Is this thing on? : Windows Clusters

Windows Server Cluster Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007

Scott Schnoll — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:17:00 GMT

The Windows Server Failover Cluster Management Pack provides both proactive and reactive monitoring of your Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 cluster deployments. It monitors Cluster services components—such as nodes, networks, resources, and resource groups—to report issues that can cause downtime or poor performance.

Feature Summary
Some of the conditions monitored by this management pack are as follows:

Configuration or hardware issues that interfere with starting the Cluster service
Connectivity problems that affect communication between cluster nodes or between a node and a domain controller
Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) settings that affect the cluster; for example, permissions needed by the computer account that is used by the cluster
Configuration issues with the network infrastructure needed by the cluster; for example, issues with Domain Name System (DNS)
Issues with the availability of a cluster resource, such as a clustered file share
Issues with the cluster storage

Enjoy!

Teaching an Old Dog a New Trick: Exchange 2003 and the File Share Witness

Scott Schnoll — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:12:00 GMT

About two-and-a-half years ago, I blogged about about a new feature in Exchange Server 2007 called Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR). In that blog, I explained that because CCR does not use shared storage for the Exchange data, we wanted to make sure we didn't need shared storage anywhere in the cluster. The Exchange team worked very closely with the Windows Cluster team to create a new type of quorum device based on the Majority Node Set (MNS) quorum model called an MNS quorum with File Share Witness (FSW). The Windows Cluster team originally delivered the MNS+FSW quorum model in the form of QFE (hotfix) 921181 back in July 2006, several years after the release of Exchange Server 2003.

From time to time, we get questions from customers asking if the MNS+FSW quorum model can be used for clustered mailbox servers running Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003. The answer is Yes, you can! And yesterday, we updated our Exchange 2003 content to reflect this.

Specifically, we now state:

When deployed in a multi-node cluster, Exchange Server 2003 requires one of the following quorum models:

Single quorum device (shared disk quorum)

Majority Node Set (MNS)

Majority Node Set with File Share Witness (MNS+FSW)

So, even though Exchange 2003 came out well before the MNS+FSW quorum model, you can still use that quorum model for your multi-node clusters running Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003.

First Ever Windows Server 2008 Microsoft Official Curriculum Course Released!

Scott Schnoll — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:46:00 GMT

The Windows Server Failover Clustering Product Group has released the first ever Windows Server 2008 Microsoft Official Curriculum course, which will be available on May 15th, 2008. In the meantime, check out the syllabus for the course at Course 6423A: Implementing and Managing Windows Server 2008 Clustering.

Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) Client Released

Scott Schnoll — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:09:00 GMT

Today, Microsoft released the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) to the web. RSAT is the collection of Windows Server 2008 management tools which enable IT professionals to manage their Windows Server infrastructure from their PCs running Windows Vista with Service Pack 1.

The list of Windows Server 2008 administration tools which are included in RSAT are:

Role Administration Tools:

· Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) Tools

· Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools

· Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools

· DHCP Server Service Tools

· DNS Server Service Tools

· Shared Folders Tools

· Network Policy and Access Services Tools

· Terminal Services Tools

· Uniiversal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools

Feature Administration Tools:

· BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools

· Failover Clustering Tools (yay!)

· Group Policy Management Tools

· Network Load Balancing Tools

· SMTP Server Tools

· Storage Manager for SANs Tools

· Windows System Resource Manager Tools

The tools in the following list are can be used to manage Windows Server 2003 servers:

· Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools

· Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools

· Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) Tools

· DHCP Server Tools

· DNS Server Tools

· Group Policy Management Tools

· Network Load Balancing Tools

· Terminal Services Tools

· Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools

Download RSAT today from:

· Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista with SP1 (x86): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9FF6E897-23CE-4A36-B7FC-D52065DE9960

· Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista with SP1(x64): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D647A60B-63FD-4AC5-9243-BD3C497D2BC5

Deploying CCR on Windows Server 2008 by Command-Line Only

Scott Schnoll — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 05:31:00 GMT

With the release of Exchange 2007 SP1, you can deploy cluster continuous replication (CCR) on Windows Server 2008, and enjoy the benefits of Windows 2008 failover cluster improvements. But did you know the deployment of CCR on Windows 2008, including the formation and configuration of the cluster, can be done via the command-line, without using any graphical user interface (GUI) interfaces, such as the Failover Cluster Management tool, or the Exchange 2007 SP1 Setup Wizard. Here's a series of commented commands you can use to do the deployment. You can even add the commands into a script, and automate the deployment.

Note that these commands assume that you have the following:

Two servers that will be the nodes in the failover cluster

Each server has Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition installed
Each server has the Exchange 2007 SP1 pre-reqs installed (see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354.aspx)

A third server that will host a file share for the file share witness

# Install Windows Failover Clustering
# Run this on each server that will be a cluster node
ServerManagerCmd -i Failover-Clustering

# Create failover cluster
# Run this on one of the intended nodes
cluster /cluster:<ClusterName> /create /nodes:"<NodeName> <NodeName>" /ipaddress:ClusterIPAddress/SubnetMask

Note that if you want a two-subnet failover cluster, the last parameter would be: /ipaddress:"ClusterIPAddress/SubnetMask ClusterIPAddress2/SubnetMask2"

# Configure cluster tolerance for missed heartbeats
# Run on either cluster node
# Use this for single-subnet clusters
cluster <ClusterName> /prop SameSubnetThreshold=10
# Use this for two-subnet clusters
cluster <ClusterName> /prop CrossSubnetThreshold=10

