You’ve finally reached the point where you can install the Cluster Service. Although it seems we went through a ridiculous amount of work and effort to get here, you should now feel confident that you’ll be building a nice house on a solid foundation.
1. First, open the Control Panel to view the applets. You’ll find the Add/Remove Programs applet within. As seen in Figure 2-10, you have an option in the bottom left-hand side of the dialog box to install Windows-based services that come with the OS. Select this to invoke the Installation Wizard that will enable you to install the Cluster Service on your node.
2. After you open this dialog box, as shown in Figure 2-11, you can check the Cluster Service and press OK. The installation begins immediately.
NOTE Remember, you must have everything in place up to now or the Cluster Service won’t install. Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server willnot install the service unless you have all components in place. If it isn’t set up right, you’ll be denied. This is the reason I’ve been so methodical up to now. I’ve tested this many times and it won’t function properly if you don’t do it correctly.
3. If you didn’t add the i386 directory to your local drive, you’ll be asked for the Windows 2000 Installation Media CD-ROM. If you’re asked, install the service and you’ll be prompted with the Cluster Installation Wizard.
4. This wizard will guide you as you install the Cluster Service and configure a virtual cluster. Your two-node cluster is almost finished.
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Figure 2-10. Using the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel applet
Figure 2-11. Installing the MSCS Service
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5. Once you open the wizard, click Next and you’ll be asked about the HCL again from Microsoft’s online web site. In the following illustration, Microsoft asks you to verify that you did go to the web site and check your hardware against the list.
Microsoft isn’t trying to be redundant here: it wants to make sure you checked and, by clicking the I Understand button, you’re verifying that you did. If you look at Figure 2-12, you’ll notice I’ve gone to the HCL site and it’s helpful. I’ve used the HCL to build all the production clusters I’ve designed. We all make mistakes, but you want to minimize those mistakes. By visiting the HCL, you can help minimize many mistakes. Incompatible hardware and drivers will cause a blue screen of death (BSOD) on your production system, so make sure you verify everything in your preinstallation design.
After you confirm that you read the HCLand agree to having used it, you’re basically done with the hard parts of the installation. As you can see, the most difficult portion of creating a two-node cluster was the preparation work. Installing the service is a piece of cake. Your next task is to create the cluster. In the following illustration, you must join or create a cluster, or make a new one. Select the first node in the cluster. In the section that follows, you’ll add the other node to the cluster to create a two-node cluster.
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Figure 2-12. Going to the HCL to verify possible hardware issues
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From here on, this is self-explanatory and straightforward. You need to configure a NetBIOS cluster name, which we highlighted in the predesign layout. You can call it whatever you want. I called mine VCLUSTER1 for Virtual Cluster Number 1. As long as a NetBIOS name is 15 characters or less and unique on the network, you can call it whatever you like.
Next, use the Cluster_Service account for the domain you joined. I’m selecting the Rsnetworks.net domain, but you’ll use an account from whatever domain is in your production environment. Be careful not to assign this account to any other service.
Also be careful not to change the password accidentally or delete the account, or you’ll probably disable the Cluster Service. Following this tip is imperative because, if someone accidentally deletes the account, this could give you problems later. I generally have a postproduction meeting and let all the Systems Administrators know this account is
“live” and what it does, as well as the ramifications of altering it. I also audit the account for a while (as I do all accounts with anything more than a user group assignment that doesn’t have someone’s “real name” assigned to it).
Your next steps are to add the quorum device to the cluster and configure the storage.
Windows will again remind you that you must be careful with shared storage on a SCSI bus. It corrupts easily and must be managed only by the Cluster Service. You are warned again and you can continue assigning the quorum device (shared storage). This is where all assigned data will be kept and shared between the two-cluster nodes.
Your last grouping of tasks is to configure the network interfaces you diligently prepared in the middle of this chapter. You need to understand how the Cluster Service Wizard views your network interfaces: it calls them private and public networks.
I hate this because you’re probably putting privately assigned IP addressing on all your interfaces—from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)—which is confusing to someone who doesn’t know IP addressing well. I’d say that designing a clustered solution would warrant some TCP/IP knowledge, but the installation of the Cluster Service doesn’t.
I could hand you a set of addresses, tell you where to plug them in, and that would be fine, but what about the technician who reads this the wrong way? Regardless, be aware this has nothing to do with true public and private IP addressing. Instead, it stands for the publicly accessible network from which your network clients make requests to the server. The private network would be the cluster management, heartbeat segment, or VLAN.
Configure the Heartbeat Network connection to the private network and assign the Local Area Connection we configured to be mixed, which will also allow for public access from your network clients. You could configure the interface to just be public but mixed enables all communications. Most important is to isolate your heartbeat because you can’t afford dropped packets or to have your network card pick up excessive broadcast on the wire and start to process them. You best choice is to keep your heartbeat isolated.
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You’re almost done. You need to configure an IP address for the entire cluster (finally, that’s what the fifth IP address is for) and close the wizard. I’m assigning my cluster to have a cluster IP address of 10.0.0.5 with a 24-bit mask. This should be configured for our public or Local Area Connection network segment, so your clients can access that single address for services. Now, 10.0.0.2 and 10.0.0.3 are meaningless to anything but the internals of the Cluster Service. Congratulations, you’re almost done!