In man occasions you would be faced by the need to move workflows you developed using SharePoint designer from one site to another. This might be the case if for example you developed and tested the workflow on a testing environment and now wants to move to the production environment without the need to re-develop the workflow.

The steps to perform this is rather simple:

1. Export the workflow to Visio.
2. Edit the VWI archive and delete the configuration file.
3. Import the workflow back to your destination site.

So open the SharePoint designer and open the source site. click on the workflows link on the left and then the workflow you want to move. Click on the ribbon on export to Visio button.

Now rename the file exported (VWI file) to be a ZIP file and open it with Windows Explorer. You will find a file named “workflow.xoml.wfconfig.xml”

Just delete this file. Now rename the archive back to be a VWI file.

Now open the destination site and click the import from Visio and browse to the edited VWI file. This will allow you to re-associate your workflow as if it was created or exported from Visio rather than the designer while preserving any development made in the workflow it self.

In part 1 of this series I showed you how to configure the virtual storage required for the cluster. In part 2 of this series I showed you how to configure two SQL instances on the created windows cluster. In this part I will show you how to configure these two SQL instances into an Active/Active configuration.

Introduction

In this series of posts I will walk you through the processes of creating an Active/Active SQL server cluster using Hyper-V and Microsoft iSCSI target software for virtualized SAN. The target is to create first a storage server hosted on a normal Windows 2008 R2 server. Then connect to this server using two other machines as iSCSI initiators. Then I will create the windows cluster along with the DTC clustered service. A clustered SQL server instance will then be created. Finally another clustered SQL server instance will be created and Active/Active configuration of both instances will be applied.

Solution Architecture

The solution is fairly simple as per the below configuration.

Setting Active-Active Configuration

Since we need to configure an Active/Active configuration for this cluster and we do not want any instance to depend on other components from the other instance we will have to add another DTC clustered service to the windows cluster. This is to allow the separation of the DTC service between both instances. I will also show you how to configure the SQL service to depend on its relating DTC service instance so that it moves it along with the SQL instance.

Prepare the second DTC cluster

1-      Go to the iSCSI target and create or add another shared disk to be used by the second SQL cluster

2-      Go to one of the nodes and then open the iSCSI initiator and then click again on auto configure of the volumes and devices.

3-      Now open the disk management utility and create the active partition on this disk and format it using NTFS.

4-      Open the windows cluster management and add this disk to the cluster.

5-      Right click on the service and applications and click to create a new one

6-      Choose DTC

7-      Give it a name and a unique IP

8-      Select the available storage

9-      The second DTC clustered instance is created

Move each SQL instance and its associated DTC service to its preferred node

1-      Move one SQL instance and one DTC to the server UK-LIT-DB1

2-      The other SQL instance and the other DTC make sure they are moved to the other server UK-LIT-DB2

Add each DTC service as a resource to the associated SQL service

1-      Right click on the first SQL instance and click add resource

2-      Select the available DTC (with GUID) service

3-      Click next and finish

4-      Bring the new resource online

5-      Create a dependency between the SQL server service and the newly added DTC resource

6-      Create a dependency between the newly created DTC service and the SQL server cluster name and disk to make sure it is moved with it.

7-      Right click on the second SQL instance and click add resource

8-      Select the available DTC (with GUID) service

9-      Click next and finish

10-   Bring the new resource online

11-   Create a dependency between the SQL server service and the newly added DTC resource

12-   Create a dependency between the newly created DTC service and the SQL server cluster name and disk to make sure it is moved with it.

The dependency report for one of the SQL server clusters should look something like the below diagram.

Setup the Preferred owners for both the SQL instances and associated DTC services

Now you will need to make sure that the preferred owner is one of the nodes for each couple of the SQL instances and the DTC instances.

-          Services that has UK-LIT-DB-01 as the preferred owner

-          Services that has UK-LIT-DB-02 as the preferred owner

This makes the two nodes working together as an Active/Active SQL cluster with the appropriate services running on both. So if you open the first node you will find a SQL server clustered instance running and a clustered DTC running. On the second node you will find the other clustered SQL server instance running and the associated clustered DTC.

Happy clustering

In part 1 of this series I showed you how to configure the virtual storage required for the cluster. In this part I will show you how to create the SQL cluster as an Active/Passive cluster and in the next part I will show how to convert it to an Active/Active cluster.

Introduction

In this series of posts I will walk you through the processes of creating an Active/Active SQL server cluster using Hyper-V and Microsoft iSCSI target software for virtualized SAN. The target is to create first a storage server hosted on a normal Windows 2008 R2 server. Then connect to this server using two other machines as iSCSI initiators. Then I will create the windows cluster along with the DTC clustered service. A clustered SQL server instance will then be created. Finally another clustered SQL server instance will be created and Active/Active configuration of both instances will be applied.

Solution Architecture

The solution is fairly simple as per the below configuration.

Windows Cluster Configuration Steps

Now that we have configured the storage we can start the windows failover cluster configuration.

