Scale Computing Microsoft Best Practices Guide Scale Computing 5225 Exploration Drive Indianapolis, IN, 46241
CHAPTER 1 Introduction.................................... 1 Revision History...................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 Using Windows Server......................... 3 Versions of Windows Server Supported by Scale Computing............. 3 Best Practices for Using Windows Server.............................. 4 Network Best Practices............................................... 4 Security Best Practices............................................... 5 Best Practices for Timeouts for SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled and Disabled Targets..................................................... 5 Timeout Settings to Alter........................................... 5 Steps for Changing Timeout Settings................................ 6 Revision History...................................................... 7 CHAPTER 3 Configuring iscsi.............................. 9 Targets without SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled........................ 9 When to Use Targets That Have SPC-3 PR Compliance Disabled..... 9 Configuration Requirements for SPC-3 PR Compliance Disabled Targets 10 SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled Targets............................... 11 When to Use SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled Targets............... 11 Configuration Requirements for SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled Targets 11 Revision History..................................................... 12 CHAPTER 4 Multipathing Using Windows Server........... 13 Multipathing Checklist for Windows Server 2003 and 2008.............. 13 Install MPIO......................................................... 14 Install MPIO in Windows Server 2003.............................. 14 Install MPIO in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2.................. 15 Enable MPIO........................................................ 15 Enable MPIO in Windows Server 2003............................. 15 Scale Computing i
Enable MPIO in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2................. 19 Configure the iscsi Initiator.......................................... 19 Enabling CHAP After Configuring the iscsi Initiator (Optional).......... 20 Configure for Multiple NICs on the Host Side.......................... 20 Ensure Correct Set up............................................... 23 Revision History..................................................... 23 CHAPTER 5 Windows Dynamic Disks....................... 25 Revision History..................................................... 25 CHAPTER 6 Exchange 2007................................ 27 Resources from Microsoft............................................ 27 Best Practices for Working with Exchange and Scale Computing Clusters.. 27 Revision History..................................................... 28 CHAPTER 7 Hyper-V....................................... 29 Hyper-V in Scale Computing Clusters Before 2.4 and with 2.4........... 29 Best Practices for Using Hyper-V..................................... 30 Best Practices for Using Microsoft Failover Clustering.................. 31 Resources for Working with Hyper-V.................................. 31 Revision History..................................................... 32 CHAPTER 8 Provide Feedback or Contact Support.......... 33 Revision History..................................................... 33 Scale Computing ii
List of Figures Edit DWORD Dialog Box......................................................... 7 Targets Tab................................................................... 17 MPIO Tab.................................................................... 18 Add Target Portal Dialog Box.................................................... 21 Advanced Settings Dialog Box.................................................... 22 Scale Computing iii
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Revision History CHAPTER 1 Introduction Welcome to the Scale Computing Microsoft Best Practices Guide! This guide provides information regarding best practices for integrating Scale Computing clusters with Microsoft products. Before you read through this document, you should be familiar with the information covered in: Getting Started with Hyper-V and the Scale Computing Cluster Concepts and Planning Guide for the Scale Computing Storage Cluster Scale Computing Storage Cluster Installation Guide Scale Computing Storage Cluster User Guide Revision History This section contains information describing how this chapter has been revised. Release 2.4.1: Added a reference to a new guide. Release 2.4: Added list of resources to the introduction. Release 1.0: New chapter. Scale Computing 1
