Using SIS on Server Clusters

We’ve had great response to our SIS series. Thanks to everyone who commented or sent questions. One very good question was related to server clusters: “Is SIS available on clustered volumes? If so how is it enabled?” Yes, SIS can be installed on clustered servers running Windows Storage Server 2003 R2, Enterprise Edition. There are a few important differences to note below:

• The SIS optional component needs to be installed on all nodes.
• Since SIS only links files within a single NTFS volume, the NTFS volume can failover even with SIS links. If the receiving node is running the SIS filter driver, then the files can be accessed as normal. If the receiving node does not have the SIS driver, the files will not be accessible.
• At failover time, the groveler service on the destination node needs to be restarted in order for it to pick up the new volume. This can be accomplished either manually or with a custom action. Another option would be to set up a task to restart it every 24 hours or something like that.

Thanks to Darren Mitchell, a SIS developer, for providing these. 

--Jill