Server 2012 R2 – Lab Guide – Part 3 – Step by Step – Continuously Available File Server

  • Article

In this lab, you will see how the new, continuously available file server in Windows Server 2012 allows user sessions to move from one file server node to another without any downtime. In this lab you will create the entire cluster environment starting with the configuration of the iSCSI storage and then the creation of the 2-node cluster. Once the cluster is complete, you will create the necessary cluster resources.

 

This lab assumes that you have completed these prior labs:

Server 2012 R2 – Lab Guide – Part 1 – Step by Step – Including Dual Boot Instructions

Server 2012 R2 - Lab Guide - Part 2 – Windows 2012 R2 – Storage

 

In this series of exercises, you will explore the following:
• Configuring iSCSI Target software.
• Create a 2-node failover cluster.
• Moving file server traffic to a different cluster node, without interruption of network services.

 

This lab requires the following host computers and virtual machines created during these previous labs.

 

Host Computers:

Your Hyper-V Host machine

?      Host Name:  [Various]

?      OS:  Windows Server 2012

?      Primary Roles:  Hyper-V Server

 

Virtual Machines:

  • DC

?      OS: Windows Server 2012

?      Primary Roles: Domain Controller

?      Additional Roles: DNS

  • Storage

?      OS: Windows Server 2012

?      Primary Roles: File and Storage Services

  • Cluster1

?      OS: Windows Server 2012

?      Primary Role: Failover Clustering

  • Cluster2

?      OS: Windows Server 2012

?      Primary Role: Failover Clustering

 

Tasks that will occur in this lab module:

1)      Add additional hardware to prepare for failover clustering.

2)      Create a 2-node Failover Cluster (Part 1: Configure Storage).

3)      Create a 2-node Failover Cluster (Part 2: Configure Cluster1 and Cluster2).

4)      Connect to an existing failover cluster.

5)      Configure Highly Available File Share.

6)      Transfer file server traffic to a different cluster node, without interruption of network services.

 

Part 1 - Add additional hardware to prepare for failover clustering.

  1. Log on to Hyper-V host as Administrator with password: p@ssw0rd
  2. Start Hyper-V Manager
  3. Apply original snapshots for DC, Storage, Cluster1 and Cluster2.
  4. In Hyper-V Manager, create a new Hard Disk, in the right hand pane,  click on New>Hard Disk...

Use the following parameters:

  •         Format:  VHDX
  •         Disk Type: Dynamically Expanding
  •         Name: StorageDisk.vhdx
  •         Location: <drive> :\Images\Storage
  •         Size: 127 GB

 

Attaching the Disk to the Virtual Machine

  1. Right click the Storage virtual machine and go to settings.
  2. Select SCSI Controller in left panel; Click Hard Drive in right pane and click Add.
  3. Browse to <drive>:\Images\Storage\StorageDisk.vhdx and click Open, then click OK.

 

Adding the Cluster Heartbeat virtual network to the Cluster virtual machines

  1. Go to settings for the Cluster1 virtual machine
  2. Click on Add Hardware, then select Network Adapter and click Add.
  3. Select IT Camp Heartbeat from the drop down menu, then click OK.
  4. Perform steps 2 and 3 for the Cluster2 virtual machine

 

Part 2 - Create a 2-node Failover Cluster (Configure iSCSI).

  1. Start all four Virtual Machines (DC, Storage, Cluster1, and Cluster2).
  2. Log onto Storage as the corp\Administrator account with password: p@ssw0rd .
  3. From Server Manager, click Tools and then Computer Management.
  4. Select Disk Management, right click Disk 1 and select Online.
  5. Right Click Disk 6 and select Initialize, select Initialize as MBR, click OK.
  6. Right click on the striped area of Disk 6 and click New Simple Volume… Click Next, click Next, click Next, Click Next, Click Finish.
  7. In Server Manager Dashboard,  in the top ribbon, click on Manage, Select Add roles and features.
  8. On the Server Roles section, drill down into File and Storage Services, Add iSCSI Target Server. Click Next, click Next, click Install.
  9. From Server Manager, select File and Storage Services | iSCSI.
  10. Click the Refresh button in the top ribbon of Server Manager.

 

Creating the iSCSI Target Devices - Quorum

 

  1. In the iSCSI Virtual Disk section, select New iSCSI Virtual Disk from the Tasks Drop down menu.
  2. Create iSCSI Virtual Disk and iSCSI Target with the following parameters:

Storage Location: Volume F:

Name: “Quorum”

Size: 1 GB

Dynamically Expanding

New iSCSI Target – keep this selected and click Next.
Name: ClusterStorage
Add Initiator ID by IP Address Type: 192.168.1.12  and 192.168.1.13, then click Next. Click Next.   Click Create.

