How To Create Failover Cluster In Windows Server 2016

This article gives a brusk overview of how to create a Microsoft Windows Failover Cluster (WFC) with Windows Server 2019 or 2016. The effect will be a two-node cluster with one shared disk and a cluster compute resources (figurer object in Active Directory).

Grooming

It does not matter whether you use physical or virtual machines, just brand sure your technology is suitable for Windows clusters. Before you start, make sure you see the post-obit prerequisites:

Two Windows 2019 machines with the latest updates installed. The machines have at least 2 network interfaces: one for production traffic, 1 for cluster traffic. In my instance, there are three network interfaces (i additional for iSCSI traffic). I adopt static IP addresses, but you lot can also use DHCP.

Bring together both servers to your Microsoft Agile Directory domain and make certain that both servers see the shared storage device available in disk direction. Don't bring the disk online yet.

The side by side step before we can really start is to add together the Failover clustering feature (Server Managing director > add roles and features).

Reboot your server if required. Every bit an alternative, you tin can also employ the following PowerShell command:

          Install-WindowsFeature -Name Failover-Clustering –IncludeManagementTools        

After a successful installation, the Failover Cluster Manager appears in the start card in the Windows Administrative Tools.

Subsequently y'all installed the Failover-Clustering feature, you tin can bring the shared disk online and format it on one of the servers. Don't change anything on the 2nd server. On the 2d server, the disk stays offline.

After a refresh of the disk direction, you can see something like to this:

Server 1 Deejay Management (deejay condition online)

Server two Deejay Management (disk status offline)

Failover Cluster readiness check

Before we create the cluster, we need to make sure that everything is set upwardly properly. Start the Failover Cluster Managing director from the start menu and scroll down to the management section and click Validate Configuration.

Select the 2 servers for validation.

Run all tests. There is besides a description of which solutions Microsoft supports.

After you made sure that every applicable exam passed with the condition "successful," you tin can create the cluster past using the checkbox Create the cluster at present using the validated nodes, or y'all can do that later. If you have errors or warnings, you lot tin can utilise the detailed written report by clicking on View Report.

Create the failover cluster

If you cull to create the cluster by clicking on Create Cluster in the Failover Cluster Manager, y'all will be prompted once more to select the cluster nodes. If you use the Create the cluster now using the validated nodes checkbox from the cluster validation wizard, and then you will skip that pace. The next relevant step is to create the Access Point for Administering the Cluster. This will exist the virtual object that clients will communicate with later. Information technology is a computer object in Active Directory.

The sorcerer asks for the Cluster Name and IP address configuration.

As a last step, confirm everything and wait for the cluster to be created.

The wizard volition add the shared disk automatically to the cluster per default. If you did not configure it yet, then it is likewise possible afterward.

As a upshot, yous can see a new Active Directory computer object named WFC2019.

Y'all tin can ping the new reckoner to check whether it is online (if yous let ping on the Windows firewall).

As an alternative, you tin create the cluster also with PowerShell. The following command will as well add all eligible storage automatically:

          New-Cluster -Name WFC2019 -Node SRV2019-WFC1, SRV2019-WFC2 -StaticAddress 172.21.237.32        

You can see the upshot in the Failover Cluster Manager in the Nodes and Storage > Disks sections.

The pic shows that the deejay is currently used as a quorum. Every bit nosotros desire to use that disk for data, nosotros demand to configure the quorum manually. From the cluster context menu, choose More Actions > Configure Cluster Quorum Settings.

Here, we want to select the quorum witness manually.

Currently, the cluster is using the disk configured earlier equally a disk witness. Alternative options are the file share witness or an Azure storage account as witness. Nosotros will use the file share witness in this instance. At that place is a step-by-step how-to on the Microsoft website for the deject witness. I always recommend configuring a quorum witness for proper operations. And then, the last option is not actually an option for production.

Just signal to the path and finish the sorcerer.

Later that, the shared disk is available for utilise for data.

Congratulations, you have set up a Microsoft failover cluster with i shared disk.

Next steps and backup

One of the next steps would exist to add a role to the cluster, which is out of scope of this commodity. As soon as the cluster contains data, it is as well time to recollect about backing upwards the cluster. Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows can back up Windows failover clusters with shared disks. We also recommend doing backups of the "entire organization" of the cluster. This also backs upwards the operating systems of the cluster members. This helps to speed up restore of a failed cluster node, every bit you don't need to search for drivers, etc. in case of a restore.

See More:

• On-Demand Sessions from VeeamON Virtual

Source: https://www.veeam.com/blog/windows-server-2019-failover-cluster.html

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