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Step 3: Set Up Failover Clustering and File Services for Servers in the Failover Cluster

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Applies To: Windows HPC Server 2008

This section describes how to set up your failover cluster and prepare it to work with Windows HPC Server 2008:

  1. Install the File Services role

  2. Install the Failover Clustering feature

  3. Validate the failover cluster configuration

  4. Create the failover cluster

  5. Verify the configuration of the shared storage

  6. Configure networks for communication within the failover cluster

  7. Configure a clustered instance (clustered resource group) to use for SQL Server

  8. Confirm that failover clustering is configured correctly

Install the File Services role

You need to install the File Services role to enable NetBIOS name resolution on your private networks.

To install the File Services role on the servers

  1. If you recently installed Windows Server 2008, the Initial Configuration Tasks interface is displayed. If this interface is displayed, under Customize This Server, click Add roles. Then skip to step 3.

  2. If the Initial Configuration Tasks interface is not displayed and Server Manager is not running, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager. (If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.)

    In Server Manager, under Roles Summary, click Add Roles.

  3. In the Add Roles Wizard, if the Before You Begin page appears, click Next.

  4. From the list of server roles, select File Services, and then click Next twice. On the Select Role Services page, select File Server, and then click Install.

  5. Follow the instructions in the wizard to complete the installation of the role. When the wizard finishes, close it.

  6. Repeat the process for each server that you want to include in the failover cluster.

Install the Failover Clustering feature

In this step, you install the Failover Clustering feature.

To install the Failover Clustering feature on the servers

  1. If you recently installed Windows Server 2008, the Initial Configuration Tasks interface is displayed. If this interface is displayed, under Customize This Server, click Add Features. Then skip to step 3.

  2. If the Initial Configuration Tasks interface is not displayed and Server Manager is not running, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager. (If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.)

    In Server Manager, under Features Summary, click Add Features.

  3. In the Add Features Wizard, click Failover Clustering, click Next, and then click Install.

  4. Follow the instructions in the wizard to complete the installation of the feature. When the wizard finishes, close it.

  5. Repeat the process for each server that you want to include in the failover cluster.

Validate the failover cluster configuration

Before creating a failover cluster, we strongly recommend that you validate your configuration. Validation helps you confirm that the configuration of your servers, network, and storage meets a set of specific requirements for failover clusters.

When you first create a failover cluster, you must be logged on to the domain with an account that has administrator rights and permissions on both servers in the failover cluster. The account does not need to be a Domain Admins account, but can be a Domain Users account that is in the Administrators group on both servers. In addition, if the account is not a Domain Admins account, the account (or the group that the account is a member of) must have the Create Computer Objects and Read All Properties permissions in the domain. For more information about requirements, see Overview and Requirements for Windows HPC Server 2008 in a Failover Cluster.

To validate the failover cluster configuration

  1. To open the failover cluster snap-in, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Failover Cluster Management. (If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.)

  2. Confirm that Failover Cluster Management is selected, and then in the center pane under Management, click Validate a Configuration.

  3. Follow the instructions in the wizard to specify the two failover cluster servers and the validation tests, and then run the tests. To fully validate your configuration, run all tests before you create a failover cluster. This may take several minutes. The storage tests are extensive, but they are worthwhile when you are setting up failover clustering for the first time.

  4. The Summary page appears after the tests run. To view Help topics that can help you interpret the results, click More about cluster validation tests.

  5. While still on the Summary page, click View Report and read the test results.

    To view the results of the tests after you close the wizard, see

    SystemRoot\Cluster\Reports\Validation Report date and time.html

    (where SystemRoot is the folder in which the operating system is installed, for example, C:\Windows).

  6. As necessary, make changes in the configuration, and then rerun the tests.

Create the failover cluster

To create a failover cluster, you run the Create Cluster Wizard from the Failover Cluster Management snap-in on the one of the servers. Use an account that has local administrator rights on both servers.

To run the Create Cluster Wizard

  1. To open the failover cluster snap-in, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Failover Cluster Management. (If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.)

  2. In the center pane, under Management, confirm that Failover Cluster Management is selected, and then click Create a cluster.