 

Creating the iSCSI Target Devices - FileStorage

 

  1. Create another iSCSI Virtual Disk and add to existing iSCSI Target

Storage Location: Volume F:
Name: “FileStorage”
Size: 50 GB
Keep Existing iSCSI Target select: ClusterStorage,   and click Next, click Create

 

Create a 2-node Failover Cluster

 

Cluster1 – Set the Ethernet#2 adapter IP Address

 

  1. Log onto the console for Cluster1 as the corp\administrator account and password: p@ssw0rd
  2. Configure IP Address for newly added adapter with the following IP v4 information:

IP Address: 192.168.11.21
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
DNS: 192.168.11.10

 

Connecting Cluster1 to the iSCSI Targets

 

  1. In Server Manager, click Tools and then iSCSI Initiator.
  2. Click Yes to prompt.
  3. Type 192.168.1.11 for Target and click Quick Connect and then Done.
  4. From the Volumes and Devices Tab click Auto Configure and then click OK.
  5. Still in Server Manager, click on the Tools drop down menu and select Computer Management | Disk Management, Bring the two new disks online, initialize them, Create and format a simple volume on each of the two disks. (E: drive will be the Quorum, and F: will be the FileStorage volume)
  6. Back in Server Manager. click on Manage, then select Add roles and features… On the Roles window select the File Server role, and then on the Features window select Failover Clustering feature (also accept the pop-up for the default dependencies).

 

Cluster2 – Set the Ethernet#2 adapter IP Address

 

  1. Log onto the console for the Cluster2 virtual machine as the corp\administrator account with the password: p@ssw0rd
  2. Configure IP Address for newly added adapter with the following IP v4 information:

IP Address: 192.168.11.22
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
DNS: 192.168.11.10

 

Connecting Cluster2 to the iSCSI Targets

 

  1. In Server Manager, click Tools and then iSCSI Initiator.
  2. Click Yes to prompt.
  3. Type 192.168.1.11 for Target and click Quick Connect and then Done.
  4. From the Volumes and Devices Tab click Auto Configure and then click OK.
  5. Still in Server Manager, click on the Tools drop down menu and select Computer Management | Disk Management, Bring the two new disks online.
  6. Back in Server Manager. click on Manage, then select Add roles and features… On the Roles window select the File Server role, and then on the Features window select Failover Clustering feature (also accept the pop-up for the default dependencies).

 

Configuring the Cluster

 

  1. Switch back to the console for Cluster1.
  2. Click the Refresh button in the top ribbon of Server Manager.  Select All Servers in the far left navigation pane, then in the middle pane right click Cluster1 and click Failover Cluster Manager
  3. In the right-hand Actions Pane, click Create Cluster.
  4. Add Cluster1 and Cluster2 to the cluster, click Next.
  5. Run the Validation Wizard and run all tests.  (Be patient.  It takes a while, ignore any pop ups about the volumes that may appear.) Click Finished when complete.
  6. Create the cluster with the following information:

Cluster name: MainCluster
IP Address: 192.168.1.14

Uncheck the192.168.11.0/24 network
Check Add all available storage to the cluster.

 

Create Highly Available File Shares

 

  1. Expand MainCluster.corp.contoso.loc and expand all Nodes, Storage and Networks.
  2. Take a few minutes and explore the environment (but don’t make any changes)
  3. In Failover Cluster Manager, click Roles.
  4. In Actions pane, click Configure Role.
  5. Configure a Cluster resource with the following information:

Server Role: File Server
File Server Type: Scale-Out File Server for application data
Name: HAFileServer

 

Configure the File Shares

 

  1. Expand Storage and click Disks.   Right click Cluster Disk 1 and select Add to Cluster Shared Volumes.
  2. (You may need to wait for the network syncronization to finish for this step. This can take around 5 minutes in some lab environments, sometimes to speed up this process, right click the HAFileServer role and move it to Cluster1.)   From the left-hand menu, click on Roles.  Right Click HAFileServer and select Add File Share with the following information:
    (NOTE: You may get a “The Client Access Point is not ready..” error. Wait a few minutes and try again. See note above as well.)

Profile:  SMB Share – Applications
Share Location: C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1  (which is the default)
Share Name: VMStore
Other Settings: Accept Defaults

 

Transfer file server traffic to a different cluster node, without interruption of network services.

 

  1. Open the network share \\hafileserver\vmstore and copy the folder named NativeImages_v4.0.30319_32 from the C:\Windows directory to this new share.  QUICK!  In Failover Cluster Manager, right click HAFileServer and select Move | Select Node.
  2. Click OK to move to other Cluster Node.  Monitor copy process to see that it does not fail.  Delete the NativeImages_v4.0.30319_32 folder from the file share. 

 

You have complete Lab Guide Part 3!

 

Follow Up Guides: coming soon:

 

Lab Guide 4 – Windows 2012 R2 – Hyper-V Over SMB

Lab Guide 5 – Windows 2012 R2 – Enabling Hyper-V Replica

Lab Guide 6 – Windows 2012 R2 – Shared Nothing Live Migration

 

More Information
Tommy’s Blog
https://www.virtuallycloud9.com

Windows Server Blogs
https://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsserver

Windows Server 2012 Product Download
https://aka.ms/ws2012tp

Microsoft Virtual Academy
https://aka.ms/tpva

Windows Server 2012 Virtual Labs
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/hh968267.aspx

Windows Azure 90-Day Free Trial Page
https://aka.ms/mshosting