SQL 2008 Setup SP1

If one gets the error message "The current SKU is invalid" while trying to add in another node to a SQL 2008 Cluster (and, perhaps significantly), one on which the other node(s) are running SP1, it is possible to get round this without slipstreaming.

Check, in Control Panel Add/Remove Programs, that the SQL 2008 Server Setup application is installed. If it is, back out of the node install, and run SQL 2008 SP1. It seems counter-intuitive, since SQL 2008 has not yet been installed. It does however work. I didn't stop the installer when I ran SP1, so I had to restart the node: I suspect that had I stopped the installer, I would not have needed to restart the node.

Once you've got the installation to work, you'll still need to service pack SQL Server itself, however, since you're on the passive node, it's pretty simple. And, since the installation is fresh, you won't need to restart again.

Microsoft error link.

Microsoft fix link.

Anything, but anything, to avoid slipstreaming the install.

SQL Configuration Manager Suddenly Unavailable

Last night, I installed SP1 onto a SQL 2008 Cluster. This morning, looking at another issue, I decided to mosey into the Configuration Manager, in order to double check which Ports SQL was operating on.

Imagine my horror when I got the following error, regardless of the account I used to try and open the tool:

"Cannot connect to WMI provider. You do not have permission or the server is unreachable. Note that you can only manage SQL Server 2005 servers or above with SQL Server Configuration Manager. Invalid class [0x80041010]"

Googling around suggested several solutions involving changing folder permissions, and also running something called mofcomp. This in particular seemed relevant to my situation, where an installation had recently been run on the server. It would seem that, occasionally, the .mof files get corrupted during an installation. They're Managed Object Format files, and used for storing system configuration information.

They can be found in the Shared folder for the 32 bit components of your SQL Server, for SQL 2005 and above. Thus, on a 64 bit cluster, they were here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Shared

And running this command in cmd fixed the problem. Phew.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Shared>mofcomp "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\10\Shared\sqlmgmproviderxpsp2up.mof"