FAILOVER CLUSTERING WITH MICROSOFT HYPER-V ON IOMEGA ® STORCENTER ™ px SERIES Configuration Guide WHITE PAPER AUGUST 2011 CREATING A FAILOVER CLUSTER 11 Adding the failover cluster feature 12 Validating the failover cluster configuration 13 Creating a failover cluster 16 CREATING A HIGHLY AVAILABLE VIRTUAL MACHINE 20 Virtual machine creation and operating system installation 20 Making a virtual machine highly available 24 TESTING PLANNED FAILOVER 27 TESTING UNPLANNED FAILOVER 28 CONCLUSION 29 INTRODUCTION 2 Audience 2 Scope 2 Related documents 3 REQUIREMENTS 3 Prerequisites 3 Hardware requirements 3 Software requirements 4 CREATING iSCSI LUNS 4 CONNECTING TO THE ISCSI LUNS 7 FORMATTING THE iSCSI LUNS 10
Transcript
FAILOVER CLUSTERING WITH MICROSOFT HYPER-VON IOMEGA® STORCENTER™ px SERIES
Configuration Guide
WHITE PAPER
AUGUST 2011
CREATING A FAILOVER CLUSTER 11Adding the failover cluster feature 12Validating the failover cluster configuration 13Creating a failover cluster 16
CREATING A HIGHLY AVAILABLE VIRTUAL MACHINE 20Virtual machine creation and operating system installation 20
INTRODUCTIONIn 2008, Microsoft released Hyper-V, its first bare-metal hypervisor-based technology, built into Windows Server2008.With the Hyper-V architecture, hardware-assisted, x64-based systems can run independent, virtualenvironments with different operating systems and resource requirements within the same physical server. In2009, the release of Windows Server 2008 R2 introduced more advanced features for Hyper-V, including LiveMigration and Cluster Shared Volume (CSV). These features work in a Windows failover clustering environmentand, additionally, can leverage iSCSI logical unit numbers (LUNs) as a storage option to create virtual machinesand virtual disks. The inclusion of the Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator in Windows Server 2008 providesubiquitous SAN connectivity for customers using existing Ethernet infrastructure. This cost-effective, highlyscalable, virtualization platform offers advanced resource management capabilities. Hyper-V minimizes Total Costof Ownership (TCO) for your environment by increasing resource utilization, decreasing the number of serversand all associated costs, and maximizing server manageability. Using shared storage along with a Hyper-Vinfrastructure offers the additional benefits of higher availability, simple server migration and improved recovery.
The Iomega® StorCenter™ px series network storage array offers versatile storage provisioning, advanced protocolcapabilities, expandability, and affordability in an easy-to-use product ideal for small businesses, workgroups, anddepartments. Based on enterprise-class EMC™ storage technology, the StorCenter px series provides multiplegigabit Ethernet connections, easy file sharing, iSCSI block access, flexible RAID configurations for optimized dataprotection, and storage pools for application flexibility and expandability to match your budget. The IomegaStorCenter px series can present iSCSI LUNs for Microsoft Hyper-V Server as well as failover cluster to createvirtual machines and virtual disks, and the px series is Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 (Hyper-V)certified for iSCSI.
This white paper provides information on the installation, deployment and configuration requirements andprocedures of the failover clustering feature of Microsoft Hyper-V on the Iomega StorCenter px series using iSCSIstorage. Detailed step-by-step instructions with screenshots are included for illustration purposes.
AudienceInformation contained in this white paper is intended for Iomega customers, partners, and service personnelinvolved in planning, architecting, or administering a Microsoft Hyper-V failover clustering environment withIomega StorCenter px series as the storage device. The readers are expected to have experience with MicrosoftHyper-V Server and an Iomega StorCenter network storage device that runs EMC Lifeline software.
SCOPEThis document summarizes the experiences and methods followed while installing, deploying and configuringMicrosoft Hyper-V failover clustering on Iomega StorCenter px series. The objectives of this document are as follows:• Provide a material for reference, to be used while performing similar installation, deployment and
configuration.
