Moc6423AF-En Implementing Managing Windows Server 2008 Clustering-TrainerManual

OFFICIAL MICROSOFT LEARNING PRODUCT
6423A
Implementing and Managing
Windows Server®°2008 Clustering
ii Implementing and Managing Windows Server® 2008 Clustering
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Product Number: 6423A
Part Number: X14-89109

Released: 05/2008
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Implementing and Managing Windows Server® 2008 Clustering xi
Contents
Module 1: Introduction to Clusters
Lesson 1: Overview of Clusters 1-3
Lesson 2: Benefits of Using Clusters 1-11
Lesson 3: Overview of the Windows Server 2008 High Availability
Solutions 1-20
Lab: Identifying Windows Server 2008 High-Availability Solutions 1-29
Module 2: Introduction to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Failover Clusters

Lesson 1: Overview of Windows Server 2008 Failover Clusters 2-3
Lesson 2: Key Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster Features 2-12
Lesson 3: Overview of the Windows Server 2008 Quorum Modes 2-23
Lab: Identifying Windows Server 2008 Clustering Solutions 2-36
Module 3: Preparing to Install a Failover Cluster

Lesson 1: Overview of Requirements for Installing a Failover Cluster 3-3
Lesson 2: Planning the Failover Cluster Implementation 3-13
Lesson 3: Installing the Failover Clustering Feature and Validating the
Cluster Configuration 3-26
Lesson 4: Installing the Failover Cluster on Windows Server 2008
Server Core 3-41
Lab: Preparing for a Cluster Installation 3-47
Module 4: Overview of Failover Cluster Storage Requirements

Lesson 1: Overview of Storage Technologies 4-3
Lesson 2: Introduction to Storage Area Networks 4-22
Lesson 3: Planning a Storage Solution for Failover Clusters 4-37
Lesson 4: Configuring an iSCSI Storage Connection 4-43
Lab: Identifying SAN Components 4-49
xii Implementing and Managing Windows Server® 2008 Clustering
Module 5: Configuring a Failover Cluster

Lesson 1: Creating a New Failover Cluster 5-3
Lesson 2: Managing a Failover Cluster 5-7
Lesson 3: Verifying Failover Functionality 5-14
Lab: Creating and Administering a Cluster 5-21
Module 6: Configuring Cluster Resources and Server Roles

Lesson 1: Configuring Cluster Resources 6-3
Lesson 2: Implementing Failover Clusters for Server Roles Using
Failover Cluster Management 6-9
Lesson 3: Clustering Server Roles Using Windows Server Core 6-15
Lab: Clustering Server Roles and Features 6-22
Module 7: Maintaining Microsoft Failover Clusters

Lesson 1: Monitoring Failover Clusters 7-3
Lesson 2: Backing Up and Restoring Failover Clusters 7-11
Lesson 3: Troubleshooting Failover Clusters 7-20
Lab: Maintaining Failover Clusters 7-26
Module 8: Implementing Multi-Site Clusters

Lesson 1: Overview of Multi-Site Clusters 8-3
Lesson 2: Implementing Multi-Site Clusters Using Windows Server 2008 8-14
Module 9: Implementing Network Load Balancing Clusters

Lesson 1: Overview of Network Load Balancing Clusters 9-3
Lesson 2: Configuring a Network Load Balancing Cluster 9-15
Lesson 3: Maintaining a Network Load Balancing Cluster 9-30
Lab: Implementing an NLB Cluster 9-37
Lab Answer Keys

About This Course xiii
MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

About This Course
This section provides you with a brief description of the course, audience, student
prerequisites, course objectives, and a course outline.
Course Description
This three-day instructor-led course introduces Windows Server®°2008 clustering,
and provides students with the knowledge and skills to implement, maintain, and
troubleshoot clusters.
Audience
This course is intended for IT professional technical specialists who are
responsible for using clustering technologies to implement and maintain high-
availability solutions.
Student Prerequisites
This course requires that you meet the following prerequisites:
• Experience managing Windows Server®°2003 or Windows Server 2008, in a
networking environment
• Basic knowledge of clustering theory
• Experience managing applications and network topologies in an enterprise
environment
• Basic IT troubleshooting skills
Course Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to:
• Provide an overview of cluster concepts.
• Describe key features and functionality of the Windows Server 2008 failover
clusters.
• Prepare to install a failover cluster.
• Describe failover cluster storage requirements.
• Configure a failover cluster.
xiv About This Course

• Configure cluster resources and server roles.
• Maintain and troubleshoot failover clusters.
• Describe how to use and implement multi-site clusters.
• Explain how to install and maintain network load balanced (NLB) clusters.
Course Outline
The following section provides a course outline:
Module 1: Provides an overview of cluster concepts and functionality.
Module 2: Describes key features and functionality of the Windows Server 2008
failover clusters.
Module 3: Explains the technical prerequisites and planning that is required to
install a Windows failover cluster.
Module 4: Describes storage fundamentals, and how to plan and implement
storage solutions for failover clusters.
Module 5: Explains how to install and manage a failover cluster.
Module 6: Explains how to configure cluster resources, and how to cluster
common Window Server roles and applications.
Module 7: Explains how to maintain and troubleshoot failover clusters.
Module 8: Explains geographically dispersed clusters, and the challenges that they
present. This module also describes how to implement a multi-subnet cluster using
Windows Server 2008.
Module 9: Explains how to install and maintain network load balanced (NLB)
clusters.
About This Course xv

Course Materials
Your kit includes the following materials:
• Course Handbook. The handbook contains the materials that the class will
cover.
• Course evaluation. At the end of the course, you will have the opportunity to
complete an online evaluation to provide feedback about the course, training
facility, and instructor.
To provide additional comments or feedback about the course, send e-mail to

support@mscourseware.com. To inquire about the Microsoft Certification
Program, send e-mail to mcphelp@microsoft.com.
Virtual Machine Environment

This section provides information about setting up the classroom environment to
support the course’s business scenario.
Virtual Machine Configuration

In this course, you will use Microsoft® Virtual Server 2005 and the Microsoft Lab
Launcher to perform the labs.
Important: At the end of each lab, you must close the virtual machine, and must
not save any changes. To close a virtual machine without saving changes, perform
the following steps for each running virtual machine:
1. Close the Virtual Machine Remote Control window.
2. In the Close box that appears, select Turn off machine
and discard changes, and then click OK.
3. Close the Lab Launcher window.
xvi About This Course

The following table shows the role of each virtual machine that this course uses:
Virtual machine Role

Domain controller in the Fabrikam.com domain
6423A-VAN-DC1
Windows Server 2003
6423A-VAN-SRV3A
Member servers in Fabrikam.com
6423A-VAN-SRV3B
6423A-VAN-SRV5A
6423A-VAN-SRV5B
6423A-VAN-SRV6A
6423A-VAN-SRV36B
6423A-VAN-CORE6A
6423A-VAN-CORE6B
Software Configuration
The following software is installed on each virtual machine:
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
Classroom Setup
Each classroom computer will have the same virtual machine configured in the
same way.
Course Hardware Level

To ensure a satisfactory student experience, Microsoft Learning requires a
minimum equipment configuration for trainer and student computers in all
Microsoft Certified Partner for Learning Solutions (CPLS) classrooms in which
Official Microsoft Learning Product courseware is taught. This course requires a
computer that exceeds hardware level 5.5, and should consist of a 2.4–gigahertz
(minimum) Pentium 4 or equivalent CPU, at least 4 gigabytes (GB) of RAM, 16
megabytes (MB) of video RAM, and a 7200 RPM 80-GB hard disk.
Introduction to Clusters 1-1

Module 1
Introduction to Clusters
Contents:
Lesson 1: Overview of Clusters 1-3
Lesson 2: Benefits of Using Clusters 1-11
Lesson 3: Overview of the Windows Server 2008 High-Availability
Solutions 1-20
Lab: Identifying Windows Server 2008 High-Availability Solutions 1-29
1-2 Implementing and Managing Windows Server 2008 Clustering

Module Overview
Today’s enterprises place increased emphasis on high availability and performance

of mission-critical applications. To find effective solutions for these environments,
it is important to understand both industry standard terminology, and the
available Windows Server®°2008 solutions.
This module describes clustering technologies, availability, scalability, and
manageability features, and Windows Server 2008 cluster solutions.

Lesson 1
Overview of Clusters
This lesson provides the industry definition of clusters, and describes how clusters
can benefit an enterprise. This lesson also defines important cluster terminology,
and the cluster types and categories.

What Are Clusters?
Key Points
A cluster is a group of computers and storage devices that work together as a single
organized system. You can use clusters to distribute servicing load or provide high
availability of services. You can create many different types of clusters to provide
these services.
In a cluster, the component computers communicate with each other over a high-
performance, reliable network: they may share one or more common storage
devices. You use cluster configurations to address availability, scalability, and
manageability.
For more information, see "What’s New in Clustering Technologies"
For more information, see "Failover Clustering with Windows Server

2008"

Discussion: Why Use Clusters?
Key Points
Answer the questions in a classroom discussion.

Clustering Terminology
Key Points
You must have a basic understanding of common terminology to discuss cluster
features and components.
For more information, see "Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition:

Cluster Server Resource Center"

Types of Clusters
Key Points
There are four main types of clusters that are used in the market today. The four
types are:
• Highly available (HA) clusters, which provide greater uptime for computing
services. Multiple nodes allow backup servers to be available if a running
server suffers a failure.
• Load-balanced clusters, which distribute incoming network load to multiple
servers. Resources between servers are not usually shared. These types of
clusters are primarily designed to spread the work of one server to multiple
servers. Load-balanced clusters are also called server farms.

• High performance computing (HPC) clusters, which spread computational
tasks among multiple nodes. HPC clusters are very tightly interconnected and
require active communication between cluster servers. HPC clusters are able to
take advantage of the parallel processing available with multiple nodes, but act
like a single computational entity. HPC clusters are commonly used in the
science, medical, and academic communities.
• Grid computing clusters are similar to HPC clusters; however, the nodes are
not as tightly connected and do not function as a single computational entity.
Tasks or jobs are farmed out to nodes that perform the work independently
from the rest of the cluster.

Clustering Categories
Key Points
The four types of clusters fall into two main categories: shared device, and shared
nothing clusters.
• In shared device clusters, software that runs on any node in the cluster may
access any resource (for example, a disk) that is connected to any other node
in the cluster. If two nodes must access the same data, the data must be either
read twice from the disk, or copied from one node to another. You typically
employ a locking and tracking mechanism to preserve data integrity.
• Shared nothing provide greater redundancy. Each node of the cluster owns a
subset of the resources that make up the cluster. Only one system may own
and access a particular resource at a time, although, on a failure, another node
may take ownership of the resource. Additionally, requests from clients are
automatically routed to the node that owns the resource.

For more information, see "Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition:
Cluster Server Resource Center"

Lesson 2
Benefits of Using Clusters
Clusters provide availability, scalability, and manageability for mission-critical

applications. This lesson describes how clusters benefit an enterprise.

Clustering Benefits
Key Points
Clusters provide benefits in three key areas: availability, scalability, and
manageability.
For more information, see "Windows Server 2003 Clustering"


What Is Availability?
Key Points
Availability is measured in the percentage of time that resources are running and
accessible during the course of a year or other period. Generally, availability rates
do not include planned downtime. Planned downtime includes time that the
application is unavailable due to software, hardware, and other maintenance
activities.
Mean time to failure (MTTF) is the amount of time that it takes for a solution to
fail. Every component has an MTTF. For example, a hard disk might have an MTTF
of 150,000 hours, and on average, you would replace it after 150,000 hours of use.
To increase MTTF of a single hard disk, you can add multiple disks in a redundant
array. You can apply this same methodology to other components, such as
memory and power supplies.

Decreasing the mean time to recover (MTTR) of solution components also helps
improve availability. You can help reduce the time it takes to recover from a failure
by creating standard operating procedures and fully documenting a solution.
Although clusters can improve MTTF and MTTR by increasing the number of
available nodes, it is also important to address the MTTF and MTTR of individual
cluster components in order to improve overall cluster stability and performance.


How Clusters Improve Availability
Key Points
Clusters help improve:
• MTTF by spreading load across multiple servers. Redundant cluster nodes
improve the MTTF by spreading load between nodes, which reduces the
amount of time a resource is used.
• MTTR by having multiple nodes, which allows a cluster solution to respond as
soon as a failure is detected.


Discussion: Increasing the Mean Time to Failure
Key Points

What Is Scalability?
Key Points
Clusters can address several types of scalability: scaling up, scaling out, and
consolidation. Consolidation may seem to be the opposite of scalability; however,
due to improved stability and performance of clusters, you might be able to add
more load to a cluster.


How Clusters Improve Scalability
Key Points
When scaling out, you add more nodes to a cluster to improve performance across
all nodes. For example, suppose that you have a two-node cluster with both nodes
running at 75% processor utilization, and the end-user performance is impacted. If
you add another node to the cluster, you can reduce the processor utilization. This
reduction occurs because the additional node takes on part of the workload. The
result is improved performance for end users.


What Is Cluster Manageability?
Key Points
Although complexity increases in a clustered environment, disaster recovery and
update management capabilities outweigh these complexities. For example:
• Disaster recovery improves in a cluster because application and hardware
failures are recovered automatically by restarting the application on a healthy
node. This enables the failed node to be repaired while the application remains
available. In a stand-alone server configuration, you might need to reinstall or
reconfigure an application on new hardware in the event of a failure.
• By using a cluster, you can perform application and operating system updates
while the application continues to run on another cluster node.


Lesson 3
Overview of the Windows Server 2008
High-Availability Solutions
Windows Server 2008 provides two primary high-availability solutions: failover

clusters, and network load balancing. This lesson describes how each type works
separately, and how they work together.

Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster Features
Key Points
You assign most clustered applications and their associated resources to one
cluster node at a time. This type of resource control is commonly called a shared
nothing model. In this model, only the owning node has access to the assigned
cluster resources.
If a failover cluster detects a node failure or if the node is taken offline for
maintenance while running a clustered application, the application is started on
another cluster node. To minimize the impact of the failure, client requests are
immediately redirected to the new cluster node.
For more information, see "Failover Clustering with Windows Server

2008"

For more information, see "Availability and Scalability"
For more information, see "Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering

Help: Overview of Failover Clusters"

How Windows Server 2008 Failover Clusters Work
Key Points
In a Windows Server 2008 failover cluster, only one node at a time controls
resources. For example, in the case of a computer running Microsoft® SQL Server®,
the SQL Server application runs on either node A or node B. Required SQL Server
resources are controlled by the node that runs SQL Server. The node that controls
the resources is called the active, node and the node that is not running any
resources is called the passive node.

Windows Server 2008 Network Load Balancing (NLB)
Clusters
Key Points
You can use network load balancing clusters to provide scalability for Web services
and other front-end servers such as virtual private network (VPN) servers and
firewalls. Organizations can build groups of clustered computers to support load
balancing of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol
(UDP) traffic requests.
Network load balancing clusters are groups of identical (usually cloned)
computers that, because of their numbers, enhance the availability of:
• Web servers
• Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) servers (for proxy and
firewall servers)
• Terminal Services
• Microsoft Office Outlook® Web Access
• Other applications that receive TCP and UDP traffic

Because network load balancing cluster nodes are usually identical clones of each
other, and can therefore operate independently, all nodes in a network load
balancing cluster are active.
You can scale out network load balancing clusters by adding as many as 32
servers. Each node runs a copy of the IP-based application or service that is being
load-balanced. Each node has access to all the data that is necessary for the
application or service to run.

How Network Load Balancing Clusters Work
Key Points
Network load balancing distributes IP traffic to multiple instances of a TCP/IP
service, such as a Web server, each running on a host within the cluster. Network
load balancing transparently distributes the client requests among the hosts, and
enables the clients to access the cluster using one or more virtual IP addresses.
From the client’s point of view, the cluster appears to be a single server that
answers these client requests. As enterprise traffic increases, you can simply plug
another server into the cluster.
For example, clustered hosts work together to service network traffic from
the Internet. Each server runs a copy of an IP-based service, such as Internet
Information Services 7.0 (IIS), and network load balancing distributes the
workload among them. This speeds up normal processing so that Internet clients
receive faster turnaround on their requests.

Summary of Network Load Balancing Clusters
Key Points
Network load balancing is usually used to provide high availability and scalability
for Web servers or File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers. No special hardware is
required to use network load balancing, and it is available in all editions of
Windows Server 2008. Network load balancing is usually deployed in a single
network, but can also be deployed over multiple networks to provide cross-
network availability.
For more information, see "Network Load Balancing Improvements"


Using Failover Clusters with Network Load Balancing
Key Points
You can often use failover clusters and network load balancing together to create a
comprehensive solution. For example, a Web application can have a network load-
balanced tier of Web servers that connect to a failover clustered database tier. This
type of highly available tiered configuration provides a redundant solution that can
sustain multiple failures while continuing to serve client requests.

Lab: Identifying Windows Server 2008
High-Availability Solutions
Lab Objectives
• Identify solutions for Web servers
• Identify solutions for database servers
• Identify complex solutions
Scenario
In this lab, you will answer questions based on given scenarios.

Exercise 1: Identifying Solutions for Web Servers
Fourth Coffee has a company Web site that contains mostly static content. The
number of users that connect to the site continues to increase. The site runs on a
single Windows Server 2008 computer that cannot adequately handle the peak
load.
The main task for this exercise is to identify solutions based on the given scenario.
f Task 1: Identify solutions based on the given scenario

1. What technology can you use to provide more processing power to the Web
site?
2. How would this technology solve the problem of a single point of failure?

Exercise 2: Identifying Solutions for Database Servers
Contoso has a single computer running Microsoft SQL Server, whose job it is to
process orders. Because of monthly maintenance routines and hardware failures,
the server is unavailable for several hours every month. Contoso needs a solution
that minimizes downtime during normal updates, and minimizes outages because
of hardware failures.

1. What technology can you use to minimize downtime during operating system
updates and hardware failures?
2. How would this solution solve the problem of a single point of failure?

Exercise 3: Identifying Complex Solutions
Contoso has a database-driven Web site with a single server. Performance and
server hardware problems affect the amount of orders that can be placed with the
site. Contoso needs a solution that improves the order processing site’s
performance and availability.

1. What clustering solution(s) can you use to solve the Web site problems?
2. At a minimum, how many servers would you need to complete this
configuration?
Introduction to Windows Server 2008 Failover Clusters 2-1

Module 2
Introduction to Windows Server 2008
Failover Clusters
Contents:
Lesson 1: Overview of Windows Server 2008 Failover Clusters 2-3
Lesson 2: Key Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster Features 2-12
Lesson 3: Overview of the Windows Server 2008 Quorum Modes 2-23
Lab: Identifying Windows Server 2008 Clustering Solutions 2-36

Module Overview
Failover clusters in Windows Server® 2008 provide a high-availability solution for

many server roles and applications. By implementing failover clusters, you can
maintain application or service availability if one or more computers in the failover
cluster fail.
This module provides an overview of Windows Server 2008 failover clusters.

