High Availability

HOW TO: Change IP addresses on a cluster

A “Re-IP-ing” project around the corner where you need to change IP addresses on all hosts in a subnet? Or just a cluster? When you change the IP addresses on cluster nodes, cluster resources go offline. With the IP addresses on nodes changed (while moving to different network/subnets), when you start Cluster Admin you can’t […]

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Creating an additional SMTP Virtual Server in a EVS

Creating an additional SMTP Virtual Server in a non-clustered environment is pretty straightforward. The same task is a little more complicated in a clustered environment. Before you begin:Need to consider whether you want the new SMTP VS to listen on the same IP address but on a different port or listen on the default SMTP […]

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Problem creating EVS (System Attendant Resource)

When creating the System Attendant resource for a new EVS, you get the following error: Invalid network addresswin 32 Error code C00706ab Creation of SA resource fails. Problem:Network card binding order. Resolution:1. Go to Network Connections folder (command line: ncpa.cpl)2. Go to Advanced menu Advanced.3. In Adapters and Bindings tab, under Connections make sure the […]

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Exchange 12 to axe Active/Active Clustering?

Oliver Rist’s Enterprise Windows column in InfoWorld talks about many facts/announcements related to the Exchange Server product roadmap – most of it discussed/announced at TechEd in Orlando and at other venues. He also talks about Active/Active clustering being history with Exchange 12. I’m a little surprised – I thought Microsoft would perhaps work towards making […]

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Scripting: ExchangeClusterResource Class – Reply from Alain Lissoir

The ClusApi.h file, which is part of the PlatformSDK should contain this… typedef enum CLUSTER_RESOURCE_STATE { ClusterResourceStateUnknown = -1, ClusterResourceInherited = 0, ClusterResourceInitializing = 1, ClusterResourceOnline = 2, ClusterResourceOffline = 3, ClusterResourceFailed = 4, ClusterResourcePending = 128, ClusterResourceOnlinePending = 129, ClusterResourceOfflinePending = 130 } CLUSTER_RESOURCE_STATE; HTH Alain is (now) WMI Program Manager at Microsoft and […]

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Scripting: ExchangeClusterResource class

The WMI ExchangeClusterResource class has 5 properties: 1) Name: returns name of Exchange cluster resource 2) Type: specifies the cluster resource type (IP Address, network name, etc.) 3) Owner: specifies the cluster node that the resource is running on (changes with failover) 4) VirtualMachine: returns name of the Virtual Machine that owns the resource 5) […]

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Running 3-4 node cluster on iSCSI

Clusters with more than 2 nodes using iSCSI storage are not officially supported by Microsoft or NetApp. Yet. Probably being tested in labs. Added 3rd node to my cluster. Failed over Cluster, MSDTC and Exchange groups successfully! Wolfpack (that’s what the cluster is called..) is now truly a pack of wolves! (The nodes are called […]

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Adding IMAP4 Virtual Server to Cluster takes cluster group offline

You’ve just built a shiny new Windows Server 2003 cluster, installed Exchange Server 2003, created an Exchange Virtual Server (EVS) and tested MAPI, HTTP, Cluster Failover, et al – things look great! User calls, can’t access mail on new EVS using IMAP4. When you create the Exchange Virtual Server by creating the System Attendant resource […]

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MSDTC Resource and Confusing KB 301600

Microsoft KB 301600 talks about how to install the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) resource on a Windows Server 2003 cluster. STEP 8: In Dependencies, press and hold the CTRL key on the keyboard, select both the Physical Disk and Network Name that you created in step 2, and then click the Add button But […]

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