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Creating Windows 2003 Cluster

Introduction

In the previous article in this article series covering how you prepare for, install and configure an

Exchange Server 2007 Single Copy Cluster (or in short SCC) in a virtual server 2005 R2 testenvironment, we went through how to create the Windows 2003 cluster. In this part two well create

and configure the Windows Server 2003 Cluster.

I bet many of you are eager to get going, so lets start right away.

Creating the Windows Server 2003 Cluster

Okay now that we have the two virtual Windows 2003 Servers prepared, we can create the actual

Windows 2003 cluster. In order to do so, turn offE2K7SCCNode2 then logon to E2K7SCCNode1

with a Domain admin account. Now clickStart > Administrative Tools > Cluster Administrator,then select Create new cluster in the drop-down box and clickOK(alternatively you can open a

command prompt and type Cluster.exe /create /wizard).

Figure 15: Creating a new cluster

ClickNext.

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Figure 16: Windows 2003 Cluster wizard

If its not already the case, specify the domain in which the two Windows 2003 Servers are members,then type the name of the cluster (the name clients will be connecting to), then clickNext.

Figure 17: Specifying the domain and cluster name

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If its not already the case, type the name of the Windows 2003 Server, which will be the first node inthe cluster, then clickNext.

Figure 18: Specifying the name of the first cluster node

The cluster wizard will now determine the cluster configuration, and after a while you shouldhopefully get a checkmark in each checked configuration step. We can now clickNext.

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Figure 19: Analyzing cluster configuration

Now enter an IP address that cluster management tools will use to connect to the cluster, then click

Next.

Figure 20: Specifying the IP address used by the cluster management tools

You should now enter the cluster service account and password, then clickNext.

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Figure 21: Entering the username and password of the cluster service account

Note

Since were installing the Windows 2003 cluster in a test environment, well use the administratoraccount. But please bear in mind that you should always create a dedicated cluster service account

when speaking about production environments.

You now see a screen with the proposed cluster configuration, click the Quorum button and make

sure that the cluster configuration quorum is set to Disk Q. Then clickNext.

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Figure 22: Proposed cluster configuration

The cluster will now be created, again you need to wait for each step to complete, then clickNext >

Finish.

Figure 23: Creating the cluster

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We have now created the cluster itself but since it only consists of one node, well need to add theother Windows server as well. In order to do so turn on E2K7SCCNode2 and login with a domain

admin account. Now clickStart > Administrative Tools > Cluster Administrator. Select Add

nodes to cluster in the drop-down menu then specify the cluster name in the Cluster or server namebox and clickOK.

Figure 24: Adding a node to the cluster

ClickNext in the Add Nodes Wizard.

Figure 25: Add notes cluster wizard

Type E2K7SCCNode2 (or whatever you named the second Windows server), then clickAdd and

Next.

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Figure 26: Specifying the second cluster node

When the configuration has been analyzed clickNext.

Figure 27: Analyzing cluster configuration

Enter the password for the cluster service account (in this case the administrator account), then click

Next.

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Figure 28: Entering the username and password of the cluster service account

Verify that you want to add the node to the cluster with the configuration shown in Figure 29 below,then clickNext.

Figure 29: Proposed cluster configuration

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After a short period the node would have been added to the cluster, if not you might want to expandthe respective task as well as view the log. If each task has completed successfully, clickNext >

Finish.

Figure 30: Configuring the cluster with the second node

Theres one last this you want to do before we move on and that is to right-click and select Properties

for the Private networkin the left pane in Figure 31below.

Figure 31: Cluster administrator will cluster resources listed and online

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Since the sole purpose of the Private networkis to be used for communications between the internalcluster nodes, you should select Internal cluster communications only (private network), then click

OK. Do the same for the Public networkbut set it to Client access only(public network).

Figure 32: Changing the cluster role for the private network

Alright we now have a fully operational 2 node Active/Passive Windows cluster up and running.

Installing the necessary Windows Components

Before we move on and try to install the Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 bits, we need to make sure the

required Windows components have been installed. All types of Exchange Server 2007 installations(no matter what server role we're talking about) needs the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

component installed.

NoteIf you have installed Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 on the nodes, youneed to download the Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x86),

since its only a standard Windows component when speaking about Windows Server 2003 R2.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en

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Figure 33: Installing the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Windows Component

Since were installing the Mailbox Server role in the cluster, we also need to install the below IIS 6.0

components:

Enable network COM+ access

Internet Information Services

World Wide Web Service