Lesson 1
Overview of Windows Server 2008 Failover
Clusters
In order to plan and implement a failover cluster, you must first understand the
terminology, and how failover clusters work. This lesson provides this information.

Failover Cluster Components
Key Points
In a failover cluster, each node in the cluster:
• Has full connectivity and communication with the other nodes in the cluster.
• Is aware when another node joins or leaves the cluster.
• Is connected to a network through which client computers can access the
cluster.
• Is connected through a shared bus or Internet SCSI (iSCSI) connection to
shared storage.
• Is aware of the services or applications that are running locally, and the
resources that are running on all other cluster nodes.

Most clustered applications and their associated resources are assigned to one
cluster node at a time. The node that has access to those cluster resources is
the active node. If the nodes detect the failure of the active node for a clustered
application, or if the active node is taken offline for maintenance, then the
clustered application is started on another cluster node. To minimize the impact of
the failure, client requests are immediately and transparently redirected to the new
cluster node.

Failover Cluster Components Terminology
Key Points
Shared storage usually refers to logical devices — normally hard drives or logical
unit numbers (LUN) — that all the cluster nodes attach to via a shared bus. This
bus is separate from the bus that contains the system and boot disks. The shared
disks store applications, file shares, and other resources that the cluster will
manage.
For more information, see "Step-by-Step Guide for Configuring a Two-

Node File Server Failover Cluster in Windows Server 2008"
For more information, see "What’s New in Failover Clusters in Windows

Server 2008"

What Are Clustered Services and Resources?
Key Points
Clustered services that contain an IP address resource and a network name
resource (as well as other resources,) are published to clients on the network
under a unique server name. Because these groups appear as individual logical
servers to clients, they are called a cluster instance.
Users access applications or services on an instance in the same way they would if
the application or service were on a non-clustered server. Usually, the application
or user does not know that they are connecting to a cluster, nor to which node
they are connected.
Resources are physical or logical entities, such as a file share, disk, or IP address,
which the failover cluster manages. Resources may provide a service to clients, or
be an integral part of the cluster. Resources are the most basic and smallest
configurable unit. At any given time, a resource can run only on a single node in a
cluster, and is online on a node when it is providing its service to that specific
node.

Failover Clusters and Networks
Key Points
When configuring networks in failover clusters, you must dedicate a network to
connect to the shared storage. If you use iSCSI for the shared storage connection,
the network will use IP-based communications; however, you cannot use this
network for node or client communication.
You can use the private and public networks for both client and node
communications. As a best practice, you should dedicate an isolated network for
the private node communication. The public network is configured to allow client
connections to the failover cluster. The public network can provide backup for the
private network.

For more information, see "Step-by-Step Guide for Configuring a Two-
Node File Server Failover Cluster in Windows Server 2008"

Server 2008"

What Is Failover?
Key Points
A failover attempt consists of the following steps:
1. The cluster service takes all the resources in the instance offline in an
order that is determined by the instance’s dependency hierarchy: dependent
resources first, followed by the resources on which they depend. For example,
if an application depends on a physical disk resource, the cluster service takes
the application offline first, which allows the application to write changes to
the disk before the disk is taken offline.
2. When all the resources are offline, the cluster service attempts to transfer the
instance to the node that is listed next on the instance’s list of preferred
owners.

3. If the cluster service successfully moves the instance to another node, it
attempts to bring all the resources online. This time it starts at the bottom of
the dependency hierarchy. Failover is complete when all of the resources are
online on the new node.
4. When the node becomes active again, the cluster service can fail back the
instances that were originally hosted by the node. When the cluster service
fails back an instance, it uses the same procedures that it performs during
failover: that is, the cluster service takes all the resources in the instance offline,
moves the instance, and then brings all the resources in the instance back
online.

Lesson 2
Key Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster
Features
Windows Server 2008 includes several core features that make it easier to set up
and maintain a failover cluster. This lesson describes these features and how they
will affect your failover administration tasks.

Installation and Validation Features
Key Points
One of the significant new features in Windows Server 2008 failover clusters is
that all the hardware components must be marked as “Certified for Windows
Server 2008”. In addition, the complete configuration must pass all tests in the
Validate a Configuration Wizard. This is different from previous server clusters
versions, which required that all hardware be on a hardware compatibility list
(HCL), specifically a list for server clusters.
The Validate a Configuration Wizard tests include specific simulations of cluster
actions, which fall into the following categories:
• System configuration tests: Analyzes whether the selected servers meet specific
requirements, for example the requirement that the servers must run the same
operating system version and software updates.
• Network tests: Analyzes whether the cluster nodes network configuration
meets specific requirements, for example requirements for network
redundancy.

• Storage tests: Analyzes whether the storage meets specific requirements, for
example whether the storage correctly supports the necessary SCSI commands
and handles simulated cluster actions correctly.

Server 2008"

Management Features
Key Points
The management tools install by default when you install the Failover
Clustering feature. You can also install these tools on computers running
Windows Server 2008 that do not have the Failover Clustering feature installed.
To install the management tools, choose the option to add a feature in Server
Manager. The failover cluster tools are available under the Remote Server
Administration Tools.
The failover cluster tools are also included in Remote Server Administration Tools
that you can install on computers running Windows Vista® Service Pack 1.

Server 2008"

Demonstration: Using the Failover Cluster Management
Interface
Question:
How would you compare the Failover Cluster Management snap-in in Windows
Server 2008 with server cluster management tools in previous Windows versions,
or with other Windows Server 2008 management tools?

Networking Features
Key Points
Networking features include the following features:
• In order to verify all nodes in a cluster, the nodes transmit and receive
heartbeats to confirm that each node is still available. The nodes use User
Datagram Protocol (UDP) unicast, versus UPD broadcast (used in legacy
clusters). The messages are sent on port 3343.
• You can now place clustered servers on different IP subnets, which reduces the
requirements for multi-site clusters.
• The Microsoft® Failover Cluster Virtual Adapter is a hidden device that is
added to each node when you install the Failover Clustering feature. The
adapter is assigned a media access control (MAC) address based of the MAC
address that is associated with the first enumerated physical network adapter
in the node.

• Failover clusters fully support IP version 6 (IPv6) for both node-to-node and
node-to-client communication.
• You can use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to assign IP
addresses, or you can assign static IP addresses to all nodes in the cluster. If
some nodes have static IP addresses, and you configure others to use DHCP,
the Validate a Configuration Wizard will raise an error. The cluster IP address
resources are obtained based on the configuration of the network interface
supporting that cluster network.

Server 2008"

Storage Features
Key Points
Storage features include the following features:
• Parallel SCSI, which previous versions of server clusters supported, is no
longer supported for shared disk devices in a failover cluster.
• In Windows Server 2008, the cluster disk driver is a stand-alone component
that communicates with the Partition Manager driver (PartMgr.sys), for
managing clustered disks. During the installation process, the driver is
registered as a system Plug-n-Play (PNP) device, and is started during the
normal Windows startup process.
The cluster disk driver provides improvements to disk fencing and arbitration
behavior. Disk fencing activities have been offloaded to the PartMgr.sys
driver. This change improves integration with core operating system disk
management, and reduces the chances for disk corruption. Disk arbitration
now uses persistent reservations and an improved algorithm. This works to
eliminate the possibility of the disk being in an unprotected state.

• Failover clusters support both Master Boot Record (MBR) and GUID Partition
Table (GPT) disks. GPT disks allow you to create partitions greater than 2
terabytes. Dynamic disks are not supported.

Server 2008"

Security Features
Key Points
Security features include the following features:
• In Windows Server 2008 failover clusters, authentication uses Kerberos
authentication, but it can fall back to NTLM authentication (version 1
or version 2), if needed. Because computer objects are created in Active
Directory® domain services (AD DS), Kerberos authentication is supported
by default, for each clustered Network Name resource.
• When you configure a failover cluster, you create both a Cluster Name Object
(CNO) and a Virtual Computer Object (VCO). The CNO is associated with the
Cluster Name core resource. A VCO is a computer object that is created in AD
DS for all other cluster Network Name resources that are created as part of
configuring a Client Access Point (CAP). After AD DS creates the CNO, it is
used as the security context for the cluster. It is used when accessing all
external resources, and in the creation of VCOs. As a result, Kerberos will be
enabled on the Network Name resource by default, and will be used as the
primary authentication mechanism.

• The Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering auditing feature provides the
capability to audit (monitor) cluster access. You can enable the auditing
feature to audit accesses (success and\or failure) of the Microsoft Failover
Cluster object. This means that any client access that uses either the Failover
Cluster Management snap-in, the cluster.exe command line, or any custom
application that calls cluster application programming interfaces (APIs), will be
audited. The auditing feature only audits cluster access; actions executed once
granted access to the cluster are not audited.
• By default, all communication between nodes is digitally signed, which verifies
the source of all communication. You can use the cluster.exe command-line
tool to set the SecurityLevel attribute for the cluster value of 2. This will
encrypt inter-cluster communications and increase security.

Server 2008"

Lesson 3
Overview of the Windows Server 2008
Quorum Modes
The most important reason for implementing failover clusters is to provide high
availability for services and applications. Windows Server 2008 failover clusters
use a quorum to ensure that enough members are available for the cluster to
continue operating. In order to implement and manage failover clusters, you must
understand the options that are available for configuring quorums. This lesson
describes how quorum works in Windows Server 2008 failover clusters.

What Is Quorum?
Key Points
The failover cluster quorum configuration determines the number of failed
nodes or failed storage and network components that the cluster can sustain
while continuing to function. Quorum prevents two sets of nodes from operating
simultaneously as the failover cluster. Simultaneous operation could happen when
network problems prevent one set of nodes from communicating with another set
of nodes. Without a quorum mechanism, each set of nodes could continue to
operate as a failover cluster, resulting in a partition within the cluster.
To prevent problems caused by a split in the cluster, failover clusters use a
voting algorithm to determine whether the cluster has enough votes to maintain
quorum. Because a given cluster has a specific set of nodes and a specific quorum
configuration, the cluster will know how many votes are required. If the number of
votes drops below the majority, the cluster stops running. Nodes will still listen for
the presence of other nodes, in case another node appears again on the network,
but the nodes will not function as a cluster until a consensus is reached.

For more information, see "Failover Cluster Online Help: Understanding
Quorum Configurations in a Failover Cluster"

How Quorum Works
Key Points
The Quorum Manager component determines if the current cluster membership
has quorum. If the Quorum Manager determines that quorum has not been
achieved or has been lost, it will terminate the cluster across all nodes.
The Resource Control Manager component controls the configuration and state of
resources, and resource dependency trees. It is responsible for monitoring the
online status of active resources.

Types of Quorum Modes
Key Points
With the exception of the No Majority: Disk Only mode, all quorum modes
in Windows Server 2008 failover clusters are based on a simple majority vote
model. As long as a majority of the votes are available, the cluster will continue to
function. For example, if there are five votes in the cluster, the cluster will continue
to function as long as there are at least three available votes. The source of the
votes is not relevant—the vote could be a node, witness disk, or witness file share.
When only a minority of votes is available, the cluster will stop functioning.
In the No Majority: Disk Only mode, the quorum-shared disk can veto all other
possible votes. In this mode, the cluster will continue to function as long as the
quorum-shared disk and at least one node are available. If the quorum-shared disk
is not available, the cluster will stop functioning, even if all nodes are still available.
In this mode, the quorum-shared disk is a single point of failure, so this mode is
not recommended.

For more information, see "Failover Cluster Online Help: Illustrations of
Quorum Configurations"

What Is the Node Majority Mode?
Key Points
In a Node Majority mode, only the nodes in the cluster have a vote. If there are a
total of three nodes in the cluster, the following scenarios are possible.
Node1 Node2 Node3 Cluster status

Online Online Online Online
Online Online Offline Online
Online Offline Offline Offline
Offline Offline Offline Offline


What Is the Node and Disk Majority Mode?
Key Points
In a Node and Disk Majority mode, both the nodes in the cluster and the witness
disk have a vote. If there are a total of four nodes in the cluster, the following
scenarios are possible.
Witness
Node1 Node2 Node3 Node4 disk Cluster status
Online Online Online Online Online Online
Online Online Offline Online Offline Online
Online Online Offline Offline Online Online
Online Online Offline Offline Online Online
Online Online Offline Offline Offline Offline


(continued)
Witness
Node1 Node2 Node3 Node4 disk Cluster status
Online Offline Offline Offline Online Offline
Offline Offline Offline Offline Online Offline
Offline Offline Offline Offline Offline Offline


What Is the Node and File Share Majority Mode?
Key Points
In a Node and File Share Majority mode, the nodes in the cluster and a file share
witness have a vote. If there are a total of three nodes in the cluster, the following
scenarios are possible.
File share
Node1 Node2 Node3 witness Cluster status
Online Online Online Online Online
Online Online Online Offline Online
Online Online Offline Offline Offline
Online Offline Offline Online Offline


(continued)
File share
Node1 Node2 Node3 witness Cluster status
Offline Offline Offline Online Offline
Offline Offline Offline Offline Offline


What Is the No Majority: Disk Only Mode?
Key Points
In a No Majority: Disk Only mode, only the shared disk has a vote. If there are a
total of three nodes in the cluster, the following scenarios are possible.
Node1 Node2 Node3 Shared disk Cluster status

Online Online Online Online Online
Online Online Online Offline Offline
Online Online Offline Offline Offline
Online Offline Offline Online Online
Offline Offline Offline Online Offline
Offline Offline Offline Offline Offline


Choosing a Quorum Mode
Key Points
When you configure a failover cluster in Windows Server 2008, the Installation
Wizard automatically chooses one of two possible default configurations. Modify
this setting only if you determine that a change is appropriate for your cluster, and
ensure that you understand the implications of making the change.
In addition to planning your quorum mode, you should also consider the
capacity of the nodes in your cluster, and their ability to support the services and
applications that may fail over to that node. For example, a cluster that has four
nodes and a witness disk will still have quorum after two nodes fail. However, if
you have several applications or services deployed on the cluster, each remaining
cluster node may not have the capacity to provide services.

Lab: Identifying Windows Server 2008
Clustering Solutions
Lab Objectives
• Identify clustered scenarios
Scenario
In this lab, you will answer questions based on the following scenarios.
Scenario 1
Contoso is redesigning their file server implementation. The organization
has identified high availability as an essential requirement in the new server
implementation. All of the file servers will be located in the organization’s data
center, and will be connected to a storage area network (SAN). To meet
performance requirements, the organization will require three servers to be
available. The organization has been using a SAN for several years.

Scenario 2
Tailspin Toys is redesigning their print server implementation. The organization
has identified high availability as an essential requirement in the new server
implementation. The print servers are deployed in one of three data centers. All
data centers are connected by a wide area network (WAN), which is highly
available and has excess bandwidth. To meet high availability requirements,
printing must not be disrupted if the local print server that the user is connected to
fails. The organization has implemented a third-party data replication product
between the data centers.
Scenario 3
Woodgrove Bank is planning to deploy a new failover cluster-aware application.
The application provides essential business services, and must be highly available.
All of the application servers will be deployed in one data center, and all servers
will be connected to a SAN using Internet SCSI (iSCSI). The application is highly
disk input/output (I/O)-intensive, so the implementation should minimize disk
I/O as much as possible.

Exercise 1: Identifying Clustered Scenarios
The main task for this exercise is to identify cluster solutions based on the given
scenarios.
f Task 1: Identify cluster solutions based on each of the previous

scenarios
1. Which quorum mode would you recommend for each scenario?
2. How would you deploy and configure the nodes in each of the scenarios?
Preparing to Install a Failover Cluster 3-1

Module 3
Preparing to Install a Failover Cluster
Contents:
Lesson 1: Overview of Requirements for Installing a Failover Cluster 3-3
Lesson 2: Planning the Failover Cluster Implementation 3-13
Lesson 3: Installing the Failover Clustering Feature and Validating the
Cluster Configuration 3-26
Lesson 4: Installing the Failover Cluster on Windows Server 2008
Server Core 3-41
Lab: Preparing for a Cluster Installation 3-47

Module Overview
This module outlines the requirements for failover cluster hardware and software.
Additionally, this module outlines steps to install the Failover Clustering feature,
use the Validate a Configuration Wizard to ensure proper cluster configuration,
and install the failover cluster on Windows Server® 2008 Server Core.

Lesson 1
Overview of Requirements for Installing a
Failover Cluster
Windows Server 2008 failover clusters have specific recommended hardware and
software configurations that enable Microsoft® to support the cluster. Failover
clusters are intended to provide a higher level of service than stand-alone servers.
Therefore, cluster hardware requirements are often more strict than requirements
for stand-alone servers.
This lesson describes the hardware, network, storage, infrastructure, and software
requirements for Windows Server 2008 failover clusters.

Failover Cluster Server Hardware Requirements
Key Points
Failover clusters need the following to meet availability and support requirements:
• All hardware that you select for a failover cluster must meet the “Certified for
Windows Server 2008” logo requirements. Hardware that obtains this logo is
independently tested to meet the highest technical bar for reliability,
availability, stability, security, and platform compatibility.
• You must install the same hardware on each failover cluster node. For
example, if you choose a specific model of network adapter, you should install
this adapter on each of the cluster nodes.
• After you configure the servers with the hardware, all Validate a Configuration
Wizard tests must pass before the cluster is considered a configuration that is
supported by Microsoft.

For more information, see "Failover Cluster Help: Understanding
Requirement for Failover Clusters"
For more information, see "Windows Server 2008 Application

Compatibility and Certification Forum"
For more information, see "Innovate on Windows Server"
For more information, see "Windows Server Catalog of Tested Products"


Failover Cluster Server Network Requirements
Key Points
Failover cluster network components must have both the “Certified for Windows
Server 2008” logo, and pass the Validate a Configuration Wizard tests.
Additionally:
• The network adapters in each of the nodes must be identical and have the
same IP protocol version, speed, duplex, and flow control capabilities
available.
• The networks to which you connect the nodes should be redundant so that
even a single failure allows the nodes to continue to communicate with each
other. You can use network adapter teaming to provide single network
redundancy. We recommend multiple networks to provide multiple paths
between nodes for inter-node communication; otherwise, a warning will be
generated during the validation process.
• All network adapters in a cluster network must have the same IP address
format, which means they all use static IP addresses, or all use Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP).

