DCalabrese
asked on
Setup of 2 Node Cluster in Server 2003 std
Hi to the Captain et al
I have 2 identical servers both with Server 2003 std
Server 1 has an e drive with our website, e-commerce, and WebBoard (msde)
Server 2 has an empty e drive
I want to set up a 2 node server cluster so the second computer can function for failover and failback for the first.
The wizard will determine "common resources on the node that can be managed by the cluster."
Does it mean I set up an e drive on server 2 identical to server 1?
If so, what is the best way to accomplish that?
Thank you
Chris
I have 2 identical servers both with Server 2003 std
Server 1 has an e drive with our website, e-commerce, and WebBoard (msde)
Server 2 has an empty e drive
I want to set up a 2 node server cluster so the second computer can function for failover and failback for the first.
The wizard will determine "common resources on the node that can be managed by the cluster."
Does it mean I set up an e drive on server 2 identical to server 1?
If so, what is the best way to accomplish that?
Thank you
Chris
ASKER
Server 2003 std. will cluster. . .new. Is adding NAS storage the best configuration option? If so, should I start with something compatible like the Dell PowerVault 745? Then in time add a second PowerVault? Thank you for your well considered reply.
Chris
Chris
ASKER
No The Microsoft Press book have is wrong. . .I'm uopgrading to Enterprise. Thanks so much Chris
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
As far as I remember you can not cluster W2k3 std server. You need at least enterprise edition.
You can do Network Load Balancing with W2k3 std servers but that does not replace failover and failback.
An option for quick failover could be using DFS integrated with your Domain. The home folder where your website is pointing to should be a DFS share replicated across 2 or more servers. You can set one of them as the master server for the replica and specify the replication policy.
In case your main web server fails you can quickly use another one pointing to the same DFS share.
Another idea which comes to my mind is combining both from the above - Network Load Balancing and using the same DFS share for all the servers participating in the Network Load balancing but I have not tried this and I don't know whether this will work.
Whenever I have a minute I'll try it on a test network and if you are interested I will post the results.
NetoMeter