Lab answer key: Implementing failover clustering

Note: An interactive lab simulation is available that allows you to click through this lab at your own pace. You may find slight differences between the interactive simulation and the hosted lab, but the core concepts and ideas being demonstrated are the same.

Exercise 1: Configuring iSCSI storage

Task 1: Install Failover Clustering

1. Connect to SEA-SVR2, and then, if needed, sign in as Contoso\Administrator with a password of Pa55w.rd.
2. On SEA-SVR2, select Start, and then select Windows PowerShell (Admin).
3. To install the Failover Clustering server feature including the management tools on SEA-SVR1 and SEA-SVR2, at the Windows PowerShell command prompt, enter the following commands, and after entering each command, press Enter:
   CodeCopy

   Install-WindowsFeature –Name Failover-Clustering –IncludeManagementTools
   Install-WindowsFeature -ComputerName 'SEA-SVR1.contoso.com' –Name Failover-Clustering –IncludeManagementTools
   

   Note: Wait for the installation process to complete. The installation should take about 1 minute.

4. To install iSCSI Target server role service on SEA-DC1, at the Windows PowerShell command prompt, enter the following command and press Enter:
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   Install-WindowsFeature -ComputerName 'SEA-DC1.contoso.com' –Name FS-iSCSITarget-Server –IncludeManagementTools
   

   Note: Wait for the installation process to complete. The installation should take about 1 minute.

Task 2: Configure iSCSI virtual disks

Important: The lab uses SEA-DC1, which serves as an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domain controller to host shared iSCI storage for a Windows Server-based cluster. This is not meant to represent in any way a recommended configuration but rather is done to simplify the lab configuration and minimize the number of lab virtual machines. In any production environment, domain controllers should not be used to host shared storage for failover clusters. Instead, such storage should be hosted on highly available infrastructure.

1. On SEA-SVR2, select Start, and then select Windows PowerShell (Admin).
2. To establish a PowerShell Remoting session to SEA-DC1, in the newly opened Windows PowerShell window, enter the following command and press Enter:
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   Enter-PSSession -ComputerName SEA-DC1.contoso.com
   

3. To create iSCSI virtual disks on SEA-DC1, on SEA-SVR2, in the PowerShell Remoting session to SEA-DC1, enter the following commands, and after entering each command, press Enter:
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   New-Item -ItemType Directory C:\Storage -Force
   New-IscsiVirtualDisk C:\Storage\disk1.VHDX –size 10GB
   New-IscsiVirtualDisk C:\Storage\disk2.VHDX –size 10GB
   New-IscsiVirtualDisk C:\Storage\disk3.VHDX –size 10GB
   

4. On SEA-SVR2, select Start, and then select Windows PowerShell (Admin).
5. To establish a PowerShell Remoting session to SEA-SVR1, in the newly opened Windows PowerShell window, enter the following command, and then press Enter:
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   Enter-PSSession -ComputerName SEA-SVR1.contoso.com
   

   Note: At this point, you should have three Windows PowerShell windows opened. You will use the first one to run commands locally on SEA-SVR2, while using the other two to interact with SEA-DC1 and SEA-SVR1. You can easily recognize each of them by identifying the PowerShell prompt (for the second and third one, the prompt will contain [SEA-DC1.contoso.com] and [SEA-SVR1.contoso.com] prefix, respectively).

6. To start the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator service on SEA-SVR2, at the Windows PowerShell prompt providing access to the local session, enter the following commands, and after entering each command, press Enter:
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   Start-Service -ServiceName MSiSCSI
   Set-Service -ServiceName MSiSCSI -StartupType Automatic
   

7. To start the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator service on SEA-SVR1, switch to the Windows PowerShell window hosting PowerShell Remoting session to SEA-SVR1, enter the following commands, and after entering each command, press Enter:
   CodeCopy

   Start-Service -ServiceName MSiSCSI
   Set-Service -ServiceName MSiSCSI -StartupType Automatic
   

8. To create the Microsoft iSCSI Target on SEA-DC1, switch to the Windows PowerShell window hosting PowerShell Remoting session to SEA-DC1, enter the following command, and then press Enter:
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   New-IscsiServerTarget -TargetName “iSCSI-L03” –InitiatorIds “IQN:iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:sea-svr1.contoso.com","IQN:iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:sea-svr2.contoso.com"
   

