Step-by-Step Guide for Testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering.doc

(215 KB) Pobierz

$f:\dsbuildroot\wsitpro\1033\Art\DocCoverLHLogo\DocCoverLHLogo.png$

Step-by-Step Guide for Testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering

Microsoft Corporation

Published: May 2008

Author: Kathy Davies

Editor: Ronald Loi

Abstract

This guide shows you how to test using Hyper-V and Failover Clustering together to make a virtual machine highly available.

$f:\dsbuildroot\wsitpro\1033\Art\DocCoverBottom\DocCoverBottom.gif$

This document supports a preliminary release of a software product that may be changed substantially prior to final commercial release. This document is provided for informational purposes only and Microsoft makes no warranties, either express or implied, in this document. Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice. The entire risk of the use or the results from the use of this document remains with the user. Unless otherwise noted, the companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted in examples herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

Microsoft Active Directory, Hyper-V, and Windows Server are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Contents

Step-by-Step Guide for Testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering 5

Scenario Overview 5

Requirements for testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering 5

Hardware requirements for Hyper-V 5

Hardware requirements for a two-node failover cluster 5

Deploying storage area networks with failover clusters 7

Software requirements for testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering 8

Network infrastructure and domain account requirements for a two-node failover cluster 8

Steps for testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering 9

Step 1: Connect both physical computers to the networks and storage 10

Step 2: Install Hyper-V and Failover Clustering on both physical computers 11

Procedure 1: Install the Hyper-V role 11

Procedure 2: Install the failover cluster feature 11

Step 3: Create a virtual network 12

Step 4: Validate the cluster configuration 12

Step 5: Create the cluster 13

Step 6: Create a virtual machine and reconfigure the automatic start action 13

Procedure 1: Create a virtual machine 13

Procedure 2: Reconfigure automatic start action for the virtual machine 14

Step 7: Make the virtual machine highly available 15

Step 8: Configure the virtual machine 16

Step 9: Test a planned failover 16

Step 10: Test an unplanned failover 17

Step 11: Modify the settings of a virtual machine 17

Step 12: Remove a virtual machine from a cluster 17

Step-by-Step Guide for Testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering

This guide walks you through the steps required to set up Hyper-V™ and Failover Clustering to test using these two technologies together.

Scenario Overview

The Hyper-V role enables you to create a virtualized server computing environment using a technology that is part of the Windows Server® 2008 operating system. This solution is provided through Hyper-V. You can use a virtualized computing environment to improve the efficiency of your computing resources by utilizing more of your hardware resources.

The Failover Clustering feature enables you to create and manage failover clusters. A failover cluster is a group of independent computers that work together to increase the availability of applications and services. The clustered servers (called nodes) are connected by physical cables and by software. If one of the cluster nodes fails, another node begins to provide service (a process known as failover). Users experience a minimum of disruptions in service.

This guide shows you how to use these two technologies together to make a virtual machine highly available. You will do this by creating a simple two-node cluster and a virtual machine, and then failing over the virtual machine from one node to the other.

Requirements for testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering

To test the Hyper-V role on a failover cluster with two nodes, you need the hardware, software, accounts, and network infrastructure described in the sections that follow.

Hardware requirements for Hyper-V

Hyper-V requires an x64-based processor, hardware-assisted virtualization, and hardware data execution protection. You can identify systems that support the x64 architecture and Hyper-V by searching the Windows Server catalog for Hyper-V as an additional qualification. The Windows Server catalog is available at the Microsoft Web site http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=111228.

Hardware requirements for a two-node failover cluster

You will need the following hardware for a two-node failover cluster:

· Servers: We recommend that you use a set of matching computers that contain the same or similar components.

Important

You should use only hardware components that are compatible with Windows Server 2008.

· Network adapters and cable (for network communication): The network hardware, like other components in the failover cluster solution, must be compatible with Windows Server 2008. Your network adapters must be dedicated to either network communication or iSCSI, not both.

In the network infrastructure that connects your cluster nodes, avoid having single points of failure. There are multiple ways of accomplishing this. You can connect your cluster nodes by multiple, distinct networks. Alternatively, you can connect your cluster nodes with one network that is constructed with redundant switches, redundant routers, or similar hardware that removes single points of failure.

Note

If you connect cluster nodes with a single network, the network will pass the redundancy requirement in the Validate a Configuration Wizard. However, the report from the wizard will include a warning that the network should not have single points of failure.

For more details about the network configuration required for a failover cluster, see Network infrastructure and domain account requirements for a two-node failover cluster, later in this guide.

· Device controllers or appropriate adapters for the iSCSI storage:

· For Serial Attached SCSI or Fibre Channel: If you are using Serial Attached SCSI or Fibre Channel, in all clustered servers, the mass-storage device controllers that are dedicated to the cluster storage should be identical. They should also use the same firmware version.

Note

With Windows Server 2008, you cannot use parallel SCSI to connect the storage to the clustered servers.

· For iSCSI: If you are using iSCSI, each clustered server must have one or more network adapters or host bus adapters that are dedicated to the cluster storage. The network you use for iSCSI cannot be used for network communication. In all clustered servers, the network adapters you use to connect to the iSCSI storage target should be identical, and we recommend that you use Gigabit Ethernet or higher.

Note

You cannot use teamed network adapters, because they are not supported with iSCSI.

For more information about iSCSI, see the iSCSI FAQ on the Microsoft Web site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=61375).

· Storage: You must use shared storage that is compatible with Windows Server 2008.