1-      Install the windows failover clustering feature to both nodes from the add feature wizard.

2-      Bring all shared storage online to the current node.

3-      Open the cluster management console and click create cluster. Note that it would be preferable to disable all disks at this stage from the iSCSI target but the disk that will be used as the Quorum.

4-      In the select servers page click browse and select the two nodes

5-      Perform the cluster validation using the selection to run the cluster validation wizard

6-      Select all tests

7-      Review the validation and make sure there are no validation errors

8-      Back to the create cluster wizard. Give the new cluster a name and an unused IP

9-      The cluster is created and the first disk assigned to the first LUN is treated as the Quorum disk of the cluster

10-   If you disabled all disks from the iSCSI target but the Quorum disk then you will need to add them as a new storage to the cluster once they are needed. It is advisable to add every disk you will use once you need it.

11-   Go and enable the first disk that will be used for the first cluster DTC.

12-   In the cluster management add the new storage.

13-   Go to the Services and applications node and click Configure a new service or application and select the DTC service and then click next.

14-   You can change the resource name if you want but you have to give it an unused IP

15-   Select the disk

16-   Click finish to the confirmation screen

17-   Now the windows cluster is prepared and ready for SQL server installation with an instance of DTC.

SQL Server First Cluster Instance

1-      Go to the iSCSI target and create or add the shared disk to be used by the SQL cluster

2-      Open the SQL server setup and click on new SQL server cluster

3-      Go through the normal setup process

4-     

5-      Enter the SQL cluster name and leave as the default instance (or name this instance if you require)

6-     

7-     

8-     

9-     

10-  

11-  

12-  

13-   This completes the installation of the first SQL cluster on the first node

14-   Logon to the second SQL node and start the SQL setup and choose to add a new node to a failover cluster

15-  

16-  

17-  

18-  

19-   Now that completes setting up the second node for this SQL cluster

SQL Server Second Cluster Instance

Now we will go through the installation of a second clustered SQL instance to be prepared as another active instance on the passive node later.

1-      Go to the iSCSI target and create or add another shared disk to be used by the second SQL cluster

2-      Go to one of the nodes and then open the iSCSI initiator and then click again on auto configure of the volumes and devices.

3-      Now open the disk management utility and create the active partition on this disk and format it using NTFS.

4-      Open the windows cluster management and add this disk to the cluster.

5-      Open the SQL server setup and click on new SQL server cluster

6-      Go through the normal setup process

7-     

8-      Enter the SQL cluster name and the instance name as BCInst

9-     

10-   Choose the already added disk

11-   Choose a unique IP for his cluster

12-  

13-  

14-  

15-  

16-   This completes the installation of the second SQL cluster on the first node

17-   Logon to the second SQL node and start the SQL setup and choose to add a new node to a failover cluster

18-  

19-   Choose the new cluster BCInst

20-  

21-  

22-   Now that completes setting up the second node for this SQL cluster

In the next part I will show you how to configure the two created SQL instances in an Active/Active SQL configuration.

Introduction

In this series of posts I will walk you through the processes of creating an Active/Active SQL server cluster using Hyper-V and Microsoft iSCSI target software for virtualized SAN. The target is to create first a storage server hosted on a normal Windows 2008 R2 server. Then connect to this server using two other machines as iSCSI initiators. Then I will create the windows cluster along with the DTC clustered service. A clustered SQL server instance will then be created. Finally another clustered SQL server instance will be created and Active/Active configuration of both instances will be applied.

Solution Architecture

The solution is fairly simple as per the below configuration.

Preparation

You need to create three virtual machines as illustrated above. One as the AD and storage server and another two as the SQL server nodes that will act as Active/Active nodes.

These are all windows 2008 R2 servers and we have created the domain and joined all servers to this domain. You need also to setup two network cards in each machine to function as normal LAN connection and another one for the cluster heartbeat. It would be advisable also to separate the storage usage to another network if you have heavy usage. The configuration given here is all static with normal local IPs assigned on all network cards.

Virtualized SAN Steps

In this section we will go through the needed steps to create the virtual storage server based SAN.

Configuring the iSCSI Target

1-      Download the required iSCSI target software from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=19867.

2-      Copy the software to the storage server UK-LIT-AD in this case.

3-      Double click the file to start the installation.

4-      After it completes it will take you to a web page

5-      Scroll down and click as below

6-     

7-     

8-      Click install

9-     

10-   Now open server manager and you will find a new tree as below

11-  

12-   Give the new target a name (Just any name)

13-   In the initiator list just click advanced and enter all the domain names of the servers that will have access to this target. In our case this is UK-LIT-DB1 and UK-LIT-DB2.

14-   If it displays a warning about the multiple initiators just accept it.

15-   Click finish. And now you have completed the creation of your iSCSI target and what remains is to add the required virtual disks to it.

16-  

17-   Place the new VHD and give it a name.

