Windows Failover Clustering 2012

Hi everyone,

I decided to put this how-to because of 2 reasons:

1- it's always good to know how to install/configure and familiarize yourself with the clustering environment

2- Windows 2012 has the ability now to be an iSCSI server. This allows you to have a whole new level of designing an architecture. in the past you had to go through 3rd parties (VMware etc) to assign iSCSI disks/LUNs etc. now you can do it in a pure windows environment.

Please note that this documentation illustrates steps taken by me and what I have encountered as steps to get the objectives done. It is possible that your experience would be slightly different.

I didn't include screenshots otherwise each How-To will take 20 pages.lol but I described everything with as much detail as possible.


Objective:

• Configuring iSCSI HDDs
• Configuring Failover Cluster

Pre-requisites:

• 2 Servers dedicated as "Nodes" (Added to a Domain)
• A File Server w/ Muliple HDD dedicated as "iSCSI Target Server"

1. Configuration of iSCSI disks

1.1 Installation of ISCSI Target Server role.

• Log on to the File Server
• From Server Manager click on Manage à Add Roles and Features.
• Click on Next until you get to Server Role.
• Navigate to File and Storage Services à File and iSCSI Services à  iSCSI Target Server.
• When the pop up window with the features to add arrives, click on Add Features.
• Click on Next until the confirmation page and install.

1.2 Creating iSCSI disks and IQNs.

• Log in with elevated privileges.
• Navigate to File and Storage Services à iSCSI.
• Click on the To create iSCSI virtual disk, start the New iSCSI Virtual Disk Wizard.
• Select the HDD (It needs to be NTFS formatted and given a Drive Letter)
• Name the disk. Click Next.
• Select disk size. Click Next.
• Select New iSCSI Target and click on Next.
• Name the new Target (Example: contest. This is the IQN)
• Click Add.
• In Select a Method to Identify the initiator, in the Query Initiator Computer for ID specify the servers allowed to use this IQN. Click OK, and then Next.
  (Please note that you can specify only one server at a time. so redo this step for every server you wish to add).
• In the Enable Authentication section, click on Next. (If you wish to specify authentication method, feel free).
• In the confirmation window click on Create followed by Close

*Use this method to create also the Quorum disk of the Cluster. Minimal size.*

2. Configuring Windows 2012 Failover Cluster.

Before proceeding with the installation and configuration of the Failover Cluster, you need to map the new drive(s) to the node servers.

2.1 ISCSI Initiator

• Through Server Manager click on Tools à iSCSI Initiator.
• (This service is stopped by default". when the alert comes, activate it.)
• in the Targets tab, in the Target text box, put the hostname of the File Server and click Quick Connect.
• As soon as the connection is made, a pop-up will spear to confirm. Click Done.
• The status of the IQN listed on the Targets tab will be marked as Connected.

** If there are many IQN connections available, you need to select the appropriate one and select Connect then Done. **

• In Server Manager navigate to Tools à Computer Management.
• Click on Disk Management.
• Right-click on the new disk and select Online, then right-click again and select Initialize.
• Assign a drive letter.

** repeat these steps on all servers dedicated as "Nodes" in the Failover Cluster. except the Disk management steps. this can be done only once). **

2.2 Installation of Failover Cluster role.

• Log into the node server with elevated privileges
• On Server Manager, click on Manage --> Add Roles and Features.
• Click on Next until you reach the Features section.
• Select Failover Clustering. on the pop-up select Add Features.
• Click on Next, then Install.

2.3 Configuration of Windows Failover Cluster.

2.3.1 Validation

• Open Failover Cluster Manager (Server Manager --> Tools) and click on Validate Configuration.
• Click Next.
• Select all the Server nodes which will be part of the cluster. Click on Next.
• Choose Run all tests and click Next until the tests begin.
• When finished, you will see the message Testing has completed successfully. The configuration appears to be suitable for clustering. Ensure the option Create a cluster now using the validated nodes is checked and click Finish.

* Run these steps only on one cluster. it's not necessary to run it again.

 
2.3.2 Creating a Failover Cluster

• When the wizard loads, click Next.
• Name the Cluster by entering the desired Hostname. Click Next.
• Click Finish.

* If the checkbox to import the disks is selected, you can ignore step 2.4.1

 
2.3.3 Modifying Active Directory Permissions
 
When the cluster is properly installed and configured, a new Computer Account will be created in the AD. In order for the cluster to be fully user friendly and avoir doing some manual tasks, we need to give that computer name the proper permissions to create any further computer objects, roles, etc. which depend on that specific cluster.
 
To accomplish this we need to do the following:

• Go to Active Directory Users and Computers (Be sure that Advanced Features are enabled)
• Right-click on the OU/Container inwhich you would like the cluster to create the Computer Objects and select Properties.
• Go to the Security tab and click Add.
• Add the Computer Account of the Cluster (Example CL-VIP$) and click OK.
  (Be sure to select Computers in Object Type).
• Click on Advanced.
• Select the Cluster Computer Account and click on Edit.
• Add the permission Create Computer Objects.
• Click OK on all dialogue boxes.

2.4 Configuring Windows Failover Cluster

The only thing left to do in order to have a complete and functional cluster is to:

• Add the iSCSI disks
• Configure the Quorum.

2.4.1 Adding iSCSI Disks

• Open the Microsoft Failover Clustering tool.
• On the left pane, navigate to Storage and expand.
• Right-click on Disks and select Add Disks
• Select all the appropriate disks and click OK.
• Once you added all the disks, click on a disk. You will see the Drive Letter associated with it. If you'd like to change the letter, do the following:
• Right-Click on the shown Volume and select Change Drive Letter.
• Select the appropriate Drive letter and press OK. (Definitely not complicated :) )

2.4.2 Configuring Quorum

For those unfamiliar with the term Quorum (A.K.A Witness), here is a brief explanation. For a cluster be still up and functioning, you need to have more than 50% up. Which means an odd number. So if you have 3 nodes in a cluster, you don't need a quorum. but if your number of nodes is even, you need a quorum so it will act as a tie-breaker.

There are 4 options when configuring a quorum, the 2 options that are easy/practical to use are:

1. Disk Witness
2. File Share Witness

In this document we will use a Disk Witness to configure our Quorum.

• In the Failover Clustering tool, on the left pane, Right-click on the cluster FQDN.
• Navigate to More Actions.
• Select Configure Cluster Quorum Settings.
• Select Add or Change Quorum Witness. Click Next.
• Select Configure a Disk Witness. Click Next.
• Choose the disk dedicated as a Quorum and click on Next until the end.

CONGRAGULATIONS! You've configured a fully redundant Windows Failover Cluster.
You can always test the functionality by disabling a node and see if the cluster HDDs are allocated to the 2nd node.

Take your time to familiarize yourself with the clustering. It has many options and features that can be used on various levels. This post is a way to implement a very simple cluster.

I hope you found this article helpful.

Thank you,

Daniel Moscovici