Creating a Windows Cluster
In addition to the standard Windows Updates the following additional updates are needed for Exchange 2007 Beta (x64 Edition):
1.
File share witness and configurable cluster heartbeat support:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=921181
2.
MDAC 2.8 patch (I don't recall if this is required for E2k7 B2 or not, but it's part of my base VM)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/904639/en-us
3.
.NET 2.0 Framework (This is an optional update from Windows Update, can be installed during Exchange setup)
4.
MMC 3.0 (Can be installed during Exchange setup)
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=907265
5.
In Windows Setup Optional Components:
a.
Enable network COM+ access
b.
Internet Information Services
c.
World Wide Web Service
6.
Server has been given a static IP address
o The IP should be in the same site as an existing Exchange 2007 server with the Hub Transport and Client Access roles.
Creating the cluster
Before Exchange 2007 can be installed with SCC or CCR support, the server that is is being installed on must be part of a cluster. The steps below cover setting up a two node MNS cluster using Windows 2003 SP1 x64.
1.
Under Administration tools start Cluster Administrator
2.
On the Open Connection to Cluster dialog choose "Create new cluster" and click OK
3.
Click Next > on the welcome screen
4.
Enter "CLUSTER01" for the name of the cluster and Next
>
5.
On the select computer screen confirm that the current computer name is shown and click on Advanced
6.
Click on "Advanced (minimum) configuration" and click OK
7.
Click Next > after you have selected the Advanced configuration mode
8.
On the Analyzing Configuration screen you will get two warnings, click
Next > to continue
a.
Warning: "Only one network adapter was found on the node."
b.
Warning: "Skipping drive letter collision detection because minimal analysis and configuration was selected"
o Since this is for testing only, we did not setup a 2nd NIC and we will be manually settings up a Majority Node Set cluster.
9.
Enter the IP address for the default cluster node, I used 192.168.1.65, click Next
> to continue
10. Enter in an administrative account, I used Administrator, click Next
>
to continue
o The Administrator or a Domain Admin level account should not be used in production or even in normal testing.
11. On the Proposed Cluster Configuration screen click Quorum…
12. On the Cluster Configuration Quorum dialog choose "Majority Node Set" and OK
13. Click
Next > to continue
14. Once the final cluster install step is done the cluster should be opened up in Cluster Administrator
Creating a cluster group for Exchange
Once the basic cluster is setup a cluster group, or resource group, must be created for Exchange. Unlike SCC, a shared disk is not needed for a CCR cluster. Fewer steps are required to setup a cluster in Exchange 2007 since it creates the additional cluster resources needed during the install of Exchange.
- Create a group for Exchange cluster
a.
Expand Groups and right click and choose New\Group
b.
Enter "Exchange" for the name and click Next >
c.
Select the server you are on now and click Add -> to make it the preferred owner of this group and click Finish
2.
Adding an IP resource to the Exchange cluster group
a.
Right click on Exchange under groups and choose New\Resource
b.
Enter "Exchange IP" for the name
c.
Select "IP Address" from the Resource type drop-down and click
Next >
e.
Select Next > on the Possible Owners screen
f.
Select Next > on the Dependencies screen
g.
Enter in the IP address and subnet for the Exchange virtual server, I used 192.168.1.66 and click Finish
h.
Choose Yes when prompted to confirm the subnet mask
3.
Adding a Network name resource to the Exchange cluster group
a.
Right click on Exchange under groups and choose New\Resource
b.
Enter "Exchange Name" for the name
c.
Choose "Network Name" from the Resource type drop-down and click
Next >
d.
Confirm the current server is listed as a possible owner and click
Next >
e.
Add the "Exchange IP" as a dependant resource and click Next
>
f.
Enter the NetBIOS name of the Exchange virtual server cluster, this is the name clients will connect to, and check the two boxes and click Finish
i.
Check "DNS Registration Must Succeed"
ii.
Check "Enable Kerberos Authentication" (Optional)
Adding the 2nd node
Carry out the following steps on the 1st cluster node to add the 2nd node to the cluster.
1.
Right click on the CLUSER01 in Cluster Administrator and choose New\Node
2.
Click Next > on the welcome screen
3.
Enter the 2nd node name, EXB03 in my environment, and click Add
4.
Click on "Advanced (minimum) configuration" and click OK
5.
Click Next > after you have selected the Advanced configuration mode
6.
On the Analyzing Configuration screen you will get two warnings and click Next
> to continue
7.
Enter in the password for the cluster service account and click Next
> to continue
8.
Confirm the settings and click Next > to continue
9.
When the adding of the node finishes click Next > and
Finish
Creating a File Share Witness
The steps below cover the process to create a Majority Node Set (MNS) file share witness. Without a file share witness configured a two node MNS cluster will not automatically failover. If the primary node were to fail the passive node will stop the clustering services since it cannot gain a majority
"vote" on taking over the cluster.
o For more detailed steps see How to Configure the File Share Witness
- Create a file share on the DC, or another server that is not in the cluster, to host the file share voting resource
·
The suggested Microsoft best practice is to locate the file share witness on the Hub Transport Server; I selected the DC so I could suspend my Hub Transport server VM to free up memory resources.
a.
Name the share "MNSFileShare", you can use any name
b.
Confirm that the cluster service account has full rights to the share and the directory
- On the active cluster node run the following command lines
a.
CLUSTER <Cluster name> RESOURCE
<Majority node set resource name>
/PRIV MNSFileShare=<UNC path to the shared>
b.
CLUSTER <Cluster name> GROUP "<Cluster group with the MNS resource in it>" /MOVE
c.
CLUSTER <Cluster name> GROUP "<Cluster group with the MNS resource in it>" /MOVE
- Review the file share created, it should now contains files under a directly that looks like a GUID
