Microsoft Official Course

Module 8
Planning and Implementing a High
Availability Infrastructure Using
Failover Clustering
Module Overview

• Planning an Infrastructure for Failover Clustering

• Implementing Failover Clustering
• Planning and Implementing Updates for Failover
Clustering
• Integrating Failover Clustering with Server
Virtualization
• Planning a Multisite Failover Cluster
Lesson 1: Planning an Infrastructure for Failover
Clustering
• Overview of Failover Clustering
• Failover Clustering Improvements in Windows Server 2012
and Windows Server 2012 R2
• Considerations for Server Workloads on Failover Clusters
• Selecting Hardware Components for Cluster Nodes
• Planning Network Components
• Planning Storage Components
• Using CSVs for Failover Cluster Storage
• Planning Cluster Quorum
• Application Considerations
Overview of Failover Clustering

• A failover cluster is a group of independent

computers that work together to increase the
availability of applications and services
• Components of a failover cluster include:
• Nodes
• Network
• Resource
• Cluster storage
• Clients
• Service or application
 Failover Clustering Improvements in Windows
Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2
Failover clustering Removed and deprecated
improvements in failover clustering features
Windows Server 2012 in Windows Server 2012
• Increased scalability • Cluster.exe command-line
• Improved CSVs tool
• Cluster-aware updating • Cluster Automation Server
(MSClus) COM interface
• Active Directory integration
improvements • Printer cluster
• Management improvements
Failover Clustering Improvements in Windows
Server 2012 R2

• Significant new features of failover clustering in

Windows Server 2012 R2:
• Quorum changes and dynamic witness
• Force quorum resiliency
• Tie breaker for 50% node split
• Global Update Manager mode
• Cluster node health detection
• AD DS–detached cluster
Considerations for Server Workloads on Failover
Clusters

When designing high availability for workloads that

run on your servers, you should:
• Identify workloads and their main characteristics
• Understand that you cannot apply failover clustering to
all applications and workloads
• Remember that failover clustering does not provide
improved scalability
• Consider high availability approaches for workloads in
virtual machines
Selecting Hardware Components for Cluster
Nodes

The hardware requirements for a failover

implementation include:
• Server hardware components must have the Certified for
Windows Server 2012 logo
• Server nodes should all have the same configuration and
contain the same or similar components
• Each clustered server passes all tests in the Validate a
Configuration Wizard
Planning Network Components

The network requirements for a failover

implementation include:
• The network hardware components must have the
Certified for Windows Server 2012 logo
• The server should be connected to multiple networks for
communication redundancy, or to a single network with
redundant hardware to remove single points of failure
• The network adapters should be identical and have the
same IP versions, speed, duplex, and flow control
capabilities
 Planning Storage Components

Failover clusters require shared storage to provide

consistent data to a virtual server after failover
Shared storage options include:
• Serial attached SCSI

• iSCSI

• Fibre Channel

• Shared VHDX
Using CSVs for Failover Cluster Storage

• CSV is a technology that enables multiple nodes

to share a single LUN or volume concurrently
• Windows Server 2008 introduced CSV
• Windows Server 2012 improved CSV
• Windows Server 2012 R2 introduced new features:
• Optimized CSV placement policies
• Increased CSV resiliency
• CSV cache allocation
• CSV diagnosis
• CSV interoperability
Planning Cluster Quorum

In failover clusters, a quorum is a consensus that

enough cluster members are available to provide
services
• Quorum:
• Is based on votes in Windows Server 2012
• Allows nodes, file shares, or a shared disk to have a
vote, depending on the quorum mode
• Allows the failover cluster to remain online when
sufficient votes are available
• Quorum modes:
• Node Majority
• Node and Disk Majority
• Node and File Share Majority
• No Majority: Disk Only
Quorum Changes in Windows Server 2012 R2

• The legacy concept of quorum mode is removed

• Dynamic Quorum adjusts votes automatically to maintain
cluster functionality
• You can define which nodes have a quorum vote
• Configurable for 1 vote or 0 votes
• You must configure a witness disk with Windows Server
2012 R2
• Clustering will determine when it is best to use it
• With Dynamic Quorum the witness vote is adjusted
automatically based on cluster membership
• Odd node votes (3) + no witness vote (0) = 3
• Even node votes (2) + witness vote (1) = 3
Application Considerations

When you plan a failover clustering implementation

for applications, you should consider:
• Web-based services cannot be made highly available by
using failover clustering
• AD DS does not support clustering
• Exchange Server uses failover clustering but not directly
• DHCP servers support failover clustering
• SQL Server is a good candidate for failover clustering
• In a Hyper-V environment you can use host-based or
guest-based clustering
Lesson 2: Implementing Failover Clustering