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Versions of Windows Server Supported by Scale Computing CHAPTER 2 Using Windows Server This chapter describes what versions of Windows Server Scale Computing clusters support and provides details about different support features in the following sections: Versions of Windows Server Supported by Scale Computing Best Practices for Using Windows Server Versions of Windows Server Supported by Scale Computing Scale Computing clusters support Windows Server versions: Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 (Web Edition, Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, Data Center Edition, Itanium Edition), includes x86 and x64-bit versions Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003 R2 Windows Server 2003 with SP1 Windows Server 2003 with SP2 (Web Edition, Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, Data Center Edition), includes 64-bit for Itanium-based systems If you choose to use a Windows Server 2008 product, the iscsi initiator is included as part of the install. If you choose to use a Windows Server 2003 product, the iscsi initiator must be downloaded from Microsoft. Scale Computing 3
Best Practices for Using Windows Server No matter which version you use, if you want to use multipathing features you must enable them manually. Multipathing is not required beyond configuring NICs for failover if you use SPC-3 PR compliance enabled targets with your iscsi initiators. Be aware that if you want to use Hyper-V, you must have Windows Server 2008 R2 or higher. For more information about Hyper-V, refer to Chapter 7, Hyper-V. Best Practices for Using Windows Server Some basic best practices to consider are covered in the following sections: Network Best Practices Security Best Practices Best Practices for Timeouts for SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled and Disabled Targets Network Best Practices Ensure the following when you set up Windows Server: Deploy Windows Server on a GigE network. When using iscsi, dedicate network interface cards (NICs) to either network communication or iscsi but not both. If you want to use the MPIO feature of the MS initiator, be sure you are using non SPC-3 PR compliant targets. If you want to use multipathing, you must enable it manually. Scale Computing 4
Security Best Practices Security Best Practices To keep your network secure, do the following: Use strong passwords. If you are using CHAP, enable mutual authentication. Best Practices for Timeouts for SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled and Disabled Targets This section provides information about timeout settings that Scale Computing recommends altering for best performance. Materials covered include: Timeout Settings to Alter Steps for Changing Timeout Settings Timeout Settings to Alter Whether you choose to work with SPC-3 PR compliance enabled or disabled targets, for best performance, you should increase the following timeout values if you are using iscsi connections: PortalRetryCount - This value is used to determine how many times a connect request to a target portal should be retried if the portal is down. The default value for this is 5. Increase the default value to 20. MaxRequestHoldTime - Utilized when MPIO DSM is not used. Scale Computing 5
Best Practices for Timeouts for SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled and Disabled Targets Maximum time (in seconds) for which requests will be queued if connection to the target is lost and the connection is being retried. After this hold period, requests will be failed with error no device and device 9disk) will be removed from the system. The default value is 60 seconds. Increase this to 600 seconds (10 minutes). LinkDownTime - Utilized when MPIO DSM is used. This value determines how long requests will be held in the device queue and retried if the connection to the target is lost. If MPIO is installed this value is used. If MPIO is not installed MaxRequestHoldTime is used instead. The default value for this is 15 seconds. Increase this to 600 seconds (10 minutes). Steps for Changing Timeout Settings To alter the timeout settings to the values listed in section Timeout Settings to Alter take the following steps: 1 Open the Start menu. 2 Click Run. The Run dialog box appears. 3 Type regedit into the Run dialog box. 4 Click OK. The Registry Editor opens. 5 Navigate through this path: Computer > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > Class > {4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} and look for the key number that contains the subheadings Parameters and PersistentTargets. 6 Click Parameters. A list of editable variables appears. 7 Click PortalRetryCount. The Edit DWORD Value dialog appears. Scale Computing 6
