Connect the shared storage buses and assign drive letters

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

To connect the shared storage buses and assign drive letters

1. Install Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition or Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition on all nodes.

   Caution

   • All nodes in a cluster must be running the same version of the operating system, that is, either Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition or Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. You cannot run both Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition on nodes in the same cluster.

2. Prepare the controllers for the shared storage bus, following the instructions in your storage bus owner's manual.

3. Install the controllers for the shared storage bus, but do not connect them to the shared storage bus.

4. Connect the shared storage devices to the shared buses, and then connect the shared storage buses to all nodes.

5. Start the operating system on the first node on which you intend to create the cluster.

6. Format the disks on the cluster storage device as NTFS.

   For more information, see "To format a basic volume" in Related Topics.

   Caution

   • Each disk on the cluster storage device must be a basic disk, not a dynamic disk.

7. Partition the disks on the cluster storage device.

   For more information, see "To create a partition or logical drive" in Related Topics.

8. Do one of the following:

   • Assign drive letters to the disks on the cluster storage device.

   • Assign mount points to the disks on the cluster storage device.

     For more information, see "To assign, change, or remove a drive letter" and "To create a mounted drive" in Related Topics.

   Caution

   • Make sure that you create unique mounted drives so that they do not conflict with existing local drives on any node in the cluster.

   • Do not create mounted drives between disks on the cluster storage device (cluster disks) and local disks.

   • Do not create a mounted drive from a clustered disk to the cluster disk that contains the quorum resource (the quorum disk). You can, however, create a mounted drive from the quorum disk to a clustered disk.

   • Mounted drives from one cluster disk to another must be in the same cluster resource group, and must be dependent on the root disk.

9. Label all partitions to match their drive letters or mount points assigned in the step above.

10. Use Cluster Administrator to add the first node to the cluster.

    For more information, see "To add the first node to the cluster" in Related Topics.

    Caution

    • Completely create the cluster on one node before you join additional nodes to the cluster.

    Important

    • When you create a cluster, Physical Disk resources will be automatically created for cluster disks that use drive letters. However, if your cluster disks use mount points, Physical Disk resources will not be automatically created for those disks; you must manually create disk resources for cluster disks that use mount points. For more information on how to do this, see "Checklist: Installing a Physical Disk resource" in Related Topics.

11. Join one or more additional nodes to the cluster.

    For more information, see "To add additional nodes to the cluster" in Related Topics.

Information about functional differences

• Your server might function differently based on the version and edition of the operating system that is installed, your account permissions, and your menu settings. For more information, see Viewing Help on the Web.

See Also

Concepts

Add additional nodes to the cluster
Physical Disk resource type
Assign, change, or remove a drive letter
Format a basic volume
Create a partition or logical drive
Create a mounted drive
Create a cluster
Add additional nodes to the cluster
Checklist: Installing a Physical Disk resource