• Provide details on the possible areas of risks and the identified best practices while installing, deploying andconfiguring the described component or system.
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RELATED DOCUMENTSThe documents Using Iomega StorCenter ix12-300r/px12-350r with Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V over iSCSI andEMC Virtual Infrastructure for SMB – Enabled by Iomega StorCenter ix12-300r Network Storage and Microsoft Hyper-V are located on http://www.iomega.com and provide additional, relevant information about how to
configure and deploy Microsoft Hyper-V Server with an Iomega StorCenter network storage device. The readercan find more technical information about Microsoft Hyper-V by visiting http://technet.microsoft.com.
REQUIREMENTSThis section includes the prerequisites and requirements for a successful deployment.
PREREQUISITESThe following are the prerequisites for a successful deployment:• The shared storage to be used must be compatible with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2.
• The storage should contain at least two separate volumes (LUNs), configured at the hardware level for a two-node failover cluster.
• The clustered volumes should not be exposed to servers that are not in the cluster.
• One volume will function as the witness disk (described later in this document). One volume will contain thefiles that are being shared between the cluster nodes. The volume serves as the shared storage on which youwill create virtual machines and virtual hard disks.
• For iSCSI each clustered server must have one or more network adapters or host bus adapters that are dedicatedto the cluster storage. The network you use for iSCSI cannot be used for network communication. In allclustered servers, the network adapters you use to connect to the iSCSI storage should be identical, and werecommend that you use Gigabit Ethernet or higher.
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTSTable 1 lists the identified hardware requirements:
Table 1 Hardware resources
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Hardware Quantity Configuration
Iomega® StorCenter™ px12-350r network storage One • Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz CPU• 4GB RAM• 12 7200 rpm SATA-II disks• Intel Pro/1000 Quad ports NIC
Windows Server 2008 R2 Two • Intel VT or AMD AMD-V support• Minimum two GbE NICs
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
Table 2 lists the identified software requirements
Table 2 Software resources
CREATING ISCSI LUNSWhen using iSCSI storage, you must create one or more iSCSI LUNs on an Iomega StorCenter storage device.An iSCSI LUN can be protected by setting user access controls and iSCSI authentication methods. The Iomegapx series supports two methods of target discovery: the SendTargets command, and the Internet Storage NameService (iSNS) server. The SendTargets command technique requires that an initiator know the IP address andport number of the target. It is the simple and default discovery method. The iSNS server allows automateddiscovery, management and configuration of iSCSI devices over a TCP/IP network. The Microsoft Software iSCSIInitiator supports both discovery mechanisms.
After target discovery, an iSCSI initiator can log on with or without authentication. The Iomega px series supportsthe CHAP authentication method. When CHAP is enabled and an iSCSI LUN is secured, an initiator needs toprovide the target CHAP secret to log on. The initiator also needs to provide the initiator CHAP secret for mutualCHAP authentication if the global mutual CHAP setting is enabled on the Iomega device. However, if the LUN isnot secured, no authentication is required even if the global mutual CHAP setting is enabled. Iomegarecommends that customers use secure iSCSI LUNs.
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Software Quantity Configuration
EMC Lifeline 3.1.12 One EMC software that runs the Iomega px12-350r network storage array
Windows Server 2008 R2 Two Hyper-V Server roleFailover Clustering feature
DNS Server One The servers in the cluster must be using domain name system (DNS) for name resolution
Domain controller One Cluster servers should be members of a recommended domain
This section discusses the steps for creating iSCSI LUNs on an Iomega StorCenter px series storage device.1. Go to Storage > iSCSI to create iSCSI LUNs.
2. Click On to turn on iSCSI if not enabled already.
3. Click Settings to configure iSNS and/or Mutual CHAP if needed.
Figure 1. Configure iSCSI settings
4. Click Add an iSCSI drive to create a new LUN.
Figure 2. Create a new LUN
• If multiple Storage Pools exist on the Iomega storage device, you need to select a Storage Pool where the LUNwill be created. Otherwise, no selection is available.
• Enter the size of the LUN in GB. The size cannot exceed the free space of the pool.
