012 SP1. You can set up this infrastructure with either a shared storage configuration
or a nonshared storage configuration.
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Some examples depicted herein are provided for illustration only and are fictitious. No real association
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This document does not provide you with any legal rights to any intellectual property in any Microsoft
product. You may copy and use this document for your internal, reference purposes.
© 2012 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
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Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4
Master Data Services with AlwaysOn high availability in a nonshared storage configuration..................... 4
Installing Master Data Services with AlwaysOn in a nonshared storage configuration ............................... 5
Master Data Services with AlwaysOn high availability in a shared storage configuration ........................... 6
Installing Master Data Services with AlwaysOn in a shared storage configuration ..................................... 7
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 8
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Introduction
This white paper describes how to install and configure Microsoft SQL Server Master Data Services in a
high-availability/disaster recovery deployment that uses SQL Server 2012 with SQL Server AlwaysOn
enabled. This scenario requires Master Data Services in SQL Server 2012 SP1.
Note that the steps outlined in this document are not intended for SQL Server 2008 R2 with database
mirroring.
This document presents two different scenarios: one in which you install SQL Server as a nonshared
storage solution using an availability group, and another in which you install SQL Server as a shared
storage solution using SQL Server failover cluster instances (FCIs) and an availability group. Master Data
Services is configured differently for the two cases.
Master Data Services with AlwaysOn high availability in a nonshared
storage configuration
This high-availability and disaster recovery solution uses a Windows Server failover cluster and
AlwaysOn availability groups as follows:
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
Set up a Windows Server Failover Cluster.

Nodes use dedicated, not shared, databases.

SQL Server Failover Clustering is not used. There are no SQL Server failover cluster instances.

A SQL Server AlwaysOn availability group spans the two data centers.

Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) can either be internal and dedicated to each node,
or external with network load balancing. The Master Data Services web application should be
configured to connect to the virtual network name (VNN) of the availability group listener.

Commits from the primary database to the secondary database in the same primary data center
are synchronous. Commits from the primary database to the secondary database in the disaster
recovery data center are asynchronous.
Installing Master Data Services with AlwaysOn in a nonshared storage
configuration
Perform the following steps to set up a high-availability and disaster recovery solution that uses an
availability group (not a SQL Server failover clustering) and incorporates Master Data Services. For a
detailed procedure without steps specific to Master Data Services, see "Building the Availability Group
Solution" in AlwaysOn Architecture Guide: Building a High Availability and Disaster Recovery Solution by
Using AlwaysOn Availability Groups (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/jj191711.aspx). These steps
refer back to the steps in that guide (as shown in parentheses).
1. Add the Windows Failover Clustering feature to the nodes located in the primary data center.
Use a static IP reservation for the WSFC name (step 1 in the AlwaysOn Architecture Guide here
that documents how to use a Windows Server Failover Cluster with an availability group, but not
how to use SQL Server failover cluster instances).
2. Install a stand-alone instance of SQL Server with MDS on each node (step 7).
Note: If SQL Server is already set up, you can perform an add/remove features step to set up
Master Data Services.
3. In the SQL Server Configuration Manager, enable AlwaysOn for each SQL Server node (step 8).
4. Create a SQL Server availability group and a SQL Server availability group listener for all the
nodes (steps 10 and 11).
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5. In the Master Data Services Configuration Manager, deploy the Master Data Services database
on only one node in the primary data center. When you create or select the database, set the
SQL Server instance to the VNN of the availability group listener.
6. In SQL Server Management Studio, add the database that you deployed in step 5 above to the
availability group. This creates a backup of the database to restore to other nodes.
7. In the Master Data Services Configuration Manager, deploy the Web application to the IIS
server. For the database name, point to the VNN of the availability group listener. Make sure the
Master Data Services Web application is accessible.
For high availability, we recommend deploying the Web application in a network load balancing
configuration. However, you cannot install the network load balancing role on nodes within the
Windows Failover Cluster. The alternative is to set up IIS on all nodes within the cluster, and
deploy the Web application to all nodes. The MDS web configuration needs to be identical on
each node, including the web application name, port number, and host header. For more
information, see Overview of Network Load Balancing (http://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc725691.aspx). For more information about how to set up IIS in a Windows Failover
Cluster, see Configuring IIS 7.0 World Wide Web Publishing Service in a Microsoft Windows
Server 2008 failover cluster (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970759).
8. It is possible to configure WFC (Windows Failover Cluster) such that only one MDS Windows
Service is started, while the other services in the cluster are stopped. To do so:
a. Set all MDS services pertaining to the MDS instance to "Manual" (they install as
"Automatic"). Stop the ones from the passive nodes.
b. Open the WFC console on the active machine in the cluster and add the MDS service to
the cluster, under "Generic services".
9. In SQL Server Management Studio, perform a manual failover by navigating to the availability
group, right-clicking on the availability group, clicking Failover, and walking through the wizard.
This step must be done for all secondary replicas. In Master Data Services Configuration
Manager, connect to the VNN of the availability group listener, and then perform a repair on all
nodes. This action performs a number of re-initializations. You only need to perform this step
once during installation; after it's done, and you have verified that the Web application works,
failover should work.
10. Set up the solution in the disaster recovery data center. When you set up the Availability Group,
by default the Availability Mode in the Availability Replica Properties is set to Synchronous
commit. For the disaster recovery data center, set the Availability Mode to Asynchronous
commit, as shown in the figure above.
Master Data Services with AlwaysOn high availability in a shared storage
configuration
This high-availability and disaster recovery solution uses a Windows Server failover cluster, SQL Server
failover cluster instances, and SQL Server AlwaysOn availability groups as follows:

6
Set up a Windows Server Failover Cluster.

SQL Server Failover Clustering is used, with nodes in SQL Server failover cluster instances.

