Failover Clustering

sina2011

Hey everyone

I have been looking in Failover Clustering and I was interested in getting it to work it looks like i need a iSCSI disk well i dont have one and I was thinking is there a way I can like virtualize it or something along those lines in order to get it working and to test in a home lab environment?

Thanks.

Essendon

There's this free software called Starwind, which I have used for labbing clustering in my lab.

spd3432

I use VMWare workstation and did a search of the forums on the VMWare site for iSCSI. From some of the comments the newer free versions of Starwind may not work because a feature (SCSI-3 persistent reservations aren't possible).

I did find a link to an article that explains how to set it up using FreeNAS (open source software).

Setup Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Failover Cluster in VMware Workstation

Let us know which you choose and how it goes.

Sean

sina2011

Hey Essendon and Sean

Firstly Thanks for your replies I appreciate it.

I first went with what Sean said which was following those instructions but at the end it just didnt work out for me when I went to the browser part when I had to type the IP in the webpage came up but it was grayed out on the screen.
I Then did what essendon said and went to the website and everything but I got stuck where it says I need to put in a corporate email I dont have a corporate email and on the webpage it said email us if you dont have a corporate email so I emailed them and Im now just waiting for there reply.


Thanks Again.

undomiel

Back when I was labbing failover clusters the Starwind iSCSI target software is what I used as well. It is pretty easy to setup and get going once you get ahold of it. I'd recommend setting up clusters using both Full and Core installations of Server 2008. The experience of setting up a cluster from the CLI will definitely be very informative. And with R2 you'll have iscsicpl available for connecting to the targets, which is good as the iscsicli way of doing it is extremely painful. Though you may want to try it once just so you'll know what it is like.

Paladin

sina2011 wrote: »

Hey everyone

I have been looking in Failover Clustering and I was interested in getting it to work it looks like i need a iSCSI disk well i dont have one and I was thinking is there a way I can like virtualize it or something along those lines in order to get it working and to test in a home lab environment?

Thanks.

You may enjoy Gregory Pfister's highly rated book on clusters: In Search of Clusters, 2nd Edition. In it, he described a cluster of servers like a pack of dogs hovering around disk resources.

In the 1990s, Microsoft engineers enjoyed Pfisters' book so much that they code-named the first versions of their clustering technology, "Wolf Pack." (They thought "wolf pack" was sexier than dog pack.)

spd3432

Sina,

Just ran through the setup docs from the link I posted. I ended up pulling down version 7 of the FreeNAS software -- I got CPU errors with version 8. I was able to connect via browser after assigning static IPs and having both machines (the FreeNAS and the test 2k8 server on the same virtual switch). I created 2 disks and have connected to them via iSCSI in Windows. I haven't done any other tests with it yet. The web link I gave said to give the FreeNAS machine 2gb of RAM. The FreeNAS.org site says only 1gb is required. Figure you're going to be running a minimum of 3 Windows servers (a domain controller and two cluster nodes) so giving the least amount of RAM to each machine for them to be viable sounds like the best way to maximize your testing.


Sean

bertieb

Paladin wrote: »

In the 1990s, Microsoft engineers enjoyed Pfisters' book so much that they code-named the first versions of their clustering technology, "Wolf Pack." (They thought "wolf pack" was sexier than dog pack.)

I prefer to think the reason that they named NT4 clustering as 'Wolfpack' was because it was preferable to have a pack of hungry wolves to gnaw at your face rather than trying to get MS clustering at the time a) working, b) stable and c) worthwhile (because a single host was more reliable). Those are days I do not miss and the reason I do not cry wolf when MS release a new OS every 3 years these days ( REALLY sorry for the 'wolf' in-joke )

Back on topic, the starwind software always worked well for me in testing too

sina2011

Hey guys so after a full day of researching and etc this where im up to:

I downloaded starwind I installed it I configured it by following the video tutorial

YouTube - Windows Server 2008 Clustering - Part 1 Part1

YouTube - Windows Server 2008 Clustering - Part2 Part 2

I followed step by step what it said in the videos the only difference in the video and what im doing is that his using ESX Vmware as the looks of it.

I also allowed the ports on each Node1 and Node2 to allow ISCSI connections and started them up on both sides in windows Firewall,after that I also turned on Windows Network Discovery on the DC,WMS1 which is node1 and WMS2 which is obviously Node 2 and also on the vmware machine that I created as the ISCSI host.
After that I did a connectivity Test by pinging all machines e.g I pinged DC to ISCSI Host VM,Pinged ISCSI host to Node1 and Node 2 both were successful.

Easy way to tell you my problem is on the ISCSI Intiator mmc in the Discovery tab where I put the IP of the ISCSI Host which is 192.168.1.22 it gives me an error of connection Failed.

I'am Kind of running out of ideas as I dont have experience about ISCSI's if anyone can give me a push in the right direction I would be grateful.


