Step by Step Failover Cluster

Step by Step : Implementing & Configuring
Failover Clustering in Windows Server 2012 R2

December 13, 2014
Failover clusters in Windows Server 2012 provide a high-availability

solution for many server roles and applications.
By implementing failover clusters, you can maintain application or

service availability if one or more computers in the failover cluster
fails.
There are a lot of information that you can digest on the Failover
Clustering, for more information please log in to :
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831579.aspx
For this Failover Clustering demo, i will be using 4 VM’s, which is

domain controller and 3 member server. Please refer to the
screenshot :
1st : our 1st step is to configure a Failover Cluster, which is in

this step i will connect a cluster nodes to the iSCSI targets…
Scenario for this demo is very simple :

“Your organization has important applications and services that the
company wants to make highly available.
Some of these services cannot be made redundant by using NLB,

so you decide to implement failover clustering.
Because iSCSI storage is already in-place, you decide to use the

iSCSI storage for failover clustering.
First, you will implement the core components for failover clustering
and validate the cluster, and then you will
create the failover cluster.”
1 – For this configuration i will be using my OSI-SVR3 member

server, on OSI-SVR3, open Server Manager, click Tools, and then
click the iSCSI Initiator…
2 – In the Microsoft iSCSI interface, just click Yes…

3 – on the iSCSI initiator Properties interface, click the Discovery
tab and then click Discover Portal…
** Internet SCSI (iSCSI) initiator –> to established a connection with

an iSCSI target
4 – In the IP address or DNS name box, type 172.16.0.21, and then
click OK…
172.16.0.21 – OSi-SVR1 server
5 – Next, click the Targets tab, and click Refresh…
** In the Targets list, select iqn.1991-05…., and then

click Connect…
6 – then cllick Add this connection to the list of Favorite Targets,
and then click OK two times…
** Please repeat the step 1 – 6 on your SVR4 server…

7 – Switch to SVR3 and open Computer Management and make
sure that you have few disk already attach to your Server to
stimulate this demo, for this demo i have 3 VHD that i attach
previously on the SVr3 server, all 3 disk having 30GB space each,
you may choose your own space.
8 – Switch to SVR4 and please make sure also that you have the
same disk configuration…
** make sure that all the disk is online (Right-click Disk 1, and then
click Online)….
2nd : Let install the failover clustering feature on our SVR3
server….
1 – Open Server Manager and continue with add roles & feature
until you reach Select features interface, then click Failover
Clustering and continue with installation…
2 – next on the Confirm installation selections interface, click
Install…
3 – Once installation complete, click Close…
** Repeat steps 1 – 3 on SVR4 server…

4 – Now we need to validate the both servers for failover clustering,
on the SVR3 server open Failover Cluster Manager…
5 – On the right pane of Failover Cluster Manager, click Validate

Configuration…
6 – In the Validate a Configuration Wizard interface, click Next…
7 – On the Select Servers or a cluster interface, please add our

SVR3 & SVR4 and then click Next…
8 – On the Testing options interface, click Run all tests
(recommended) and then click Next…
9 – On the Confirmation interface, click Next…
10 – This process might take up to 5 – 10 minutes…

11 – Once the validation tests to finish, on the Summary page,
click View Report…
12 – Just verify that all tests completed…

3rd : Our next step is to create the failover cluster…
1 – in the Failover Cluster Manager, click Create Cluster….

2 – then click Next…
3 – On the Select Servers interface, make sure you add SVR3 &
SVR4 in the selected servers and then click Next…
4 – In Access Point for Administering the Cluster interface, in the
Cluster Name box, type OSICluster1.
** Under Address, type 172.16.0.125, and then click Next.
5 – In the Confirmation box, verify the information, and then click