Revision History FIGURE 2-1. Edit DWORD Dialog Box 8 Click the Decimal radio button. 9 In the Value data field type 20. 10 Click OK. 11 Repeat the process for the other timeout values specified in section Timeout Settings to Alter. Revision History This section contains information describing how this chapter has been revised. Release 2.4.1: Updated Versions of Windows Server Supported by Scale Computing section. Release 2.4: New chapter. Scale Computing 7
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Targets without SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled CHAPTER 3 Configuring iscsi This chapter describes the two kinds of targets Scale Computing clusters offer, when you should use them, and how to configure your environment for them. Configuration and target information is provided in the following sections: Targets without SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled Targets Targets without SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled This section provides information about when to disable SPC-3 PR (Persistent Reservations) compliance on targets and configuration requirements for working with them in the following sections: When to Use Targets That Have SPC-3 PR Compliance Disabled Configuration Requirements for SPC-3 PR Compliance Disabled Targets When to Use Targets That Have SPC-3 PR Compliance Disabled Scale Computing encourages you to convert any existing targets you may have on your system to targets with SPC-3 PR compliance enabled as soon as possible. If you are not sure how to do that, refer to Chapter 6 of the Scale Computing Storage Cluster User Guide. You can use targets where SPC-3 PR compliance is disabled with multipathing to control paths from Windows Server 2003/2008 to your Scale Computing cluster. You can also use this kind of target if you are using Hyper-V without the failover clustering feature. Scale Computing 9
Targets without SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled While you can use targets that do not have SPC-3 PR compliance enabled, if you are running release 2.4 or higher, long term for most configurations it is recommended that you shift to SPC-3 PR compliant targets if possible. Configuration Requirements for SPC-3 PR Compliance Disabled Targets If you are working with targets that do not have SPC-3 PR compliance enabled, when configuring connections between Windows Server 2003/2008 or Hyper-V and your cluster, you must provide LAN IPs. For more information about how to do this refer to Chapter 4, Multipathing Using Windows Server. It is recommended that you convert existing targets to be SPC-3 PR compliance enabled. If you want to do this, take the following steps: 1 Disconnect initiators from all nodes. 2 Under CIFS/NFS/iSCSI click iscsi. The iscsi Management screen appears. 3 Select the target you wish to update by highlighting it in the Targets table. 4 Click Modify. The Modify iscsi Target dialog box appears. 5 Turn on the SPC-3 Compliance checkbox. 6 Click Modify iscsi Target. Your changes are committed across the cluster. 7 Reconfigure iscsi initiators to use virtual IP portals. 8 Reconnect to the nodes. NOTE: SPC-3 PR enabled targets no longer have LAN addresses in their IQN. NOTE: You cannot begin a target name with a number. Scale Computing 10
SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled Targets SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled Targets This section provides information about when to use SPC-3 Persistent Reservation (PR) compliance enabled targets and configuration requirements for working with them in the following sections: When to Use SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled Targets Configuration Requirements for SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled Targets When to Use SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled Targets Scale Computing recommends that you use SPC-3 PR compliance enabled targets whenever possible. If you have not already done so, it is recommended that you convert any existing targets to SPC-3 PR compliance enabled targets. If you are not sure how to do that, refer to Chapter 6 of the Scale Computing Storage Cluster User Guide. SPC-3 PR compliance enabled targets are required if you want to use server failover clustering. Configuration Requirements for SPC-3 PR Compliance Enabled Targets If you are working with SPC-3 PR compliance enabled targets, when configuring connections between Windows Server 2003/2008 or Hyper-V and your cluster, you must provide virtual IPs. With targets that have SPC-3 PR compliance enabled, login requests to the virtual IP address are automatically redirected across nodes within the cluster to provide automatic load balancing. Virtual IPs will failover to active nodes in the event of a node failure to provide continuous access to iscsi data. Scale Computing 11
Revision History Revision History This section contains information describing how this chapter has been revised. Release 2.4.1: No change. Release 2.4: New chapter. Scale Computing 12