    Follow the instructions in the wizard to specify the following:

    • The servers that you want to include in the failover cluster. Select both servers because the server that you are currently running is not automatically added. Some checking occurs, to confirm that the two nodes can contact one another. If the checking fails, review and correct your network setup. (If you ran the failover cluster validation in step 2, the checking probably will not fail).

    • An access point for administering the cluster. To create an access point, choose a network name for the failover cluster, for example, Failover_Cluster1. This step creates a corresponding computer account (object) in Active Directory that uses this name, and it grants full control of that account to your account.

  3. After the wizard runs and the Summary page appears, to view a report of the tasks that the wizard performed, click View Report.

Verify the configuration of the shared storage

In this step, you confirm that the shared storage is accessible to the failover cluster and that the failover cluster quorum is configured to include a witness disk.

To verify the configuration of the shared storage

  1. To open the failover cluster snap-in, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Failover Cluster Management. (If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.)

  2. In the console tree, if the failover cluster that you created is not displayed, right-click Failover Cluster Management, click Manage a Cluster, and then select the cluster on this server.

  3. In the console tree, expand the failover cluster that you created.

  4. Click Storage. You should see that the shared storage is added to the Storage container. If not, in the Action pane, click Add a Disk and add the appropriate disks. (If you do not see your disks in the resulting dialog box, rerun the storage validation tests.)

  5. If one of the disks has the label Witness Disk in Quorum, you can skip steps 6 through 9.

    Failover Cluster Management, Summary of Storage

  6. If necessary, configure the failover cluster quorum so that it includes a witness disk. In the console tree, right-click the fully-qualified domain name of the failover cluster, click More Actions, and then click Configure Cluster Quorum Settings.

  7. Skip past the Settings page.

  8. In Select Quorum Configuration, choose Node and Disk Majority. If it is already selected, click Cancel. (If Node and Disk Majority is selected, a witness disk was added to the quorum configuration during setup.) Otherwise, click Next.

  9. In Configure Storage Witness, if needed, expand the entries to see the drive letter or other information about a disk. Then ensure that the disk that is chosen is the one you want to use as the disk witness. You can use a relatively small disk for the disk witness, but no smaller than 512 MB. Click Next twice, and then click Finish.

Configure networks for communication within the failover cluster

In this step, you configure the networks for communication within the failover cluster to ensure that they provide client and public access. This is needed to configure a static IP address on the HPC private network during the setup for SQL Server™ 2005.

To configure the networks for communication within the failover cluster

  1. In Failover Cluster Management, to view the networks, in the console tree, expand Networks. In the Cluster Use column, right-click any network listed as “Internal," click Properties, and then make sure that Allow clients to connect through this network is selected.

    Failover cluster Network Properties dialog box

  2. Click OK twice.

Configure a clustered instance (clustered resource group) to use for SQL Server

In this step, you create a clustered instance (also known as a clustered resource group) for SQL Server 2005, and add the appropriate disk to the clustered instance.

To configure a clustered instance to use for SQL Server

  1. In Failover Cluster Management, right-click Services and Applications, point to More Actions, and then click Create Empty Service or Application.

  2. In the center pane, right-click New Service or Application, and then click Add storage. Add your remaining disk to the group by selecting the associated check box, and then click OK.

  3. You can rename the new clustered instance (clustered resource group). In the console tree, click Services and Applications, right-click the new clustered instance ("New service or application"), click Rename, and then specify an identifying name, for example, HPC. In the Action menu, click Refresh.

    Failover cluster in preparation for HPC cluster

Confirm that failover clustering is configured correctly

To confirm that failover clustering is configured correctly, you can run a basic failover test to fail over and fail back services.

To confirm that failover clustering is configured correctly

  1. In the Failover Cluster Management snap-in, in the console tree, click Services and Applications, and then click the clustered instance that you created and renamed (for example, with the name HPC).

  2. In the Actions pane, click Move this service to another node, and then click the command to move the clustered instance. In the center pane, the status of the item changes, and near the top, the Current Owner changes.

  3. To move the clustered instance back to the original server, repeat the previous step.