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High Availability with High Availability with Windows Failover Windows Failover Clustering and Geo-Clustering and Geo-ClusteringClustering

Michael Otey

Senior Technical Director

Windows IT Pro

SQL Server Pro

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What this presentation coversWhat this presentation covers

Today’s IT requirementsToday’s IT requirements The costs of downtimeThe costs of downtime Understanding Windows Failover Understanding Windows Failover

ClusteringClustering New features in Ws2012 / R2 clusteringNew features in Ws2012 / R2 clustering Geo-clustersGeo-clusters Architecting availabilityArchitecting availability Additional referencesAdditional references

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Today’s IT RequirementsToday’s IT Requirements

AgilityAgility Meeting quickly changing business conditionsMeeting quickly changing business conditions

Reducing complexityReducing complexity Increasing automationIncreasing automation Consumerization of ITConsumerization of IT Reducing costsReducing costs

CapEXCapEX OpExOpEx

Data control and securityData control and security

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The Costs of DowntimeThe Costs of Downtime

GartnerGartner $5600 p/m$5600 p/m

$300K p/h$300K p/h

Amazon 30 minute outage in 2013Amazon 30 minute outage in 2013 $66,240 p/m $66,240 p/m

Approximately $3MApproximately $3M

Its not just dollarsIts not just dollars Customer / end user confidenceCustomer / end user confidence

ReputationReputation

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Windows Failover Cluster OverviewWindows Failover Cluster Overview

Provides protection from unplanned Provides protection from unplanned downtimedowntime

Automated failoverAutomated failover

Server-levelServer-level

Maximum of 64 nodesMaximum of 64 nodes

Added as a Windows Server FeatureAdded as a Windows Server Feature

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New Features in Windows Failover New Features in Windows Failover Clustering for WS2012 & R2Clustering for WS2012 & R2

Windows Server 2012Windows Server 2012 64 node cluster64 node cluster

Up from 16Up from 16

4000 VMs per cluster4000 VMs per cluster 1024 VMs per node1024 VMs per node Tunable heartbeatTunable heartbeat

Windows Server 2012 R2Windows Server 2012 R2 Shared virtual hard diskShared virtual hard disk Virtual machine drain on Virtual machine drain on

shutdownshutdown Virtual machine network Virtual machine network

health detectionhealth detection Active Directory-detached Active Directory-detached

clustercluster

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Windows Failover ClusterWindows Failover Cluster

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Cluster Quorum TypesCluster Quorum Types

Node MajorityNode Majority For clusters with an odd number of nodesFor clusters with an odd number of nodes Can sustain failures of half the nodes minus oneCan sustain failures of half the nodes minus one

Node and Disk MajorityNode and Disk Majority For clusters with an even number of nodesFor clusters with an even number of nodes Can sustain failures of half the nodes if the disk Can sustain failures of half the nodes if the disk

witness remains onlinewitness remains online

Node and File Share MajorityNode and File Share Majority For clusters with special configurationsFor clusters with special configurations Like Node and Disk Majority but uses Like Node and Disk Majority but uses

a file share witnessa file share witness

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Adding the Failover Clustering Adding the Failover Clustering FeatureFeature

Server ManagerServer Manager

Add Roles and Add Roles and FeaturesFeatures

FeaturesFeatures

Failover ClusteringFailover Clustering

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Creating the ClusterCreating the Cluster

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Failover Cluster ManagerFailover Cluster Manager Validate theValidate the

configurationconfiguration Select NodesSelect Nodes Tests:Tests:

SystemSystem

NetworkingNetworking

StorageStorage

Create ClusterCreate Cluster Select NodesSelect Nodes Cluster nameCluster name Virtual IPVirtual IP Select QuorumSelect Quorum StorageStorage

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Multi-site Failover ClustersMulti-site Failover Clusters

Disaster recoveryDisaster recovery

Protects against loss of entire locationProtects against loss of entire location

Storage synced with SAN-to-SAN Storage synced with SAN-to-SAN replicationreplication

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Multi-site Failover ClustersMulti-site Failover Clusters

Best practicesBest practices Even number of nodeEven number of node Node and File Share Majority optionNode and File Share Majority option

Including a file share witnessIncluding a file share witness

Consider DNS replicationConsider DNS replication TTLTTL

Tuning heartbeat to adjust for latencyTuning heartbeat to adjust for latency Asynchronous storage replicationAsynchronous storage replication Using the same HBAs and NICs on each siteUsing the same HBAs and NICs on each site

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Architecting AvailabilityArchitecting Availability

TechnologyTechnology Failover ClusteringFailover Clustering

PeoplePeople TrainingTraining

ProcessesProcesses StandardsStandards

DocumentationDocumentation

RunbooksRunbooks

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FAQsFAQs

Q: Do I need specialized hardware for the failover Q: Do I need specialized hardware for the failover cluster nodes?cluster nodes?

A: No. You can use stand servers. Microsoft will support A: No. You can use stand servers. Microsoft will support the cluster if it passes the validation tests.the cluster if it passes the validation tests.

Q: Do all the cluster nodes have to be configured the Q: Do all the cluster nodes have to be configured the same?same?

A: NoA: No

Q: Do I need a SAN if I want to build Q: Do I need a SAN if I want to build a Windows Failover Cluster?a Windows Failover Cluster?

A: No. But you do need shared storageA: No. But you do need shared storage

Q: can you implement a Windows Q: can you implement a Windows Failover Cluster on with virtual machines?Failover Cluster on with virtual machines?

A: Yes. You can implement a Windows A: Yes. You can implement a Windows Failover Cluster at either the host Failover Cluster at either the host or guest level.or guest level.

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Additional ReferencesAdditional References

Failover Clustering OverviewFailover Clustering Overview http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831579.aspxhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831579.aspx

Requirements and Recommendations for a Multi-Site Requirements and Recommendations for a Multi-Site Failover ClusterFailover Cluster

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd197575(v=ws.10).aspxus/library/dd197575(v=ws.10).aspx

Windows Server 2012: Building a Two-Node Failover ClusterWindows Server 2012: Building a Two-Node Failover Cluster http://windowsitpro.com/windows-server-2012/windows-server-http://windowsitpro.com/windows-server-2012/windows-server-

2012-building-two-node-failover-cluster2012-building-two-node-failover-cluster

Creating a Windows Server 2012 R2 Creating a Windows Server 2012 R2 Failover Cluster using Starwind SAN V8Failover Cluster using Starwind SAN V8

http://www.starwindsoftware.com/http://www.starwindsoftware.com/white-papers/white-papers/

Windows Server 2012 Geo-ClusteringWindows Server 2012 Geo-Clustering www.starwindsoftware.comwww.starwindsoftware.com

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mike.otey@penton.commike.otey@penton.com@michael_otey@michael_otey

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