While working with many clients, I learned that “there could be many problems leading to same symptoms”. In this blog, we would learn about a reason which can cause empty startup parameter in SQL Cluster.
Long ago, I worked with a client and found that registry permission can cause empty startup parameter in SQL Server Configuration Manager.
SQL SERVER – Empty Startup Parameters in SQL Server Configuration Manager
In the current client scenario, the account was already part of Local Administrators group so it was not due to permission. Interestingly, when I checked registry key, I found that there were no parameters there as well.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL14.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQLServer\Parameters
To make things more interesting, we found that on one node we were able to see values in the registry as well as in the SQL Server Configuration Manager.
WORKAROUND/SOLUTION
Based on my understanding of Windows cluster, it sounds that issue with registry key checkpointing. We found that there were some issues with cluster resources, so my client recreated them manually. Due to this the checkpoints were missing.
Here are the PowerShell commands to add registry checkpoint.
Add-ClusterCheckpoint -ResourceName “SQL Network Name (MSSQLSERVER)” -RegistryCheckpoint “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL14.MSSQLSERVER\Cluster”
Add-ClusterCheckpoint -ResourceName “SQL Network Name (MSSQLSERVER)” -RegistryCheckpoint “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL14.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQLServer”
Add-ClusterCheckpoint -ResourceName “SQL Network Name (MSSQLSERVER)” -RegistryCheckpoint “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL14.MSSQLSERVER\Replication”
Add-ClusterCheckpoint -ResourceName “SQL Network Name (MSSQLSERVER)” -RegistryCheckpoint “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL14.MSSQLSERVER\Providers”
Add-ClusterCheckpoint -ResourceName “SQL Network Name (MSSQLSERVER)” -RegistryCheckpoint “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL14.MSSQLSERVER\SQLServerSCP”
Add-ClusterCheckpoint -ResourceName “SQL Network Name (MSSQLSERVER)” -RegistryCheckpoint “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL14.MSSQLSERVER\CPE”
Add-ClusterCheckpoint -ResourceName “SQL Network Name (MSSQLSERVER)” -RegistryCheckpoint “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL14.MSSQLSERVER\SQLServerAgent”
You should make changes based on your environment registry keys and resource name.
Reference: Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)
First appeared on SQL SERVER – Empty Startup Parameter in SQL Cluster on One Node