Installing a Two Node Exchange Server 2007 Single Copy Cluster (SCC) in a Virtual Server Test

[patris1]

http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Installing-Two-Node-Exchange-Server-2007-Single-Copy-Cluster-Virtual-Server-Environment-Part1.html

Part 1: Preparing the virtual environment


Introduction

Exchange Server 2007 supports two types of cluster setups – Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) and Single Copy Clusters (SCC). In this three part article series we’ll install and configure a two node active/passive Single Copy Cluster in a Virtual Server 2005 R2 test environment. An Exchange 2007 Single Copy Cluster is very similar to a Exchange Server 2003 active/passive cluster, although a few changes and improvements have been introduced in Exchange Server 2007. A Single Copy Cluster is basically a clustered mailbox server, which consists of two or more servers (known as nodes) which shares the same storage (typically for databases and log files). The shared storage subsystem is typically an SAN or a NAS.

Note
Exchange Server 2007 doesn’t support active/active clusters like is the case with previous Exchange versions, only active/passive.

An Exchange 2007 Single Copy Cluster (SCC) provides high availability of server resources, as one node takes over should the active node for some reason fail. In addition you can apply Hot Fixes, Service Packs etc. to the nodes without having any downtime of your mission-critical messaging environment at all. But bear in mind that a single copy cluster is susceptible to failure of the shared storage subsystem. This means that no matter how many nodes are part of your cluster you’ll always have a single point of failure when using this type of cluster opposite cluster continuous replication (CCR), which provides storage group fail-over via the new log file shipping and reply technology (I’ll cover CCR in another article series here on MSExchange.org).
Since most of you don’t have the necessary hardware for a cluster, before you decide you want to deploy a cluster in your environment, I thought it would be a good idea to show you how to install a single copy cluster in a virtual server 2005 R2 environment.

Note
Pretty much all of the steps in the section where we install a clustered Exchange 2007 Mailbox server can also be used when installing the cluster on “real” hardware.

Prerequisites

In order to follow the steps throughout this article series, you need the following:

• One physical machine running Virtual Server 2005 R2. Since this product is free to download from the Microsoft web site, this shouldn’t be a problem.
• A Windows 2003 Active Directory forest with at least one Domain Controller (raised to 2000 or 2003 forest functional level).
• At least one existing Exchange 2007 Hub Transport/Client Access Server already installed in the above forest
• Two virtual guests running Windows 2003 R2 or Windows 2003 SP1 Enterprise Edition with at least 512MB RAM and two virtual NICs each - one for the Public network and one for the Private network. This means you need to create an additional virtual network on the virtual host server, None (Guest Only) is sufficient for this network.

Note
In order to install Exchange 2007 Single Copy Cluster, you need to install the cluster HotFix mentioned inMS KB article 898790 (at the time of this writing you need to contact Microsoft Product Support Services in order to acquire this HotFix)

Warning
Since Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 isn’t supported in a production environment, unless you’re participating in the Rapid Deployment Program (RDP) or Technology Adopter Program (TAP), you should install the Single Copy Cluster in a test domain.

Configuring the Network Settings for the Cluster nodes

When you have started the two virtual guests that are to be the nodes in the cluster, start by naming the machines E2K7Node1 and E2K7Node2 or whatever naming scheme you want to use (these names have nothing to do with the Exchange server name which your clients will connect to). Now name the two network connections Public and Private for the external and the internal network respectively (remember to do so on both nodes).

Figure 1: Network Connections

Click Advanced > Advanced Settings, if it’s not already the case make sure Public is listed first on the binding order list, then Private and lastly Remote Access Connections.

Figure 2: Binding order

Also make sure you untick File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks for the Private network connection.

Figure 3: Disabling File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks

Configure the Public network with the respective network settings you use in your test environment.

Figure 4: Configuring the Public network

Configure the Private network with an IP address and a subnet mask. Nothing else is required since this network is only used for communication (heartbeats) between the nodes in the cluster.

Figure 5: Configuring the Private network

Now click Advanced then select the DNS tab. Here you should untick both Register this connection's addresses in DNS and Use this connection's DNS suffix.

Figure 6: Configuring DNS settings for the Private network

Click the WINS tab. Untick Enable LMHOSTS lookup and select Disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.

Figure 7: Configuring WINS settings for the Private network

Click OK three times and close the network connections window.
Now add both Windows 2003 Servers as member servers in your Active Directory test domain.


Creating the Shared Quorum Cluster Disk

As those of you with cluster experience are aware of, a Windows cluster requires a quorum cluster disk. This quorum disk is used to store cluster configuration database checkpoints and log files which helps manage the cluster as well as maintain consistency. Since we’re dealing with a virtual environment we need to create this disk in the Virtual Server 2005 R2 web console. This is done by opening the Virtual Server Manager then clicking Create > Fixed Size Virtual Hard Disk under Virtual Disks.

Figure 8: Creating a fixed size virtual hard disk

Place the virtual hard disk file (.VHD) in the folder containing your two virtual Windows 2003 Servers, then set the size to 500MB (or less if you’re low on disk space). Then click Create.