Next…
6 – On the Summary interface, click Finish…
4th : Configuring CSV

” Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) enable multiple nodes in a failover
cluster to simultaneously have read-write access to the same LUN
(disk) that is provisioned as an NTFS volume.
With CSV, clustered roles can fail over quickly from one node to
another node without requiring a change in drive ownership, or
dismounting and remounting a volume.
CSV also help simplify the management of a potentially large

number of LUNs in a failover cluster.”
1 – On SVR3 server, in the Failover Cluster Manager console,

expand cluster1.Adatum.com, expand Storage, and then click
Disks.
** locate a disk that is assigned to Available Storage. You can see

this in the Assigned To column.
** Right-click that disk, and then click Add to Cluster Shared

Volumes.
** Verify that the disk is assigned to Cluster Shared Volume…

5th : Our next step is to deploy and configure Highly Available
File Server…
1 – On the SVR4 server, open Server Manager, click add roles &
features and continue to Select server roles and then select File
Server, then click Next 2 times…
2 – On the Confirmation interface, click Install…

3 – Next, switch back to SVR3 server, in the Failover Cluster
Manager, expand Cluster1.adatum.com, right-click Roles, and then
select Configure Role…
4 – click Next…
5 – On the Select Role interface, select File Server, and then click
Next….
6 – On the File Server Type interface, click File Server for general
use, and then click Next…
7 – On the Client Access Point interface, in the Name box, type
OSI-FS, in the Address box, type 172.16.0.130, and then click
Next…
8 – On the Select Storage interface, select the Cluster Disk 3 check

box, and then click Next…
9 – On the Confirmation interface, click Next…
10 – click Finish…
6th : Next we going to add a shared folder to a highly available
File Server…
1 – Switch to SVR4 server and open Failover Cluster Manager…
** Expand Cluster1.Adatum.com, and then click Roles.
** Right-click OSI-FS, and then select Add File Share…

2 – In the Select the profile for this share interface, click SMB Share
– Quick, and then click Next…
3 – On the Select the server and the path for this share interface,
verify the server & Volume to share and then click Next…
4 – On the Specify share name interface, in the Share name box,

type OSI-Docs, and then click Next…
5 – On the Configure share settings interface, do not make any
changes, and then click Next…
6 – On the Specify permissions to control access interface, click

Next…
7 – On the Confirm selections interface, click Create…
8 – On the View results interface, click Close…

9 – Next we need to configure failover and failback settings, on
the Failover Cluster Manager, click Roles, right-click OSI-FS, and
then click Properties…
“** Failover transfers the responsibility of providing access to

resources in a cluster from one node to another. Failover can occur
when an administrator intentionally moves resources to another
node for maintenance, or when unplanned downtime of one node
happens because of hardware failure or other reasons. In addition,
service failure on an active node can initiate failover to another
node.”
“** The Cluster service can failback instances that were originally
hosted on the offline node after the offline node becomes active
again. When the Cluster service fails back an instance, it follows the
same procedures that it performs during failover. That is, the Cluster
service takes all the resources in the instance offline, moves the
instance, and then brings all the resources in the instance back
online.”
10 – Click the Failover tab and then click Allow failback…
** Click Failback between, and set values to 3 and 4 hours.
11 – Next, click the General tab, then select SVR3 and SVR4 as
preferred owners and make sure you move SVR4 up, then click
OK…
7th : Now we have to validate / verify the Deployment of
our High Availability File Server
1 – Switch to DC01 server (Domain Server), try access to \\osi-

fs\osi-docs…
** Verify that you can access the location and that you can open the
osi-docs folder…
2 – To verify you can create a any text document inside this folder…
3 – Next, switch back to SVR3 server and open the Failover Cluster
Manager.
** Expand Cluster1.adatum.com, and then click Roles. Note the

current owner of OSI-FS (SVR3)
** Right-click OSI-FS, click Move, and then click Select Node…

4 – In the Move Clustered Role box, select the cluster node (it will
be either SVR3 or SVR4), and then click OK…
5 – Verify that SVR4 has moved to a new owner…

** I do recommend that you switch back to DC1 server and verify
that you can still access the \\osi-fs\osi-docs…
6 – Next, in the Failover Cluster Manager, right-click the node (I

choose SVR4) , select More Actions, and then click Stop Cluster
Service…
7 – Verify that SVR4 now is down…

