How to: Install Client Tools on a SQL Server Failover Cluster

Client tools such as SQL Server Management Studio are shared features common across all instances on the same machine. They are backward compatible, with supported SQL Server versions that can be installed side by side. Only one version of the client tool exists on a node at a time.

If the SQL Server client tools are installed during setup on first node of the SQL Server cluster, they are automatically added to any nodes that may be added later to the instance of SQL Server using Add Node.

Important

SQL Server Books Online is not automatically added to the additional nodes added to the SQL Server cluster using Add Node. SQL Server Books Online can be installed manually on the nodes that you wish to have a local copy of SQL Server Books Online.

If you do not install the SQL Server client tools during the initial installation of the SQL Server cluster, you can install it later as described in the procedures below.

Installation procedures

Installing SQL Server client tools using the Setup User Interface

  1. Insert the SQL Server installation media. From the root installation folder, double click Setup.exe. To install from the network share, locate the root folder on the share, and then double-click Setup.exe.

  2. On the Installation page, click New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add Features to an existing installation. Do not click New SQL Server failover cluster installation.

  3. The system configuration checker verifies the system state of your computer before Setup will continue.

  4. On the Installation Type page, click Perform a new installation of SQL Server 2008 R2.

  5. On the Feature Selection page, select the tools that you want to install and follow through the rest of the steps of the Setup process.

Installing SQL Server client tools using command prompt

  1. To install SQL Server client tools and SQL Server Books Online, run the following command: Setup.exe/q/Action=Install /Features=Tools

  2. To install only the basic SQL Server Management tools run the following command: Setup.exe/q/Action=Install Features=SSMS. This will install Management Studio support for SQL Server Database Engine, SQL Server Express, sqlcmd utility, and the SQL Server Powershell provider.

  3. To install the complete SQL Server Management tools, run the following command: Setup.exe/q/Action=Install /Features=ADV_SSMS. For more information about parameter values for the features, see How to: Install SQL Server 2008 R2 from the Command Prompt.

Uninstalling SQL Server client tools

They appear in Add or Remove programs in Control Panel as Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and can be removed from there. When you use Remove Node to uninstall an instance of SQL Server from the failover cluster, the client components are not uninstalled at the same time.