Deploying Services or Applications on Failover Clusters
After the desired cluster
configuration is achieved, the cluster is ready for the deploying of
Services and Applications groups. Windows Server 2008 R2 provides
several out-of-the-box cluster resources that can be used to deploy
Windows services and applications using failover clusters, as shown in Figure 9.
Before a particular
built-in service or application can be deployed in the cluster, the
role, role service, or feature associated with it needs to be installed
on each node prior to running the High Availability Wizard. For example,
before a File Services server can be deployed on a failover cluster for
high availability, the File Services role will need to be installed on
each node in the cluster. After the prerequisites are installed on each
cluster node, perform the following steps to deploy the service or
application on the failover cluster:
1. | Log
on to one of the Windows Server 2008 R2 cluster nodes with an account
with administrator privileges over all nodes in the cluster.
| 2. | Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and select Failover Cluster Manager.
| 3. | When
the Failover Cluster Manager console opens, if necessary type in the
name of the local cluster node to connect to the cluster.
| 4. | In the tree pane, select the cluster name, expand it, and select Services and Applications.
| 5. | Right-click Services and Applications, and select Configure a Service or Application.
| 6. | In the High Availability Wizard that opens, click Next on the Before You Begin page.
| 7. | Select
the desired service or application on the Select a Service or
Application page, and click Next to continue. If the necessary roles,
role services, or features are not installed on each node prior to
selecting the desired entry, an error is displayed and the process
cannot continue. For this example, we have selected File Server as the
service or application that will be managed by the failover cluster.
| 8. | On
the Client Access Point page, type in the name and IP address for the
new file server, and click Next. This is the name and IP address used to
publish or host the service or application. Also, a computer account in
the Active Directory domain and DNS entries will be created for each
name defined in a failover group’s Client Access Point.
| 9. | Select
the disk that will be dedicated to this Services and Applications group
on the Select Storage page by checking the check box next to each disk,
and click Next to continue
| 10. | Review the settings on the Confirmation page, and click Next to deploy the service or application in the failover cluster.
| 11. | Depending
on the service or application deployed, there can be specific
postcreation wizards that open to complete the configuration. Complete
the steps in the wizards as required or close the wizard and return to
the Failover Cluster Manager console. Otherwise, click Finish to close
the High Availability Wizard window and return to the Failover Cluster
Manager console.
| 12. | In the tree pane, expand Services and Applications to reveal the new group.
| 13. | Select
the new group in the tasks pane, and in the Actions pane, review the
available management commands, such as Add a Shared Folder or Manage
Shares and Storage, as shown in Figure 10, for a deployed file server named CLUSTERFS.
| 14. | Complete
the configuration of the newly deployed service or application, close
the Failover Cluster Management console, and log off of the cluster
node.
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Configuring Failover and Failback
Clusters that contain two
or more nodes automatically have failover configured for each Services
and Applications group as long as each node has the necessary services
or applications installed to support running the group locally. Failback
is never configured by default and needs to be manually configured for
each Services and Applications group if desired. Failback allows a
designated preferred server or “preferred owner” to always run a
particular cluster group on the preferred node, when it is available.
When the preferred owner fails and the affected groups failover to
alternate nodes, once the preferred node is back online and functioning
as desired, the failback configuration options are used to determine if
the group will automatically failback immediately or after a specified
time period. Also, with regard to failover and failback configuration,
the Failover and Failback properties define how many failures in a
specified number of hours will be tolerated before the group is taken
offline and remains offline. To review and if necessary change the
failover and failback configuration options on a particular Services and
Applications group, perform the following steps:
1. | Log
on to one of the Windows Server 2008 R2 cluster nodes with an account
with administrator privileges over all nodes in the cluster.
| 2. | Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and select Failover Cluster Manager.
| 3. | When
the Failover Cluster Manager console opens, if necessary type in the
name of the local cluster node to connect to the cluster.
| 4. | In the tree pane, select the cluster name, expand it, and select Services and Applications.
| 5. | Expand
Services and Applications, right-click the desired group, and select
Properties. For this example, the CLUSTERFS file server group will be
used.
| 6. | In
the CLUSTERFS group properties on the General tab, in the Preferred
Owner section, check the box next to the desired node if failback will
be configured. Do not close the group property window.
| 7. | Select
the Failover tab and review the number of allowed failures in a
specified number of hours. The default is one group failure allowed in
six hours.
| 8. | In
the lower section of the tab, if desired, enable failback and configure
whether failback will be allowed and whether it will occur immediately
when the preferred node is online or if the failback can only occur
during after hours, such as between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
or 17 and 6, as shown in Figure 11.
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Note
To
reduce the chance of having a group failing back to a node during
regular business hours after a failure, configure the failback schedule
to allow failback only during nonpeak times or after hours using
settings similar to those made in Figure 11 based on the organization’s work hours and backup schedule.
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