8 – Verify also OSI-FS has moved to another node which is SVR3…
** ** I do recommend that you switch back to DC1 server again and

verify that you can still access the \\osi-fs\osi-docs…
9 – switch back to SVR3 server and on the Failover Cluster

Manager, click Nodes. Right-click the stopped node which the
SVR4, select More Actions, and then click Start Cluster Service…
10 – Verify all nodes status now up…
11 – Next, expand Storage, and then click Disks.
In the center pane, right-click the disk that is assigned to

Disk Witness in Quorum then click Take Offline…
“** Quorum is the number of elements that must be online for a

cluster to continue running. In effect, each element can cast one
vote to determine whether the cluster continues to run. Each
cluster node is an element that has one vote. In case there is an
even number of nodes, then an additional element, which is known
as a witness, is
assigned to the cluster. The witness element can be either a disk or
a file share. Each voting element contains a copy of the
cluster configuration; and the Cluster service works to keep all
copies synchronized at all times.”
12 – then click Yes…
13 – Switch to DC1 server and verify that you can still access the
\\osi-fs\osi-docs location. By doing this, you
verified that the cluster is still running, even if the witness disk is
offline…
14 – Now switch back to SVr3 server, in Failover Cluster Manager,
expand Storage, click Disks, right-click the disk that is in Offline
status, and then click Bring Online…
15 – Next, right-click Cluster1.Adatum.com, select More Actions,

and then click Configure Cluster Quorum Settings…
16 – click Next…
17 – On the Select Quorum Configuration Option interface, click

Advanced quorum configuration, and then click Next…
18 – On the Select Voting Configuration interface,Do not make any
changes, and then click Next…
19 – On the Select Quorum Witness interface, select Configure a

disk witness and then click Next…
20 – On the Configure Storage Witness interface, select Cluster
Disk 3, and then click Next…
21 – click Next…
22 – click Finish…
** we have succesfully tested the failover scenarios and next we

going to configure CAU
8th : Configure CAU – Cluster-Aware Updating

** Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) is a technology in Windows
Server 2012 that automatically updates cluster nodes with Windows
Update hotfix, by keeping the cluster online, and minimizing
downtime.
** During an update procedure, CAU transparently takes each

cluster node offline, installs the updates and any dependent
updates, and then performs a restart if necessary. CAU then brings
the node back online, and moves to update the next node in a
cluster.
1 – Before we proceed, please make sure that you have

install Failover Clustering feature in DC1 Domain Server…
2 – Switch back to SVR3 & SVR4 server, and please verify also
that Inbound Rule for Remote Shutdown (RPC-EP-In) & Inbound
Rule for Remote Shutdown (TCP-In) rule is enabled…
3 – let’s return to DC1 domain server and open Cluster-

Aware Updating console…
4 – In the Cluster-Aware Updating interface, in the Connect to a
failover cluster drop-down list box, select OSICLUSTER1, and then
click Connect…
5 – In the Cluster Actions pane, click Preview updates for this

cluster…
6 – In the OSICluster1-Preview Updates interface, click Generate
Update Preview List…
7 – After few minutes, updates will display in the list and then click
Close…
8 – still on the DC1 server, now we need to update the failover
cluster and configure the self-updating…
** in the Cluster-Aware Updating console, click Apply updates to this

cluster…
9 – On the Getting Started interface, click Next…
10 – On the Advanced options interface, review the options for

updating, and then click Next…
11 – On the Additional Update Options interface, click Next…

12 – On the Confirmation interface, click Update, and then click
Close…
13 – In the Cluster nodes pane, you can review the progress of the
updating process…
** Please take note that 1 node of the cluster is in a waiting state,
and the other node is restarting after it is updated.
** Wait until the process is finished and both nodes will restarted
automatically.
14 – The process is finished when both nodes show Succeeded…