Requirements for Failover Clusters"

Failover Cluster Storage Requirements
Key Points
Storage is one of the most critical components in a failover cluster and requires
that:
• The mass-storage controllers match in each server node, in model, and in
firmware versions.
• The drivers are based on the Microsoft Storport driver model, and that all
Multipath software must be based on Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO). MPIO
can use generic device modules that the operating system provides, or device-
specific modules that the hardware vendor develops to work with the
hardware.
• Internet SCSI-based (iSCSI-based) storage has a dedicated network that is
separate from the client access and cluster-only communications networks.

Windows Server provides two disk storage types: basic and dynamic. A single
node owns dynamic disks, which are not able to fail over. Dynamic disks are not
supported in failover clusters natively. Failover clusters only support basic disks,
and will support both Master Boot Record (MBR) and GUID Partition Table (GPT)
disk partitioning systems. Because Microsoft supports both the NTFS file system
and the FAT32 file system, you can format the clustered disks with either system.
We recommend that you format the clustered disks with the NTFS file system,
which is also a requirement for all File Share Witness volumes.


Failover Cluster Infrastructure Requirements
Key Points
Failover clusters depend on infrastructure services, and require that each server
node must be in the same Active Directory® domain and, if you use DNS, the
nodes should use the same Domain Name System (DNS) servers for name
resolution.
We recommend that you install the same Windows Server 2008 features and roles
on each node. In addition, you should not install the Active Directory Domain
Services (AD DS) role on any of the cluster nodes. If you install the AD DS role on
one of the nodes, you must install it on all nodes.


Failover Cluster Software Requirements
Key Points
Failover clusters require that each cluster node run the same edition of either
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise, or Windows Server 2008 Datacenter. Depending
on the role that will be clustered, Server Core edition may also meet the software
requirements. However, you cannot install Server Core and full editions in the
same cluster.
Each node must run the same processor architecture. This means that each node
will have the same processor family, which might be Intel Xeon processor with
Extended Memory 64Technology®, AMD Opteron AMD64, or Intel Itanium-based.


Guidelines for Microsoft Support of Cluster Solutions
Key Points
The new support policy is different from the support policy for previous Windows
Server versions. The new policy uses the Validate a Configuration Wizard to
provide detailed configuration tests of the failover cluster. This ensures that the
cluster matches best practices, and is configured in a way that Microsoft can
support.
For more information, see "The Microsoft Support Policy for Windows
Server 2008 Failover Clusters"

Lesson 2
Planning the Failover Cluster Implementation
After you determine the requirements for a failover cluster, you must verify that the
required components are in place. This lesson outlines additional steps that you
must take before creating a cluster. These additional steps will help ensure a stable
and successful implementation.

Preparing the Server Hardware Before Validating
the Cluster
Key Points
Before you run the Validate a Configuration Wizard, review all cluster
requirements and verify that:
• All hardware and software is in place and properly configured. Windows
Failover Cluster Help provides step-by-step instructions to assist you with
preparing hardware.
• You have a plan for each clustered application, which ensures that the cluster
is configured to meet business needs.

For more information, see "Windows Server 2008 home page"
For more information, see "Failover Cluster Help: Prepare Hardware

Before Validating a Failover Cluster"

Understanding the Cluster Security Model
Key Points
Windows Server 2008 creates a Clustered Name Object (CNO) during the
cluster creation process. The CNO is used to access resources such as AD DS, DNS,
and Windows Internet Name Service (WINS), and for creating cluster Network
Name resources. By default, in Windows Server 2008, clustered applications take
advantage of Kerberos authentication for resources. Windows Server 2008 failover
clusters provide support for legacy authentication, and for other applications that
require NT LAN Manager (NTLM) authentication.


Discussion: Identifying Single Points of Failure
Key Points

Addressing Single Points of Failure
Key Points
You must look at all cluster configuration components to identify single points of
failure. You can remediate many single points of failure with simple solutions, such
as adding storage controllers, or network adapters, and multipathing software.
These solutions will reduce the probability that a device failure will cause a failure
in the cluster. Typically, server class hardware has options for multiple power
supplies for power redundancy, and for creating redundant array of independent
disks (RAID) sets for disk data redundancy.
Some single points of failures might be difficult or expensive to solve; in these
situations, you must weigh the benefits of eliminating the point of failure against
the cost of purchasing and maintaining the solution. For example, if a single
datacenter fails, creating a multi-site cluster can solve this problem; however, this
solution is more complicated and expensive than a single location cluster.


Considerations for Operating System Upgrades
Key Points
Windows Server 2008 cluster service has changed from previous versions. It does
not allow legacy clusters to exist, or to be upgraded to Windows Server 2008.
However, the Migrate Services and Applications Wizard can help migrate specific
resources from legacy clusters to new Windows Server 2008 clusters. This wizard
will migrate the following resources:
• Physical Disk resource
• Network Name resource
• IP Address resource
• File Share resource (including DFS Root)

The wizard will also migrate configuration information for the following resources.
• DHCP resource
• WINS resource
• Generic Application resource
• Generic Service resource
• Generic Script resource
However, you will need to manually complete additional configuration steps for
the migration, such as installing supporting server roles and copying data.


Planning for Migration
Key Points
To migrate resources:
1. In the Failover Cluster Management snap-in, select or specify the cluster to
which you want to migrate settings.
2. Under Configure, click Migrate Services and Applications.
3. Read the first page of the Migrate a Cluster Wizard, and then click Next.
4. Specify the name or IP Address of the cluster or cluster node from which you
want to migrate resource groups, and then click Next.
5. Click View Report. Read the pre-migration report, which explains whether
each resource is eligible for migration, and describes additional steps to
perform after running the wizard.

6. Follow the instructions in the wizard to complete the following:
• Choose the resource group or groups whose settings you want to migrate.
• Specify whether the resource groups to be migrated will use new storage,
or the same storage used in the old cluster. If the resource groups will use
new storage, you can specify the disk that each resource group should use
after migration.
7. When the Summary page appears, click View Report. This report contains
important information about any additional steps you must perform before
you bring the migrated resource groups online. For example, you might need
to copy applications from the old cluster to the new cluster.

For more information, see "Step-by-Step Guide for Migrating Settings

from a Cluster Running Windows Server 2003 to a Cluster Running
Windows Server 2008"

Considerations for Server Capacity Planning
Key Points
There are two main cluster load types: Active/Active, and Active/Passive.
In an Active/Active configuration, each node hosts clustered services. In an
Active/Passive configuration, at least one cluster node does not host any services.
Planning server capacity in an Active/Active configuration requires that when a
node fails, the service will be able to continue functioning on an operational node
that is running other services.
Planning server capacity in an Active/Passive configuration is dependent on the
number of failed nodes the cluster is able to sustain.
When planning server capacity, you will determine the fewest number of nodes
required to maintain the cluster operations during a failure, and to support the
applications and hardware in the cluster.

Planning for a Failed Node
Key Points
If a node failure occurs in a two-node cluster with each node running at thirty
percent of capacity, a single node must be able to handle the additional load
from both services. To plan for this additional load, you must be sure that when
a failover does occur, both services are maintained. If you do not plan for the
additional load, and the load was sixty percent on each node in a two-node cluster,
a failover would impact both clustered applications. In contrast to a stand-alone
situation, a failure on a two-node cluster affects both the application originally
running on the failed node, and the application running on the active node.


Lesson 3
Installing the Failover Clustering Feature and
Validating the Cluster Configuration
This lesson describes how to install the Failover Clustering feature, run the
Validate a Configuration Wizard, and correct errors that the Validate a
Configuration Wizard finds.

The Process of Installing the Failover Clustering Feature
Key Points
After you configure the hardware and have identified and addressed any single
points of failure, you can begin to configure the cluster. To do this, install the
Failover Clustering feature on each server node, and then run the Validate a
Configuration Wizard to be sure that hardware and software meets the cluster
requirements. Finally, create the cluster and configure highly available applications
and services.


What Is the Validate a Configuration Wizard?
Key Points
The Validate a Configuration Wizard runs tests that confirm that the hardware and
hardware settings are compatible with failover clustering. Using the wizard, you
can run the entire set of configuration tests or a subset of the tests. We recommend
that you run the tests on servers and storage devices before you configure the
failover cluster, and again after any major changes are made to the cluster. You can
access the test results in the %windir%\cluster\Reports directory.
The report from the Validate a Configuration Wizard includes one of the following
outcomes for each test:
• The tested item meets requirements for a failover cluster.
• The tested item might meet the requirements, but you receive a warning notice
suggesting that you review the hardware and software settings to be sure that
best practices are met.

• The test item does not meet requirements.
• The test could not be run. For example, if you are testing only a single node,
certain tests do not run.


The Cluster Validation Test: Inventory
Key Points
Inventory tests provide lists of information about the hardware, software, and
settings for each server that you test. For example, after you perform scheduled
maintenance, you can use the inventory test to ensure that the software updates on
each server are identical. The inventory tests can be used separate from the other
tests included in the Validate a Configuration Wizard.
For more information, see "Failover Cluster Help: Understanding Cluster

Validation Tests: Inventory"

The Cluster Validation Test: Network
Key Points
The Validate a Configuration Wizard performs the following network tests:
Test Description
Validate Cluster • Lists the cluster networks, which is the network topology as
Network seen from the perspective of the cluster.
Configuration • Validates for a particular cluster network, that all network
adapters are provided with IP addresses in the same way.
(All use static IP addresses or all use DHCP.)
• Validates for a particular cluster network, that all network
adapters use the same IP version. (All use IPv4, all use IPv6,
or all use both IPv4 and IPv6.)

(continued)
Test Description
Validate IP • Lists the IP configuration details.

Configuration • Validates that IP addresses are unique in the cluster, and
that there is no duplication.
• Checks the number of network adapters on each tested
server. If only one adapter is found, the report provides a
warning about avoiding single points of failure in the
network infrastructure that connects clustered servers.
Single points of failure can be avoided in multiple ways:

you can connect your cluster nodes by multiple, distinct
networks, or alternatively, you can connect your cluster
nodes with one network that is constructed with teamed
network adapters, redundant switches, redundant routers,
or similar hardware that removes single points of failure.
• Validates that no tested servers have multiple adapters on
the same IP subnet.
• Validates that all tested servers use the same IP version. (All
use IPv4, all use IPv6, or all use both IPv4 and IPv6.)
Validate Network • Validates that tested servers can communicate with

Communication acceptable latency on all networks. The test also checks to
see if there are redundant communication paths between
all servers. Communication between the nodes of a cluster
enables the cluster to detect node failures and status
changes, and to manage the cluster as a single entity.
Validate Windows • Validates that Windows Firewall is configured correctly for

Firewall Configuration failover clustering on the tested servers.

Validation Tests: Network"

The Cluster Validation Test: Storage
Key Points
The storage tests list and test the capabilities of all disks available to the cluster.
These tests are comprehensive; however, some specific tests may not run after the
cluster is running nor in a multi-site cluster.

The Validate a Configuration Wizard performs the following storage validation
tests:
Test Description
List All Disks Lists all disks that are visible to one or more tested servers. The
test lists:
• Disks that can support clustering and can be accessed by all
the servers.
• Disks on an individual server.
List Potential Cluster Lists disks that can support clustering, and are visible to all
Disks tested servers. To support clustering, the disk must be
connected through Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), iSCSI, or Fibre
Channel. In addition, the test validates that multipath I/O is
working correctly, which means that each of the disks is seen
as one disk, not two.
Validate Disk Access Validates that the latency for disk read/write operations
Latency is within an acceptable limit for a failover cluster. If disk
read/write operations take too long, one possible result is that
cluster time-outs might be triggered. Another possible result
is that the application attempting to access the disk might
appear to have failed, and the cluster might initiate a needless
failover.
Validate Disk Validates that:

Arbitration • Each of the clustered servers can use the arbitration process
to become the owner of each of the cluster disks.
• When a particular server owns a disk, if one or more other
servers arbitrate for that disk, the original owner retains
ownership.

(continued)
Test Description
Validate Disk Failover Validates that disk failover works correctly in the cluster.
Specifically, the test validates that when a disk owned by a
clustered server is failed over, the server that takes ownership
of the disk can read it. The test also validates that information
written to the disk before the failover, is still the same after
the failover.
If disk failover occurs but the server that takes ownership of a
disk cannot read it, the cluster cannot maintain availability of
the disk. If information written to the disk is changed during
the process of failover, it might cause issues for users or
software that require this information. In either case, if the
affected disk is a witness disk, (a disk that stores cluster
configuration data and participates in quorum,) such issues
could cause the cluster to lose quorum and shut down.
Validate File System Validates that the file system on disks in shared storage is
supported by failover clusters.
Validate Microsoft Validates that multi-path disks (Microsoft Multipath I/O-based

MPIO-Based Disks disks,) have been configured correctly for failover cluster.
Validate Multiple Validates that when multiple clustered servers arbitrate for a
Arbitration cluster disk, only one server obtains ownership.
If multiple clustered servers obtain ownership of a cluster disk
through disk arbitration, the disk might become corrupted.
Failover clusters are designed to operate in circumstances
where only one clustered server at a time owns a disk. If
multiple servers own a disk at the same time, they might
perform write operations in an uncoordinated way, possibly
corrupting the disk.
Validate SCSI Device Validates that the storage supports necessary SCSI inquiry
Vital Product Data data as well as Vital Product Data (VPD) descriptors, and that
(VPD) they are unique.

(continued)
Test Description
Validate SCSI-3 Validates that the cluster storage uses the more recent
Persistent Reservation (SCSI-3 standard) Persistent Reserve commands, which are
different from the older SCSI-2 standard reserve/release
commands. Because the Persistent Reserve commands avoid
SCSI bus resets, they are much less disruptive than the older
reserve/release commands. Therefore, a failover cluster can
be more responsive in a variety of situations, unlike a cluster
running an earlier version of the operating system. In addition,
disks are never left in an unprotected state, which lowers the
risk of volume corruption.
Validate Validates that simultaneous disk failovers work correctly in the

Simultaneous Failover cluster. Specifically, the test validates that even when multiple
disk failovers occur simultaneously, any clustered server that
takes ownership of a disk can read it. The test also validates
that information written to each disk before a failover is the
same after the failover.
If disk failover occurs but the server that takes ownership of a
disk cannot read it, the cluster cannot maintain availability of
the disk. If information that is written to the disk is changed
during the process of failover, it might cause issues for users
or software that requires this information. In either case, if the
affected disk is a witness disk, (a disk that stores cluster
configuration data and participates in quorum,) such issues
might cause the cluster to lose quorum and shut down.

Validation Tests: Storage"

The Cluster Validation Test: System Configuration
Key Points
System configuration tests analyze selected servers to determine whether they are
properly configured to work together in a failover cluster.
The Validate a Configuration Wizard performs the following system configuration
tests:
Test Description
Validate Active Validates that each tested server is in the same domain and
Directory organizational unit. It also validates that all tested servers are
Configuration domain controllers, or are member servers. To change the
domain role of a server, use the Server Manager.

(continued)
Test Description
Validate All Drivers Validates that all tested servers contain only signed drivers. If
Signed an unsigned driver is detected, the test is not considered a
failure, but a warning is issued.
Signed drivers indicate whether the drivers on your system are
original, unaltered files that either came with the operating
system, or were supplied by a vendor.
Validate Operating Validates that all tested servers have the same operating
System Versions system version.
Validate Required Validates that the services required for failover clustering are
Services running on each tested server, and are configured to start
automatically whenever the server is restarted.
Validate Same Validates that all tested servers have the same architecture. A
Processor failover cluster is supported only if the systems in it are all 32-
Architecture bit systems, or all 64-bit systems.
Validate Service Pack Validates that all tested servers have the same service packs. A
Levels failover cluster can run even if some servers have service packs
that are different than others. However, servers with different
service packs might behave differently from each other, with
unexpected results. We recommend that all servers in the
failover cluster have the same service packs.
Validate Software Validates that all tested servers have the same software
Update Levels updates. A failover cluster can run even if some servers have
different updates than others. However, servers with different
software updates might behave differently from each other,
with unexpected results. We recommend that all servers in the
failover cluster have the same software update levels.

Validation Tests: System Configuration"

Correcting Cluster Validation Errors
Key Points
The Validate a Configuration report contains details about the tests that were run,
and their test results. The report also provides information about reasons for any
failures. You can also review the Failover Cluster Help checklists to be sure that all
steps and requirements have been met.
If you cannot resolve problems after reading the report, contact the vendor for
configuration guidance, or software version compatibility changes. In some cases, a
vendor may recommend a specific driver or firmware version that is known to be
stable in a clustered environment.
For more information, see "Failover Cluster Help: Validating a Failover

Cluster Configuration"

Demonstration: Running the Validate a Configuration
Wizard
Questions:
What step is required before you run the Validate a Configuration Wizard?
What are the benefits of running the Validate a Configuration Wizard?


Lesson 4
Installing a Failover Cluster on
Windows Server 2008 Server Core
Using a Server Core Windows Server 2008 Enterprise or Windows Server 2008
Datacenter installation to create failover clusters provides specific benefits over a
full server installation. This lesson describes the benefits of installing a failover
cluster on Server Core, and the general process for completing an installation.

Benefits of Installing Failover Clusters on Server Core
Key Points
Installing a failover cluster on Server Core results in several key benefits, due to the
fact that Server Core only installs essential components. These benefits include:
• A reduced vulnerability attack surface, and a reduced number of required
updates.
• Fewer components to manage, and less required disk space for the installation.
• Lower resource overhead, which provides more resources for the clustered
instances.
For more information, see "Server Core Installation Option of Windows

Server 2008 Step-by-Step Guide"

Supported Roles for Failover Clusters on Server Core
Key Points
Because of the reduced overhead and functionality of Server Core, you can cluster
only specific roles and features.


The Process of Installing a Failover Cluster on Server Core
Key Points
Installing a Server Core failover cluster is similar to installing an operating system;
however, you must administer Server Core from a command line or from a remote
server.
To install a failover cluster on Server Core, you must:
1. Install the operating system.
2. Use netsh to configure the network and Windows firewall settings.
3. Use netdom to join the servers to the domain.
4. Use Diskpart to configure the disk partitions from the command line.
5. Use ocsetup to install the Failover Clustering feature from the command line
of each node in the cluster.

6. Use a server with a full installation of Windows Server 2008 to run the
Validate a Configuration Wizard before creating the cluster.
7. Create the cluster from the same server on which the Validate a Configuration
Wizard is run, or from the command line of one of the Server Core computers.


Demonstration: Installing a Failover Cluster on Server Core
Questions:
When you install the Failover Clustering feature from the command line, what
output is produced?
Why must you use the command line to manage a Server Core computer?


Requirement for Failover Clusters"

Lab: Preparing for a Cluster Installation
Lab Objectives
• Install the Failover Clustering feature.
• Validate the failover cluster.
Scenario
Fourth Coffee is deploying a new file server cluster. The two servers you will use
in the file server cluster have an operating system installed, the clustered disk
presented, and network adapters installed. You must prepare the servers for
clustering the file server role. Your task is to install the Failover Clustering feature,
and complete the Validate a Configuration Wizard.