# Create and secure the file share that will be used by the FSM quorum
# Run this on the server that will host the share (e.g., a Hub Transport server)
# In the second command, VCO (virtual computer object) is the cluster computer account (e.g., cluster name)
mkdir <Directory>
net share <shareName>=<Directory> /GRANT:VCO,FULL
cacls <Directory> /G BUILTIN\Administrators:F <VCO>:F

# Configure the cluster to use the Node and File Share Majority Quorum
# Run this on either node in the cluster
Cluster /cluster:<ClusterName> res "File Share Witness (UNCPath)" /create /group:"Cluster Group" /type:"File Share Witness" /priv SharePath=<UNCPath>
Cluster res "File Share Witness (UNCPath)" /online
Cluster <ClusterName> /quorum:"File Share Witness (UNCPath)"

# Configure cluster network roles
# Run this on either node in the cluster
Cluster <ClusterName> network "NameofPrivateNetwork" /prop Role=1

# Install Exchange and create a clustered mailbox server (CMS)
# Run this only on the node that will initially be the active node
Setup.com /roles:Mailbox /newcms /CMSname:<NameofClusteredMailboxServer> /CMSIPAddress:<ClusteredMailboxServerIPAddress>

Note that in a two-subnet environment, the above command will use the /CMSIPV4Addresses parameter instead of /CMSIPAddress

# Stop the CMS after Setup has completed
# Run this on the active node
Stop-ClusteredMailboxServer <CMSName> -StopReason Setup -Confirm:$false

# Restart the active node
# You can use the Shutdown.exe tool to automate this (I might add a sample command later)

# Install Exchange on the passive node
# Run this only on the passive node
Setup.com /roles:Mailbox

# Restart the passive node

# Configure CMS NetName DNS TTL value
# Run this on either node in the cluster
cluster.exe res <CMSNetworkNameResource> /priv HostRecordTTL=300

At this point, what's left is to test handoffs and failovers, configure mount and failover settings, and configure the transport dumpster.

Visit here for more information on installing CCR on Windows 2008.

Windows Cluster Team Blog Restarting Soon!

Scott Schnoll — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:02:00 GMT

The folks on the Windows Cluster team are restarting their blog very soon, which covers failover clustering and network load balancing. According to a post back in Nov, "5 developers have volunteered to contribute to this blog, so we expect to have at least one post each week, so check back often!"

Cool!

Using a Passive Node as an SCR Target

Scott Schnoll — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:36:00 GMT

As with local continuous replication (LCR) and cluster continuous replication (CCR), standby continuous replication (SCR) in Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 uses the concept of storage group copies. Because SCR introduces the ability to have multiple copies of your data, we use slightly different terms to describe the replication endpoints.

The starting point for a storage group that is enabled for SCR is called the SCR source. This can be any storage group, except a recovery storage group, on any of the following:

Stand-alone Mailbox server
Clustered mailbox server (CMS) in a single copy cluster (SCC)
CMS in a CCR environment

The source must be running Exchange 2007 SP1. When using a standalone Mailbox server as the SCR source, you can also have LCR enabled for one or more storage groups, including storage groups enabled for SCR. You can have other roles (Client Access, Hub Transport, and/or Unified Messaging) installed, as well.

The endpoint for SCR is called the target, and the target can be either of the following:

Stand-alone Mailbox server that does not have LCR enabled for any storage groups
Passive node in a failover cluster where the Mailbox role is installed, but no CMS has been installed in the cluster

The target must also be running Exchange 2007 SP1. There are other requirements, as well. See Standby Continuous Replication for more information on SCR. In the case of both sources and targets, you can see the basic requirement for each: the Exchange 2007 SP1 Mailbox server role must be installed on both the source and target computers.

The last bullet for the SCR target is the reason for this blog post. There seems to be some confusion as to what we mean by a "Passive node in a failover cluster where the Mailbox role is installed, but no CMS has been installed in the cluster".

To help explain what we mean, let me describe how Exchange is installed into a failover cluster. You're probably familiar with the five server roles (Client Access, Hub Transport, Mailbox, Unified Messaging, and Edge Transport), but you might not realize there are two additional roles that can be installed, as well. These "roles" are not Exchange server roles, but rather CMS roles: specifically, the active clustered mailbox role and the passive clustered mailbox role.

The terms are used to tell Exchange Setup whether to install an active node or a passive node. For Exchange Setup, installing an active node means installing the Mailbox server role, and then installing a CMS. Installing a passive node means installing only the Mailbox server role. You do not create or install a CMS when you install the passive clustered mailbox role.

These roles are only expressed in the GUI version of Exchange Setup, so if you've installed your Exchange 2007 CMS' using only the command line version of Setup, you won't see these terms. In the command line, you'll simply see Mailbox server and Clustered Mailbox Server. It is the /newcms Setup option (and accompanying options) that dictate whether the active or passive clustered mailbox role is installed. If you include /newcms, the active clustered mailbox role is installed; if you do not use /newcms, the passive clustered mailbox role is installed.

When we say you can use a "Passive node in a failover cluster where the Mailbox role is installed, but no CMS has been installed in the cluster" we mean a Windows failover cluster in which one or more nodes exist, but only the passive clustered mailbox role is installed. You cannot have the active clustered mailbox role installed on any of the nodes in the failover cluster containing the SCR target(s). You can see a picture of what this looks like here.

Service Pack 1 for Exchange 2007 Documentation Available

Scott Schnoll — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 02:20:00 GMT

We've refreshed our online documentation for Exchange 2007, and it includes content on Service Pack 1! This content is newer and fresher than the ExchHelp.CHM (Help file) that ships with Beta 2, and it includes content not found in that CHM file.

You can find online documentation for Exchange 2007 SP1 at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124558.aspx.

This content includes information about:

And much, much more! Enjoy!

And congratulations to the Exchange User Education team for a job well done!!