15 – Once the SVR3 restarted, log in as administrator and
open Cluster-Aware Updating…
** In the Cluster-Aware Updating box, in the Connect to a failover

cluster drop-down list box, select OSICLUSTER1. Click Connect….
16 – Click the Configure cluster self-updating options in the Cluster
Actions pane…
17 – On the Getting Started interface, click Next…

18 – On the Add CAU Clustered Role with Self-Updating Enabled
interface, click Add the CAU clustered role, with self-updating mode
enabled, to this cluster, and then click Next…
19 – On the Specify self-updating schedule page,configure your

own schedule and then click Next…
20 – On the Advanced Options interface, click Next…
21 – On the Additional Update Options interface, click Next….
22 – On the Confirmation interface, click Apply…

23 – After the clustered role is added successfully, click Close and
we have successfully configured CAU.

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What are the steps to configure iSCSI initiator?

What are the steps to configure iSCSI initiator?

What are the steps to install failover clustering feature?

What are the steps to install failover clustering feature?

Step by Step : Implementing & Configuring

Failover Clustering in Windows Server 2012 R2

Failover clusters in Windows Server 2012 provide a high-availability

By implementing failover clusters, you can maintain application or

For this Failover Clustering demo, i will be using 4 VM’s, which is

1st : our 1st step is to configure a Failover Cluster, which is in

Scenario for this demo is very simple :

Some of these services cannot be made redundant by using NLB,

Because iSCSI storage is already in-place, you decide to use the

1 – For this configuration i will be using my OSI-SVR3 member

2 – In the Microsoft iSCSI interface, just click Yes…

** Internet SCSI (iSCSI) initiator –> to established a connection with

172.16.0.21 – OSi-SVR1 server

5 – Next, click the Targets tab, and click Refresh…

** In the Targets list, select iqn.1991-05…., and then

** Please repeat the step 1 – 6 on your SVR4 server…

3 – Once installation complete, click Close…

** Repeat steps 1 – 3 on SVR4 server…

5 – On the right pane of Failover Cluster Manager, click Validate

7 – On the Select Servers or a cluster interface, please add our

9 – On the Confirmation interface, click Next…

10 – This process might take up to 5 – 10 minutes…

12 – Just verify that all tests completed…

1 – in the Failover Cluster Manager, click Create Cluster….

** Under Address, type 172.16.0.125, and then click Next.

5 – In the Confirmation box, verify the information, and then click

4th : Configuring CSV

CSV also help simplify the management of a potentially large

1 – On SVR3 server, in the Failover Cluster Manager console,

** locate a disk that is assigned to Available Storage. You can see

** Right-click that disk, and then click Add to Cluster Shared

** Verify that the disk is assigned to Cluster Shared Volume…

2 – On the Confirmation interface, click Install…

8 – On the Select Storage interface, select the Cluster Disk 3 check

1 – Switch to SVR4 server and open Failover Cluster Manager…

** Expand Cluster1.Adatum.com, and then click Roles.

** Right-click OSI-FS, and then select Add File Share…

4 – On the Specify share name interface, in the Share name box,

6 – On the Specify permissions to control access interface, click

8 – On the View results interface, click Close…

“** Failover transfers the responsibility of providing access to

** Click Failback between, and set values to 3 and 4 hours.

1 – Switch to DC01 server (Domain Server), try access to \\osi-

** Expand Cluster1.adatum.com, and then click Roles. Note the

** Right-click OSI-FS, click Move, and then click Select Node…

5 – Verify that SVR4 has moved to a new owner…

6 – Next, in the Failover Cluster Manager, right-click the node (I

7 – Verify that SVR4 now is down…

** ** I do recommend that you switch back to DC1 server again and

9 – switch back to SVR3 server and on the Failover Cluster

11 – Next, expand Storage, and then click Disks.

In the center pane, right-click the disk that is assigned to

“** Quorum is the number of elements that must be online for a

12 – then click Yes…

15 – Next, right-click Cluster1.Adatum.com, select More Actions,

I do recommend that you switch back to DC1 server again and