Error 'The network address is invalid' Intalling Clustered SQL Server on VirtualBox VMs

Hi there,

While I was trying to set up a lab for testing out SQL Server 2016 on clustered two node Windows Server Failover cluster running Windows Server 2012 R2, I kept getting the error in the screen shot below.  I had no problem setting up the AD Domain controller, and two windows server nodes which will take part in the cluster.  DNS worked just fine, long story short there was no issue at all.  I tried two options where one was granting additional permissions  to windows cluster network object (CNO) which did not work, and other one was to pre-stage  the SQL Cluster  prior to installation which did not work either.

Further search came up with the solution from Jonathan Kehayias's blog dated September 19, 2011. The simple solution was  to remove 'Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions'.  I un-installed that software rebooted the servers and was able to install the SQL Server Cluster successfully.  If you're not already following not only Jonathan's blog but everyone at SQLskills, I recommend to do so since you will benefit from their contribution immensely.

HTH,
Bulent

How To Extend VirtualBox Dynamic Disk For Windows Server 2012 R2

I wanted to set up a lab environment using VirtualBox to test SQL Server 2016.  I  first started with the installation of Windows Server 2012 R2 and 15GB space configured as dynamic disk.  Installation went smooth and I then started the windows update process. After a while I started getting low disk free space and updates failed.  Here are the steps I took to extend the disk and screenshots below them.

1. Shutdown the virtual machine that needs additional space
2. Open up a command prompt with administrator privileges
3. Change your folder path to where VirtualBox is installed
4. Type the command above the first screenshot and provide the full path of the virtual disk you want to extend and the size you want to extend  the disk to, command provided below extends  the dynamic disk to 20GB
5. Start the virtual machine and log in  to windows
6. Open the 'Computer Management' and under the 'Storage' section on the left side of the pane and click on 'Disk Management' and you will see the unallocated space for the disk you just extended using the command in step  4
7. Right click on the disk you want want to extend to bring up the context menu where you will see 'Extend Volume' option
8. Click on 'Extend Volume'
9. This will bring the 'Extend Volume Wizard' and follow the steps in the wizard

VirtualBox command to extend the dynamic disk:
vboxmanage modifyhd "pathToYourVHDfile" --resize 20480

And here are the screenshots.

 

 

HTH,
Bulent