Exercise 1: Installing the Failover Clustering Feature
The main tasks for this exercise are to:
• Start the virtual servers.
• Install and verify the Failover Clustering feature.
f Task 1: Start the virtual servers

1. Open the 6423A Lab Launcher.
2. Start the 6423A-VAN-DC1 virtual machine.
3. Start the 6423A-VAN-SRV3A virtual machine.
4. Start the 6423A-VAN-SRV3B virtual machine.
f Task 2: Install and verify the Failover Clustering feature

1. Log on to 6423A-VAN-SRV3A as Administrator using the password
Pa$$w0rd.
2. Install the Failover Clustering feature.
3. Log on to 6423A-VAN-SRV3B as Administrator using the password
Pa$$w0rd.
4. Install the Failover Clustering feature.

Exercise 2: Validating the Failover Cluster
The main task for this exercise is to validate the failover cluster.
f Task 1: Validate the failover cluster

1. Run the Validate a Configuration Wizard.
2. Review the validation report.
3. Record any warnings and errors.
f Task 2: Close all virtual machines and discard undo disks

1. For each running virtual machine, close the Virtual Machine Remote Control
window.
2. In the Close box, select Turn off machine and discard changes, and then
click OK.
3. Close the 6423A Lab Launcher.
Overview of Failover Cluster Storage Requirements 4-1

Module 4
Overview of Failover Cluster Storage
Requirements
Contents:
Lesson 1: Overview of Storage Technologies 4-3
Lesson 2: Introduction to Storage Area Networks 4-22
Lesson 3: Planning a Storage Solution for Failover Clusters 4-37
Lesson 4: Configuring an iSCSI Storage Connection 4-43
Lab: Identifying SAN Components 4-49

Module Overview
Planning for shared storage is one of the most important aspects of cluster
deployment. Lack of proper storage planning can result in unstable clusters.
This module defines basic storage terminology, types of available configurations,
and information about Storage Area Networks (SAN).

Lesson 1
Overview of Storage Technologies
This lesson describes disk and connectivity types, and provides information on
Storage Area Networks (SAN), how SANs can assist with data resiliency and
replication, and the differences between SANs and Network Attached Storage
(NAS).

Supported Failover Cluster Storage Types
Key Points
Windows Server®°2008 supports only Fibre Channel, Internet SCSI (iSCSI), and
Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) storage for failover clusters. Windows Server 2008
does not support Parallel SCSI for clustered disks in two-node clusters, as it did
in previous versions of Windows Server. If you create a Windows Server 2008
cluster from hardware that you used with a legacy version of Windows Server, it
is important that you verify that Windows Server 2008 supports the storage
hardware.
For more information, see "Failover Clustering Help: Validating a Failover

Cluster Configuration: Understanding Requirements for Failover Clusters"

Storage Type Terminology
Key Points
Windows Server 2008 supports three types storage technology for failover clusters:
• Fibre Channel: Transmits SCSI commands over twisted-pair copper wire, or
more commonly fiber optic cables. Fibre Channel is commonly found in
speeds of 1, 2, or 4 gigabits (GB) per second. Fibre Channel requires
specialized interface cards, switches, and cabling to create the network.
• iSCSI: Transmits SCSI commands over Internet Protocol (IP). iSCSI relies on
standard Ethernet networking, and requires no specialized hardware. Each
device on an iSCSI SAN is given an IP address to communicate with other
devices on the iSCSI SAN. Although the iSCSI protocol has more overhead
than Fibre Channel, Ethernet networking speeds are now becoming affordable
at 10 GB.
• Serial Attached SCSI: Transmits SCSI commands serially in order to provide
throughput (up to 6 GB per second,) that is higher than the previous parallel
SCSI standard. Serial Attached SCSI is not backward compatible with parallel
SCSI equipment.

For more information, see "Failover Clustering"
For more information, see "Storage Technology"


What Is a Storage Area Network? (SAN)
Key Points
A SAN is a set of interconnected devices, such as disks, tapes, and servers, that are
connected to a common communication and data transfer infrastructure, such as
Fibre Channel. The common communication and data transfer mechanism for a
given deployment is called the storage fabric.
The SAN enables multiple servers to access a pool of storage in which any server
can potentially access any storage unit. In this environment, management (which
determines who is authorized to access which devices,) and sequencing or
serialization guarantees, (which determine who can access which devices at what
point in time,) play a large role in providing security guarantees.

A SAN is a network like any other network, such as a local area network (LAN).
Therefore, you can use a SAN to connect many different devices and hosts in order
to provide access to any device from anywhere. Direct attached storage (DAS)
technologies, such as SCSI, are tuned to the specific requirements of connecting
mass storage devices to host computers. In particular, they are low-latency, high-
bandwidth connections with extremely high data integrity semantics. Conversely,
network technology is tuned more to providing application-to-application
connectivity in increasingly complex and large-scale environments. Typical
network infrastructures have high connectivity, can route data across many
independent network segments—potentially over very large distances—and have
many network management and troubleshooting tools.
A SAN environment provides the following benefits:
• Centralization of storage into a single pool, which enables storage resources
and server resources to grow independently. It also enables storage to be
dynamically assigned from the pool when it is required. Storage on a given
server can be increased or decreased as needed without complex reconfiguring
or re-cabling of devices.
• Common infrastructure for attaching storage, which enables a single common
management model for configuration and deployment.
• Storage devices are inherently shared by multiple systems.
• Data can be transferred directly from device to device without server
intervention.
• Enables clusters to be built where shared access to a data set is required.
For more information, see "Simple SAN"


Hardware-Based Data Snapshots
Key Points
Storage Area Networks can provide advanced features such as data replication and
hardware-based snapshots. Hardware-based snapshots enable you to create copies
of the failover cluster data, which is transparent to the clustered applications.
Clustered applications, such as database and messaging servers, often store a large
amount of data on the clustered disk. These services not only require backups, but
also require effective restores in the event of data loss.
Although traditional tape-based backups continue to improve in performance,
hardware-based snapshots might be a more effective solution. In the event of data
failure, you can attach the snapshot of the data to the clustered servers in a matter
of minutes to return an application to service.

Data replication is also a popular solution for SANs. A replication is similar to a
snapshot; however, replication makes a copy of data across two SANs or between
two storage systems. You can use replication to facilitate disaster recovery
scenarios with multi-site failover clusters.
Hardware-based snapshot and replication methodologies and processes can vary
between hardware vendors; however, the overall concepts stay the same.

How a SAN/DAS Provides Data Redundancy
Key Points
Data redundancy is important in a failover cluster where the goal for the solution
is to increase availability. You can use a variety of methods for improving storage
systems performance and reliability. The following is a list of methods for writing
data to storage:
RAID Type Description

RAID 0 Data is striped across multiple disks. Transactional performance is very
good because multiple disks can respond to read requests. No parity
information needs to be calculated; therefore, disk writes are efficiently
handled. Because there is no redundancy for any of the data stored on
the RAID set, when a disk fails in a RAID 0 array, all data is lost.
RAID 1 Data is mirrored across two disks. Transactional performance is very good
because either disk in the mirror can respond to read requests. No parity
handled. Each disk in the mirrored set must perform the same write.

(continued)
RAID Type Description
RAID 10 Data is striped (RAID 0) across mirrored (RAID 1) sets. RAID 0+1 is not the
same as RAID 10. Transactional performance with RAID 10 is very good
because either disk in the mirror can respond to read requests. No parity
handled. Each disk in the mirrored set must perform the same write.
When a disk fails in a RAID 10 array, write-performance is not affected
because there is still a member of the mirror that can accept writes. In this
situation, reads are moderately affected because only one physical disk
can respond to read requests. When the failed disk is replaced, the mirror
is again established, and the data must be copied or rebuilt.
RAID 5 Calculates parity that surviving member data can use to re-create the
data on a failed disk. Writing to a RAID 5 array causes up to four I/Os for
each I/O to be written, and the parity calculation can consume controller
or server resources. Transactional performance with RAID 5 can still be
good, particularly when using a storage controller to calculate the parity.
When a disk fails in a RAID 5 array, the array is in a degraded state,
performance is decreased, and latencies are higher. This occurs because
most arrays spread the parity information equally across all disks in the
array, and it can be combined with surviving data blocks to reconstruct
data in real time. Both reads and writes must access multiple physical
disks to reconstruct data on a lost disk; during a failure on a RAID 5 array,
this increases latency and reduces performance. When the failed disk is
replaced, the parity and surviving blocks are used to reconstruct the lost
data. This is a lengthy process that can take a number of hours to
complete.


What Is the Difference Between a SAN and a NAS?
Key Points
A SAN and a NAS differ in several key areas: a SAN is a block-level access storage
solution that uses Fibre Channel, iSCSI, or SAS, a NAS solution uses file-level
access such as Common Internet File System (CIFS), File Transfer Protocol (FTP),
network file system (NFS), and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Windows
Server 2008 supports SAN in a failover cluster, yet does not support NAS for
failover clusters.

The following table summarizes the difference between the two technologies:
Parameter SAN NAS
Application Server Block-level access File-level access

Access Methods
Communication SCSI over Fibre Channel iSCSI, CIFS, NFS, FTP, and HTTP
Protocol which is SCSI over IP and
Serially Attached SCSI (SAS)
Network Physical Typically storage-specific, General purpose LAN, such

Technology such as Fibre Channel, but as Gigabit Ethernet
may also be high-speed
Ethernet
Support for Windows Several types of SAN Not supported for failover
Server 2008 Failover topologies are supported for clusters
Clustering clustered disks

Managing Clustered Disks in Windows Server 2008
Key Points
Windows Server 2008 clusters offer two main components to disk and path
management: Virtual Disk Service (VDS), and Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO).
VDS is a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that provide a single
interface for managing disks. This provides an end-to-end solution for managing
storage hardware and disks, and for creating volumes on those disks.
VDS uses two sets of providers to manage storage devices. The built-in VDS
software providers enable you to manage disks and volumes at the operating
system level. Hardware providers that the hardware vendor supplies enable you to
manage hardware RAID arrays. Each hardware vendor writes a VDS hardware
provider that translates the general-purpose VDS APIs into specific instructions for
their hardware. VDS simplifies storage management, because storage applications
no longer need to account for the specific hardware that is being targeted. Because
of VDS, you no longer need to use different storage applications to manage each
different storage device.

MPIO provides redundant failover and load-balancing support for multipath disk
devices. These devices may be disks or logical units.

How Multipathing Works
Key Points
In a multipath environment, you connect two host bus adapters (HBA) or network
interface cards (NIC) to two separate fabrics or networks, so that the storage is still
accessible if there is a failure. MPIO provides multipathing and aggregation of
paths to remote disks.
MPIO storage driver provides:
• Dynamic configuration and replacement of devices: The operating system
must be able to dynamically discover and configure adapters that are
connected to the same storage media, in order to support multiple paths to
the same storage device.
• Generic device specific module: Microsoft supplies a generic device specific
module (DSM) that interacts with the multipath bus driver on behalf of the
storage device.

• Dynamic load balancing: The multipath software supports the ability to
distribute I/O transactions across multiple adapters. The DSM is responsible
for load-balancing policy for its storage device.
• Fault tolerance: Multipath software can function in a fault-tolerant mode in
which only a single channel is active.
For more information, see "Microsoft Storage Technologies: Multipath

I/O"

Comparing SAN Disk Storage Connectivity Types
Key Points
SAN disk storage can be different than the type of connectivity that is available
from the storage to the host servers. SAN disk storage types include:
• Fibre Channel disks with dual port Fibre Channel connections to provide
connectivity redundancy; however, these are more expensive than other types
of disk-based storage. Fibre Channel disks are designed for high-duty cycle,
and a high mean time to failure (MTTF).
• Fiber Channel ATA (FATA) disks that are based on Serial Advanced
Technology Attachment (SATA) standards; however, they are connected via
Fibre Channel. These drives typically have a much lower MTTF rating than
comparably sized Fibre Channel or SAS-based disks, and are primarily for
archival data.

• Serial ATA (SATA) disks, that have the same purpose as FATA-based disks;
however, they are less expensive and connect via a SATA bus.
• Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disks that are high duty cycle disks with a higher
MTTF than FATA and SATA; they are often less expensive than comparably
sized Fibre Channel disks.

Comparing SAN Connectivity Types
Key Points
Windows Server 2008 supports three SAN connectivity types for failover clusters:
• Fibre Channel connectivity requires specialized host adapters, cables, and
switches to provide a specialized, fast interconnect between servers and
storage. Managing Fibre Channel hardware may require training because of
differences with other SAN technologies.
• iSCSI connectivity is less expensive than Fibre Channel and requires no
specialized hardware. Because iSCSI wraps SCSI commands in TCP/IP packets
and transmits over standard Ethernet, you can expect higher latency.
• SAS connectivity is inexpensive; however, it is more limited in the number of
hosts that you can connect, and less flexible in how you can configure failover
cluster support.

Lesson 2
Introduction to Storage Area Networks
Storage Area Networks (SAN) are the basis for most Windows Server 2008 failover
cluster storage solutions. This lesson provides details of SAN solutions, and the
components for Fibre Channel and iSCSI solutions.

SAN Terminology
Key Points
Use specific terminology when discussing SANs.

How a Storage Controller Works
Key Points
A storage controller is a device that houses a set of disks, and provides a single
connection (which is redundant and highly available) to a SAN fabric.
Modern controllers usually provide some level of redundancy for data. For
example, many controllers offer a wide variety of RAID levels, such as RAID 1,
RAID 5, and RAID 0+1 to ensure data availability in the event of the failure of an
individual disk drive. The controller presents a virtual view of highly available
storage devices, called logical devices or logical unit numbers (LUN), to the hosts.
A controller requires at least two ports for highly available storage controllers.

Fibre Channel SAN Terminology
Key Points
Use specific terms when discussing Fibre Channel configurations.

Switched Fibre Channel Configuration
Key Points
In a Fibre Channel switched fabric (FC-SW), Fibre Channel switches connect
devices in a many-to-many design. When a host or device communicates with
another host or device, the source and target create a point-to-point connection
between them, and then communicate directly with each other. The fabric itself
routes data from the source to the target. In an FC-SW, the media is not shared.
Any device can communicate with any other device, assuming it is not busy, and
communication occurs at full bus speed regardless of whether other devices and
hosts are communicating.
When a host or device is powered on, it must first log in to the fabric. This enables
the device to determine the type of fabric (a fabric supports a specific set of
characteristics,) and provides a fabric address to a host or device. A given host or
device continues to use the same fabric address while it is logged on to the fabric,
and the fabric address is guaranteed to be unique for that fabric. In order for a host
or device to communicate with another device, it must establish a connection to
that device before transmitting data. The switches route the packets in the fabric.

For more information, see "Enterprise Design for SAN"

Highly Available Fibre Channel Configurations: Mesh
Key Points
In a full mesh design, each switch connects directly to every other switch. Full-
mesh design provides any-to-any connectivity, distributes traffic evenly, and
consumes low overall bandwidth.

The following table provides pros and cons for a mesh design.
Pros/Cons Description
Pros • Highly scalable and available SAN configuration.

• Management is simplified; the configuration is a highly available
single fabric. Therefore, you must manage only one set of zoning
information and one set of security information.
• The fabric itself can route around failures, such as link failures and
switch failures.
Cons • Hosts with multiple adapters must run additional multipathing

software to ensure that the host gets a single view of the devices
where there are multiple paths from the HBAs to the devices.
• Management errors are propagated to the entire fabric.


Highly Available Fibre Channel Configurations:
Core-to-Edge
Key Points
The core-to-edge SAN design enables the SAN fabric to scale. The dual fabric
design provides fault tolerance by eliminating single points of failures. From a
logical perspective, the core-to-edge SAN fabric is comprised of two layers of fiber
switches: the edge and the core. Each fabric has edge switches that connect to
server hosts, and core switches that connect to the storage subsystems.

The following table provides pros and cons for the core-to-edge SAN design.
Pros/Cons Description
Pros • Resilient to management or user errors. For example, if security is

changed or zones are deleted, the configuration on the alternate
fabric is untouched and can be re-applied to the broken fabric.
Cons • Managing multiple independent fabrics can be costly and error

prone. Each fabric should have the same zoning and security
information to ensure a consistent view of the fabric regardless of
the communication port chosen.
• Hosts and devices must have multiple adapters. In the case of a
host, multiple adapters are typically treated as different storage
buses. Additional multipathing software, such as MPIO, is required
to ensure that the host receives a single view of the devices across
the two HBAs.


Zoning with Fibre Channel Switches
Key Points
You use zoning to control which device Worldwide Names (WWNs) can see other
devices in a SAN. There are a number of server, storage, and switch approaches to
zoning.
On any server, there are various mechanisms that control what devices an
application can see, and whether or not the application can talk to another device.
At the lowest level, the HBA firmware or driver has a masking capability to control
whether the server can see other devices. In addition, the operating system can
control which devices it tries to mount as a storage volume. You can also use third-
party software for volume management, clustering, and file-system sharing, which
can also control application access.

Most storage controllers have a form of selective presentation for storage zoning.
You configure the controller with lists of which servers can access which LUNs on
which ports; the controller ignores or rejects access requests from devices that are
not in these lists.
Fibre Channel switch-zoning controls which devices on which ports can access
other devices or ports.

iSCSI SAN Terminology
Key Points
You use specific terms to describe iSCSI connectivity, clients, and configuration
changes.


iSCSI Storage Discovery
Key Points
Finding available storage controllers and LUNs can be difficult on a large iSCSI
network; however, there are provisions to assist in locating storage controllers.
• SendTargets retrieves a list of available targets from the target device. It
requires that you to know the IP address of the storage device that is hosting
the targets, and is only suitable in smaller iSCSI environments.
• Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS), which is a Windows Server 2008 feature
similar to DNS, enables you to locate a target on a number of target devices.
iSNS contains three distinct services:
• Name Registration Service: Enables initiators and targets to register and
query the iSNS server directory for information about initiator and target
ID and addresses.

• Network Zoning and Logon Control Service: Allows you to restrict iSNS
initiators to zones, so that they cannot discover target devices outside their
discovery domains. This prevents initiators from accessing storage devices
that are not intended for their use. Logon control allows targets to
determine which initiators can access them.
• State Change Notification Service: Enables iSNS to notify clients of
changes in the network, such as the addition or removal of targets, or
changes in zoning membership. Only initiators that you register to receive
notifications will get these packets, which reduces random broadcast
traffic on the network.


Lesson 3
Planning a Storage Solution for Failover
Clusters
This lesson outlines recommendations for Windows Server 2008 failover cluster
SAN performance and availability.