Exercise 2: Configuring a failover cluster

Task 1: Connect clients to the iSCSI targets

1. To mount the iSCSI disks on SEA-DC1, from SEA-SVR2, in the Windows PowerShell window hosting PowerShell Remoting session to SEA-DC1, enter the following commands, and after entering each command, press Enter:
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   Add-IscsiVirtualDiskTargetMapping -TargetName “iSCSI-L03” -DevicePath “C:\Storage\Disk1.VHDX”
   Add-IscsiVirtualDiskTargetMapping -TargetName “iSCSI-L03” -DevicePath “C:\Storage\Disk2.VHDX”
   Add-IscsiVirtualDiskTargetMapping -TargetName “iSCSI-L03” -DevicePath “C:\Storage\Disk3.VHDX”
   

2. To connect to the iSCSI Target hosted on SEA-DC1 from SEA-SVR2, switch to the Windows PowerShell prompt providing access to the local session, enter the following commands, and after entering each command, press Enter:
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   New-iSCSITargetPortal –TargetPortalAddress SEA-DC1.contoso.com  
   Connect-iSCSITarget –NodeAddress iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:sea-dc1-iSCSI-L03-target
   Get-iSCSITarget | fl
   

   Note: Verify that after you run the last command, the value for the IsConnected variable is True.

3. To connect to the iSCSI Target hosted on SEA-DC1 from SEA-SVR1, switch to the Windows PowerShell window hosting PowerShell Remoting session to SEA-SVR1, enter the following commands, and after entering each command, press Enter:
   CodeCopy

   New-iSCSITargetPortal –TargetPortalAddress SEA-DC1.contoso.com 
   Connect-iSCSITarget –NodeAddress iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:sea-dc1-iSCSI-L03-target
   Get-iSCSITarget | fl
   

   Note: Verify that after you run the last command, the value for the IsConnected variable is True.

Task 2: Initialize the disks

1. To list the disks on SEA-SVR2, switch to the Windows PowerShell prompt providing access to the local session, enter the following command, and then press Enter:
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   Get-Disk
   

   Note: Ensure that the three iSCSI disks are listed with the Offline operational status. These should be disks with numbers 2, 3, and 4.

2. To initialize the disks, at the Windows PowerShell prompt providing access to the local session, enter the following commands, and after entering each command, press Enter:
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   Get-Disk | Where OperationalStatus -eq 'Offline' | Initialize-Disk -PartitionStyle MBR
   New-Partition -DiskNumber 2 -Size 5gb -AssignDriveLetter
   New-Partition -DiskNumber 3 -Size 5gb -AssignDriveLetter
   New-Partition -DiskNumber 4 -Size 5gb -AssignDriveLetter
   Format-Volume -DriveLetter E -FileSystem NTFS
   Format-Volume -DriveLetter F -FileSystem NTFS
   Format-Volume -DriveLetter G -FileSystem NTFS
   

   Note: Verify the disk numbers match the previous command output before running the commands. Verify that each command completed successfully.

Task 3: Create a failover cluster

1. To create a failover cluster, on SEA-SVR2, at the Windows PowerShell prompt providing access to the local session, enter the following command, and then press Enter:
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   New-Cluster -Name SEA-CL03 -Node SEA-SVR2.contoso.com -StaticAddress 172.16.10.125
   

   Note: The command should return the name of the newly created cluster (SEA-CL03).

2. To add SEA-SVR1 as another node to the newly created cluster, on SEA-SVR2, at the Windows PowerShell prompt providing access to the local session, enter the following command, and then press Enter:
   CodeCopy

   Add-ClusterNode -Cluster SEA-CL03 -Name SEA-SVR1.contoso.com
   

   Note: Verify that the command completed successfully.

Exercise 3: Deploying and configuring a highly available file server

Task 1: Add the file server application to the failover cluster

1. On SEA-SVR2, select Start, in the Start menu, select Server Manager, and then, in Server Manager, select Failover Cluster Manager in the Tools menu.
   

   Note: Failover Cluster Manager console will be automatically connected to SEA-CL03 because SEA-SVR2 is one of the cluster nodes.

