StarWind HA FileServer For SMB NAS On WinServer2012
StarWind HA FileServer For SMB NAS On WinServer2012
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CHANGES
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reasonable efforts have been made in the preparation of this document to assure its accuracy, StarWind
Software assumes no liability resulting from errors or omissions in this document, or from the use of the
information contained herein. StarWind Software reserves the right to make changes in the product design
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find answers to most of your questions on the Technical Papers webpage or in StarWind Forum. If you need
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 4
CREATING AN HA DEVICE ................................................................................................................... 5
CONFIGURING HYPER-V SERVERS..................................................................................................... 10
CONNECTING TARGETS .................................................................................................................... 13
INITIALIZING DISKS .......................................................................................................................... 15
CREATING A CLUSTER ...................................................................................................................... 17
MAKING THE FILE SERVER HIGHLY AVAILABLE ....................................................................................21
SHARING A FOLDER.............................................................................................................................26
CONTACTS....................................................................................................................................... 30
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
INTRODUCTION
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
CREATING AN HA DEVICE
2. Find the string "<!--<iScsiDiscoveryListInterfaces value="1"/> -->" and uncomment it (should look as
follows: <iScsiDiscoveryListInterfaces value="1"/>).
3. Restart StarWind Service and repeat the same procedure on another StarWind HA node.
4. Launch StarWind Management Console: Start -> All Programs -> StarWind Software -> StarWind.
Note: The StarWind Console icon appears in the system tray when the Console is running. To open
StarWind Management Console, double-click the icon or right-click it, and then select Start
Management Console from the shortcut menu.
5. Select the server you want to provide with the iSCSI target device from the Console tree. Double-click
the host to connect.
Note: If you are prompted to enter login and password, specify “root” and “starwind”, respectively.
These are the default login and password, but you can always change them later.
6. After connecting to StarWind Service, you can create devices and targets on the server. Open Add
Device Wizard by one of the following ways:
7. Add Device Wizard appears. Please, follow the wizard's steps to create a new HA device.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
11. Specify partner server parameters. Enter the server IP-address. If needed, specify username and
password for StarWind Service in the corresponding text fields. Click OK.
13. Specify the appropriate information in the Target Alias and Target Name text fields.
Note: The name must be unique. Under this name the device is declared to iSCSI initiators that are
connected to StarWind Service over an IP network.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
14. Click to specify a name and location of an HA virtual disk on the server. If you want to create a new
virtual disk, select the Create New checkbox.
16. Specify target and virtual disk parameters of the second node.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
Note: At least one Heartbeat channel must be separated from a synchronization channel due to the
availability considerations.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
23. Check whether device parameters are correct. Click Back to make any changes. Click Next to continue.
Follow the similar procedure to create the second HA device that will be used as a storage disk.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
1. Launch Server Manager, select the Manage item, and click the Add Roles and Features option. Install
the File Server role, Multipath I/O, and Failover Clustering features following the wizard’s steps.
2. Select Role-based or feature-based installation as an installation type and click Next to continue.
3. Select a server from the server pool. Use a filter to find an appropriate server.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
5. Select the File and iSCSI Services checkbox in the Roles section.
7. Select Failover Clustering and Multipath I/O checkboxes in the Features section.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
9. Select the corresponding checkbox if you want the server to be restarted automatically and click Install.
Otherwise, click Install and restart server manually after the installation is completed.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
CONNECTING TARGETS
To connect the previously created disks on all servers that will be added to the cluster:
1. Launch Microsoft iSCSI Initiator: Start > Administrative Tools > iSCSI Initiator. The iSCSI Initiator
Properties window appears.
3. Click Discover Portal. Enter an IP address of each StarWind Server in the appropriate field of the Discover
Target Portal dialog. Click OK.
5. Click the Targets tab. The previously created targets are listed in the Discovered Targets section.
Note: If the created targets are not listed, check the firewall settings of the StarWind Server as well as
the list of networks served by the StarWind Server (go to StarWind Management Console ->
Configuration -> Network).
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
7. Select Add this connection to the list of Favorite Targets and Enable multi-path checkboxes in the
Connect to Target dialog.
8. Repeat the actions described in the previous step for each target.
9. Open the MPIO manager: Start -> Administrative Tools -> MPIO.
10. Go to the Discover Multi-Paths tab. Select the Add support for iSCSI devices checkbox and click Add.
11. When prompted to restart the server, click Yes to proceed. After the server is restarted, initialize the
disk and create partitions, as if it was a physical hard drive.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
INITIALIZING DISKS
Note: The StarWind disks must be initialized and formatted to be used as cluster disks.
Changes made to the first node (e.g. initialization or partition) are applied to the second node as
soon as it is brought online.
4. Right-click each disk and select Initialize Disk. Follow the wizard’s instructions to initialize disks.
5. Click OK to continue.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
The Computer Management console should look as shown on the screenshot below.
1. Right-click each disk in the Computer Management window and select New Simple Volume.
2. Follow the wizard’s instructions to create partitions.
The Computer Management window should look as shown on the screenshot below.
Perform the same actions on the other servers. Creation of partitions is no longer necessary. The Computer
Management window should look as follows.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
CREATING A CLUSTER
To validate a cluster:
1. Open Server Manager. Select the Failover Cluster Manager item from the Tools menu.
2. Verify whether your servers are suitable for building a cluster: click Validate a Configuration in the
Actions section.
To create a cluster:
1. Click the Create a Cluster item in the Actions section of Failover Cluster Manger. Click Next to
continue as Create Cluster Wizard appears.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
Note: If the cluster servers get IP addresses over DHCP, the cluster also gets its IP address over DHCP. If
the IP addresses are set statically, you need to set a cluster IP address manually as well.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
6. Make sure that all of the settings are correct. Select the Add all available storage to the cluster. Click
Previous to make any changes. Click Next to continue.
7. After the cluster creation is completed, the system displays a report with detailed information.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
1. Open Server Manager. Select the Failover Cluster Manager item from the Tools menu.
2. Select Roles.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
4. Select the File Server item from the list in High Availability Wizard.
5. Click Next.
8. Fill in the Name field with the corresponding information and specify the cluster address.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
9. Click Next.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
12. Check whether the specified information is correct. Click Next to proceed.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
SHARING A FOLDER
To share a folder:
1. If the cluster that you want to configure is not displayed in the Failover Cluster Manager window, right-
click Failover Cluster Manager in the Console tree and select the needed cluster.
3. Right-click a previously created file server role and select Add File Share from the shortcut menu.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
4. As New Share Wizard appears, select the profile for this share.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
8. Specify the location and share name in the corresponding text fields.
10. Specify permissions for the shared folder. Click Customize permissions to add permissions.
12. Check whether specified settings are correct. Click Previous to make any changes.
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Configuring HA File Server on Windows Server 2012 for SMB NAS
CONTACTS
US Headquarters
Phone: 1-617-449-7717
Fax: 1-617-507-5845
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