For a two-node failover cluster, the storage should contain at least two separate volumes (LUNs), configured at the hardware level. Do not expose the clustered volumes to servers that are not in the cluster. One volume will function as the witness disk (described later in this section). One volume will contain the files that are being shared between the cluster nodes. This volume serves as the shared storage on which you will create the virtual machine and the virtual hard disk. To complete the steps as described in this document, you only need to expose one volume.

Note

If you plan to create and test more than one virtual machine, as a best practice, consider creating a separate volume for each virtual machine.

Storage requirements include the following:

· To use the native disk support included in Failover Clustering, use basic disks, not dynamic disks.

· We recommend that you format the partitions with NTFS (for the witness disk, the partition must be NTFS).

· For the partition style of the disk, you can use either master boot record (MBR) or GUID partition table (GPT).

The witness disk is a disk in the cluster storage that is designated to hold a copy of the cluster configuration database. (A witness disk is part of some, not all, quorum configurations.) For this two-node cluster, the quorum configuration will be Node and Disk Majority, the default for a cluster with an even number of nodes. Node and Disk Majority means that the nodes and the witness disk each contain copies of the cluster configuration, and the cluster has quorum as long as a majority (two out of three) of these copies are available.

Deploying storage area networks with failover clusters

When deploying a storage area network (SAN) with a failover cluster, follow these guidelines:

· Confirm compatibility of the storage: Confirm with manufacturers and vendors that the storage, including drivers, firmware, and software used for the storage, are compatible with failover clusters in Windows Server 2008.

Important

Storage that was compatible with server clusters in Windows Server 2003 might not be compatible with failover clusters in Windows Server 2008. Contact your vendor to ensure that your storage is compatible with failover clusters in Windows Server 2008.

Failover clusters include the following new requirements for storage:

· Because improvements in failover clusters require that the storage respond correctly to specific SCSI commands, the storage must follow the standard called SCSI Primary Commands-3 (SPC-3). In particular, the storage must support Persistent Reservations as specified in the SPC-3 standard.

· The miniport driver used for the storage must work with the Microsoft Storport storage driver.

· Isolate storage devices, one cluster per device: Servers from different clusters must not be able to access the same storage devices. In most cases, a LUN that is used for one set of cluster servers should be isolated from all other servers through LUN masking or zoning.

· Consider using multipath I/O software: In a highly available storage fabric, you can deploy failover clusters with multiple host bus adapters by using multipath I/O software. This provides the highest level of redundancy and availability. For Windows Server 2008, your multipath solution must be based on Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO). Your hardware vendor will usually supply an MPIO device-specific module (DSM) for your hardware, although Windows Server 2008 includes one or more DSMs as part of the operating system.

Important

Host bus adapters and multipath I/O software can be very version sensitive. If you are implementing a multipath solution for your cluster, you should work closely with your hardware vendor to choose the correct adapters, firmware, and software for Windows Server 2008.

Software requirements for testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering

The following are the software requirements for testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering:

· Windows Server 2008 Enterprise or Windows Server 2008 Datacenter must be used for the physical computers. These servers must run the same version of Windows Server 2008, including the same type of installation. That is, both servers must be either a full installation or a Server Core installation. The instructions in this guide assume that both servers are running a full installation of Windows Server 2008.

· If you do not want to install Windows Server 2008 Enterprise or Windows Server 2008 Datacenter on the test virtual machine, you will need the installation media for the operating system. The instructions in this guide assume that you will install Windows Server 2008 on the virtual machine.

Network infrastructure and domain account requirements for a two-node failover cluster

You will need the following network infrastructure for a two-node failover cluster and an administrative account with the following domain permissions:

· Network settings and IP addresses: When you use identical network adapters for a network, also use identical communication settings on those adapters (for example, Speed, Duplex Mode, Flow Control, and Media Type). Also, compare the settings between the network adapter and the switch it connects to and make sure that no settings are in conflict.

If you have private networks that are not routed to the rest of your network infrastructure, ensure that each of these private networks uses a unique subnet. This is necessary even if you give each network adapter a unique IP address. For example, if you have a cluster node in a central office that uses one physical network, and another node in a branch office that uses a separate physical network, do not specify 10.0.0.0/24 for both networks, even if you give each adapter a unique IP address.

For more information about the network adapters, see Hardware requirements for a two-node failover cluster, earlier in this guide.

· DNS: The servers in the cluster must be using Domain Name System (DNS) for name resolution. The DNS dynamic update protocol can be used.

· Domain role: All servers in the cluster must be in the same Active Directory domain. As a best practice, all clustered servers should have the same domain role (either member server or domain controller). The recommended role is member server.

· Domain controller: We recommend that your clustered servers be member servers. If they are, you need an additional server that acts as the domain controller in the domain that contains your failover cluster.

· Clients: As needed for testing, you can connect one or more networked clients to the failover cluster that you create, and observe the effect on a client when you move or fail over the highly available virtual machine from one cluster node to the other.

· Account for administering the cluster: When you first create a cluster or add servers to it, you must be logged on to the domain with an account that has administrator rights and permissions on all servers in that cluster. The account does not need to be a Domain Admins account, but can be a Domain Users account that is in the Administrators group on each clustered server. In addition, if the account is not a Domain Admins account, the account (or the group that the account is a member of) must be given the Create Computer Objects permission in the domain.

Note

There is a change in the way the Cluster service runs in Windows Server 2008, as compared to Windows Server 2003. In Windows Server 2008, there is no Cluster service account. Instead, the Cluster service automatically runs in a special context that provides the specific permissions and privileges that are necessary for the service (similar to the local system context, but with reduced privileges).