Lesson 3

Designing a Server Cluster

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Exam Tip Be sure to understand the differences between the various quorum models sup-

!

ported by Windows Server 2003.

Creating a Server Cluster

Before you actually create the cluster, you must select, evaluate, and install a shared

storage resource and install the critical applications on the computers running

Windows Server 2003. All the computers that are to become cluster nodes must have

access to the shared storage solution you have selected; you should know your

applications’ capabilities with regard to partitioning; and you should have decided how

to deploy them. Once you have completed these tasks, you will use the Cluster

Administrator tool to create and manage server clusters (see Figure 7-15).

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Figure 7-15

Cluster Administrator

To create a new cluster, you must have the following information available:

■

The name of the domain in which the cluster will be located

■

The host name to assign to the cluster

■

The static IP address to assign to the cluster

■

The name and password for a cluster service account

With this information in hand, you can proceed to deploy the cluster, taking the fol-

lowing basic steps:

1. Start up the computer running Windows Server 2003 that will be the first node in

the cluster.

At this time, the other servers that you will later add to the cluster should not be

running.