Considerations for Planning a Failover Cluster SAN
Key Points
To plan a failover cluster SAN that meets business needs, you must document
the availability and performance goals for the applications that you will cluster.
Availability and performance goals include application performance requirements,
and business requirements for availability of those applications.
After you determine the performance and business requirements, you identify the
hardware that meets the requirements. Make sure that each hardware component
you choose has the “Certified for Windows Server 2008” logo.

Discussion: Considerations for SAN Performance and
Availability
Key Points

Recommendations for SAN Performance
Key Points
Because recommendations for SAN performance can vary by vendor, we
recommend that you consult the vendor’s documentation, where appropriate. To
provide the appropriate performance for the clustered applications, review some of
the following factors that affect all storage systems:
• Verify that adequate I/O is available
• Some SAN vendors enable you to add storage controllers to increase the
amount of available throughput.
• Some SAN vendors enable you to add cache memory to the storage
controllers, which allows data to be written or retrieved from memory
instead of waiting for the hard disks to respond.
• Because all data gets written to disks eventually, be sure that you have
enough disks to sustain the data throughput so that performance does not
suffer.

• Verify hardware configuration
• The storage adapters in each node should have the same firmware and
driver versions.
• Follow the storage vendor’s recommendations for firmware and driver
versions.

Recommendations for SAN Availability
Key Points
If the underlying storage does not provide the availability that you require for
the failover cluster, the cluster availability goals will not be met. To provide the
appropriate availability for the clustered applications, consider some of the
common factors that affect all storage systems:
• Ensure redundant components: When available and needed to meet
availability requirements, you should consider redundant controllers, memory,
and power supplies. This also extends to the Fibre Channel or Ethernet
switches. The hosts should have multiple HBA or network adapters to provide
multipath connectivity to the storage.
• Ensure resilient configurations: Be sure that you configure the LUNs with the
appropriate level of redundancy, and the appropriate number of spare disks to
take over in the event of a failure.
• Ensure parallel configurations: Be sure that each host has the same SAN
interface adapters with the same firmware, driver, and DSM versions.

Lesson 4
Configuring an iSCSI Storage Connection
In some environments, you might choose iSCSI as the SAN storage solution due to
its low cost of entry, and adequate performance. This lesson describes the iSCSI
components on a Windows Server 2008 computer, and explains how to configure
them.

Windows Server 2008 iSCSI Components
Key Points
Windows Server 2008 includes three iSCSI components:
iSCSI Component Description

iSCSI initiator Can either be hardware or software-based, and provides a client
to the iSCSI storage. Hardware-based iSCSI initiators are typically
iSCSI HBA. Windows Server 2008 includes a software-based
initiator to connect to an iSCSI SAN without any additional
hardware or software.
MPIO DSM A generic set of device-specific modules for MPIO that works
with a variety of storage vendors, and is shipped with
Windows Server 2008.
Microsoft Internet A Windows Server 2008 feature, similar to DNS, that allows a
Storage Name client to locate a target on a number of target devices.
Service

iSCSI Targets
Key Points
You can find iSCSI targets with hardware, third-party software, or natively on a
Windows Storage Server edition hardware appliance.
• Many storage vendors provide iSCSI targets as part of their hardware solution.
• Many solutions provide iSCSI targets by loading third-party software on an
existing operating system.
• Windows Storage Server appliance provides a hardware appliance with iSCSI
target capabilities.

Persistent Bindings and Reservations
Key Points
You use persistent bindings to configure iSCSI targets on hosts. A persistent
binding maintains a connection for cluster nodes to a target, between reboots.
You use persistent reservations to provide contention resolution when multiple
initiators have access to the same LUN. Each initiator has a specific reservation key.
When the initiator takes ownership of the LUN, it registers the assigned key to
block all other access to the LUN. The reservation keys are automatically assigned.
For more information, see "SPC-3 Letting persistent reservations ignore

initiator ports"

Demonstration: Configuring the iSNS Feature
Question:
In what scenarios might you decide to install an iSNS server?


Demonstration: Configuring the iSCSI Software
Questions:
Why might it be necessary to choose persistency when creating bindings?
When might choosing MPIO on the binding not have any affect?

Lab: Identifying SAN Components
Lab Objectives
• Identify Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (SAN) components.
• Configuring Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage connections.
Scenario
Use the following scenarios to complete the lab exercises.

Exercise 1: Identifying Fibre Channel Storage Area Network
(SAN) Components
The main task for this exercise is to identify components and points of failure
based on the given scenarios.
Scenario 1
Tailspin Toys is designing a simple Fibre Channel-based storage area network that
will initially include a file server cluster. You are given the preliminary diagram of
the new SAN, and have been asked to identify where the Host Bus Adaptors
(HBAs), switches, storage controller, and failure points might be.
1. Identify each component in the diagram using the word list shown.
2. Identify any single points of failure.
Host
Host Bus Adapter
Storage Controller
Fibre Channel Switch


Scenario 2
Tailspin Toys is designing a simple iSCSI-based storage area network that will
initially include a file server cluster. You are given the preliminary diagram of the
new SAN, and have been asked to identify where the network adapters, switches,
storage controller, and failure points might be.
1. Identify each component in the diagram using the word list shown.
2. Identify any single points of failure.
Host
Gigabit Ethernet Switch
Storage Controller
Network Adapter

Exercise 2: Configuring Internet SCSI (iSCSI) Storage
Connections
• Start the virtual machines.
• Add the iSCSI target portal to 6423A-VAN-SRV3A.
• Add a persistent binding on 6423A-VAN-SRV3A.
• Add the iSCSI target portal to 6423A-VAN-SRV3B.
• Add a persistent binding on 6423A-VAN-SRV3B.
f Task 1: Start the virtual machines

f Task 2: Add the iSCSI target portal to VAN-SRV3A

1. Log on to VAN-SRV3A as Administrator using the password Pa$$w0rd.
2. Add the iSCSI target portal 192.168.10.12 to VAN-SRV3A.
f Task 3: Add a persistent binding on VAN-SRV3A

• Add a persistent binding for iqn. 1991-05.com.microsoft:van-dc1-van-srv3a-
target on VAN-SRV3A.
f Task 4: Add the iSCSI target portal to VAN-SRV3B

1. Log on to VAN-SRV3B as Administrator using the password Pa$$w0rd.
2. Add the iSCSI target portal 192.168.10.12 to VAN-SRV3B.

f Task 5: Add a persistent binding on VAN-SRV3B
• Add a persistent binding for iqn. 1991-05.com.microsoft:van-dc1-van-srv3b-
target on VAN-SRV3B.

window.
click OK.
Configuring a Failover Cluster 5-1

Module 5
Configuring a Failover Cluster
Contents:
Lesson 1: Creating a New Failover Cluster 5-3
Lesson 2: Managing a Failover Cluster 5-7
Lesson 3: Verifying Failover Functionality 5-14
Lab: Creating and Administering a Cluster 5-21

Module Overview
After you verify the cluster hardware and software by using the Validate a
Configuration Wizard, you are ready to create the cluster, cluster resources, and
clustered applications.
This module describes how to create a cluster, and how to perform basic
management tasks for the newly created cluster.

Lesson 1
Creating a New Failover Cluster
This lesson describes how to create a cluster and verify cluster functionality.

Creating a Cluster Resource
Key Points
After you complete the Validate a Configuration Wizard, you create a cluster
resource. To create the cluster resource, you must log on to a server with a domain
account that has local administrator permissions on each of the cluster nodes.
Start the Create a Cluster Wizard from the Failover Cluster Management
Microsoft® Management Console (MMC). The wizard prompts you for a list of
server nodes that will be members of the cluster. After entering each of the nodes,
provide a cluster name and IP addresses.
For more information, see "Failover Cluster Help: Add Resource Type
Dialog Box"

Demonstration: Creating a Cluster
Question:
Is there a reason that you might run the Create a Cluster Wizard from a server that
is not part of the cluster?
For more information, see "Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster Step-
by-Step"

Demonstration: Verifying Cluster Functionality
Questions:
What information should you review in the failover cluster installation report?
Why is it important to examine the installation report closely before you deploy
clustered applications?
For more information, see "Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster Step-
by-Step"

Lesson 2
Managing a Failover Cluster
Built-in management tools enable you to manage a cluster. This lesson outlines the
failover cluster management options that help you maintain and configure the
cluster.

Failover Cluster Management Tools
Key Points
To manage the cluster, you can use either the Failover Cluster Management tool
or the cluster.exe command line tool. Typically, you will use the Failover Cluster
Management tool; however, in addition to management tasks, you might use the
command line tool for in-depth troubleshooting and logging activities.
You must use the cluster.exe tool from a computer running the Server Core
installation option of Windows Server 2008. To have the failover cluster
management tools available, you must install the Failover Clustering feature,
or the Remote Server Administration Tools, on a Windows Server 2008 or a
Windows Vista® Service Pack 1 computer.

Configuring Cluster Properties
Key Points
You can perform several failover cluster management tasks. These tasks range from
adding and removing cluster nodes, to modifying the quorum settings.

Modifying Quorum Settings
Key Points
Usually, the Create a Cluster Wizard chooses the quorum mode for your
environment based on the failover cluster configuration. However, you might
need to modify quorum settings using the Configure Cluster Quorum Wizard,
in the Failover Cluster Management tool. If you have an Exchange Server 2007
Continuous Copy Replication cluster configuration, you will need to manually set
the quorum mode to Node and File Share Majority.

Managing Cluster Nodes
Key Points
There are three aspects to managing cluster nodes:
• You can add a node to an established failover cluster by selecting Add Node
from the Failover Cluster Management Actions pane. The Add Node Wizard
will prompt you for information about the additional node.
• Pausing a node prevents resources from being failed over or moved to the
node. You typically pause a node when a node is undergoing maintenance or
troubleshooting.
• Evicting is an irreversible process for a cluster node. Once you evict the node,
it must be re-added to the cluster. You evict nodes when a node is damaged
beyond repair, or is no longer needed in the cluster. If you evict a damaged
node, you can repair or rebuild it, and then add it back to the cluster using the
Add Node Wizard.

For more information, see "Failover Cluster Help"

Demonstration: Using Quorum Configuration Options
Question:
When might it be appropriate to change the quorum mode?


Lesson 3
Verifying Failover Functionality
This lesson describes how to specify when and how failovers occur.

Failover Cluster Scenarios
Key Points
You need to recognize situations that trigger failover, so you can act accordingly.
For example, if an application failure causes a failover, you must determine the
root cause of the application failure before allowing the application to fail back to
the original cluster node. In all failure cases, to maintain the failover cluster’s
stability, you must repair unstable nodes before they can host resources again.

Using Preferred Owners
Key Points
You can create a preferred owners list in order to control which nodes host
clustered applications. Using preferred owners ensures that applications run on
server nodes where they will perform the best, and not interfere with other
For example, in an Active/Active cluster with two clustered file servers, one
clustered file server will have one cluster node as the preferred owner, and the
other clustered file server will have the other node as a preferred owner. This
spreads the load across the cluster nodes.
For more information, see "Failover Cluster Help: Modifying Settings for
a Clustered Service or Application"

Modifying Failover and Failback Settings
Key Points
You might need to adjust the preferred owners and failback settings in order to
control how the cluster responds when the application or service fails. You only
use these settings when a clustered application or service failure occurs. You
change these settings from the clustered application property sheets.
The following table includes sample failover and failback settings.
Settings Effect
General tab, Preferred owner: If the service or application fails over from Node1 to
Node1 Node2, when Node1 is again available, the service or
Failover tab, Failback setting: application will fail back to Node1.
Allow failback (Immediately)
Failover tab, Maximum failures In a six-hour period, if the application or service fails
in the specified period: 4 10 times or less, it will be restarted or failed over each
Failover tab, Period (hours): 6 time. If the application or service fails a fifth time in
the six-hour period, it will be left in the failed state.

For more information, see "Failover Cluster Help: Modifying Settings for
a Clustered Service or Application"

Performing Manual Failovers
Key Points
Failovers are not only caused by hardware or software failures; you might need to
perform a manual failover to maintain or troubleshoot nodes. The manual process
moves a clustered application from one node to another.

Demonstration: Testing Auto Failovers
Question:
Why would you test automatic failovers on production failover clusters?


Lab: Creating and Administering a Cluster
Lab Objectives
• Create a cluster
• Manage a failover cluster
Scenario
Fabrikam has two servers that provide clustered file services. You will complete the
deployment of Fabrikam’s failover cluster. The domain controller is available to act
as the cluster’s file share witness.

Exercise 1: Creating a Cluster
In this exercise, you will start the virtual servers, and then create and verify a
failover cluster.
• Start the virtual servers.
• Add the iSCSI target portal to VAN-SRV5A.
• Add the iSCSI target portal to VAN-SRV5B.
• Configure the shared disks.
• Validate the failover cluster.
• Use the Create a Cluster Wizard to build a simple failover cluster.
• Verify the successful creation of the cluster.
f Task 1: Start the virtual servers

f Task 2: Add the iSCSI target portal to VAN-SRV5A

1. Log on to VAN-SRV5A as Administrator using the password Pa$$w0rd.
2. Add the iSCSI target portal 192.168.10.12 to VAN-SRV5A.
3. Add a persistent binding for iqn. 1991-05.com.microsoft:van-dc1-van-srv5a-
target on VAN-SRV5A.
f Task 3: Add the iSCSI target portal to VAN-SRV5B

1. Log on to VAN-SRV5B as Administrator using the password Pa$$w0rd.
2. Add the iSCSI target portal 192.168.10.12 to VAN-SRV5B.
3. Add a persistent binding for iqn. 1991-05.com.microsoft:van-dc1-van-srv5b-
target on VAN-SRV5B.

f Task 4: Configure the shared disks
1. On VAN-SRV5A, in Server Manager, access Disk Management.
2. Bring Disk 1 online, and then initialize the disk.
3. Create a new simple volume on the disk using all the disk space, and label the
volume Data.
4. On VAN-SRV5B, in Server Manager, access Disk Management.
5. Bring Disk 1 online.
f Task 5: Validate the failover cluster

1. Run the Validate a Configuration Wizard.
2. Review the validation report.
3 Record any warnings and errors.
f Task 6: Use the Create a Cluster Wizard to build a simple failover

cluster
• Use the Create a Cluster Wizard to create a simple failover cluster with the
following information:
• Cluster name: Cluster1
• IP Address: 10.10.0.125
• Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
f Task 7: Verify the successful creation of the cluster

1. In the /Windows/Cluster/Reports directory, open the file CreateCluster.mht.
2. Verify that The cluster was successfully created appears.

Exercise 2: Managing a Failover Cluster
In this exercise, you will modify the cluster quorum mode.
• Use the cluster administration tools to manage the failover cluster.
• Pause and resume the server.
f Task 1: Use the cluster administration tools to manage the failover

cluster
• Modify the quorum mode for Cluster1 using the following:
• Quorum mode: Node and File Share Majority
• File Share Majority: \\VAN-DC1\FSW5
f Task 2: Pause and resume VAN-SRV5A

1. Pause VAN-SRV5A.
2. Verify that VAN-SRV5A has been paused.
3. Resume VAN-SRV5A.

window.
click OK.
Configuring Cluster Resources and Server Roles 6-1

Module 6
Configuring Cluster Resources and Server Roles
Contents:
Lesson 1: Configuring Cluster Resources 6-3
Lesson 2: Implementing Failover Clusters for Server Roles Using Failover
Cluster Management 6-9
Lesson 3: Clustering Server Roles Using Windows Server Core 6-15
Lab: Clustering Server Roles and Features 6-22

Module Overview
This module describes how to configure cluster resources and server roles using
both full server and Server Core installations.

Lesson 1
Configuring Cluster Resources
Cluster resources are one of the building blocks of a clustered service or

application.
This lesson describes how to customize options for cluster resources that
determine how resource failure will affect the cluster, and how resources should
attempt to recover automatically.

What Are Cluster Resources?
Key Points
In a failover cluster, cluster resources provide functionality to the clustered
applications. Resources are the building blocks of a clustered application or a
service. When you configure resources together as a clustered application, they can
fail between nodes as a group.

Key Windows Server 2008 Resources
Key Points
Windows Server®°2008 provides resources that you can use to cluster functions
and features. For example, you can cluster IP version 6 (IPv6) addresses, file
services, and virtual machines. Applications such as Microsoft Exchange Server
and Microsoft SQL Server® add special resources that support the operation of the
application.

What Are Resource Dependencies?
Key Points
Resource dependencies perform the following:
• Determine the order in which resources can start and stop. For example, if the
network name resource is dependent on an IP address resource, the network
name must stop before the IP address stops.
• Define bindings. For example, if a network name resource is dependent on an
IP address resource, then that address will be registered in both the Domain
Name System (DNS), and Windows Internet Name Service (WINS), with that
associated network name resource.

How Resource Failover Works for Specific Resources
Key Points
During failover, each of the resources is taken offline in the order set by the
dependencies. After all resources are offline, the cluster moves the entire group
ownership from the active node to the passive node. After the group ownership
changes, the resources are started in the reverse order, which ensures that
dependent resources are started first. The length of time for a failover depends on
the cluster node’s transaction load, and the resources that are being failed-over.
For more information, see "Failover and Failback"


Configuring Cluster Resource Policies
Key Points
You can customize a resource’s response to a failover. For example, if a disk
resource fails on the active node, you might want the entire group of resources to
fail over to another node. Or you might want to customize the resource policies to
attempt to restart the resource several times before failing the service or application
over to another cluster node.
For more information, see "Failover Clustering Help: User Interface: The
Failover Cluster Management Snap-In <Resource> Properties: Policies
Tab"

Lesson 2
Implementing Failover Clusters for Server Roles
Using Failover Cluster Management
Resources are one part of a clustered service or application. You group resources to
provide a service or application on a failover cluster.
This lesson describes how to implement a clustered application.

Cluster Resources and Server Roles
Key Points
A clustered application is a group of resources that provide a service. A file server, a
database server that provides a service, and an application, are all examples of
Before you cluster a Windows Server 2008 role, you use Server Manager to install
the role on each cluster node. Upon installation, these roles add the resources that
are required to support that role.

The Process to Cluster Server Roles
Key Points
To cluster an application or service, you first create a cluster, and on each
node, install the roles that will be clustered. Then, using the Failover Cluster
Management snap-in, you cluster the role. After you cluster the application, you
can configure the failover policy and the application.

Discussion: Roles That Benefit from Clustering
Key Points

Common Clustered Server Roles
Key Points
Although you can cluster a number of roles and features, certain roles are more
commonly clustered. These roles are more common because they are critical to
business operations. For example, a file server can store data critical to a specific
business process; therefore, it is an excellent candidate for clustering. You can also
cluster other applications that are not server roles, such as e-mail and database
services, in order to provide high availability.
For more information, see "Failover Clustering Help: Configuring a

Service or Application for High Availability"

Demonstration: Clustering Print Services
Question:
What corporate scenarios might benefit from clustering print services?