• Deploying and Validating a Failover Cluster

• Deploying Server Roles on a Failover Cluster
• Configuring Settings for a Failover Cluster
• Configuring Failover and Failback Settings
• Using Scale-Out File Server in Windows
Server 2012
• Demonstration: Configuring the Scale-Out File
Server Cluster
Deploying and Validating a Failover Cluster

• You can deploy failover clustering feature on the

full GUI or a Server Core version of Windows
Server 2012
• You should consider the benefits from deploying a
cluster on Server Core
• Before creating a cluster, you should run the
Validate a Configuration Wizard to perform:
• System configuration tests
• Network tests
• Storage tests
Deploying Server Roles on a Failover Cluster

To deploy and configure a failover cluster, you

must:
• Install the failover clustering feature
• Verify configuration
• Install the role on all cluster nodes
• Create a clustered application
• Configure the application
• Test failover
Configuring Settings for a Failover Cluster

In failover cluster properties, you can configure

cluster names, add resources, and configure
cluster permissions
Common cluster management tasks include:
• Managing nodes
• Managing networks
• Managing permissions
• Configuring cluster quorum settings
• Migrating services and applications to a cluster
• Configuring new services and applications
• Removing the cluster
Configuring Failover and Failback Settings

• When using Preferred Owners, you should consider the

following:
• Preferred owners are set on the clustered application
• Multiple preferred owners can be set in an ordered list
• By setting Preferred Owners you can control:
• The order in which an application will select a node on
which to run
• The applications that can be run on the same nodes in an
active/active configuration
• You can modify failover and failback settings in these ways:
• Setting the number of times the cluster service will restart a clustered
application in a set period of time
• Setting or preventing failback of the clustered application to the preferred
node once it becomes available
Using Scale-Out File Server in Windows
Server 2012
The File Server role cluster can work in two modes:
• Scale-out file server cluster
• File server cluster for general use
The key benefits of scale-out file server cluster:
• Active-active file shares
• Increased bandwidth
• CSV cache
• Simpler management
Demonstration: Configuring the Scale-Out File
Server Cluster

In this demonstration, you will see how to configure

a scale-out file server cluster
Lesson 3: Planning and Implementing Updates
for Failover Clustering

• What Is CAU?
• How Does CAU Work?
• Demonstration: Configuring CAU
What Is CAU?

CAU is an automated feature specific to Windows

Server 2012 that updates nodes in a cluster with
minimal or no downtime
Benefits include:
• Automatic cluster updating
• Can be scheduled
• No downtime
How Does CAU Work?

CAU can work in two modes:

• Remote-updating mode
• Separate computer is configured as an orchestrator
• Failover Clustering Administrative Tools must be installed
• Orchestrator computer is not a cluster member
• Self-updating mode
• CAU clustered role is configured as a workload
• There is no dedicated orchestrator computer
• Cluster updates itself
Demonstration: Configuring CAU

In this demonstration, your instructor will show you

how to configure CAU
Lesson 4: Integrating Failover Clustering with
Server Virtualization

• Options for Making Virtual Machine Workloads

Highly Available
• How Does a Failover Cluster Work with Hyper-V?
• Infrastructure Requirements for Implementing
Failover Clustering for Hyper-V
• Implementing Storage Migration
• Implementing Live Migration
• Guidelines for Virtual Machine High Availability
 Options for Making Virtual Machine Workloads
Highly Available
High availability Description
options
Host clustering • Makes virtual machines highly available

• Does not require virtual machine operating

system or application to be cluster-aware

Guest clustering • Makes virtual machines failover cluster nodes

• Virtual machine applications must be cluster-

aware
• Requires iSCSI or virtual Fibre Channel interface
for shared storage connections

NLB • Makes virtual machines NLB cluster nodes

• Use for web-based applications

How Does a Failover Cluster Work with Hyper-V?

Shared bus or
iSCSI connection

Cluster
storage

A dedicated network
connects the
failover cluster nodes
Node 1 Node 2
 Infrastructure Requirements for Implementing
Failover Clustering for Hyper-V
Hardware requirements for • Server hardware
cluster nodes and storage
• Network adapters

• Storage adapters

• Storage
Software requirements for cluster • Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter
nodes Edition
• Same software update and service packs

• Full installation or Server Core installation

Network infrastructure
requirements
• Virtual machines are failover cluster nodes
• Virtual machine applications must be cluster-
aware
• Network settings and IP addresses

• DNS

• Domain role

• Domain Admin account

Implementing Storage Migration

Storage Migration enables you to move virtual

machines and their storage to other locations
without downtime, during migration:
• The virtual machine hard drive is copied from one
location to another
• Changes are written to both the source drive and the
destination drive
• You can move virtual machine storage to the same host,
another host, or to a SMB share
• You can place storage and virtual machine configuration
in different locations
Implementing Live Migration

