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Create a Windows Server 2003 Two-Node Cluster

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Configuring the Public Network Adapter

Perform these steps on the first node in the cluster.

  • Right-click My Network Places and then click Properties.
  • Right-click the Local Area Connection 1 icon
  • Click Status. The Local Area Connection 1 Status window shows the connection status, as well as the speed of connection. If the window shows that the network is disconnected, examine cables and connections to resolve the problem before proceeding. Click Close.
  • Right-click Local Area Connection 1 again, click Properties, and click Configure.
  • Click Advanced. The window shown in the figure below should appear
  • Network adapter on the private network should be set to the actual speed of the network, rather then default automated speed selection. Select your network speed from the drop-down list. Do not use an Auto-select setting for speed. Some adapters may drop packets while determining the speed. To set the network adapter speed, click on the appropriate option such as Media Type or Speed.
    All network adapters in the cluster that are attached to the same network must be identically configured to use the same Duplex Mode, Flow Control, Media Type, and so on. These settings should remain the same even if the hardware is different.
  • Click Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
  • Click Properties
  • Click the radio-button for Use the following IP address and type in the address that has been assigned by the system administrator.
  • Type in a subnet mask, which has been assigned by the system administrator
    The window should now look like the figure below:

Rename the Local Rear Network Icons

It is recommended to change the names of the network connections for clarity.

  1. Right-click the Private Network Team icon
  2. Click Rename
  3. Type Private Cluster Connection into the textbox and press Enter.
  4. Repeat steps 1-3 and rename the public network adapter as Public Cluster Connection.
  5. The renamed icons should look like those in the figure above. Close the Networking and Dial-up Connections window. The new connection names automatically replicate to the other cluster servers as they are brought online.

Verifying Connectivity and Name Resolution

To verify that the private and public networks are communicating properly, perform the following steps for each network adapter in each node. You need to know the IP address for each network adapter in the cluster. If you do not already have this information, you can retrieve it using the ipconfig command on each node.

  1. Click Start, click Run and type cmd in the text box. Click OK
  2. Type ipconfig /all and press Enter. IP information should display for all network adapters in the machine.
  3. Type ping ipaddress where ipaddress is the IP address for the corresponding network adapter in the other node.

To verify name resolution, ping each node from a client using the node’s machine name instead of its IP number. (Requires workstation setup to be completed)

Verifying Domain Membership

All nodes in a cluster must be members of the same domain and able to access the domain controller and DNS server. They can be configured as member servers or domain controllers.

  1. Right-click My Computer, and click Properties.
  2. Click Computer Name tab. The System Properties dialog box displays the full computer name and domain.
  3. If you are using member servers and need to join a domain, you can do so at this time. Click Change and follow the on screen instructions for joining a domain.
  4. Otherwise click the OK button.

Setting Up a Cluster User Account

The Cluster service requires a domain user account under which the Cluster Service can run. This user account must be created on the primary domain controller before installing Cluster Services, because setup requires a user name and password. This user account should not belong to a user on the domain.

  1. Click Start, point to Control Panel, point to Administrative Tools, and click Active Directory Users and Computers.
  2. Click the + to expand the domain (If not already expanded)
  3. Click Users
  4. Right-click Users, point to New, and Click User
  5. Type in the cluster name as shown in the figure below and click Next.
  6. Set the password settings to User Cannot Change Password and Password Never Expires. Click Next and then click Finish to create this user.
  7. Right-click Cluster in the left pane of the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in. Select Properties from the context menu.
  8. Click the Member of tab
  9. Click Add
  10. Type Administrator
  11. Click OK
  12. Click Administrators and click OK. This gives the new user account administrative privileges on this computer.
  13. Close the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.

Setting Up Shared Disks

Warning: Make sure the Windows 2003 Enterprise Server and the Cluster service are installed and running on one node before starting an operating system on another node. If the operating system is started on other nodes before the Cluster service is installed, configured and running on at least one node, the cluster disks will probably be corrupted

To proceed, power off all nodes. Power up the shared storage device are then power up node one.

About the Quorum Disk

The quorum disk is used to store cluster configuration database checkpoints and log files that help manage the cluster.

  • Create a small partition [A minimum of 50 MB to be used as quorum disk. Generally it’s recommended a quorum disk to be 500 MB.
  • Dedicate a separate disk for a quorum resource. As failure of the quorum disk would cause the entire cluster to fail

Configuring Shared Disk

  1. Make sure that only one node is turned on.
  2. Right click My Computer, click Manage, and then expand Storage.
  3. Double-click Disk Management.
  4. If you connect a new drive, then it automatically starts the Write Signature and Upgrade Disk Wizard. If this happens, click Next to step through the wizard.

    5. Note: The wizard automatically sets the disk to dynamic. To reset the disk to basic, right-click Disk n (where n specifies the disk that you are working with), and then click Revert to Basic Disk.

  5. Right-click unallocated disk space.
  6. Click New Partition.
  7. The New Partition Wizard begins. Click Next.
  8. Select the Primary Partition type. Click Next.
  9. The default is set to maximum size for the partition size, change to 500MB. Click Next. (Multiple logical disks are recommended over multiple partitions on one disk.)
  10. Use the drop-down box to change the drive letter. Use a drive letter that is farther down the alphabet than the default enumerated letters. Commonly, the drive letter Q is used for the quorum disk, then R, S, and so on for the data disks. For additional information, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    11. 318534 Best Practices for Drive-Letter Assignments on a Server Cluster

    Note: If you are planning on using volume mount points, do not assign a drive letter to the disk. For additional information, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
    280297 How to Configure Volume Mount Points on a Clustered Server

  11. Format the partition using NTFS. In the Volume Label box, type a name for the disk. For example, Drive Q, as shown in Figure 15 below. It is critical to assign drive labels for shared disks, because this can dramatically reduce troubleshooting time in the event of a disk recovery situation.

If you are installing a 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003, verify that all disks are formatted as MBR. Global Partition Table (GPT) disks are not supported as clustered disks. For additional information, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
284134 Server Clusters Do Not Support GPT Shared Disks

Verify that all shared disks are formatted as NTFS and designated as MBR Basic.

Verify Disk Access and Functionality

  1. Start Windows Explorer.
  2. Right-click one of the shared disks (such as Drive D:\), click New, and then click Text Document.
  3. Verify that you can successfully write to the disk and that the file was created.
  4. Select the file, and then press the Del key to delete it from the clustered disk.
  5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for all clustered disks to verify they can be correctly accessed from the first node.
  6. Turn off the first node, turn on the second node, and repeat steps 1 through 4 to verify disk access and functionality. Assign drive letters to match the corresponding drive labels. Repeat again for any additional nodes. Verify that all nodes can read and write from the disks, turn off all nodes except the first one, and then continue with this white paper.

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