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5. Click Create to have the LUN created. When a LUN is first created, everyone has read and write access to it bydefault, which means that everyone on your network can connect to the LUN then read and write content. The LUN is not secure and open to all users.
6. To secure the LUN, click Access Permissions.
Figure 3. Modify LUN access permissions
7. Click Add access permissions to grant access to specific users.
Figure 4. Grant user access to a LUN
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8. After clicking Apply, the read/write permission for everyone is automatically removed, and the LUN is securedto only specified users.
Figure 5. LUN with secured access
9. Repeat the above procedure to create another LUN. In this white paper, LUN WITNESS is used as the clusterwitness (also known as quorum) disk, and LUN CLUSTER is used as the cluster shared storage.
Figure 6. Failover cluster iSCSI storage
CONNECTING TO THE ISCSI LUNSWindows Server 2008 R2 installs the Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator by default. The iSCSI LUNs created fromthe previous section can be accessed using the Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator. The LUNs need to beconnected on all failover cluster nodes.
1. On the Windows Server 2008 R2 cluster node, go to iSCSI Initiator Properties.2. Click the Discovery tab.
3. Click the Discover Portal button, and enter either the DNS name or the IP address of the iSCSI target. Use thedefault port 3260.
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4. Click the Targets tab. This will list the iSCSI qualified target names discovered through the target portal.
Figure 7. List of iSCSI targets
5. Select the appropriate target, and click Connect to set up the iSCSI connection. Check the Add this connectionto the list of Favorite Targets option so that the server automatically attempts to restore the connection everytime the server restarts. Also, check the Enable multi-path option to allow multipathing to the target.
Figure 8. Connect to target
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6. Click the Advanced button to configure more connection settings. a. Select Microsoft iSCSI Initiator from the Local Adapter drop-down list.
b. Choose IP addresses from the Initiator IP and Target portal IP drop-down lists.
c. Check Enable CHAP log on, and enter CHAP information for authentication to the secured LUN. The CHAPname is a user name that has been granted read/write access to the LUN on the Iomega device, and the targetsecret is the user password. If the user password is less than 12 characters long, you need to pad it with * tomake it 12 characters long.
Figure 9. iSCSI connection advanced settings
7. After the connection is established, the status of the target is changed from Inactive to Connected.
8. Repeat the above process to connect to the other iSCSI LUN, which will be used to create virtual machines andvirtual hard disks. Also repeat the process on the other cluster node to connect to both LUNs.
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FORMATTING THE ISCSI LUNSAfter the iSCSI initiator has logged on successfully, you can use the Microsoft Disk Management snap-in to locatean iSCSI drive presented by the target and manage the drive.
1. Open Disk Management and right-click the newly added drive to initialize it using the MBR (Master Boot Record)partition style.
Figure 10. Initialize an iSCSI drive
2. Right-click the new disk to create a simple volume using the wizard. Assign a drive letter, provide a volumelabel, and perform a quick NTFS format.
Figure 11. Create a partition on an iSCSI drive
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3. Repeat the above process to format the other iSCSI drive. Both drives appear in Disk Management and areavailable for use.
Figure 12. Disk management
4. Repeat the above process to format the iSCSI drives on the other cluster node, and make sure the drive lettersmatch on both nodes.
CREATING A FAILOVER CLUSTERThis section explains the steps for adding the failover clustering feature and creating a failover cluster using iSCSIstorage. A failover cluster groups independent servers together to increase the availability of applications andservices. The clustered servers (called nodes) are connected by physical cables and by software. Microsoft Hyper-V Server can leverage the failover clustering feature to create a highly available virtualization environment forvirtual machines. This paper assumes the Microsoft Hyper-V role has already been enabled on the cluster nodes.
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ADDING THE FAILOVER CLUSTER FEATURE1. Open Server Manager and click Features in the left pane and then Add Features on the right.
Figure 13. Add a server feature
2. In the Add Features wizard, select the checkbox for Failover Clustering.
Figure 14. Add the Failover Clustering feature
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3. Click Next and then Install. Follow the instructions in the wizard to complete the installation. The wizardreports an installation status.
