Module 5: Cluster Administration Contents Overview Administration Tools Configuring the Cluster Properties Creating a Group 15 Creating a Cluster Resource 17 Failover and Failback 21 Lab A: Creating Cluster Resources 27 Review 33 Information in this document is subject to change without notice The names of companies, products, people, characters, and/or data mentioned herein are fictitious and are in no way intended to represent any real individual, company, product, or event, unless otherwise noted Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation If, however, your only means of access is electronic, permission to print one copy is hereby granted Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property  2000 Microsoft Corporation All rights reserved Microsoft, Active Directory, BackOffice, Jscript, PowerPoint, Visual Basic, Visual Studio, Win32, Windows, Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.A and/or other countries Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners Program Manager: Don Thompson Product Manager: Greg Bulette Instructional Designers: April Andrien, Priscilla Johnston, Diana Jahrling Subject Matter Experts: Jack Creasey, Jeff Johnson Technical Contributor: James Cochran Classroom Automation: Lorrin Smith-Bates Graphic Designer: Andrea Heuston (Artitudes Layout & Design) Editing Manager: Lynette Skinner Editor: Elizabeth Reese Copy Editor: Bill Jones (S&T Consulting) Production Manager: Miracle Davis Build Manager: Julie Challenger Print Production: Irene Barnett (S&T Consulting) CD Production: Eric Wagoner Test Manager: Eric R Myers Test Lead: Robertson Lee (Volt Technical) Creative Director: David Mahlmann Media Consultation: Scott Serna Illustration: Andrea Heuston (Artitudes Layout & Design) Localization Manager: Rick Terek Operations Coordinator: John Williams Manufacturing Support: Laura King; Kathy Hershey Lead Product Manager, Release Management: Bo Galford Lead Technology Manager: Sid Benavente Lead Product Manager, Content Development: Ken Rosen Group Manager, Courseware Infrastructure: David Bramble Group Product Manager, Content Development: Julie Truax Director, Training & Certification Courseware Development: Dean Murray General Manager: Robert Stewart Module 5: Cluster Administration iii Instructor Notes Presentation: 90 Minutes This module is about cluster administration, and how to add and configure groups and resources and failover and failback policies Lab: 15 Minutes After completing this module, students will be able to:
Use administration tools
Configure cluster properties
Create a new group
Create a new cluster resource
Set failover and failback parameters for groups and resources Materials and Preparation This section provides the materials and preparation tasks that you need to teach this module Required Materials To teach this module, you need the following materials:
Microsoft® PowerPoint® file 2087A_02.ppt
A cluster running on Node A and Node B for the demonstration Preparation Tasks To prepare for this module, you should:
Read the materials for this module and anticipate questions students may ask
Be familiar with the both cluster administration tools (Cluster.exe and Cluadmin.exe)
Be familiar with resource dependencies and the relationships between groups and resources for configuring failover and failback policies
Practice the demonstration
Practice the lab
Study the review questions and prepare alternative answers for discussion iv Module 5: Cluster Administration Module Strategy Use the following strategy to present this module:
Administration Tools In this section you will discuss the two tools that are used for administering a cluster After the discussion about Cluster.exe you will be performing a demonstration of the cluster commands and the scripting capability of these commands • Using Cluster.exe: Cluster.exe is a command line tool for cluster administration It is also used for scripting cluster administration Be sure to emphasize the basic cluster commands that you use with Cluster.exe These are found in the Job Aid: Cluster Commands in the Appendix Another key point of this administration tool is its ability to effectively administer a cluster over a slow wide area network (WAN) • Using Cluadmin.exe: Cluadmin.exe is the most popular tool for cluster administration This tool is installed by default on each node of the cluster and can be installed on any other computer running Microsoft Windows® 2000 through the Adminpack.msi Point out each area of the Cluster Administrator and refer to those areas with their proper title (console tree, tool bar and details pane)
Configuring the Cluster Properties In this section, you will talk about how to change the properties of a cluster after the installation You will review all of the tabs in the cluster Property dialog box • Setting the General and Quorum Properties: You can change the name and description of the cluster within the General tab You can also change the quorum properties through the Quorum tab Remind the students that the disk for the quorum should be a separate disk from other applications and services, and that they might need to change the location of the quorum if the disk is failing, or running out of free space If the cluster contains many resources, they will want to increase the reset quorum limit higher than the default of 64 kilobytes (KB) • Changing the Network Priority: Another configuration that you can change as a cluster property is the Network Priority Emphasize to students that the network descriptions that are seen on this tab are only those that can support internal cluster communications • Changing the Network Usage: To change the use of a network interface card (NIC) on the cluster, you need to go into the properties of that card in the Networks folder You can enable a network card for cluster use or change how it is used in the cluster • Changing Security: Students need to understand that security is either allowed or denied, and there is no granular security within objects
