Month: February 2008

 I have been hearing more and more people talk about the virtues of using CCR with a node in each site. This talk has escalated now that Windows Server 2008 has released to manufacturing. With Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster environments now have the ability to have nodes in multiple sites without having to use Virtual LANs (VLANs) to provide the networking support. On the surface, CCR and Windows Server 2008 in a multi-site cluster sounds like the answer to many organization needs. Obviously, I am setting up the argument against this kind of implementation. OK, maybe it wasn’t obvious … Continue reading CCR and Multi-Site Environments

This is an issue that pops up all the time when it comes to best practices and building server clusters.   It is considered a very bad practice, in the community, to run Domain Controllers (DCs) as nodes in a cluster. While Microsoft says it is possible, and it is even discussed in KB171390 So, why do so many people recommend against doing it? Let’s hit the main reasons: Microsoft clearly recommends against it in KB281662 It is not supported for Exchange per KB898634 There are known issues with file share clusters per KB834231 The SQL team strongly recommends against … Continue reading Domain Controllers as Cluster Nodes – Bad Idea

Microsoft released a whole set of white papers and made them available for download off the same page here. The documents available include: Microsoft High Availability Strategy White Paper.doc Overview of Failover Clustering with Windows Server 2008.doc Quick Migration with Hyper-V.doc Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering Architecture Overview.doc  WS2008 Failover Clustering Datasheet.doc WS2008 Multi Site Clustering.doc They are all fantastic reads and I highly recommend downloading them.

Manish Kalra, will be delivering a 60 minute presentation on the value of High Availability. I strongly recommend that everyone give it a view. Details below: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032365516&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=USIT Manager Webcast: Delivering High Availability to Your Infrastructure (Level 100)  Event ID: 1032365516Register Online Language(s):     English.Product(s):     Windows Server.Audience(s):     IT Professionals.    Duration:     60 MinutesStart Date:     Thursday, February 07, 2008 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) Event OverviewOrganizations put a lot of value on mission-critical servers and rely on them heavily to run their businesses. As a result, server downtime can be very costly. For every benefit and advantage brought to an organization by an IT solution, … Continue reading IT Manager Webcast: Delivering High Availability