Figure 15. Feature installation status
4. Repeat the process for the second cluster node.
VALIDATING THE FAILOVER CLUSTER CONFIGURATION1. On either cluster node, go to Start > Administrative Tools > Failover Cluster Manager to open the failover
cluster snap-in.
Figure 16. Failover Cluster Manager
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2. Click Validate a Configuration in the center pane under Management. Follow the instructions in the wizard tospecify the two servers.
Figure 17. Enter failover cluster nodes name
3. Run all tests to fully validate the cluster before creating a cluster.
Figure 18. Run all validation tests
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4. Confirm the test selection, and click Next.
Figure 19. Confirm test selection
5. Validation progress is reported with a progress bar.
Figure 20. Validation progress
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6. The Summary page appears after the tests are run. While still on the Summary page, click View Report andread the test results. Correct any errors before proceeding to create the cluster. To view the results of the testsafter you close the wizard, see SystemRoot\Cluster\Reports\Validation Report date and time.htm, whereSystemRoot is the folder in which the operation system is installed (for example, C:\Windows).
Figure 21. Validation test report
CREATING A FAILOVER CLUSTER1. Right-click Failover Cluster Manager, and select Create a Cluster. This will start the cluster creation wizard.
2. Type the name of each cluster node in the Enter server name textbox, and click Add to add them one at a timeto the list of Selected servers.
Figure 22. Add cluster nodes
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3. Enter the Cluster Name. If DHCP is not utilized in the environment to automatically configure the administrativeaccess point for the cluster, you need to specify an IP address to be used as the cluster access point.
Figure 23. Specify cluster access point
4. Confirm creation of the cluster.
Figure 24. Confirmation cluster creation
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5. Proceed to cluster creation. A status bar is displayed during creation. Upon completion, a summary pagedisplays all the cluster information.
Figure 25. Cluster creation summary
6. The Failover Cluster Manager is updated after a successful cluster creation.
Figure 26. Failover cluster
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7. Click Enable Cluster Shared Volumes in the center pane under Configure. On a failover cluster that usesCluster Shared Volumes, multiple clustered virtual machines that are distributed across multiple cluster nodescan all access their Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) files at the same time, even if the VHD files are on a single disk(LUN) in the storage.
Figure 27. Enable Cluster Shared Volumes
8. A new Cluster Shared Volumes folder is displayed in the cluster manager.
Figure 28. Cluster Shared Volumes management
9. Click Add storage in the right pane to add a cluster shared volume. The cluster manager updates the volumeinformation accordingly upon completion.
Figure 29. Add a cluster shared volume
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CREATING A HIGHLY AVAILABLE VIRTUAL MACHINEIt is important that you choose the cluster shared volume as the location to store the virtual machine and thevirtual hard disk in order to achieve high availability of the virtual machine. During creation, a virtual machineneeds to be assigned to a cluster node as the preferred host on which the virtual machine runs. The virtualmachine can be migrated to another cluster node if the preferred host fails.
VIRTUAL MACHINE CREATION AND OPERATING SYSTEM INSTALLATION1. Right-click Services and applications in the left pane of the Failover Cluster Manager, select Virtual Machines >
New Virtual Machine > Node to open the virtual machine creation wizard, where Node is one of the availablecluster nodes.
Figure 30. Create a new virtual machine
2. Specify a name and storage location for the virtual machine.
Figure 31. Specify virtual machine name and storage location
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3. Check Store the virtual machine in a different location, and click Browse to select a cluster shared volume as thestorage location. A cluster shared volume is typically named C:\ClusterStorage\Volume# on the cluster nodes.
4. Assign the amount of memory to allocate to this virtual machine.
Figure 33. Assign virtual machine memory
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5. Configure a virtual network for the virtual machine using the network adapter created for the virtual machine.
Figure 34. Configure virtual machine network
6. Specify storage for the virtual machine so that an operating system can be installed.
Figure 35. Specify virtual machine storage
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7. Decide when and how to install an operating system on the virtual machine.