18-   Choose the disk size

19-   Click finish and this would create the fixed size disk.

20-   You will need to create the following disks so just follow the same approach

Configuring the iSCSI Initiators

Now we will configure the two SQL nodes to be able to access these disks.

1-      Log on to the first node UK-LIT-SQL1

2-      Open the iSCSI initiator

3-      Change the initiator name to match the machine name

4-      In the discovery tab add a new discovery portal using the IP of the storage server.

5-      Click on the targets tab and click refresh to show the available targets

6-      Click connect then OK.

7-      Go to the volumes and devices tab and click auto configure

8-      Do the same steps on UK-LIT-SQL2 starting at step 1 above but change the initiator name to match the machine name as below

9-      Go to any node of the two and open the server manager and then the disk management.

10-   Bring all disks online to this node and then prepare them with primary partitions and format those using NTFS.

In the next parts I will show you how to configure the Active/Active SQL cluster.

Here is the part 4 of System Center 2012 Orchestrator Runbook concept series.

In this blog post we’ll start to cover designing basic and complex runbooks.

Previous parts:

Part1 - System Center Orchestrator 2012 – Test & Start RunBooks

Part2 - System Center 2012 Orchestrator–RunBook Activities

Part3 - System Center 2012 Orchestrator–RunBook Basics

Orchestrator lets you to configure conditions with Smart Links. Smart Links connect individual activities in a runbook and support precedence between two activities.

Also as soon as previous activity finishes, these links invoke next activity. Best part is you can set link conditions to determine the direction of workflow.

For example you can monitor a folder and trigger next activity for each changed and deleted files within that folder. At this situation, you can split in two your workflow to configure separated activities for changed and deleted triggers. For example;

If monitor file activity notices a change event, then smart link will redirect entire workflow through upside activities.

If monitor file activity notices a delete event, then smart link will redirect flow through downside activities.

Look at the simple design;

For such a scenario, here are the basic configuration steps;

Monitor File activity monitors C:\Test folder for

Changed and Deleted items.

If you click first link;

you’ll notice that link will invoke next activity (Append Line) if Monitor File activity returns Success value. Please note that this is the default value for each Smart Link.

Include tab specifies conditions that enable data to flow to the next activity.

Exclude tab specifies the conditions that cause data to be excluded from the next activity. By default if an activity fails, link will not invoke next activity.

Also on Options tab you can configure link width and color. This is important for especially complex runbooks to highlight failover scenarios.

Trigger Delay sets the number of seconds that you want the smart link to wait before invoking the next step in the runbook.

In this runbook example, Append Line activity is not a mandatory, you can carry changed and deleted values from monitor activity to the links directly. But i just used it to show up triggered events.

It appends a line to the C:\Status.txt file with a value of Change Type from Monitor File activity.

Publishing data is also covered in my following article:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/meamcs/archive/2012/03/09/system-center-2012-orchestrator-runbook-activities.aspx

Now here is the magic starts. Click to Smart link to set a custom condition.

I want to set a condition as Status.txt from Append Line activity has a line of “Changed”. This provides that link will invoke next activity (Send Event Log Message) if specified condition is true.

Same condition for other smart link. This provides that link will invoke next activity (Send Email) if specified condition is true.

So if I change any file within C:\Test folder, smart link condition will redirect flow through the upper link and send an event log.

Let’s test with RunBook Tester.

Monitor file checks for changed and deleted files in C:\Test

I changed a file within C:\Test folder and saved it.

Orchestrator triggers the change and hops to the next activity.

Append Line activity appends “Changed” string to the status.txt file.

Now only matched link condition will continue on its way.

As you see below, Send Event Log Message is invoked by the upper smart link.

Here is the log file created by Orchestrator.

Because filtering in smart links is based on published datas from previous activities, you can also use smart link conditions with PowerShell based runbooks.

Here is an another example. It simply reads a text file to get required links. Then it checks for links with Select-String cmdlet and directs flow to the related side. Rest of workflow is about copying files to the remote servers and deleting source downloaded files.

Read Line activity just reads two lines.

Links.txt file includes two different URL to download filea or fileb from Internet.

To find out which link (FileA or FileB) is provided within txt file, I wrote a little custom PowerShell script.

It scans text file and search for DownloadfileA or DownloadFileB strings. If there is a line that includes one of those strings, (not null), StatusA or StatusB variables get filea or fileb values.

To pass these variable values to the next activity and links, simply configure them as Published Data.

Now I can tell to my smart links that to filter only for StatusA and StatusB static values.

Finally, if there is a URL in Links.txt file that has a string “downloadfilea”, smart link will redirect flow through upper activities. For links that includes downloadfilea string will flow through below activities.

Before finishing blog post, final important activity is Junction. It allows you to wait for multiple branches in a runbook to complete before continuing past the junction.

Junction activity can also publish data again from any branch so that downstream activities past the Junction activity can consume the data. Data from different branches than the one you selected will not be available

Anıl ERDURAN