Figure 9: Specifying the virtual hard disk file name and size

We now need to add the virtual quorum disk to each of the two virtual Windows 2003 Servers. Let's add it to E2K7SCCNode1 first, we do this by clicking Master Status > E2K7SCCNode1 > Edit Configuration. Since this disk needs to be shared between the nodes, we need to click SCSI Adapters then Add SCSI Adapter. Under the new SCSI adapter tick Share SCSI Bus for Clustering then set the SCSI adapter ID to 6 (or whatever is unused in your environment).

Figure 10: Adding an additional shared SCSI adapter

Click OK.
We now need to make the new disk visible on each node, therefore click Hard disks > Add disk then select SCSI 1 ID 0 in the Attachment drop-down menu. Finally specify the path to the virtual Quorum disk, which in this example is O:\virtual\scc\shared disks\quorum.vhd.

Figure 11: Adding an additional virtual hard disk

Click OK.

Note
Remember to add the SCSI adapter as well as the quorum disk to both servers.

We now need to partition the Quorum disk in the Disk Management console on E2K7SCCNode1, therefore start the virtual machine > logon using a domain admin account > click Start > Run and type Compmgmt.msc. Under Storage click Disk Management. Click Nextthree times in the appearing Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard, then click Finish.
The detected disk now needs to be partitioned, in order to do so right-click the unallocated space then select new partition.

Figure 12: Partitioning the quorum disk

Click Next three times and select the drive letter Q (for quorum), then click Next again. Use NTFS as the file system type and type Quorum in the Volume label field. To speed up the formatting process it’s a good idea to tick Perform a quick format.

Figure 13: Specifying how the new partition should be formatted

Now turn off E2K7SCCNode1 then turn on E2K7SCCNode2 and log on to the server with a domain admin account. Again click Start > Run and type Compmgmt.msc. Under Storage click Disk Management. Mark the Quorum disk (disk 1) active and assign it the drive letter Q. Now verify you can access the Q: drive from Windows Explorer, also try to create a test file on each server and make sure you can see it both ways.

Figure 14: Allocate the new partition to the drive letter Q

Note
Since we need at least one more shared disk (for the shared Exchange databases and log files), you need to go through the above steps for each virtual disk you add to the SCSI 1 adapter. Nope I won’t detail the steps for adding additional disks to the cluster nodes, as the process is more or less identical.

Okay we have reached the end of part one. In part two (which will be released soon here on MSExchange.org), we’ll go through creating and configuring the Windows 2003 Cluster.

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موضوعات مشابه:

• SharePoint Learning Kit: Installing on Single Server Farm
• Instal., Config. and Test. an Exchange 2007 Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) Based Mailbox Serve
• Deploying an Exchange 2007 SP1 CCR Cluster on a Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster
• Installing, Configuring and Testing an Exchange 2007 Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) Based Mail
• Configuring Mail Flow in a Single Exchange Server 2007

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[patris1]

http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Installing-Two-Node-Exchange-Server-2007-Single-Copy-Cluster-Virtual-Server-Environment-Part2.html

Part 2: Creating and Configuring the Windows 2003 Cluster

Introduction

In the previous article in this article series covering how you prepare for, install and configure an Exchange Server 2007 Single Copy Cluster (or in short SCC) in a virtual server 2005 R2 test environment, we went through how to create the Windows 2003 cluster. In this part two we’ll create and configure the Windows Server 2003 Cluster.

I bet many of you are eager to get going, so let’s start right away.
Creating the Windows Server 2003 Cluster

Okay now that we have the two virtual Windows 2003 Servers prepared, we can create the actual Windows 2003 cluster. In order to do so, turn off E2K7SCCNode2 then logon to E2K7SCCNode1 with a Domain admin account. Now click Start > Administrative Tools > Cluster Administrator, then select Create new cluster in the drop-down box and click OK (alternatively you can open a command prompt and type Cluster.exe /create /wizard).

Figure 15: Creating a new cluster

Click Next.

Figure 16: Windows 2003 Cluster wizard

If it’s not already the case, specify the domain in which the two Windows 2003 Servers are members, then type the name of the cluster (the name clients will be connecting to), then click Next.

Figure 17: Specifying the domain and cluster name

If it’s not already the case, type the name of the Windows 2003 Server, which will be the first node in the cluster, then click Next.

Figure 18: Specifying the name of the first cluster node

The cluster wizard will now determine the cluster configuration, and after a while you should hopefully get a checkmark in each checked configuration step. We can now click Next.

Figure 19: Analyzing cluster configuration

Now enter an IP address that cluster management tools will use to connect to the cluster, then click Next.

Figure 20: Specifying the IP address used by the cluster management tools

You should now enter the cluster service account and password, then click Next.

Figure 21: Entering the username and password of the cluster service account

Note
Since we’re installing the Windows 2003 cluster in a test environment, we’ll use the administrator account. But please bear in mind that you should always create a dedicated cluster service account when speaking about production environments.