Cluster
storage

Node 1 Node 2
Guidelines for Virtual Machine High Availability

When implementing Hyper-V clusters, you

should:
• Identify the applications that require high availability
• Identify the application components that must be highly available
• Identify the application characteristics
• Identify the total capacity requirements
• Create the Hyper-V design
• Verify basic requirements
• Configure a dedicated network adapter for the private virtual
network
• Use similar host hardware
• Verify network configuration
• Manage Live Migrations
Lesson 5: Planning a Multisite Failover Cluster

• Challenges for Planning Multisite Clusters

• Planning Data Replication in a Multisite Failover
Cluster
• Network Infrastructure Considerations
• Quorum Mode Considerations
• General Guidelines for Planning Multisite Clusters
 Challenges for Planning Multisite Clusters

Storage challenge Description

Requires a separate storage or a data
replication solution other that Microsoft
Can be synchronous or asynchronous
replication
• Hardware (block level) storage-based
replication
• Software (file system level) host- based
replication
• Application-based replication, such as
Exchange Database Availability Groups
• Synchronous: no acknowledgement of data
changes made in Site A until the data is
successfully written in Site B
• Asynchronous: data changes made in Site A
will eventually be written to the storage in
Site B

• Inter-node communications are time-sensitive, so you might need to configure these

thresholds to meet the higher WAN latency
• DNS replication might impact client reconnect times when failover is based on host name
• Active Directory replication latency might affect application data availability
• Some applications might require all of the nodes to be in the same Active Directory site
Planning Data Replication in a Multisite Failover
Cluster
• In synchronous replication, the host receives a write-complete response from
the primary storage after the data is written successfully to both storage
locations
• In asynchronous replication, the host receives a write-complete response from
the primary storage after the data is written successfully to the primary storage

Site A Site B

Replication
Write
request
Write-
Secondary
complete
Data Data storage

Primary
storage
Network Infrastructure Considerations

When planning network infrastructure for multisite

clusters, you should ensure that:
• You have enough hardware to meet the need for nodes on
each site
• Each node has the same operating systems and service packs
• You have a reliable low-latency inter-cluster network

• Your network supports your storage replication mechanism

• You have sufficient infrastructure services on each site

Quorum Mode Considerations

When designing automatic failover for

geographically dispersed clusters, you must:
• Use Node Majority or Node Majority with File Share
quorum
• Use three locations to allow automatic failover of a
single virtual server:
• All three locations must be linked directly to each
other
• One location is only for a file-share witness
General Guidelines for Planning Multisite
Clusters

When planning for multisite clusters, follow these

guidelines:
• Clearly identify the business requirements and
expectations
• Examine the benefits from multisite clusters in the context
application availability
• Consider storage vendors to set up your data replication
schemes
• Carefully consider the quorum mode
Lab: Planning and Implementing a Highly Available
Infrastructure by Using Failover Clustering
• Exercise 1: Designing Highly Available Server Roles
• Exercise 2: Deploying a Failover Cluster
• Exercise 3: Implementing a Scale-Out File Server
• Exercise 4: Configuring CAU
• Exercise 5: Implementing Highly Available Virtual Machines
• Exercise 6: Implementing Operations Manager and VMM Integration
Logon Information
Virtual machines: 20414C-LON-HOST1
20414C-LON-DC1
20414C-LON-OM1
20414C-LON-SVR1
20414C-LON-SVR2
20414C-LON-VMM1
20414C-LON-WSUS
20414C-LON-HOST2
User name: Adatum\Administrator
Password: Pa$$w0rd

Estimated Time: 100 minutes

Lab Scenario

One of the key goals for the Windows Server 2012 deployment at the
A. Datum Corporation is that all services, applications, and servers
should be highly available. A. Datum has implemented highly available
storage and web applications. Now the organization wants to provide
high availability for those servers and applications that they cannot
make highly available through NLB.
A. Datum has decided to use failover clustering to enable high
availability for these services. You must plan and implement a failover
clustering solution that will address the requirements at A. Datum.
Additionally, A. Datum wants to evaluate new highly available features
in Windows Server 2012, such as a Scale-Out File Server, and
implement automated procedures for cluster nodes updating.
Since monitoring is an important part of the A. Datum infrastructure,
they implemented Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2012.
Now they want to integrate this product with VMM 2012, which they
use to manage the virtual environment and Hyper-V hosts.
Lab Review

• What is the benefit of using CAU?

• What are the main benefits of having Performance
and Resource Optimization (PRO) implemented in
VMM?
Module Review and Takeaways

• Review Questions
• Tools
• Best Practice
• Common Issues and Troubleshooting Tips