Creating a Group Emphasize to the students that in a production environment, they should not add resources to the clustered group After installing Cluster service, they need to create a new group and add resources to the newly created group Module 5: Cluster Administration
v Creating a Cluster Resource Clients interact with a cluster through various resources Students need to understand that they have to manually create the resources in a group • Resource Type and Possible Owners: When adding a resource, the student needs to be aware of the type of resource that they are creating and the group to which it will belong Then they need to understand the choices made about the Possible Owners of the resource and the impact these choices have on the failover policy for the resource • Dependencies and Parameters: The key point is that dependencies should follow a structured dependency tree that has been thought out in advance Every configured resource will have different parameters associated with it
Failover and Failback After the administrator has created the resources, emphasize that a failover policy is configured by default and the administrator can change it In either case, it is recommended that the administrator test the failover policy If students want to set up a failback policy, it is dependent on the Preferred Owner of the group • Configuring Failover: The key point of a group configuration in a failover policy is the threshold and the period Emphasize that if a group fails over because a resource failed, if the resource fails on the new node, it will fail over the group to the original node By default, only ten failovers can occur in a group within a six hour period If the threshold and period times are exceeded, all of the resources in that group will fail • The key point in the resource failover configuration is the restart threshold and the possible owner where the resource can fail over • Configuring Failback: The key point of a failback policy is that without a preferred owner, or if both nodes are configured as preferred owners, there is no failback Only one node can be a preferred owner to fail back a group when that node becomes available Also, depending on when you want the group to fail back, you need to either configure failback hours or allow immediate failback • Causing and Monitoring Failover: To test the failover and failback policies of a newly-created resource, you can manually fail the resource During a failover, point out to the students that they should check the registered state of the resource in Cluadmin.exe vi Module 5: Cluster Administration Instructor Setup for a Lab Lab Strategy This lab is designed to reinforce the creation of resources after you have installed Cluster service It also gives students the opportunity to test failover policies and to practice Cluster.exe syntax Lab A: Creating Cluster Resources To conduct this lab:
Read though the lab carefully, paying close attention to the instructions and details
Students work in teams of two, grouped together by their shared bus
Help the students determine whether they are Node A or Node B In these exercises all of the steps are performed on both servers
Familiarize the students with the Reference Table and how to find their computers, their virtual server name, and their virtual server Internet Protocol (IP) address Demonstration The purpose of this demonstration is to run a batch file that will create a group, create an IP resource, create a network name, add dependencies to the network name, and fail over the group Administration Using Cluster.exe
To prepare for the demonstration Open a command prompt and open Cluster Administrator (Cluadmin.exe) Position the windows so the students can see both windows at the same time As you are stepping through the batch file, point out to the students what is happening in Cluster Administrator There is a pause before and after each remark (REM) statement on the student’s page in the module Including a pause gives you an opportunity to stop and discuss the commands after they have run Module 5: Cluster Administration Overview Topic Objective To provide an overview of the module topics and objectives Lead-in In this module you will learn how to administer a cluster by using two tools that are used for cluster administration
Administration Tools
Configuring the Cluster Properties
Creating a Group
Creating a Cluster Resource
Failover and Failback *****************************ILLEGAL FOR NON-TRAINER USE****************************** After you have installed Cluster service, you will use administration tools to change configurations of cluster components and to create new groups and resources You will also need to configure failover and failback parameters for groups and resources so that Cluster service can manage them in the event of node failures After completing this module, you will be able to:
Use administration tools
Configure cluster properties
Create a new group
Create a new cluster resource
Set failover and failback parameters for groups and resources Module 5: Cluster Administration
Administration Tools Topic Objective To describe the two administration tools that are used to maintain and manage the server cluster Lead-in
Using Cluster.exe
