One of the primary requirements for a proper Microsoft SQL Server environment is MSDTC (Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator). When installing a SQL Server clustered environment it is required to add this clustered resource before installing you SQL Server instances.

To procedure to do this:

1. To start the Failover Cluster Management program, click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, and then click Failover Cluster Management.
2. In the left hand pane, right-click Failover Cluster Management, and then click Manage a Cluster.
3. In the Select a cluster to manage dialog box, enter the cluster to be managed, and then click OK.
4. To start the High Availability Wizard, in the left pane click to expand the cluster, right-click Services and Applications, and then click Configure a Service or Application.
5. If the Before You Begin page of the High Availability Wizard is displayed, click Next.
6. On the Select Service or Application page, click Distributed Transaction Coordinator, and then click Next.
7. On the Client Access Point page, enter a value for Name, enter an available IP address under Address, and then click Next.
8. On the Select Storage page, click to select a disk resource and then click Next.
9. On the Confirmation page, click Next.
10. On the Summary page, click Finish.

Source: How to Cluster MSDTC (MSDN)

 

When installing SQL Server 2008 R on a Windows Server 2008 R2 cluster I recently received the following message when trying to add the MSDTC storage volume. (Step 8).

I found quite a few references to people with similar issues, thus I thought I would post this simple fix. The solution is listed in the text below the message. To resolve this blocker, you simply need to assign an actual drive letter to the disk you with the use for MSDTC storage. In my case we were using extensive Windows mount points due to the number of LUN’s presented to the cluster, but in this case it seems an actual drive letter is required.

A drive letter is assigned by:

1. To start the Failover Cluster Management program, click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, and then click Failover Cluster Management.
2. In the left hand pane, right-click Failover Cluster Management, and then click Manage a Cluster.
3. In the Select a cluster to manage dialog box, enter the cluster to be managed, and then click OK.
4. To assign a drive letter to a volume, select Storage. Right-click the volume you wish to assign a drive letter to and select Change Drive Letter.

Now the volume will appear in the MSDTC High-Availability resource Wizard.

 

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