2. Expand the SEA-CL03.contoso.com node, select Roles and verify that the cluster does not host any roles at this point.
3. Select the Nodes node and verify that the SEA-SVR1 and SEA-SVR2 nodes are displayed with the Up status.
4. Expand the Storage node and select Disks. Notice that three cluster disks are displayed with the Online status.
5. On the Failover Cluster Manager page, right-click or access the context menu for Roles, and then select Configure Role. This will start High Availability Wizard.
6. On the Before You Begin page of High Availability Wizard, select Next.
7. On the Select Role page of High Availability Wizard, select File Server, and then select Next.
8. On the File Server Type page of High Availability Wizard, ensure that the File Server for general use option is selected, and then select Next.
9. On the Client Access Point page of High Availability Wizard, in the Name box, enter FSCluster.
10. In the Address box, enter 172.16.10.130, and then select Next.
11. On the Select Storage page of High Availability Wizard, select Cluster Disk 1 and Cluster Disk 2, and then select Next.
12. On the Confirmation page of High Availability Wizard, select Next.
13. On the Summary page of High Availability Wizard, select Finish.
    

    Note: In the Storage node, with the Disks node selected, verify that three cluster disks are online. Cluster Disk 1 and Cluster Disk 2 should be assigned to FSCluster.

Task 2: Add a shared folder to a highly available file server

1. On SEA-SVR2, in Failover Cluster Manager, select Roles, select FSCluster, and then in the Actions pane, select Add File Share.
   

   Note: This will start the New Share Wizard.

2. On the Select Profile page, ensure that the SMB Share – Quick profile is selected, and then select Next.
3. On the Share Location page, select Next.
4. On the Share Name page, enter Docs for the share name, and then select Next.
5. On the Other Settings page, select Next.
6. On the Permissions page, select Next.
7. On the Confirmation page, select Create.
8. On the View results page, select Close.

Task 3: Configure the failover and failback settings

1. On SEA-SVR2, in the Failover Cluster Manager console, with the FSCluster selected in the Roles node, in the Actions pane, select Properties.
2. Select the Failover tab, and then select the Allow failback option.
3. Select the Failback between option, and then enter the following values:
   • 4 in the first text box
   • 5 in the second text box.
4. Select the General tab.
5. In the Preferred owners section, ensure that SEA-SVR1 is listed as the first entry, and then select OK.

Exercise 4: Validating the deployment of the highly available file server

Task 1: Validate the highly available file server deployment

1. On SEA-SVR2, open File Explorer and browse to the \\FSCluster\Docs folder.
2. Inside the Docs folder, right-click or access the context menu in an empty area of the folder, select New, and then select Text Document.
3. To accept the default name of the document as New Text Document.txt, press Enter.
4. On SEA-SVR2, switch to the Failover Cluster Manager console, right-click or access the context menu for FSCluster, select Move, select Select Node, select SEA-SVR1, and then select OK.
5. On SEA-SVR2, switch back to File Explorer and verify that you can still access the content of the \\FSCluster\Docs folder.

Task 2: Validate the failover and quorum configuration for the File Server role

1. On SEA-SVR2, switch to the Failover Cluster Manager console and identify the current owner of the FSCluster role.
2. Select Nodes, and then right-click or access the context menu of the node you identified in the previous step.
3. In the context menu, select More Actions, and then select Stop Cluster Service.
4. Switch to File Explorer and verify that you can still access the content of \\FSCluster\Docs folder.
5. Switch to the Failover Cluster Manager console, and then, right-click or access the context menu of the node with the Down status.
6. In the context menu, select More Actions, and then select Start Cluster Service.
7. In the Failover Cluster Manager console, right-click or access the context menu for the SEA-CL03.Contoso.com cluster, select More Actions, and then select Configure Cluster Quorum Settings. This will start the Configure Cluster Quorum Wizard.
8. On the Before You Begin page, select Next.
9. On the Select Quorum Configuration Option page, ensure that the Use default quorum configuration option is selected, and then select Next.
10. On the Confirmation page, note that, by default, Cluster Disk 3 is selected as the Disk Witness, and select Next.
11. On the Summary page, select Finish.
12. In the Failover Cluster Manager console, browse to the Disks node, select Cluster Disk 3 configured as the disk witness, and then, in the Actions pane, select Take Offline.
13. When prompted for confirmation, select Yes.
14. Switch to File Explorer and verify that you can still access the content of the \\FSCluster\Docs folder.
15. Switch to the Failover Cluster Manager console, and then, in the list of disks within the Disks node, select Cluster Disk 3 configured as the disk witness, and then, in the Actions pane, select Bring Online.