Multipathing Checklist for Windows Server 2003 and 2008 CHAPTER 4 Multipathing Using Windows Server Multipathing is recommended for connection of iscsi initiators to targets that do not have SPC-3 PR compliance enabled. You do not need multipathing for connecting iscsi initatiors to SPC-3 compliance enabled targets. If you do need to do multipathing, this chapter provides resources and requirements in the following sections: Install MPIO Enable MPIO Configure the iscsi Initiator Enabling CHAP After Configuring the iscsi Initiator (Optional) Configure for Multiple NICs on the Host Side Ensure Correct Set up NOTE: You are encouraged to convert targets that have SPC-3 PR Compliance disabled to targets that are SPC-3 PR Compliance enabled as soon as possible (refer to Chapter 4 of the Scale Computing Storage Cluster User Guide). Multipathing Checklist for Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Setting up multipathing in various versions of Windows Server 2003 and 2008 is a very similar process so they are all presented in the same checklist. If there are any special differences, they are called out in the checklist. The checklist assumes you are using SPC-3 PR compliance disabled targets as multipathing is not required for SPC-3 PR compliance enabled targets (beyond the multipathing you need to do to configure NIC failover). Each step of the checklist has its own section providing a description of the step, and resources for the step as applicable: Scale Computing 13
Install MPIO Install MPIO Enable MPIO Configure the iscsi Initiator Enabling CHAP After Configuring the iscsi Initiator (Optional) Configure for Multiple NICs on the Host Side Ensure Correct Set up Install MPIO Depending on your version of Windows, the steps for installing MPIO are slightly different. Information for installing MPIO is provided in the following sections: Install MPIO in Windows Server 2003 Install MPIO in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 Install MPIO in Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003 does not come with MPIO installed out of the box. If you want to install it, do the following: 1 Acquire the iscsi initiator. The current release from Microsoft is available for download from this link: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=18986 2 After download completes, double-click the application to run it. 3 You are asked whether you want to run the application. Click Run. The Software Update Installation Wizard for the Microsot iscsi Initiator screen opens. 4 Click Next. 5 On the Microsoft iscsi Initiator Installation screen, turn on the Initiator Service checkbox. 6 Turn on the Software Initiator checkbox. 7 Turn on the Microsoft MPIO Multipathing Support for iscsi checkbox. Scale Computing 14
Enable MPIO 8 Click Next. 9 View the License Agreement and choose I Agree. 10 Click Next. The installation begins. 11 After the installation completes, you will be prompted to restart your computer. You must restart for the changes to take affect. Unless you need to delay restart, leave the Do not restart now box turned off. Click Finish. Install MPIO in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 MPIO is an optional feature in Windows Server 2008. You install it by adding it as a role. Microsoft provides detailed instructions for installation in their document Installing and Configuring MPIO - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ ee619752%28ws.10%29.aspx. Enable MPIO Depending on your edition of Windows Server, you will need to follow different instructions to enable MPIO. Information about enabling MPIO in Windows Server 2003 and 2008 (R2) is provided in the following sections: Enable MPIO in Windows Server 2003 Enable MPIO in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 Enable MPIO in Windows Server 2003 Microsoft no longer provides instructions for enabling MPIO in Windows 2003. As a courtesy, Scale Computing provides a brief set of instructions for how to enable MPIO in Windows 2003 here. To enable MPIO in Windows 2003, take the following steps: Scale Computing 15
Enable MPIO 1 Open the Start Menu, point to All Programs, and click Microsoft iscsi Initiator. The iscsi Initiator Dialog Box opens. 2 Click the Discovery tab. 3 In the Target Portals section, click Add. The Add Target Portal dialog box opens. 4 Enter the IP address for a target you want to connect to in the IP address or DNS name field. If you are using an SPC-3 PR Compliance enabled target, you enter a single virtual IP to discover all available virtual IPs. If you are using targets with SPC-3 PR Compliance disabled, you will need to enter the LAN IP for each node separately. 5 Click OK. 6 Click the Targets tab, as shown in Figure 4-1, Targets Tab. Scale Computing 16
