Using a server cluster with large numbers of file shares

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Using a server cluster with large numbers of file shares

Every cluster resource you create has a performance impact; the Cluster service must periodically poll all resources to determine whether they have failed. Because of this, you may notice that your cluster's performance decreases as you increase the number of resources that it manages.

If you want to use a cluster to create a high availability file server that will have hundreds of file shares, consider managing those file shares using a single File Share resource. You can do this if the folders that you want to share on the network are all subfolders of a common folder. For example, if you use your file server to support hundreds of users, and each user has a private folder that is a subfolder of the Users folder, you can manage individual file shares for each user using a single File Share resource. You also have the option to hide the file shares that you create for each user so that they will not be visible when browsing. For information on sharing the subfolders of a folder and hiding the files shares you create, see Share subfolders on a File Share resource.

The maximum number of resources supported by the default Resource Monitor is 1674 (the default Resource Monitor creates a maximum of 62 threads, each thread monitoring up to 27 resources). Additional Resource Monitors can each monitor one resource.

For more information on how the Cluster service checks for failed resources, see Resource failure.