Using Cluadmin.exe Cluster.exe is a command line tool that you can use for scripting or remote administration through slow WAN links Cluadmin.exe is the most used cluster administration tool *****************************ILLEGAL FOR NON-TRAINER USE****************************** After you have installed Cluster service, you will need to perform the maintenance, monitoring, and failover administration of the cluster There are two cluster administration tools, the Cluster.exe (a command line tool), and the Cluadmin.exe (a graphical user interface tool) Cluster Administration Using Cluster.exe You can run Cluster.exe from a Microsoft® Windows NT® Workstation or Microsoft Windows NT Server with Service Pack or higher or from other computers running Microsoft Windows® 2000 Cluster.exe is installed by default on all cluster nodes Cluster.exe is also included when you install Cluster Administrator (Cluadmin.exe) on other computers You can perform the administrative tasks for Cluster service from the Windows command prompt without using the provided graphical interface While the graphical method provides easier administration and displays the status of cluster resources, Cluster.exe provides the capability for an automated batch file and for administering over a slow wide area network (WAN) Cluster Administration Using Cluadmin.exe You use Cluster Administrator (%Systemroot%\Cluster\Cluadmin.exe) to perform most of the administrative functions for Cluster service It is installed by default on both cluster nodes during installation In addition, Cluadmin can be installed on any Microsoft Windows NT Workstation or Microsoft Windows NT Server with Service Pack or higher or from other computers running Microsoft Windows 2000 on the network Each node of the cluster will have a shortcut to the Cluadmin.exe in the Administrative Tools folder Using Cluster Administrator, you can create resources and groups, configure the cluster, and set resource failover and failback policies You can simultaneously connect to multiple clusters in Cluster Administrator Module 5: Cluster Administration Using Cluster.exe Topic Objective To explain Cluster.exe command syntax and scripting administration commands Lead-in
Cluster Commands
Scripting Administration Using Cluster.exe You can use the Cluster.exe command line tool for all cluster administration and you can script it *****************************ILLEGAL FOR NON-TRAINER USE****************************** Delivery Tip There is a demonstration following this page on Command Line and Scripting Administrative options When you install the Cluster Administrator, the command line Cluster.exe program is also installed in the %Systemroot%\System32 folder You can also use Cluster.exe from a command line or a script to automate many cluster administration tasks Applications and administration tools use remote procedure calls (RPC) to communicate with the Cluster.exe program Cluster Commands The basic cluster syntax is: CLUSTER [cluster name] /option The cluster name is optional If you not specify a cluster name, Cluster.exe attempts to connect to the cluster that is running on the node on which you are running Cluster.exe To test connectivity with a cluster, or to ensure that you can use Cluster.exe, check the version name by using the command: CLUSTER [cluster name] /version For specific administration commands using Cluster.exe, see the Job Aid, Cluster Commands, in the Appendix Scripting Administration Using Cluster.exe You can script all of the Cluster.exe commands You can use scripts to build or rebuild a cluster, or to make global changes across many clusters You can run the scripts through a batch file, for example *.bat or *.cmd You can use Cluster.exe with a scripting tool, such as Microsoft Visual Basic® Scripting Edition Module 5: Cluster Administration Demonstration: Administration Using Cluster.exe Topic Objective To demonstrate how you can use a script to create cluster resources Lead-in Let’s take a look at a sample script that will create a group, an IP resource and a name resource You can follow the script step-by-step as it runs on the instructor’s computer *****************************ILLEGAL FOR NON-TRAINER USE****************************** Delivery Tip When the batch file pauses before and after each REM statement of the batch file, you have an opportunity to explain what happened in the previous command, and what is going to happen in the next command Tell the students not to run the script on their own computer because it will interfere with the demo In this demonstration the instructor will run a script that creates a group, IP number, and network name using Cluster.exe On the London computer, open Cluster Administrator in one window, and open a command prompt in another window From the command prompt, change the directory to c:\moc\2087a\labfiles\mscs and run myip.bat The batch file pauses before and after every remark REM Line – 4: Create a Group:Mygroup bring the group online, set owners and get status of the group CLUSTER mycluster group Mygroup /create CLUSTER mycluster group Mygroup /Online CLUSTER mycluster group Mygroup /Setowners:nodea,nodeb CLUSTER mycluster GROUP mygroup /status REM Line 5: Create the IP Address resource: myip CLUSTER mycluster RESOURCE myip /create /Group:mygroup / Type:"Ip Address" REM Line – 10: Define the IP Address parameters and check Status CLUSTER mycluster RESOURCE myip /priv network="Cluster Public" CLUSTER mycluster RESOURCE myip /priv address=10.0.0.34 CLUSTER mycluster RESOURCE myip /priv subnetmask=255.255.255.0 CLUSTER mycluster RESOURCE myip /priv EnableNetBIOS=1 10 CLUSTER mycluster RESOURCE myip /Stat REM Line 11:View the myip properties 11 CLUSTER mycluster RESOURCE myip /prop REM Line 12: View the private properties ... multiple clusters in Cluster Administrator Module 5: Cluster Administration Using Cluster. exe Topic Objective To explain Cluster. exe command syntax and scripting administration commands Lead-in
Cluster. .. group CLUSTER mycluster group Mygroup /create CLUSTER mycluster group Mygroup /Online CLUSTER mycluster group Mygroup /Setowners:nodea,nodeb CLUSTER mycluster GROUP mygroup /status REM Line 5: Create... status of the Cluster 18 CLUSTER mycluster GROUP mygroup /Stat REM Line 19: Move the group Mygroup to NodeB 19 CLUSTER mycluster GROUP Mygroup /MoveTo:NodeB /Wait:120 Module 5: Cluster Administration