Enable MPIO FIGURE 4-1. Targets Tab 7 Click Log On. The Log On to Target Dialog Box opens. 8 Turn on the Automatically restore this connection when the system boots checkbox. 9 Turn on the Enable multi-path checkbox ONLY if you are using targets that do not have SPC-3 PR Compliance enabled. 10 Click OK. Be aware that the iscsi Initiator box is slow on this step. It can take up to three minutes to show results. 11 In the Targets tab, highlight a target. 12 Click Details. The Target Properties dialog box opens. Scale Computing 17
Enable MPIO 13 Highlight a device that is listed as MPIO capable. Click Advanced. The Device Details dialog box opens. 14 Click the MPIO tab as shown in Figure 4-2, MPIO Tab. FIGURE 4-2. MPIO Tab 15 From the Load Balance Policy dropdown menu, choose Fail Over Only. 16 Click Edit. The Edit Settings Dialog Box opens. 17 Choose Active. 18 Click OK. Scale Computing 18
Configure the iscsi Initiator The MPIO Initiator is now enabled. Enable MPIO in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 Microsoft provides detailed instructions for enabling MPIO for the latest edition of Windows Server - Windows Server 2008 R2. Because the other editions are so similar, only one set of instructions is provided. You can find out about enabling MPIO here: Microsoft TechNet: Installing and Configuring MPIO - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ ee619752%28ws.10%29.aspx. Configure the iscsi Initiator When you configure the iscsi initiator, follow Microsoft s instructions provided here: Microsoft TechNet: Installing and Configuring Microsoft iscsi Initiator. Scale Computing Cluster Requirements: 1 If you are using targets with SPC-3 PR Compliance disabled, enter the LAN IP for each node when you are prompted for target portal information. 2 If you are using targets with SPC-3 PR Compliance enabled, you use MPIO to set up NIC failover only. 3 If you are using multipathing, be sure to check the Enable Multipath option during initiator configuration. Keep in Mind: 1 The iscsi Initiator Dialog Box is slow. It may take up to three minutes to show results in the window. 2 Targets appear if there is connectivity to the cluster and the ACLs are configured to to present a target to the host. If you are not seeing your targets, check the Access Control List (ACL) on the cluster, look for an error in the Scale Computing cluster s event log, and try repeating the discovery steps in Microsoft s instructions. Scale Computing 19
Enabling CHAP After Configuring the iscsi Initiator (Optional) Enabling CHAP After Configuring the iscsi Initiator (Optional) CHAP is a protocol used to authenticate the peer of a connection. Microsoft iscsi Initiator supports one-way and mutual CHAP. The usage model assumed by Microsoft iscsi Initiator is that each target can have its own unique CHAP secret for one-way CHAP, and the initiator has a single secret for mutual CHAP with all targets. Microsoft iscsi Initiator can persist the target CHAP secret for each target by using the iscsicli command AddTarget. To enable Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) take the following steps: 1 Ensure that you configured the iscsi initiator. 2 Navigate to the Connect to Target dialog box. 3 From the Connect to Target dialog box, click Advanced. 4 Specify the CHAP passwords for incoming, outgoing, or both by turning on Perform mutual authentication. Configure for Multiple NICs on the Host Side If you are using multiple NICs on the host side, follow these steps for each NIC: 1 Open the iscsi Initiator Properties dialog box. 2 Click the Discovery tab. 3 In the Discovery tab, under the Target Portals section, click Add. The Add Target Portal dialog box appears as shown in Figure 4-3, Add Target Portal Dialog Box. Scale Computing 20
Configure for Multiple NICs on the Host Side FIGURE 4-3. Add Target Portal Dialog Box 4 Click Advanced. The Advanced Settings dialog box appears as shown in Figure 4-4, Advanced Settings Dialog Box. Scale Computing 21
Configure for Multiple NICs on the Host Side FIGURE 4-4. Advanced Settings Dialog Box 5 Select the Source IP of your first NIC. 6 Click OK. 7 Click OK again to connect to the target. For each target, you must repeat Steps 1-4. Your total number of iterations for these steps will be the number of NICs times the number of nodes in your Scale Computing cluster. This is not required if your host uses a single interface for iscsi connections. Scale Computing 22
Ensure Correct Set up Keep in mind that for targets where SPC-3 PR is not enabled, you need to configure for each node s LAN IP. For targets where SPC-3 PR is enabled, if you are configuring MPIO, you configure for one virtual IP. Ensure Correct Set up Ensure everything is set up correctly by: Confirming you only see each LUN once in Disk Management. Verifying that MPIO is in effect and has established multiple paths by right-clicking on an iscsi disk in Disk Management and selecting Properties. You can see a complete list of active and passive paths in the MPIO tab. Revision History This section contains information describing how this chapter has been revised. Release 2.4.1: Restructured chapter. Added the Install MPIO and Enable MPIO sections. Updated Configure for Multiple NICs on the Host Side section. Release 2.4: New chapter. Scale Computing 23