The SQL Server failover clusters instances use shared storage.

A SQL Server AlwaysOn availability group spans the two data centers and covers the failover
cluster instances.
Installing Master Data Services with AlwaysOn in a shared storage
configuration
Perform the following steps to set up a high availability and disaster recovery solution that uses a SQL
Server failover cluster instance with shared storage, and incorporates MDS. For a full procedure, follow
the steps in "Configuring the FCI+AG Solution" in AlwaysOn Architecture Guide: Building a High
Availability and Disaster Recovery Solution by Using Failover Cluster Instances and Availability Groups
(http://technet.microsoft.com/library/jj215886.aspx). These steps refer back to the steps in that guide.
1. Add the Windows Failover Clustering feature to the nodes located in the primary data center.
Use a static IP reservation for the WSFC name (step 1 in the AlwaysOn Architecture Guide here
that documents how to use a Windows Server failover cluster and SQL Server failover cluster
instances with an availability group).
2. Install a stand-alone failover cluster instance of SQL Server with MDS on each node (step 9). For
the first node, perform the New SQL Server failover cluster installation; for the second node,
perform the Add node to a SQL Server failover cluster installation.
Note: If SQL Server is already set up, you can perform an add/remove features step to set up
Master Data Services.
3. In the SQL Server Configuration Manager, enable AlwaysOn for each SQL Server failover cluster
instance (step 10).
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4. Create a SQL Server availability group and a SQL Server availability group listener for all nodes
(step 13 in the "Setting Up the Solution at the DR Data Center" section of the AlwaysOn
Architecture Guide here).
5. In the Master Data Services Configuration Manager, deploy the Master Data Services database
to the primary cluster instance. When you create or select the database, set the SQL Server
instance to the VNN of the availability group listener.
6. In SQL Server Management Studio, add the shared database that you deployed in step 5 above
to the availability group. This creates a backup of the database to restore in the other nodes.
7. In the Master Data Services Configuration Manager, deploy the Web application to the IIS
server. For the database name, point to the VNN of the availability group listener. Make sure the
Web application is accessible.
For high availability, we recommend deploying the Web application in a network load balancing
configuration. However, you cannot install the network load balancing role on nodes within the
Windows Failover Cluster. The alternative is to set up IIS on all nodes within the cluster, and
deploy the Web application to all nodes. The MDS web configuration needs to be identical on
each node, including the web application name, port number, and host header. For more
information, see Overview of Network Load Balancing
(http://technet.microsoft.com/library/cc725691.aspx). For more information about how to set
up IIS in a Windows Failover Cluster, see Configuring IIS 7.0 World Wide Web Publishing Service
in a Microsoft Windows Server 2008 failover cluster (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970759).
8. It is possible to configure WFC (Windows Failover Cluster) such that only one MDS Windows
Service is started, while the other services in the cluster are stopped. To do so:
a. Set all MDS services pertaining to the MDS instance to "Manual" (they install as
"Automatic"). Stop the ones from the passive nodes.
b. Open the WFC console on the active machine in the cluster and add the MDS service to
the cluster, under "Generic services".
9. In SQL Server Management Studio, perform a manual failover by navigating to the availability
group, right-clicking the availability group, clicking Failover, and walking through the wizard. In
Master Data Services Configuration Manager, connect to the availability group, and then
perform a repair on all nodes. This action performs a number of re-initializations. You only need
to perform this step during installation; after it's done, failover should work.
10. Set up the solution in the disaster recovery data center. When you set up the Availability Group
for the disaster recovery data center, set the Availability Mode to Asynchronous commit.
Conclusion
In this white paper, we have seen how you can set up and configure Master Data Services in a SQL
Server 2012 high-availability/disaster recovery deployment with AlwaysOn enabled. This requires
Master Data Services in SQL Server 2012 SP1. You have two basic options for doing so: using non-shared
storage with a Windows Server failover cluster and an AlwaysOn availability group, or using shared
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storage with a SQL Server failover cluster, a Windows Server failover cluster, and an AlwaysOn
availability group.
For more information:
http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/: SQL Server Web site
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/: SQL Server TechCenter
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/: SQL Server DevCenter
See the following AlwaysOn architecture guides:


AlwaysOn Architecture Guide: Building a High Availability and Disaster Recovery Solution by
Using AlwaysOn Availability Groups
AlwaysOn Architecture Guide: Building a High Availability and Disaster Recovery Solution by
Using Failover Cluster Instances and Availability Groups
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