Creating a Cluster – Managing Data in a Hybrid Network

After you have successfully validated a configuration and the cluster hardware is in a supportable state, you can create a cluster. The process for creating a cluster is straightforward and similar to running the Validate A Configuration Wizard. To create a cluster with two servers, follow the instructions in Exercise 13.4.

EXERCISE 13.4

Creating a Cluster

1. Open the Failover Cluster Management MMC.
2. In the Management section of the center pane, select Create A Cluster.
3. Read the Before You Begin information and click Next.
4. In the Enter Server Name box, type Your Server and then click Add.
5. Again, in the Enter Server Name box, type Your Second Server and then click Add. Click Next.
6. At the Validation screen, choose No for this exercise and then click Next.
7. In the Access Point For Administering The Cluster section, enter Cluster1 for the cluster name.
8. Type an IP address and then click Next. This IP address will be the IP address of the cluster.
9. In the Confirmation dialog box, verify the information and then click Next.
10. On the Summary page, click Finish.

Working with Cluster Nodes

Once a cluster is created, a couple of actions are available. First, you can add another node to the cluster by using the Add Node Wizard from the Failover Cluster Management Actions pane. At this point, you also have the option to pause a node, which prevents resources from being failed over or moved to the node. You typically would pause a node when the node is involved in maintenance or troubleshooting. After a node is paused, it must be resumed to allow resources to be run on it again.

Another action available to perform on a node at this time is evict. Eviction is an irreversible process. Once you evict the node, it must be re- added to the cluster. You would evict a node when it 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.

Clustering Roles, Services, and Applications

Once the cluster is created, applications, services, and roles can be clustered. Windows Server 2022 includes a number of built- in roles and features that can be clustered (see Figure 13.18):

■     DFS Namespace Server

^■    DHCP Server

■      Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC)

^■    File Server

^■     Generic Application

^■     Generic Script

^■     Generic Service

■    Hyper- V Replica Broker

^■    iSCSI Target Server

^■    iSNS Server

^■     Message Queuing

^■         Other Server

^■         Virtual Machine

In addition, other common services and applications can be clustered on Windows Server 2022 clusters:

■          Enterprise database services, such as Microsoft SQL Server

■          Enterprise messaging services, such as Microsoft Exchange Server

To cluster a role or feature such as Print Services, the first step is to install the role or feature on each node of the cluster. The next step is to use the Configure A Service Or Application Wizard in the Failover Cluster Management tool. Exercise 13.5 shows you how to cluster the Print Services role once an appropriate disk has been presented to the cluster. To complete this exercise, you must have created a cluster.

EXERCISE 13.5

Clustering the Print Services Role

1. Open the Failover Cluster Management MMC.
2. In the console tree, click the arrow next to the cluster name to expand the items underneath it.
3. Right- click Roles and choose Configure Role.
4. Click Next on the Before You Begin page.
5. Click Other Server on the Select Role screen and then click Next.
6. Type the name of the print server, such as Print1, and type the IP address that will be used to access the print service, such as 80.0.0.34. Then click Next.
7. At the Select Storage page, just click Next.
8. Click Next at the Confirmation page.
9. After the wizard runs and the Summary page appears, you can view a report of the tasks the wizard performed by clicking View Report.
10. Close the report and click Finish.

The built- in roles and features all are configured in a similar fashion. Other applications, such as Microsoft Exchange Server 2016, have specialized cluster configuration routines that are outside the scope of these exams. Applications that are not developed to be clustered can also be clustered using the Generic Application, Generic Script, or Generic Service option in the Configure A Service Or Application Wizard, as shown in Figure 13.19.

FIGURE 13.19 Configuring a generic application