Lesson 3
Clustering Server Roles Using Windows Server
Core
Server Core provides a lower overhead environment for clustering. This leaves
more resources available, and requires fewer updates to the nodes. This lesson
describes how to implement a Server Core failover cluster, which is similar to a full
installation, but has limitations and uses different methods for the configuration.

Benefits of Server Core Clustering
Key Points
Server Core requires less maintenance than a full installation, because it installs
fewer components. It also has a reduced attack surface, which allows fewer
components to be exploited, and requires fewer updates if vulnerabilities are
discovered. Server Core also requires less disk space and memory, which frees
more resources for the clustered applications and services.
For more information, see "Windows Server 2008 Product Overview"


Managing Windows Server Core
Key Points
You can use the following command-line tools to manage Server Core:
Tool Description
OcSetup.exe Installs or removes optional Windows components.
Cluster.exe Creates and configures cluster settings.
iSCSIcli.exe Manages Internet SCSI (iSCSI) client configurations.
OcList.exe Lists the server roles and optional features that are
available for use with Ocsetup.exe.
Netsh.exe Modifies network settings.
Diskpart.exe Manages disks.
Sc.exe Provides status and manages services.


Additionally, you can run the following standard management tools from a remote
server with a full installation:
Tool Description
Failover Cluster Management snap-in Modifies and manages failover cluster

settings.
Group Policy Management snap-in Manages Active Directory group policy

objects.
Computer Management snap-in Manages computer settings and services.
For more information, see "Windows Server 2008 Step-by-Step Guides"


Server Core Clustered Roles
Key Points
A number of roles and functions can benefit from Server Core. One of the main
reasons to use Server Core is the Hyper-V feature. With its reduced memory, CPU,
and hard-drive resource overhead, Server Core can provide additional resources
to run the virtual machines. Additionally, other roles such as Print Services, File
Services, DHCP Server, and DNS Server can also benefit from running on Server
Core.
For more information, see "Server Core Installation of Windows

Server 2008"

Demonstration: Installing the Print Services Role Using
ocSetup.exe
Question:
In what other instances might you want to install roles using ocSetup.exe?

Demonstration: Clustering the File Services Role on
Windows Server Core
Question:
Installing the Failover Clustering feature, creating the cluster, and clustering the file
services are some of the steps you need to take to create a failover cluster on Server
Core. What other steps do you need to take when you create a failover cluster on
Server Core?

Lab: Clustering Server Roles and Features
Lab Objectives
• Cluster the Print Services role using Failover Cluster Management.
• Configure cluster resources.
• Cluster the File Services role on Windows Server Core.
Scenario
Use the scenarios on the following pages to complete the lab exercises.

Exercise 1: Clustering the Print Services Role Using Failover
Cluster Management
Fabrikam has two servers configured as a failover cluster. You have to cluster the
Print Services role on these two servers. The Print Services role already is installed
on VAN-SRV6A and VAN-SRV6B.
• Start the virtual machines, and then log on.
• Configure the printer disk.
• Cluster the Print Services role.
• Failover the VAN-Print clustered service from VAN-SRV6A to VAN-SRV6B.
f Task 1: Start the virtual machines, and then log on

1. On your host machine, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft
Learning, and then click 6423A. The Lab Launcher starts.
2. In the Lab Launcher, next to 6423A-VAN-DC1, click Launch.
3. In the Lab Launcher, next to 6423A-VAN-SRV6A, click Launch.
4. In the Lab Launcher, next to 6423A-VAN-SRV6B, click Launch.
5. Log on to VAN-SRV6A as Administrator with the password Pa$$w0rd.
6. Log on to VAN-SRV6B as Administrator with the password Pa$$w0rd.
7. Minimize the Lab Launcher window.
f Task 2: Configure the printer disk

1. On VAN-SRV6A, in Server Manager, start Disk Management.
2. Bring Disk 2 online, and then initialize the disk.
3. Create a new simple volume on the disk using all the disk space, and then
label the volume Printer1.
4. On VAN-SRV6B, in Server Manager, start Disk Management.
5. Bring Disk 2 online.

f Task 3: Cluster the Print Services role
1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Failover Cluster
Management. (If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that
the correct action displays, and then click Continue.)
2. In the console tree, select VAN-CLUSTER01, and then select Storage.
3. In the Actions pane, click Add a disk, and then add Disk 2.
4. In the VAN-CLUSTER01 cluster, create a print server clustered application
with the following settings:
• Name: VAN-Print
• IP Address: 10.10.0.108
• Storage volume: Cluster Disk 2
f Task 4: Failover the VAN-Print clustered service from VAN-SRV6A to

VAN-SRV6B
1. In the console tree, select VAN-Print.
2. Move VAN-Print to the passive node.
3. Verify that VAN-Print now shows the current owner as the new node.

Exercise 2: Configuring Cluster Resources
Fabrikam has two servers configured as a failover cluster. You have to cluster the
Print Services role on these two servers. The Print Services role already is installed
on VAN-SRV6A and VAN-SRV6B.
• Change the preferred owner of VAN-Print to VAN-SRV6B.
• Change the failback settings to allow only failback to the preferred node
between 01:00 and 04:00.
• Close all virtual machines, and discard undo disks.
f Task 1: Change the preferred owner of VAN-Print to VAN-SRV6B

• Change the preferred owners of VAN-Print to VAN-SRV6B.
f Task 2: Change the failback settings to allow only failback to the

preferred node between 01:00 and 04:00
• Set the Failback between properties to 1 in the first box, and 4 in the second
box.
f Task 3: Close all virtual machines, and discard undo disks

1. For each virtual machine that is running, close the Virtual Machine Remote
Control window.
click OK.

Exercise 3: Clustering the File Services Role on Windows
Server Core
Fabrikam has two servers with Server Core installed that you must configure as a
failover cluster. You have to cluster a file service on these two servers. The Print
Services role already is installed on VAN-CORE6Aand VAN-CORE6B. The iSCSI
target also has been added to the server that you will use as the file share.
• Configure the iSCSI target mappings and shared drives on VAN-CORE6A.
• Configure the iSCSI target mappings and shared drives on VAN-CORE6B.
• Install the Failover Clustering feature on VAN-CORE6A.
• Install the Failover Clustering feature on VAN-CORE6B.
• Create a cluster.
• Create a file share clustered service.
• Add a shared folder to VAN-FILE01.
• Log on to VAN-DC1, and verify the clustered shared folder.
• Close all virtual machines and discard undo disks.

3. In the Lab Launcher, next to 6423A-VAN-CORE6A, click Launch.
4. In the Lab Launcher, next to 6423A-VAN-CORE6B, click Launch.
6. Log on to VAN-CORE6A as Fabrikam\administrator with the password
Pa$$w0rd.

f Task 2: Configure the iSCSI target mappings and shared drives on
VAN-CORE6A
1. On VAN-CORE6A, use the sc command to configure the msiSCSI service to
start automatically, and then start the service.
2. Use the iscsicli QAddTargetPortal 192.168.12.10 command to add a new
portal.
3. Use the iscsicli listtargets command to identify available IQNs.
4. Use the iscsicli QLoginTarget iqnvalue command to log on to the IQN.
5. Use the iscsicli PersistentLoginTarget iqnvalue T * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 0
where iqnvalue command to make the logon persistent.
6. Use Diskpart to configure a new primary partition on Disk 1 using the drive
letter F. Format the partition with NTFS file system.
f Task 3: Configure the iSCSI target mappings and shared drives on

VAN-CORE6B
1. On VAN-CORE6B, use the sc command to configure the msiSCSI service to
start automatically, and then start the service.
2. Use the iscsicli QAddTargetPortal 192.168.12.10 command to add a new
portal.
3. Use the iscsicli listtargets command to identify available IQNs.
4. Use the iscsicli QLoginTarget iqnvalue command to log on to the IQN.
5. Use the iscsicli PersistentLoginTarget iqnvalue T * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 0
where iqnvalue command to make the logon persistent.
6. Use Diskpart to bring Disk 1 online, and to clear the read-only attribute.
f Task 4: Install the Failover Clustering feature on VAN-CORE6A

1. Use start /w ocsetup FailoverCluster-Core to install the Failover Clustering
feature on VAN-CORE6A.
2. To query the status of the cluster service, at the command prompt, type sc qc
clussvc, and then press ENTER.
3. Verify that the sc command returns QueryServiceConfig SUCCESS.

f Task 5: Install the Failover Clustering feature on VAN-CORE6B
1. Use start /w ocsetup FailoverCluster-Core to install the Failover Clustering
feature on VAN-CORE6B.
2. Use the Service Control command to query the status of the cluster service. At
the command prompt, type sc qc clussvc, and then press ENTER.
3. Verify that the sc command returns QueryServiceConfig SUCCESS.
f Task 6: Create a cluster

1. At the command prompt, type cd %systemroot%\cluster, and then press
ENTER.
2. Type cluster VAN-CLUSTER02 /create /ipaddr: 10.10.0.109/255.255.0.0.
f Task 7: Add VAN-CORE6B to the cluster

• Type cluster VAN-CLUSTER02 /addnode /node:VAN-CORE6B.
f Task 8: Create a file share clustered service

2. Open Failover Cluster Management, and configure it to manage the VAN-
Cluster02.fabrikam.com cluster.
3. Modify the quorum configuration for the cluster to use a Node and File Share
Majority mode, and to use \\VAN-DC1\FSW5 as the file share.
4. Add a new disk to the cluster.
5. Create a file server clustered service with the following attributes:
• Name: VAN-FILE01
• IP Address: 10.10.0.110
• Storage volume: Cluster Disk 1

f Task 9: Add a shared folder to VAN-FILE01
1. In the console tree, ensure that VAN-FILE01 is selected.
2. Add a shared folder location F:\.
3. For the Share name, type Public.
f Task 10: Log on to VAN-DC1, and verify the clustered shared folder
1. Log on to VAN-DC1 as Administrator with the password Pa$$w0rd.
2. Click Start, click Run, and then type \\VAN-File01\Public.
3. In Windows Explorer, verify that the user can connect to the share.
window.
click OK.
Maintaining Microsoft Failover Clusters 7-1

Module 7
Maintaining Microsoft Failover Clusters
Contents:
Lesson 1: Monitoring Failover Clusters 7-3
Lesson 2: Backing Up and Restoring Failover Clusters 7-11
Lesson 3: Troubleshooting Failover Clusters 7-20
Lab: Maintaining Failover Clusters 7-26

Module Overview
After deploying a failover cluster, you will need to maintain the cluster, and
troubleshoot when issues arise.
This module provides information on how to monitor cluster functionality,
troubleshoot the cluster by reviewing logs to identify and solve problems, and
adjust settings.

Lesson 1
Monitoring Failover Clusters
Failover clusters are more complex than stand-alone servers. This lesson describes
how to use standard cluster monitoring tools such as the Event Viewer, and the
Reliability and Performance Monitor snap-in.

Tools for Monitoring Failover Clusters
Key Points
A variety of tools are available to help you monitor failover clusters. You can
use standard Windows Server®°2008 tools, such as the Event Viewer and the
Reliability and Performance Monitor snap-in, to review cluster event logs, and
performance metrics. You can also use Cluster.exe and Tracerpt.exe to export data
for analysis. Additionally, you can use the MHTML-formatted cluster configuration
reports and the Validate a Configuration Wizard to troubleshoot problems with the
cluster configuration and hardware changes.
For more information, see "Failover Clustering Help: View Events and
Logs for a Failover Cluster"

Using Event Viewer to Monitor Failover Clusters
Key Points
When problems arise in the cluster, use the Event Viewer to view events with a
Critical, Error, or Warning severity level.
Additionally, informational level events are logged to the Failover Clustering
Operations log, which can be found in the Event Viewer in the Applications and
Services Logs\Microsoft\Windows folder. Informational-level events are usually
common cluster operations, such as cluster nodes leaving and joining the cluster,
or resources going offline or coming online.

Viewing Events for the Entire Cluster
Key Points
In previous Windows Server versions, event logs were replicated to each node in
the cluster. This simplified cluster troubleshooting, because you could review all
event logs on a single cluster node. Windows Server 2008 does not replicate the
event logs between nodes; however, the Failover Cluster Management snap-in has
a Cluster Events option that enables you to view and filter events across all cluster
nodes. This feature is helpful in correlating events across cluster nodes.
The Failover Cluster Management snap-in also provides a Recent Cluster Events
option that will query all of the Error and Warning events from all of the cluster
nodes in the last 24 hours.
You can access additional logs, such as the Debug and Analytic logs, from the
Event Viewer. To display these logs, modify the view in the top menu by selecting
Show Analytic and Debug Logs.

Using Event Tracing
Key Points
Windows event tracing is a kernel component that is available early after startup,
and late into shutdown. It is designed to allow for fast tracing and delivery of
events to trace files and to consumers. Because it is designed to be fast, it allows
only basic in-process filtering of events based on event attributes.
The event trace log contains a comprehensive accounting of the failover cluster
actions. Depending on how you want to view the data, use either Cluster.exe or
Tracerpt.exe to access the information in the event trace log.

Using Tracerpt.exe to View the Event Trace Log
Key Points
Tracerpt.exe will parse the event trace logs only on the node on which it is run. All
of the individual logs are collected in a central location. To transform the XML file
into a text file or an HTML file that can be opened in Internet Explorer, you can
parse the XML-based file using the Microsoft XSL parsing command-line utility
msxsl.exe, and an XSL style sheet.

Using Cluster.exe to Export the Cluster Log
Key Points
Cluster.exe provides a cluster log for the entire cluster, or for a specific node in the
cluster in a readable text format. The output from Cluster.exe is more flexible than
Tracerpt.exe, because you can export trace logs for all nodes in the cluster and save
them in a specified location. You can view the exported log using a text editor. To
run successfully, Cluster.exe must be run from an administrator-elevated
command prompt.

Using the Reliability and Performance Monitor Snap-in
Key Points
The Performance and Reliability Monitor snap-in allows you to:
• Trend application performance on each node. To determine how an
application is performing, you can view and trend specific information on
system resources that are being used on each node.
• Trend application failures and stability on each node. You can pinpoint when
application failures occur and correlate the application failures with other
events on the node.
• Modify trace log settings. You can start, stop, and adjust trace logs, including
their size and location.

Lesson 2
Backing Up and Restoring Failover Clusters
This lesson describes how to backup a failover cluster, and how to perform an
authoritative or a non-authoritative restore.

Considerations for Backing Up Failover Clusters
Key Points
When you back up the cluster configuration, be aware of the following:
• Before putting a cluster into production, you must test your backup and
recovery process.
• If you choose to use Windows Server Backup, (the Windows Server 2008
backup feature), you must first add the feature. You can do this during initial
configuration tasks, or by using the Add Features Wizard in Server Manager.

Using Windows Server Backup to Back Up the Cluster
Configuration
Key Points
Windows Server Backup is the built-in backup and recovery software for Windows
Server 2008. In order to complete a successful backup, be aware of the following:
• For a backup to succeed in a failover cluster, the cluster must be running
and must have quorum. In other words, enough nodes must be running and
communicating (perhaps with a witness disk or witness file share, depending
on the quorum configuration,) that the cluster has achieved quorum.
• You must back up all clustered applications. If you cluster a Microsoft SQL
Server® database, you must have a backup plan for the databases and
configuration outside of the cluster configuration.

• If application data must be backed up, the disks that you store the data on
must be made available to the backup software. You can accomplish this
by running the backup software from the cluster node that owns the disk
resource, or by running a backup against the clustered resource over the
network.
• The cluster service keeps track of which cluster configuration is the most
recent, and it replicates that configuration to all cluster nodes. If the cluster has
a witness disk, the cluster service also replicates the configuration to the
witness disk.
For more information, see "Failover Clustering Help: Understanding

Backup and Recovery Basics for a Failover Cluster"

Demonstration: Backing Up the Failover Cluster
Configuration
Question:
What option must you use in Windows Server Backup to back up the failover
cluster configuration?

Using a Non-authoritative Restore
Key Points
Use a non-authoritative restore when a single node in the cluster has been
damaged or rebuilt, and the rest of the cluster is operating properly.
Perform a non-authoritative restore by restoring the system recovery (system state)
information to the damaged node. When you restart that node, it will join the
cluster and receive the latest cluster configuration automatically.
For more information, see "Failover Clustering Help: Restoring to a

Failover Cluster from Backup"

Using an Authoritative Restore
Key Points
Use an authoritative restore when the cluster configuration must be rolled back to
a previous point in time. For example, you would use an authoritative restore if an
administrator accidently removed clustered resources or modified other cluster
settings.
Perform the authoritative restore by stopping the cluster resource on each of the
nodes, and then performing a system recovery (system state) on a single node
using the command-line Windows Server Backup interface. After the restored node
restarts the cluster service, the remaining cluster nodes can also start the cluster
service.

Demonstration: Performing an Authoritative Restore for a
Failover Cluster
Questions:
When would you use an authoritative restore?
When would you use a non-authoritative restore?


Discussion: Addressing Application Recovery
Key Points

Lesson 3
Troubleshooting Failover Clusters
This lesson defines concepts to help troubleshoot failover clusters.


Troubleshooting Failover Clusters
Key Points
To troubleshoot a failover cluster:
• Use the Validate a Configuration Wizard to highlight configuration issues that
might cause cluster problems.
• Review cluster events and trace logs to identify application or hardware issues
that might cause an unstable cluster.
• Review hardware events and logs to help pinpoint specific hardware
components that might cause an unstable cluster.
• Review storage area network (SAN) components, switches, adapters, and
storage controllers to help identify any potential problems.

The Process for Troubleshooting Failover Clusters
Key Points
When troubleshooting failover clusters, you must:
• Identify the perceived problem by gathering and documenting the symptoms
of the problem.
• Identify the scope of the problem so that you can understand what is being
affected by the problem, and what impact that effect is having on the
application and the clients.
• Gather information so that you can accurately understand and pinpoint the
possible problem. After you identify a list of possible problems, you can
prioritize them by probability, or the impact of a repair. If the problem cannot
be pinpointed, you should attempt to recreate the problem.
• Create a schedule for repairing the problem. For example, if the problem only
affects a small subset of users, you can delay the repair to an off-peak time so
that you can schedule downtime.
• Complete and test each repair one at a time so that you can identify the fix.

Discussion: Troubleshooting Techniques
Key Points

Troubleshooting Storage Issues
Key Points
To troubleshoot SAN issues, start by checking physical connections and each of
the hardware component logs. Additionally, run the Validate a Configuration
Wizard to verify that the current cluster configuration is still supportable. When
you run the Validate a Configuration Wizard, ensure that the storage tests you
select can be run on an online failover cluster. Several of the storage tests cause
loss of service on the clustered disk when the tests are run.