Thanks.

spd3432

Sina,

Created a failover cluster today. Configuration:
Windows 7 64-bit host with VMWare workstation

Virtual machines:
2k8 R2 server (DC1) with 512mb RAM 1 NIC vmnet7 IP 172.16.5.11/24
2k8 R2 server (Cluster1) with 1gb RAM 1 NIC vmnet7 IP 172.16.5.21/24 and 1 NIC vmnet6 IP 10.254.1.1/30
2k8 R2 server (Cluster2) with 1gb RAM 1 NIC vmnet7 IP 172.16.5.22/24 and 1 NIC vmnet6 IP 10.254.1.2/30
FreeNAS server (FreeBSD) with 1gb RAM 1 NIC vmnet7 IP 172.16.5.249/24

I assigned the primary NIC to each machine to vmnet7 and set it to provide DHCP services on 192.16.248.0/24.

I installed FreeNAS and assigned the IP 172.16.5.249 using the command line (per the configuration document) then added and configured the storage using a web browser from a client on the same virtual switch.

FreeNAS Configuration Guide
FreeNAS Server on VMware Workstation with iSCSI Disks for MS Cluster

Cluster Configuration Guide
Setup Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Failover Cluster in VMware Workstation

I installed the three 2K8-R2 servers with the DC first. I didn't start the iSCSI initiator until I had both nodes online and members of the test domain.

I haven't added any services but you can see by the screenshot that both servers and the disks passed the cluster configuration tests.



Sean

sina2011

Hey Sean?

Thanks for the reply Im going to back and try to make it work with Free Nas as you said before Im just abit confused at the moment I went to the first link you gave me in the download section which version do I need to download there is alot:
FreeNAS - Browse /FreeNAS-8 at SourceForge.net

also in the lab setup you have provided im abit confused with how you used (vmnet 6) do I need to do that as well? 2k8 R2 server (Cluster1) with 1gb RAM 1 NIC vmnet7 IP 172.16.5.21/24 and 1 NIC vmnet6 IP 10.254.1.1/30 <---whats with that?

Im going to go ahead and try again and see if i can get it work by following the instructions maybe I might get lucky.

Thanks.

sina2011

sorry about the question mark after your name it was accidental

undomiel

He's using the 172.16.5.0/24 network as his public and data network, and 10.254.1.0/30 is his dedicated heartbeat network. The next step should be to separate out the data network from the public network.

sina2011

Hey Sean

I did the instructions in the first link you gave me at the end by going to http:192.168.1.15 it loads up but the buttons on the page are grayed out which wont let me login.

http://192.168.1.15/account/login/?next=/

spd3432

sina2011 wrote: »

Hey Sean

I did the instructions in the first link you gave me at the end by going to http:192.168.1.15 it loads up but the buttons on the page are grayed out which wont let me login.

http://192.168.1.15/account/login/?next=/

I take it 192.168.1.15 is the IP you assigned to your FreeNAS device? If so, you may need to add that IP to the list of trusted websites in internet explorer before you can log in. Suggest adding it (tools / internet options / security) then closing IE and restarting it.

Sean

sina2011

Hey Sean

Thanks for your reply well long story short I came across alot of problems and finally i got the first section done successfully but now in the 2nd link where i have to go to the iScsI initator and type the FreeNas IP which mine is 192.168.1.100 it says connection failed im not sure what else im supposed to do i followed the first link you gave me step by step even double checked in twice its just the first part of the 2nd link im stuck.

by the way im doing this on Windows Server 2008 quick connect isnt available on the target tab.

Thanks again.

undomiel

Start by checking ip connectivity, can you ping the address? Any firewalls in the way? Is the target configured to listen on that address?

sina2011

Hey undomiel

Thanks for reply Yeah I have checked connectivity and windows firewall exceptions as well all is working fine.

sina2011

Hey Guys

Just an update I have finally got everything to work but I came across another problem in the Failover Cluster Management Console when I right click it and choose the Configure a Service or Application and choose my service when i get to the part where it says Select Storage the window is empty?
I have no idea why it isnt showing up and googled it and looked around couldnt find anything related to my problem what do you guys think that im missing out?


Thanks.

Povilas

How many disks have you created?

sina2011

Hey povilas

I have created 4.

undomiel

You'll want to go through the checks listed in here: Add Storage to a Failover Cluster

sina2011

Hey Everyone

just an update I finally got it done and its working after so many hours researching on the net and re-doing the instructions,just wanted to also thank everyone so much in giving me advice and help in getting this to work.


Thanks.

Claymoore

It's a few days too late for you, but MS has finally released their free iSCSI target software. You can install it on 2008 R2 (even in a VM) and provide shared storage to other servers for clustering. These are the same bits from Windows Storage Server so it's even supported in a production environment.

Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 for Windows Server 2008 R2 available for public download - Jose Barreto's Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Download details: Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3

undomiel

Darn, could of used that a few weeks ago. We ended up purchasing one instead. Good to know for the future though.