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Revision History CHAPTER 5 Windows Dynamic Disks This chapter provides information about working with the Scale Computing cluster and Windows Dynamic Disks (DD). Upgrades with DDs: If you are using dynamic disks and perform an upgrade on your Scale Computing cluster, do the following: 1 Power down the host before upgrading. 2 When the upgrade completes, power on the host. 3 Verify if drives are listed in Windows Explorer. 4 If drivers are not listed, open Server Manager. 5 In Server Manager, for any disks not online, import foreign disks. Revision History This section contains information describing how this chapter has been revised. Release 2.4.1: No change. Release 2.4: New chapter. Scale Computing 25
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Resources from Microsoft CHAPTER 6 Exchange 2007 This chapter provides information about working with the Scale Computing cluster and Exchange 2007. Resources for learning more about Exchange as well as best practices for working with a Scale Computing cluster are provided in the following sections: Resources from Microsoft Best Practices for Working with Exchange and Scale Computing Clusters Resources from Microsoft Scale Computing recommends the following two documents for familiarizing yourself with Exchange: Microsoft Support Policies and Recommendations for Exchange Servers in Hardware Virtualization Environments Best Practices for Deploying a New Exchange Organization Best Practices for Working with Exchange and Scale Computing Clusters This section provides best practices to keep in mind when configuring your Scale Computing cluster(s) for use with Exchange and virtualization. Keep LUNs to 500 GB or smaller. Plan your storage strategy around the idea that your LUNs will not be bigger than 500 GB. When mounting iscsi LUNs in a virtualized environment, best practice is to mount them to the server and then present the disk space as virtual machines from there. Scale Computing 27
Revision History You can restore the Exchange server from Scale Computing cluster snapshots. However Scale Computing recommends that you also create a backup solution for your server if you do not plan to use Scale Computing clusters replication features. It is recommended that you have only one virtual machine per LUN. If you are using SPC-3 PR Compliance enabled targets, be sure you present one virtual IP when asked for an address during discovery on the Exchange side. If you are using SPC-3 PR Compliance disabled targets, be sure you present the LAN IP for each node when asked for an address during discovery on the Exchange side. Revision History This section contains information describing how this chapter has been revised. Release 2.4.1: No change. Release 2.4: New chapter. Scale Computing 28
Hyper-V in Scale Computing Clusters Before 2.4 and with 2.4 CHAPTER 7 Hyper-V This chapter is intended to provide general details about using Hyper-V with Scale Computing clusters. It assumes you have already configured Hyper-V and need information that specifically pertains to working with Scale Computing cluster(s). There are many ways to configure Hyper-V depending on what you want to accomplish, so this chapter provides high level information, including sections about: Hyper-V in Scale Computing Clusters Before 2.4 and with 2.4 Best Practices for Using Hyper-V Best Practices for Using Microsoft Failover Clustering For detailed instructions about how to configure Hyper-V to work with your Scale Computing cluster, refer to Getting Started with Hyper-V and the Scale Computing Cluster. Hyper-V in Scale Computing Clusters Before 2.4 and with 2.4 Hyper-V is fully compatible with Scale Computing clusters if you want to use a stand alone (non-clustered) configuration. If you want to use failover clustering, you must use Windows Server 2008 or higher. You must update your Scale Computing cluster(s) to 2.4 or higher since Hyper-V with failover clustering requires SPC-3 Persistent Reservations (SPC-3 PR) in order to work. You will not even be able to complete configuration on an associated server if your Scale Computing cluster is not properly updated. Scale Computing 29
