It’s important for you to configure only one server at a time and only power up one server at a time. Failure to do so could result in corruption of the shared storage solution.
Let’s begin by designing and implementing the solution for your first node. Take some masking tape or some other way to mark your server with temporary names (like Node 1 and Node 2), so you don’t confuse them. This happens often and it especially happens when you’re configured through a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switch where you’re switching from node to node via the KVM. These are only temporary assignments:
Node 1 and 2 are fine for now. To begin, start your install on the first server in your cluster. You need to know on what drive you’re installing the OS and, if you prepared properly, you’ll have a separate drive for the OS and a separate drive for the data you’ll be using of the services you’ll install. You needn’t do it this way; it’s just a good design recommendation.
You can also have a separate drive only for your swap file if you have the drives available. Make sure you have enough space to install the OS and for swap file growth if they’re on the same drive. You need to keep 3GB to 4GB of space available for this purpose. Microsoft has the basic minimum requirements set at about 2GBs for the install and about 1GB free space but, as always, make sure you plan for future growth. If you’re installing SQLon the same drive, you’ll need to account for the space it requires. Although we’ll cover all fundamental requirements in the chapters ahead on SQL, you can always visit Microsoft’s web site for products not mentioned in this book or visit vendors’ web sites for their requirements.
During the install, choose to be part of a workgroup for the time being. You’ll join a domain later. If asked either to be a part of a workgroup or a domain, select the workgroup option. When asked about protocols and addressing for adapters, you can configure your NIC adapters with drivers, but don’t configure them with IP addressing at this time. You can do that later during the configuration phase.
Last, make sure you name your server something that represents your cluster, such as Cluster-Node-A or something similar, so you know which system is which when you do advanced configurations. You need to reserve a separate NetBIOS name (not used on the network anywhere) for the entire cluster, so make these names meaningful to you. Node A and Node B, or Node 1 and Node 2 should be good enough for that purpose.
Before you take the next step, place the i386 Directory from the Windows 2000 Advanced Server installation CD-ROM on each cluster node. If you have the space, add it and change the search path in the Registry to access it when you install future services for the server. You need this information not only when you install the Cluster Service, but also for installing IIS or nearly any other Backoffice/Server 2003 platform on your clustered servers. The next steps after you have a basic installation of Windows 2000 Advanced Server on both systems are to make sure you have all applicable service packs and hot fixes available for your system. Many security holes and system bugs are fixed with these updates, so install them. Configure your server to access the Internet and pull all updates from Windows Update on the Microsoft web site. You can visit the Windows Update site (as seen in the following illustration) by viewing the following URL:http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp.
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Microsoft pledges it won’t send any information on your drive to Microsoft itself, and it archives your system to find what you do or don’t have. This is done rather quickly. You’re then asked what you want to install from here and, as you can see in Figure 2-1, Service Pack 2 for Windows 2000 is a selectable option. This is a quick way to get the most updated software available from Microsoft and it takes all the guesswork out of it. You can customize Windows Update to download and install only what you want installed by selecting specific components, hot fixes, or entire service packs.
The site will scan your machine for what you need to install and give you the options on what to install on your system. At press time, you want to install Service Pack 3 and all post-Service Pack 3 hot fixes on your system.
Once you complete your Service Pack install, make sure your entire hardware install is also current with the latest revisions or service packs on software and firmware on your SCSI cards or BIOS. If an update is needed, now is the time to do it. Remember, it’s better to do all this now, rather than when your system is in production and you have to down it.
Although Chapter 1 explained that having a cluster makes it easier to down and repair a production system, that doesn’t mean you want to be put in that position. A Systems Administrator might not be at his happiest if he gets called in the middle of the night to fix a system that crashed. Do all your testing and checking now before you have users connected to the production system. Unforeseeable issues always pop up here and there, but keeping them to a bare minimum is always something you should strive for.
Now, once all packs and fixes are in, boot up clean and make sure you aren’t getting any errors. When I say errors, I mean anything visible from the start of the boot process to the end. You might have a problem with Windows Advanced Server itself, where you get a Service Control Manager error pop-up. If you do get any errors while booted into Windows, you should immediately check the Event Viewer. (I recommend checking it anyway, whether or not you get errors, for good measure.) You can get to the Event Viewer by opening the Computer Management console in the Administrative Tools folder within your Start menu programs. In Figure 2-2, you can see the Computer Management console with the Event Viewer. In the Details pane of the console, a potential problem exists with the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service, so flag that and check it before moving on to the next steps of the configuration.
To select an error event, simply double-click it.
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Figure 2-2. Using the Event Viewer to troubleshoot your server
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Once I open the event (in the following illustration), I can see what the problem is and it isn’t a real problem at all. Because I haven’t yet configured my IP addresses on my NIC cards, Windows 2000 Advanced Server was kind enough to notice this and assign an IP address from the Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) range, so it can try to communicate with other nodes on the local subnet. This error will be meaningless once we configure TCP/IP correctly later in the chapter, but it’s important for you to look at potential problems you might be having. You can also see browser errors on the Event Viewer System log, which we’ll address in the “NetBIOS and WINS” section of this chapter.
Other places you can check in Windows 2000 Advanced Server for a quick visual of your status are in the system applet’s control panel located in the Device Manager. You can also find this in the Computer Management MMC console. By opening the console, you can verify if you have a problem with your system’s hardware by reviewing the visual icons, as seen in Figure 2-3.
If you see a large redX(shown in Figure 2-3) on a piece of hardware, this means it was disabled by the system. The hardware could have created a problem serious enough to warrant its operational removal, or you might have disabled it. Either way, you can check here to make certain. If you see a yellow exclamation point or a yellow question mark, you might need to reinstall drivers or you could have unknown hardware in your system. Make sure you clean up all this before continuing.
If you use antivirus software, install that now. Check to make sure it’s installed properly and that you downloaded and installed the most current virus definitions.
Chapter 2: Designing a Clustered Solution with Windows 2000 Advanced Server