Figure 36. OS installation options
8. Review summary of the virtual machine and proceed to creation.
9. Connect the operating system installation media appropriately and power up the virtual machine to install OSon the virtual machine.
10. Reconfigure automatic start action for the virtual machine. In general, automatic actions will allow users toautomatically manage the state of the virtual machine when the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Managementservice starts or stops. However, when a virtual machine is made highly available, the management of virtualmachine state should be controlled through the cluster service.
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a. Right-click the virtual machine and select Manage virtual machine to open the Hyper-V Manager.
b. In Hyper-V Manager, right-click the virtual machine and select Settings.
c. Click Automatic Start Action in the left pane, and choose Nothing in the right pane.
Figure 37. Modify Automatic Start Action settings for a virtual machine
MAKING A VIRTUAL MACHINE HIGHLY AVAILABLEVirtual machines that are created using the Failover Cluster Manager are automatically made highly available inthe cluster. If a clustered server fails while running this virtual machine, another node in the cluster automaticallyresumes the virtual machine (a process known as failover).
However, if a virtual machine is created using some other Microsoft management consoles, such as Hyper-V Manageror System Center Virtual Machine Manager, the virtual machine must be manually made highly available in the cluster.
1. Right-click Services and applications in the left pane of the Failover Cluster Manager, select Configure a Serviceor Application.
2. The High Availability Wizard will open. Click Next.
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3. On the Select Service or Application page, select Virtual Machine from the list.
Figure 38. High Availability Wizard
4. On the Select Virtual Machine page, check the name of the virtual machine to make highly available. Thevirtual machine must be offline before it can be made highly available.
Figure 39. Make a virtual machine highly available
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5. Confirm the selection and proceed to making the virtual machine highly available.
6. To verify that the virtual machine is now highly available, you can check in either one of two places in theconsole tree:
a. Expand Services and Applications. The virtual machine should be listed there.
Figure 40. Verify virtual machine high availability– service view
b. Expand Nodes. Select the node on which you created the virtual machine.
Figure 41. Verify virtual machine high availability – node view
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TESTING PLANNED FAILOVERDuring a planned failover, the status of a virtual machine is briefly changed from online to pending while thevirtual machine is being saved on the original node and being restored on the other node.
1. From the Failover Cluster Manager console tree, expand Services and Application under the cluster name.
2. Right-click the virtual machine and select Move virtual machine(s) to another node.
3. Click the name of the other node.
Figure 42. Planned failover
4. The failover process starts by saving the virtual machine state. The Current Owner remains the same duringthis process.
Figure 43. Save virtual machine state
5. The failover process then restores the virtual machine on the other cluster node. The Current Owner ischanged to be the other node.
Figure 44. Restore virtual machine state
TESTING UNPLANNED FAILOVER1. From the Failover Cluster Manager console tree, select Nodes, and then right-click the node that runs the
virtual machine.
2. Select More Actions, and click Stop Cluster Service to simulate a server failure.
Figure 45. Stop cluster service
3. Confirm to stop the cluster service on the node.
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4. The virtual machine is moved to the other node automatically. The virtual machine is now in a failed state, but can be brought online on the other node.
Figure 46. Unplanned failover
CONCLUSIONMicrosoft Hyper-V dramatically improves the efficiency and availability of resources and applications in organizationsof any sizes. Hyper-V customers enjoy reduced TCO on overall IT costs by lowering both capital and operational costsand improving operational efficiency and flexibility. This is especially important to small businesses that normallyhave a very limited IT budget.
The Iomega® StorCenter™ px series network storage array is a high-performance, ease-of-use, and highly reliablestorage dev ice specifically designed to meet the storage challenges that small businesses face daily. The devicesupports the iSCSI protocol, the predominant way of utilizing IP storage by the Microsoft Hyper-V Server.Customers’ total infrastructure costs are further reduced by using an existing Ethernet infrastructure.
The Iomega® StorCenter™ px series network storage array is certified iSCSI storage array for Windows Server 2008R2 server. It provides reliable and proven storage solution to small businesses that plan to deploy MicrosoftHyper-V in a failover cluster.
