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server 2008 R2 quorum disk necessary?

I am running Windows 2008 R2 and want to cluster two physical servers with a SAN for storage.

I read the following from: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff182359(WS.10).aspx

"The disk witness is a disk in the cluster storage that is designated to hold a copy of the cluster configuration database. A disk witness is part of some but not all quorum configurations, and it is recommended for most clusters with an even number of nodes."

I have not been able to get any meaningful detail on the second sentence.

Do I need a separate physical disk on my SAN if I want to setup failover clustering?

I've seen references to quorum disk and witness disk in this context? Are they the same thing?

I've also seen references to "file share witness' as an alternative to a quorum or witness disk. What exactly is this? Does this substitute in some way for the quorum/witness disk?

Is it that I ultimately need at least one of these alternatives to have a cluster?

I did set up a cluster to the point where everything seemed to be working but I do not recall ever dedicating a disk to be a quorum or a disk witness or a file share witness or anything else - there was one disk in the SAN and all I recall doing was formatting it.

SOLUTION

Jason Watkins

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ASKER

Thanks for the link but I have read it and several others before posting here. The issue of quorum disk is still not clear to me however. I'll pose my questions a little differently in point form so perhaps you cold address each point separately the answer would be clearer to me.

Question 1:
Do I need a minimum of two physical disks in my SAN for clustering in 2008 R2 with one of those disks reserved for the Quorum disk? It seems that is not the case - it may be the recommended option - but it is not an absolute requirement. For purposes of this question I am not interested in recommended or best practice - just what is possible.

Question 2:

If I don't use a quorum disk do I then need a 'file share witness' and what exactly is that and how is it configured? Again I am not interested in recommended or best practice, I am just looking for what is absolutely necessary.

Question 3:

Can I create a cluster without either a quorum disk or a file share witness regardless of whether it's recommended or best practice?

Question 4:

Just for terminology purposes is Witness Disk the same as Quorum disk?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

msmamji

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Line One

ASKER

Thanks very much for a very thorough answer. Let me read through - it's a bit to absorb - and then get back to you if I have any questions. Thanks again for the work.

Line One

ASKER

Still reading and researching. Should either ask more or close question in a few days.