Based on the feedback from SQL Server 2011 CTP3 , Microsoft released the latest release candidate (feature complete) of its flagship relational database management system SQL Server 2012 RC 0. Its available for download here . The complete hardware and software requirements are available here on MSDN. In this post I will cover some of them based on my experience of installing SQL Server 2012 RC 0.
- The download image contains set up for both x86 and x64 systems. Microsoft recommend installing SQL Server 2012 RC on a system running Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1. Once can install SQL Server 2012 RC 0 on Windows Vista SP2 or Windows Server 2008 SP2, but a .NET framework update is required first.The RC requires that the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and .NET Framework 4.0 be installed, along with PowerShell 2.0. The SQL Server 2012 installation process won’t automatically install PowerShell for users.
- Make sure that you are not using FAT32 formatted drive – Its supported but not recommended. Also, installation can not be done on a compressed drive.
- Launching SQL Server Setup through Terminal Services Client is not supported.
- .NET 3.5 SP1 is a prerequisite. It’s not installed by the SQL Server set up and needs to be installed before installation can proceed any further.
- Windows PowerShell 2.0 must be installed before SQL Server Installation.If its not already installed follow the procedure outlined here.
- At least Interner Explorer 7.
- CD/DVD Drive or Daemon tool to mount the ISO. If you are using Software to mount the Set-up ISO, Make you you complete the set up (till the last step by clicking on ‘Finish’ page and closing all open windows) and only then unmount the ISO disk.
- RAM – 1 GB minimum and 4 GB recommended.
- SQL Server failover cluster installation supports Local Disk only for installing the tempdb files. Ensure that the path specified for the tempdb data and log files is valid on all the cluster nodes. During failover, if the tempdb directories are not available on the failover target node, the SQL Server resource will fail to come online.
- If you are installing ‘Distributed Relay Controller’ on a standalone instance or Virtual machine that doesn’t have access to Active Directory, Do not add any user in the screen for DRC access (discussed in detail with screenshots here)
- If Visual Studio 2010 is installed on your system, Upgrade it to SP1. Without SP1 upgrade , installation won’t proceed.
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