Best Practices for Using Hyper-V Best Practices for Using Hyper-V Clustering is not required in order to deploy Hyper-V. If you choose to use Hyper-V (with or without clustering), general best practices to keep in mind when working with Hyper-V include: Create at least two LUNs on the Scale Computing cluster, you will need one to act as the cluster quorum resource. Scale Computing recommends that your quorum LUN be the size recommended by Microsoft. If you use Hyper-V with clustering, you must use targets that have SPC-3 PR Compliance enabled. If you do not want to use Hyper-V with clustering, you may use targets that have SPC-3 PR Compliance enabled or disabled. However, Scale Computing recommends that you still use targets with SPC-3 PR Compliance enabled. Scale Computing recommends that you define one LUN per iscsi target. Scale Computing recommends that you create LUNs that are smaller than 500GB if you are planning on using your cluster s replication options. Otherwise LUNs may be larger in size. Choose iscsi target names wisely. They map to iscsi Qualified Names (IQNs) visible on the host (e.g. iqn.2008-09.scalecomputing:target-name). If you are running Symantec Endpoint protection and want to use failover clustering, you may need to disable Symantec Endpoint from the Hyper-V host in order to enable clustering. Once you enable clustering, you may enable Symantec Endpoint again. Scale Computing recommends using shared volumes to store Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs) because they allow all Hyper-V cluster nodes to access the same set of VM files. Scale Computing 30
Best Practices for Using Microsoft Failover Clustering Best Practices for Using Microsoft Failover Clustering If you want to make your physical Hyper-V servers fault tolerant, you must enable Microsoft Failover Clustering. When you enable Microsoft Failover Clustering, best practices include: Use targets that have SPC-3 PR Compliance enabled for iscsi. They are required for a clustered configuration with failover. If you do not use targets with SPC-3 PR Compliance enabled and then try to switch to a clustered configuration you will not be able to do it without updating all your LUNs. Register only one VIP in iscsi Discovery. Scale Computing clusters provide failover so there is no need for multipathing to more than one physical IP address unless you have multiple paths to each target. Resources for Working with Hyper-V The best practice for working with Hyper-V is always to review Microsoft s documentation on their product. It can be daunting wading through so much information, so this section provides a list of documents to get you started. You can locate them by going to Microsoft s support site, http://technet.microsoft.com and searching by title. Hyper-V Getting Started Guide - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ cc732470%28ws.10%29.aspx - A guide from Microsoft that teaches you how to install the Hyper-V role and set up a virtual machine. Hyper-V: Using Hyper-V and Failover Clustering - http://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc732181%28ws.10%29.aspx - A guide from Microsoft that provides an overview of hardware and software requirements for working with Hyper-V. Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Failover Clustering Options - http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2008/06/17/windows-server-2008-hyper-v-failover-clustering-options.aspx - In the event that you want to see what different configuration choices are available for Hyper-V, this article is a great summary of five different ways you can configure failover clustering using Hyper-V. Scale Computing 31
Revision History Using Live Migration with Cluster Shared Volumes - http://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/dd446679%28ws.10%29.aspx - This guide talks about how to use Hyper-V and failover clustering to do live migration of virtual machines. Cluster Shared Volumes Support for Hyper-V - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/ library/dd630633%28ws.10%29.aspx - This guide discusses how Hyper-V supports clustered shared volumes so you can place all virtual machines on the same LUN while still being able to fail over. Revision History This section contains information describing how this chapter has been revised. Release 2.4.1: Updated the introduction. Updated the Best Practices for Using Hyper-V section. Updated the references in the Resources for Working with Hyper-V section. Release 2.4: New chapter. Scale Computing 32
Revision History CHAPTER 8 Provide Feedback or Contact Support If you need help, call +1-877-SCALE-59 (877-722-5359), and someone from the Scale Computing technical support team will be happy to help you. You can also email Scale Computing technical support at support@scalecomputing.com, or find us on the web at http://scalecomputing.com. If you have comments or suggestions regarding documentation, you can send them to documentation@scalecomputing.com. Revision History This section contains information describing how this chapter has been revised. Release 2.4.1: New chapter. Scale Computing 33
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