Troubleshooting Group and Resource Failures
Key Points
To troubleshoot group and resource failures:
• Use the Dependency Viewer in the Failover Cluster Management snap-in to
identify dependent resources.
• Check the Event Viewer and trace logs for errors from the dependent
resources.
• Determine if the problem only happens on a specific node, or nodes, by trying
to recreate the problem on different nodes.

Lab: Maintaining Failover Clusters
Lab Objectives
• Monitor failover clusters.
• Perform backups on a failover cluster.
• Perform an authoritative restore on a failover cluster.
Scenario
Fabrikam has asked you to review cluster event logs and perform a test restore to
validate the backup process for their existing file cluster. The Windows Server
Backup feature is installed on both cluster nodes.
Note: Complete the steps to prepare for this lab after starting the virtual machines
and logging on as described in Exercise 1, Task 1.

To prepare for this lab:
1. On VAN-SRV6A, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Server
Manager.
2. Expand Storage, and then click Disk Management.
3. Right-click Disk 2, and then click Online.
4. Right-click Disk 2, and then click Initialize disk. In the Initialize Disk dialog
box, click OK.
5. Right-click the unallocated space beside Disk 2, and then click New Simple
Volume.
6. On the Welcome page, click Next.
7. On the Specify Volume Size page, click Next.
8. On the Assign Drive Letter or Path page, click Next.
9. On the Format Partition page, in the Volume Label field, type Data, select the
Perform a quick format check box, click Next, and then click Finish.
10. On VAN-SRV6B, open Server Manager.
11. Expand Storage, and then click Disk Management.
12. Right-click Disk 2, and then click Online. In the Disk Management error
message, click OK.
13. Right-click Disk 2, and then click Online.
14. On VAN-SRV6A, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click
Failover Cluster Management.
15. In the console tree, expand VAN-CLUSTER01.Fabrikam.com.
16. Click Storage, in the Actions pane, click Add a disk, and then click OK.
17. Click VAN-CLUSTER01.Fabrikam.com.
18. In the Actions pane, click Configure a Service or Application.
19. Review the text on the first page of the wizard, and then click Next.
20. Click Print Server, and then click Next.

21. Type VAN-Print for the Name and type 10.10.0.109 as the IP Address in the
network specified as 10.10.0.0/16, and then click Next.
22. Select Cluster Disk 2 as the storage volume for the print server, and then click
Next.
23. Click Next again, and then click Finish.

Exercise 1: Monitoring Failover Clusters
In this exercise, you will identify cluster events both during a restart and during a
failover, and then you will view file cluster dependencies.
• Identify the cluster events that occurred during the last restart.
• Failover VAN-Print, and identify the events that occur.
• View dependencies on the file cluster.

6. Log on to VAN-SRV6B as Administrator with the password Pa$$w0rd.
8. Complete the steps in the "To prepare for this lab" section above.
f Task 2 : Identify the cluster events that occurred during the last restart
1. On VAN-SRV6A, open the Event Viewer from the Administrative tools.
2. In the Event Viewer, browse to Applications and Services Logs\Windows
\FailoverClustering\Operational to view the operational logs.
3. In the list of events, locate and review events with the Event IDs 1061, 1125,
and 1131.

f Task 3: Failover VAN-Print, and identify the events that occur
1. Under VAN-CLUSTER01, browse to Services and Applications\VAN-Print,
and then move the application to VAN-SRV6B.
2. In the Event Viewer, browse to Applications and Services Logs\Microsoft
\Windows\FailoverClusteringOperational to view the operational logs.
3. In the list of events, locate and review events with the Event IDs 1200, 1201,
1203, and 1204.
4. Close the Event Viewer.
f Task 4: View dependencies on the file cluster

1. In the Failover Cluster Management snap-in, browse to VAN-CLUSTER01
\Services and Applications.
2. In Services and Applications, right-click VAN-Print, and, in the Actions pane,
click Show Dependency Report.
3. In the Dependency Report, identify the VAN-Print dependencies.
4. Close Internet Explorer.

Exercise 2: Performing Backups on a Failover Cluster
In this exercise, you will verify functionality of the cluster, and create a backup of
the cluster configuration database.
• Verify the cluster functionality.
• Create a backup of the cluster configuration database.
f Task 1: Verify the cluster functionality

1. In the Failover Cluster Management snap-in, click VAN-CLUSTER01.
2. Verify that there are no application alerts, and that the cluster has quorum.
f Task 2: Create a backup of the cluster configuration database

1. Open Windows Server Backup, and in the Actions pane, select Backup Once.
2. In the Backup Once Wizard, select Different Options, and then click Next.
3. Select Custom, and then click Next.
4. Verify that Local Disk (C:) and Enable System Recovery are selected, and
then click Next.
5. Select Remote Shared Folder, and then click Next.
6. Type \\VAN-DC1\Backup as the remote shared folder, select Inherit, and
then click Next.
7. Select VSS Full Backup, and then click Next.
8. After the backup completes, close Windows Server Backup.

Exercise 3: Performing an Authoritative Restore on a
Failover Cluster
In this exercise, you will delete a cluster, and then perform an authoritative restore.
• Delete a cluster.
• Perform an authoritative restore
f Task 1: Delete a cluster

\Services and Applications.
2. Delete VAN-Print.
f Task 2: Perform an authoritative restore

1. Start an administrator-elevated command prompt.
2. Run wbadmin get versions to list the backups that have been completed.
3. Locate the backup that was just performed, by matching the Backup Time with
the time that the backup was performed. (Note the version identifier for the
backup.)
4. Run wbadmin start recovery -version:07/27/2007-19:21 -itemtype:app -
items:cluster (where the version information matches the version noted in the
previous step,) to start the restore.
5. After the restore is complete, run sc stop clussvc to stop the cluster service.
6. Run sc start clussvc to restart the cluster service.
\Nodes.
8. Right-click VAN-SRV6A, and then click Resume.
9. In the Connections pane, under Nodes, click VAN-SRV6B.
10. In the Actions pane, click More Actions, and then click Start Cluster Service.
11. In the Connections pane, under Services and Applications, right-click VAN-
Print, and then click Bring this service or application online.

window.
click OK.
Implementing Multi-Site Clusters 8-1

Module 8
Implementing Multi-Site Clusters
Contents:
Lesson 1: Overview of Multi-Site Clusters 8-3
Lesson 2: Implementing Multi-Site Clusters Using Windows Server 2008 8-14

Module Overview
Single-site failover clusters allow applications to stay available when a server fails,
or even if the cabinet that contains each node fails.
This module describes how multi-site clusters work with Windows Server®°2008,
and provides general guidelines for planning a multi-site cluster.

Lesson 1
Overview of Multi-Site Clusters
This lesson provides information about multi-site clusters, and how they are used.
Additionally, this lesson describes the two replication types that are available for
creating a multi-site cluster.

What Are Multi-Site Clusters?
Key Points
A multi-site cluster provides highly available services in more than one location.
Multi-site clusters can solve a number of specific problems; however, they also
present specific challenges.

Discussion: When to Use a Multi-Site Cluster
Key Points

What Makes Multi-Site Clusters Unique?
Key Points
In a multi-site cluster, each site usually has a separate storage system with
replication between the sites. Multi-site cluster storage replication allows each site
to be independent, and provides fast access to the local disk. With separate storage
systems, you cannot share a single disk between sites.

Why Use a Multi-Site Cluster?
Key Points
A multi-site cluster has three main advantages in a failover site compared to a
remote server:
• When a site fails, a multi-site cluster automatically fails over the clustered
service or application to another site.
• Because the cluster configuration is automatically replicated to each cluster
node in a multi-site cluster, there is less administrative overhead than a cold
standby server, which requires that you manually replicate changes.
• The automated processes in a multi-site cluster reduce the possibility of
human error, which is present in manual processes.

Evaluating the Business Need for a Multi-Site Cluster
Key Points
Because of increased cost and complexity of a multi-site failover cluster, it might
not be an ideal solution for every application or business. When considering
whether to deploy a multi-site cluster, you should evaluate the importance of the
applications to the business, the type of applications, and any alternative solutions.
Some applications can provide multi-site redundancy easily with log shipping or
other processes, and can still achieve adequate availability with only a modest
increase in cost and complexity.
The complexity of a multi-site cluster requires a higher level of architectural and
hardware planning. It also requires that you develop business processes to
routinely test the cluster functionality.

Storage Challenges for Multi-Site Clusters
Key Points
In a multi-site cluster, Windows Server 2008 failover clustering does not include
built-in functionality to replicate data between sites. There are three options for
replicating data: block level hardware-based replication, software-based file
replication installed on the host, or application-based replication.
Multi-site data replication can be either synchronous or asynchronous.
Synchronous replication does not acknowledge data changes made in Site A until
the data is successfully written to Site B. With asynchronous replication, data
changes made in Site A are eventually written to Site B.
When you deploy a multi-site cluster and run the Validate a Configuration Wizard,
the disk tests will not find any shared storage, and will therefore not run. If you
follow the hardware manufacturer’s recommendations for Windows Server 2008
failover clustering hardware, Microsoft will support the solution.

What Is Synchronous Replication?
Key Points
When you use synchronous replication, the host receives a “write complete”
response from the primary storage after the data is written successfully on both
storage systems. If the data is not written successfully to both storage systems, the
application must attempt to write to the disk again. With synchronous replication,
both storage systems are identical.

What Is Asynchronous Replication?
Key Points
When you use asynchronous replication, the node receives a “write complete”
response from the storage after the data is written successfully on the primary
storage. The data is written to the secondary storage on a different schedule,
depending on the hardware or software vendor’s implementation.
Asynchronous replication can be storage-based, host-based, or even application-
based; however, not all forms of asynchronous replication are sufficient for a multi-
site cluster. For example, Distributed File System Replications (DFS-R) provides
file-level asynchronous replication; however, it does not support multi-site failover
clustering replication. This is because DFS-R replicates smaller documents that are
not held open continuously, and therefore, it was not designed for high-speed,
open-file replication.

Comparing Synchronous and Asynchronous Replication
Key Points
You use synchronous and asynchronous replication for different reasons. You
use synchronous replication when data loss cannot be tolerated. Synchronous
replication solutions cannot tolerate high-disk write latency, because the
application waits for both storage solutions to acknowledge the data writes. The
requirement for low latency disk writes also limits the distance between the storage
systems because increased distance can cause higher latency. If the disk latency is
high, the performance and even the stability of the application can be affected.
Asynchronous replication overcomes latency and distance limitations by
acknowledging local disk writes only, and by reproducing the disk write on the
remote storage system in a separate transaction. Because asynchronous replication
writes to the remote storage system after it writes to the local storage system, the
possibility of data loss during a failure is increased.

Network Challenges for Multi-Site Clusters
Key Points
Windows Server 2008 allows cluster nodes to exist on different IP subnets, which
enables a clustered application or service to change its IP address based on the IP
subnet. DNS updates the clustered application’s DNS record so that clients can
locate the IP address change. Because clients rely on DNS to find a service or
application after a failover, you might need to adjust the DNS records’ time to live,
and the speed at which DNS data is replicated. Additionally, when cluster nodes
are in multiple sites, network latency might require that you modify the inter-node
communication (heartbeat) delay and time-out thresholds.

Lesson 2
Implementing Multi-Site Clusters Using
Windows Server 2008
This lesson describes how to choose the correct quorum mode, and how to deploy
a multi-site cluster.

Key Windows Server 2008 Features That Enable Multi-Site
Clusters
Key Points
In addition to multi-subnet clustering and using inter-node communications to
accommodate network latencies, Windows Server 2008 provides new cluster
quorum modes (Node Majority and Node and File Share Majority) that help
enable multi-site clusters.

Discussion: Quorum Issues in Multi-Site Clusters
Key Points

Choosing the Appropriate Quorum Mode in Multi-Site
Clusters
Key Points
Both the Node and Disk Majority, and No Majority: Disk Only quorum modes
require a shared witness disk to provide a vote for determining quorum. You
should only use these two quorum modes if the hardware vendor specifically
recommends and supports them.
To use the Node and Disk Majority and No Majority: Disk Only modes in a multi-
site cluster, the shared disk requires that:
• You preserve the semantics of the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
commands across the sites, even if a complete communication failure occurs
between sites.
• You replicate the witness disk in real-time synchronous mode across all sites.

Because multi-site clusters can have WAN failures in addition to node and local
network failures, Node Majority and Node and File Share Majority are better
solutions for multi-site clusters. If there is a wide area network (WAN) failure that
causes the primary and secondary sites to lose communication, a majority must
still be available to continue operations.

Using Node Majority in a Multi-Site Cluster
Key Points
If you are using Node Majority and the sites lose communication, you need a
mechanism to determine which nodes stay up, and which nodes drop out of
cluster membership. The second site requires another vote to obtain quorum after
a failure. To obtain another vote for quorum, you must join another node to the
cluster, or create a file share witness.

Using Node and File Share Majority in a Multi-Site Cluster
Key Points
The Node and File Share Majority mode can help maintain quorum without
adding another node to the cluster. To provide for a single site failure and allow
automatic failover, the file share witness might need to exist at a third site. In a
multi-site cluster, a single server can host the file share witness; however, you must
create a separate file share for each cluster.

Deploying Exchange Server 2007 Cluster Continuous
Replication in a Multi-Site Cluster
Key Points
In a Windows Server 2008 multi-site cluster, you can install Exchange Server 2007
Service Pack 1 in a Cluster Continuous Replication configuration. To keep the data
on both cluster nodes synchronized without needing expensive storage replication,
Exchange Server provides log shipping. You use three sites to ensure that a single
site failure does not remove the ability to maintain quorum. If you cannot use three
sites, you can manually move the file share witness to the secondary site, and
maintain quorum during a failure.
For more information, see "High Availability"


Deploying a Multi-Site Cluster
Key Points
Multi-site clusters are not appropriate for every application or every business.
When you design a multi-site solution with a hardware vendor, clearly identify the
business requirements and expectations. Additionally, carefully consider the
quorum mode you will use, and the location of the available cluster votes.
Implementing Network Load Balancing Clusters 9-1

Module 9
Implementing Network Load Balancing Clusters
Contents:
Lesson 1: Overview of Network Load Balancing Clusters 9-3
Lesson 2: Configuring a Network Load Balancing Cluster 9-15
Lesson 3: Maintaining a Network Load Balancing Cluster 9-30
Lab: Implementing an NLB Cluster 9-37

Module Overview
The Network Load Balancing (NLB) feature in Windows Server®°2008 increases

the availability and scalability of Internet server applications. By implementing
NLB, you can combine the resources of two or more computers into a single virtual
cluster that provides performance and automatic load balancing between the
cluster hosts.
This module provides an overview of Network Load Balancing, and explains how
to configure and maintain NLB.

Lesson 1
Overview of Network Load Balancing Clusters
NLB is a Windows Server 2008 solution that provides availability and scalability.
This lesson provides information about the NLB features, and explains how NLB
operates.

What Is Network Load Balancing (NLB)?
Key Points
Applications that can benefit from being deployed on a network load balancing
cluster include Web server-based applications, FTP, firewall, proxy, and virtual
private network (VPN) services.
Because any server in a Network Load Balancing cluster can respond to a client
request, both the application files and data on all servers must be exactly the same.
Usually this means that you use a separate, back-end server to store data, or
provide for a way to synchronize the data on the Web servers. However, this
requirement limits which applications are suitable for load balancing.
Note: To provide a highly available system, you should consider using a failover
cluster for the back-end server hosting the data.

When a server in a Network Load Balancing cluster fails, the failure is
automatically detected, and the remaining servers take over the load. In most cases,
users are unaware that a server has failed.
For more information, see "Network Load Balancing Concepts"
For more information, see "Network Load Balancing Help: Overview of

Network Load Balancing"

How NLB Works
Key Points
An NLB cluster uses a virtual IP address and a virtual media access control (MAC)
address for network communication. All NLB nodes use the same virtual IP
address and virtual MAC address. When an incoming packet is addressed to the
virtual IP address and virtual MAC address, all NLB nodes receive it, but only the
appropriate node responds.
NLB nodes use a common algorithm to determine which node will respond. When
a client request arrives, all hosts simultaneously perform a mapping to determine
which host should handle the packet. The mapping uses a randomization function
that calculates a host priority based on the IP address, port, and other information.
The corresponding host accepts the client request, and the other cluster hosts
discard it.

The mapping remains unchanged unless the membership of the cluster hosts
changes, thus ensuring that a given client’s IP address and port will always map to
the same cluster host. The algorithm load balances incoming client requests so that
a selected percentage of new requests are forwarded to each cluster host. If all
hosts are configured the same, the same percentage of client requests will be sent
to each host. The NLB nodes do not negotiate to determine which node will
respond. By using the same algorithm and monitoring, all nodes synchronize their
calculations about which node should respond to each request.
When a host fails, the remaining hosts in the cluster converge, and then:
• Establish which hosts are still active members of the cluster.
• Elect the host with the highest priority as the new default host.
• Ensure that all new client requests are handled by the remaining hosts.
If the failed host begins to send heartbeat messages again, it rejoins the cluster
during the convergence. After all cluster hosts agree on the current cluster
membership, the client load is redistributed to the remaining hosts, and the
convergence completes.
For more information, see "High Availability and Scalability Collection"


Windows Server 2008 NLB Features
Key Points
All NLB components support IPv6 addresses. You can configure the addresses
as the primary cluster IP address, the dedicated IP addresses, and the virtual IP
addresses. In addition, you can load balance IPv6 as native IPv6 and in the IPv6
over IPv4 modes.
Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) 6.0 is compatible with earlier NDIS
versions.
By using a callback interface, NLB can detect and notify applications during an
attack, or when a node is under excessive load. Microsoft® Internet Security and
Acceleration (ISA) Server uses this functionality if the cluster node is overloaded or
being attacked.
NLB supports rolling upgrades from Windows Server®°2003 to Windows
Server 2008.

For more information, see "Guide to Performing a Rolling Upgrade from
a Network Load Balancing Cluster Running Windows Server 2003 to a
Cluster Running Windows Server 2008"

NLB Application Support
Key Points
Applications that work well with NLB have one or more of the following
characteristics:
• The applications do not require the same cluster host to service all client
connections. For example, most Web sites are ideal applications for an NLB
cluster because any cluster host can service the client requests. On the other
hand, applications based on Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) expect that the cluster
host that originated the response will maintain the SSL session.
• The applications do not require application state to be saved on a specific
server in the cluster, such as session state saved by Active Server Pages (ASP).
Web applications that work well on a cluster use a common database or
service to maintain session state. On the initial request, a cookie is sent to the
client. On subsequent requests, the client sends the cookie to the cluster. Any
cluster host in the cluster can restore the application session state by using the
cookie sent by the client to retrieve the session state from the session database
or service.

Applications and services that are stateless are the most likely to run without
modifications on NLB. Applications and services are stateless when each client
request is considered to be a new request that is unrelated to any previous request.

Data Synchronization Between NLB Nodes
Key Points
When you synchronize data between NLB nodes, there is always a small amount of
lag-time in replication. This lag-time may cause brief inconsistent results between
servers. Data synchronization is a common approach when multiple servers host a
Web site, and minor discrepancies during Web site updates are acceptable.
When you store data in a common location, the responses from the NLB nodes
are always consistent, because all nodes have the same view of the data. When
you run Web-based applications, a common storage location is required to ensure
that changes result in a consistent data structure. To do this, many Web-based
applications store data in a Microsoft SQL Server® database. You must configure all
hosts in the NLB cluster to communicate with a single database server, or with a
clustered SQL Server.
Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 supports shared configuration, which
enables you to store the data used by multiple Web servers on a separate file
server. You can use shared configuration in combination with NLB.

Discussion: Comparing NLB with Failover Clusters
Key Points

Discussion: Comparing NLB with Other Load Balancing
Solutions
Key Points

Lesson 2
Configuring a Network Load Balancing Cluster
In order to implement NLB in Windows Server 2008, you must install the NLB
feature, and then create and configure NLB clusters using the Network Load
Balancing Manager. This lesson describes how to set up and configure NLB
clusters.

NLB Deployment Requirements
Key Points
We recommend that all hosts in an NLB cluster have two network adapters. This
simplifies network communication by isolating NLB cluster traffic from host traffic.
Although NLB in Windows Server 2008 supports a single network adapter for
both unicast and multicast cluster operation modes, multiple network adapters
provide enhanced redundancy and performance.
You must configure the your network adapter for NLB with TCP/IP, and all
NLB nodes must be on the same subnet. This is required because all nodes in
the cluster share a single virtual IP address. If the cluster hosts are not connected
to the same physical subnet, ensure that they are connected to a virtual subnet.
If the load balancing cluster is operating close to capacity, the loss of a server may
increase the load on remaining cluster nodes, and subsequently degrade client
performance. To avoid performance degradation due to a failed server, ensure that
each host in the load balancing cluster has sufficient capacity to handle the added
load.

Demonstration: Creating NLB Clusters
Questions:
What are the prerequisites for creating the NLB cluster?
How is creating an NLB cluster different than creating a failover cluster?


Considerations for Configuring NLB Clusters and Hosts
Key Points
The cluster IP address is the virtual IP address that is assigned to the cluster. Client
requests are sent to the cluster IP address.
When you enter the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) in the cluster
parameters, the name is not automatically registered in a Domain Name System
(DNS), or used by other Windows components. Not assigning a full Internet name
setting does not affect the operation of any Windows component, including NLB.

As you plan the NLB cluster and host settings, the configuration choices you make
determine the following:
Choice Configuration settings
Will each server host the same number Determines the port rule load weight
of client connections? setting
Will the client connect to the same Determines the affinity setting
server for all connections?
Will the cluster operate the same way Determines the port rule settings
for all applications?
Do network switches support unicast or Determines the cluster operation modes

multicast operations?

Comparing Unicast and Multicast NLB Cluster Operation
Modes
Key Points
We recommend that you select the unicast method for distributing client requests,
unless only one network adapter is installed in each cluster host.
Considerations for using unicast mode include:
• In order to provide peer-to-peer communication between cluster hosts, a
second network adapter is required.
• If you connect the cluster to a switch, incoming packets are sent to all the
ports on the switch, which may cause switch flooding. Outgoing packets use a
modified version of the cluster MAC address that is unique to each node. This
prevents switches from associating the cluster MAC address to a specific
switch port.

Considerations for using the multicast mode include:
• Upstream routers might require a static Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
entry. This is because routers might not accept an ARP response that resolves
unicast IP addresses to multicast MAC addresses.
• The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) multicast check box
enables IGMP support for limiting switch flooding, by limiting traffic to
Network Load Balancing ports only. Enabling IGMP support ensures that
traffic intended for an NLB cluster passes through only those ports serving the
cluster hosts, and not all switch ports. Without IGMP, switches might require
additional configuration to tell the switch which ports to use for the multicast
traffic.
• Upstream routers might not support mapping a unicast IP address (the cluster
IP address) with a multicast MAC address. In these situations, you must
upgrade or replace the router, or use the unicast mode.

Options for Configuring Host Parameters
Key Points
For each NLB node, you can configure host parameters that are specific to that
node. The host parameters are:
• Priority: Each NLB node must have a unique priority value. If the port rule
does not address traffic addressed to the cluster, the NLB node with the
lowest-priority value will respond. If you specify the same cluster host priority
for two cluster hosts, the last cluster host that starts will not join the cluster,
and an error message that describes the problem is sent to the Windows
system event log. The existing cluster hosts continue to operate as before.
• Dedicated IP address: This specifies the IP address that is used on the host for
cluster management or general computer management. NLB ensures that port
rules do not affect traffic to the dedicated address. You must list the dedicated
IP address first in the list of IP addresses, in the TCP/IP properties.

• Subnet mask.
• Initial host state: Usually, you want the host to join automatically so that can
begin working after a reboot, with no manual intervention. However, you may
not want it to join automatically if you are performing maintenance on the
host and will be rebooting several times as part of the maintenance process.
For more information, see "Specifying the Cluster Host Parameters"


What Are Port Rules?
Key Points
Port rules specify how requests to a certain IP address and port range are directed
to cluster hosts. This enables you to define different rules for different applications
running on the NLB cluster. For example, you might want to distribute requests
for a Web application on TCP port 80 evenly among servers, but direct all requests
for the Web application on TCP port 8080 to a single server.
Windows NLB uses the filtering mode in a port rule to determine how to distribute
requests among nodes in the NLB cluster. The options for filtering mode are:
• Multiple hosts: All NLB nodes respond based on the weight assigned to each
node. The weight for each node is assigned depending on the physical
capabilities of the node. If a node fails, then other nodes continue to respond.
Distributing requests among multiple nodes increases the availability and
scalability of an application.

• Single host: Only the NLB node with the highest priority responds. If the
highest-priority node fails, then the next highest-priority node begins to
respond. Distributing requests to only a single host increases availability, but
does not increase scalability.
• Disable this port range: All packets for this port range are blocked. Use this
option when the cluster does not run any applications on a specific port range.
Important: The port rules that you apply to each cluster host must be identical,
with the exception of the load weight (in the multiple hosts filter mode,) and the
handling priority (in the single hosts filter mode). If there is a discrepancy between
port rules on existing cluster hosts, the cluster will not converge.

What Is Affinity?
Key Points
The affinity option controls distribution of requests from a specific client among
the nodes in an NLB cluster. This setting is only relevant when you select the
multiple-hosts filtering mode. The options for affinity are:
• None: Any node can respond to any client request. This is suitable for stateless
applications such as static Web pages. The first Web page can be retrieved
from Node A, and the second Web page from Node B.
• Single: A single node responds to all requests from a single client. This is
required for state-based applications such as Web applications that you must
authenticate. The authentication state is only stored on the server that you
originally contacted. If requests are answered by any node other than the
authenticating node, the request is unsuccessful, or the client is forced to
authenticate again.

• Network: A single node responds to all requests from a class C network. This
is useful when clients are accessing the NLB cluster from behind load-balanced
proxy servers. Requests coming from each proxy server will have a different
source IP address, but will be on a single, class C network. This option ensures
that a connection can be maintained even when the source IP address may
vary.

Demonstration: Configuring an NLB Cluster
Questions:
You want one host in the NLB cluster to handle all traffic sent to a Web application
using port 8888. How would you configure the cluster parameters?
You have deployed a new server in an existing NLB cluster and want to be sure
that this server will service twice as many client connections as the existing servers.
How would you configure the NLB cluster?

Considerations for Configuring NLB
Key Points
When you use Network Load Balancing Manager to configure cluster parameters,
you enter the cluster parameters once during the creation of the cluster. As you
add cluster hosts to the cluster, Network Load Balancing Manager automatically
configures the cluster parameters for the new cluster hosts.

Lesson 3
Maintaining a Network Load Balancing Cluster
After deployment, you must manage the NLB cluster by modifying the cluster
settings, and using the Network Load Balancing Manager to manage hosts in the
cluster. This lesson describes how to manage and troubleshoot NLB clusters.

Demonstration: Managing NLB Clusters
Questions:
What happens when you delete a host from the Network Load Balancing Manager?
After you enable logging in the Network Load Balancing Manager, what types of
events will show up in the NLB log file?

Demonstration: Managing Hosts on an NLB Cluster
Question:
You must remove a host from an NLB cluster. What should you do before you
remove the host so that you do not disrupt client connections?
Note: You can perform many of these tasks by using the command-line tool
NLB.exe. For details, see "Controlling Hosts on Network Load Balancing Clusters" in
Network Load Balancing Online Help.

Tools for Troubleshooting NLB Clusters
Key Points
Troubleshooting an NLB cluster usually falls into one of two categories: client
connectivity issues, and NLB load balance issues. The following tools help you to
troubleshoot an NLB cluster:
• Use the standard network troubleshooting tools on the client, and use
Network Monitor on the servers to troubleshoot client connectivity issues.
• Monitor the events in the System Log in Event Viewer to troubleshoot NLB
cluster issues such as cluster convergence issues, or server performance issues.
• Use the Reliability and Performance Monitor to troubleshoot performance
issues.

For more information, see "Network Load Balancing Online Help:
Troubleshooting Network Load Balancing Clusters"

Considerations for Troubleshooting NLB Clusters
Key Points
When troubleshooting an NLB cluster, consider the following issues:
Issues Symptoms Resolution

Network • Duplicate IP address • Ensure that each host has a
connectivity issues error unique dedicated address.
• Host unreachable • Ensure that cluster operation
messages with Ping or mode is the same on all hosts.
Network Load Balancing • Ensure that the correct network
Manager adapters are assigned to the
• No response in a cluster IP address.
management tool • Verify network support for
multicasting, if enabled.
• Check firewall configurations.

(continued)
Issues Symptoms Resolution
Application • Some users gain access • Verify that applications are

connectivity issues while others do not. installed correctly.
• TCP connections are • Verify application authorization
reset. settings.
• Verify that the cluster IP address
is added to all hosts.
• Disable Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP) keep-alives.
• Monitor server performance.
NLB convergence • Hosts start, but never • Verify that the same port rules
issues finish convergence. are defined on all hosts.
• Hosts move in and out • Verify network connectivity on
of converged state. the cluster network.
• Verify that all cluster nodes are
running Windows Server 2008.
Load balancing • Application load is not • Verify network connectivity

issues distributed evenly. between hosts.
• Only the default host is • Verify that all hosts are on the
responding to client same subnet.
requests. • Check the port rule
configuration.
• Verify that client connections are
not coming from a single IP
address, (that is, through a proxy
server.)
For more information, see "Reference: Network Load Balancing

Troubleshooting"
For more information, see "Network Load Balancing Help:

Troubleshooting Network Load Balancing Clusters"

Lab: Implementing an NLB Cluster
Lab Objectives
• Prepare the NLB cluster nodes.
• Configure an NLB failover cluster.
Scenario
You are the server administrator for Fabrikam Inc., and are implementing a new
Web-based application. To increase the availability of this new application, you will
use NLB in Windows Server 2008.

Exercise 1: Preparing the NLB Cluster Nodes
You must install the new Web-based application on servers VAN-SRV3A and VAN-
SRV3B. In this exercise, you will configure the Web server role on each server
before you configure and test the Web application on each server. You will also
install the Network Load Balancing role.
• Start the required virtual machines.
• Prepare network connections for NLB on VAN-SRV3A.
• Prepare network connections for NLB on VAN-SRV3B.
• Create a Web site on VAN-SRV3A.
• Create a Web site on VAN-SRV3B.
• Configure firewall rules for the Web site.
• Verify Web site functionality.
• Install the Network Load Balancing feature.
f Task 1: Start the required virtual machines

6. Log on to all computers as Administrator using a password of Pa$$w0rd.
f Task 2: Prepare network connections for NLB on VAN-SRV3A

• On VAN-SRV3A, rename the network connections:
• Local Area Connection: Client Network
• Local Area Connection2: Cluster Network

f Task 3: Prepare network connections for NLB on VAN-SRV3B
• On VAN-SRV3B, rename the network connections:
• Local Area Connection: Client Network
• Local Area Connection2: Cluster Network
f Task 4: Create a Web site on VAN-SRV3A

1. On VAN-SRV3A, create the folder C:\Webapp.
2. Copy the file C:\Inetpub\SVR3A.txt to C:\Webapp\default.htm.
3. Use the IIS Manager administrative tool to create a new Web site with the
following settings:
• Web site name: Webapp
• Physical path: C:\Webapp
• Port: 8080
f Task 5: Create a Web site on VAN-SRV3B

1. On VAN-SRV3B, create the folder C:\Webapp.
2. Copy the file C:\Inetpub\SVR3B.txt to C:\Webapp\default.htm.
3. Use the IIS Manager administrative tool to create a new Web site with the
following settings:
• Web site name: Webapp
• Physical path: C:\Webapp
• Port: 8080

f Task 6: Configure firewall rules for the Web site
1. On VAN-SRV3A, use the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security
administrative tool to create a new inbound rule with the following attributes:
• Rule type: Port
• Port type: TCP
• Specific local port: 8080
• Allow the connection
• Profiles: all
• Name: Web Application
2. On VAN-SRV3B, use the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security
administrative tool to create a new inbound rule with the following attributes:
• Rule type: Port
• Port type: TCP
• Specific local port: 8080
• Allow the connection
• Profiles: all
• Name: Web Application
f Task 7: Verify Web site functionality

• On VAN-DC1, use Internet Explorer to view the following Web sites:
• http://VAN-SRV3A:8080
• http://VAN-SRV3B:8080
f Task 8: Install the Network Load Balancing feature

1. On VAN-SRV3A, use Server Manager to install the Network Load Balancing
feature.
2. On VAN-SRV3B, use Server Manager to install the Network Load Balancing
feature.

Exercise 2: Configuring an NLB Failover Cluster
To increase the availability of the new Web-based application, you decide to create
an NLB cluster with failover. In this exercise, you will create an NLB failover cluster
and a port rule for the Web-based application.
• Create an NLB cluster.
• Add VAN-SRV3B to the NLB cluster.
• Configure a Domain Name System (DNS) record for the NLB cluster.
• Configure a port rule for failover.
• Verify cluster failover.
• Configure a port rule for load balancing.
• Verify cluster load balancing.
f Task 1: Create an NLB cluster

1. On VAN-SRV3A, use the Network Load Balancing Manager administrative tool
to create a new cluster.
• Connect to VAN-SRV3A.
• Use the Client Network interface.
• Accept the default host parameters.
• Cluster IP address: 10.10.0.100
• Subnet mask: 255.255.0.0
• Full Internet name: webapp.fabrikam.com
• Operation mode: Unicast
2. Verify that the 10.10.0.100 address has been added to the Client Network
interface.

f Task 2: Add VAN-SRV3B to the NLB cluster
1. On VAN-SRV3B, use the Network Load Balancing Manager administrative tool
to connect to the existing cluster webapp.fabrikam.com on VAN-SRV3A.
2. Add VAN-SRV3B as a node to the cluster.
3. Verify that the 10.10.0.100 address has been added to the Client Network
interface.
f Task 3: Configure a Domain Name System (DNS) record for the NLB
cluster
• On VAN-DC1, in DNS, create a new host record for WebApp.fabrikam.com, in
the Fabrikam.com zone. Configure an IP address of 10.10.0.100.
f Task 4: Configure a port rule for failover

1. On VAN-SRV3A, use the Network Load Balancing Manager administrative tool
to open the cluster properties.
2. On the Port Rules tab, edit the existing rule with the following settings:
• Port range: from 8080 to 8080
• Protocols: TCP
• Filtering mode: Single host
f Task 5: Verify cluster failover

1. On VAN-DC1, use Internet Explorer to view the Web site on the NLB cluster,
http://webapp.fabrikam.com:8080.
2. Reload the page several times to confirm the server from which the page is
being loaded.
3. On VAN-SRV3A, in the Load Balancing Manager administrative tool, stop the
server from which the page was being loaded by using the Control Host
submenu.
http:// webapp.fabrikam.com:8080.

5. Verify that the Web page loaded from the other server.
6. On VAN-SRV3A, in the Load Balancing Manager administrative tool, start the
stopped node by using the Control Host submenu.
f Task 6: Configure a port rule for load balancing

1. On VAN-SRV3A, use the Network Load Balancing Manager administrative
tool to open the properties of the cluster.
2. On the Port Rules tab, edit the existing rule with the following settings:
• Filtering mode: Multiple host
• Affinity: None
f Task 7: Verify cluster load balancing

2. On VAN-SRV3A, use Internet Explorer to view Web site on the NLB cluster,
3. On VAN-Web, use Internet Explorer to view Web site on the NLB cluster,
http://webapp.fabrikam.com.:8080.
4. Verify that the Web page loads from both Web servers.
f Task 8: Close all virtual machines, and discard undo disks

window.
click OK.

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Technical Reviewer: Rogerio Melo

Product Number: 6423A

Part Number: X14-89109

Module 2: Introduction to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Failover Clusters

Module 3: Preparing to Install a Failover Cluster

Module 4: Overview of Failover Cluster Storage Requirements

Module 5: Configuring a Failover Cluster

Module 6: Configuring Cluster Resources and Server Roles

Module 7: Maintaining Microsoft Failover Clusters

Module 8: Implementing Multi-Site Clusters

Module 9: Implementing Network Load Balancing Clusters

Lab Answer Keys

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Virtual Machine Environment

Virtual Machine Configuration

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

Virtual machine Role

Course Hardware Level

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

Today’s enterprises place increased emphasis on high availability and performance

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

For more information, see "What’s New in Clustering Technologies"

For more information, see "Failover Clustering with Windows Server

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

For more information, see "Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition:

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

Clusters provide availability, scalability, and manageability for mission-critical

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

For more information, see "Windows Server 2003 Clustering"

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

For more information, see "Windows Server 2003 Clustering"

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

For more information, see "Windows Server 2003 Clustering"

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

For more information, see "Windows Server 2003 Clustering"

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

For more information, see "Windows Server 2003 Clustering"

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

For more information, see "Windows Server 2003 Clustering"

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

Windows Server 2008 provides two primary high-availability solutions: failover

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

For more information, see "Failover Clustering with Windows Server

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

For more information, see "Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED

MCT USE ONLY. STUDENT USE PROHIBITED