You now see a screen with the proposed cluster configuration, click the Quorum button and make sure that the cluster configuration quorum is set to Disk Q. Then click Next.

Figure 22: Proposed cluster configuration

The cluster will now be created, again you need to wait for each step to complete, then click Next > Finish.

Figure 23: Creating the cluster

We have now created the cluster itself but since it only consists of one node, we’ll need to add the other Windows server as well. In order to do so turn on E2K7SCCNode2 and login with a domain admin account. Now click Start > Administrative Tools > Cluster Administrator. Select Add nodes to cluster in the drop-down menu then specify the cluster name in the Cluster or server name box and click OK.

Figure 24: Adding a node to the cluster

Click Next in the Add Nodes Wizard.

Figure 25: Add notes cluster wizard

Type E2K7SCCNode2 (or whatever you named the second Windows server), then click Add and Next.

Figure 26: Specifying the second cluster node

When the configuration has been analyzed click Next.

Figure 27: Analyzing cluster configuration

Enter the password for the cluster service account (in this case the administrator account), then click Next.

Figure 28: Entering the username and password of the cluster service account

Verify that you want to add the node to the cluster with the configuration shown in Figure 29 below, then click Next.

Figure 29: Proposed cluster configuration

After a short period the node would have been added to the cluster, if not you might want to expand the respective task as well as view the log. If each task has completed successfully, click Next > Finish.

Figure 30: Configuring the cluster with the second node

There’s one last this you want to do before we move on and that is to right-click and select Properties for the Private network in the left pane in Figure 31 below.

Figure 31: Cluster administrator will cluster resources listed and online

Since the sole purpose of the Private network is to be used for communications between the internal cluster nodes, you should select Internal cluster communications only (private network), then click OK. Do the same for the Public network but set it to Client access only (public network).

Figure 32: Changing the cluster role for the private network

Alright we now have a fully operational 2 node Active/Passive Windows cluster up and running.


Installing the necessary Windows Components

Before we move on and try to install the Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 bits, we need to make sure the required Windows components have been installed. All types of Exchange Server 2007 installations (no matter what server role we're talking about) needs the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 component installed.

Note
If you have installed Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 on the nodes, you need to download the Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x86), since it’s only a standard Windows component when speaking about Windows Server 2003 R2.

Figure 33: Installing the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Windows Component

Since we’re installing the Mailbox Server role in the cluster, we also need to install the below IIS 6.0 components:

• Enable network COM+ access
• Internet Information Services
• World Wide Web Service

Note
Remember to install these components on both cluster nodes.

Alright we have reached the end of part two. In the next, last part of this series, we’ll go over the most exciting part, and that is to install Exchange Server 2007 and last but not least verify cluster functionality.

[patris1]

http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Installing-Two-Node-Exchange-Server-2007-Single-Copy-Cluster-Virtual-Server-Environment-Part3.html

Part 3: Installing Exchange Server 2007 and verifying Cluster Functionality


Introduction

In the previous article in this article series covering how you prepare for, install and configure an Exchange Server 2007 Single Copy Cluster (or in short SCC) in a virtual server 2005 R2 test environment, we went through how to create the Windows 2003 cluster. In this part three we’ll install Exchange Server 2007 and verify cluster functionality.

Since this is the partwe’ve all been waiting for (where we finally install and play with Exchange Server 2007), let’s get going.
Installing the Exchange Server 2007 Single Copy Cluster

It’s time to install the Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 bits on each node, we’ll start with E2K7SCCNode1. First, if you haven’t already done so, I recommend you copy the Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 binaries to a drive locally on each node. When you have done so double-click Setup.com.

Figure 34: Launching Exchange Setup

The Exchange Server 2007 Installation Wizard will start, and as you can see Step 1: Install .NET Framework 2.0 and Step 2: Install Microsoft Management Console (MMC) have already been completed.

Note
If you have installed Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 on each node, you need to download Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0 and install it manually (by following the link in Step 2). But since I’m using Windows 2003 R2 Servers in my test environment, the MMC 3.0 is installed by default.

Figure 35: Exchange Server 2007 Installation menu

As you can see we still need to complete Step 3: Install Microsoft Command Shell (MSH), before we can start installing Exchange. Therefore click the link to download MSH then unzip and install it.

Figure 36: Installing Microsoft Command Shell (MSH)

The Exchange Server 2007 Installation Wizard should refresh automatically, so now click Install Microsoft Exchange. Click Next then accept the License Agreement and then Next once again. Decide whether you want to enable Error Reporting or not (a good idea to enable this functionality since the Exchange Product Group will receive any obscure errors you should experience in your cluster setup) then click Next.

Figure 37: Enabling Error Reporting

Now select Custom Exchange Server Installation then click Next.

Figure 38: Selecting a custom Exchange Server installation

Tick Active Clustered Mailbox Role and click Next.

Figure 39: Selecting to install an Active Clustered Mailbox Role

Now select Single Copy Cluster then specify a name for the mailbox server (the name you want your Outlook clients to connect to) and a unique IP address on your public network. Finally, specify the path for the clustered mailbox server database files (the virtual shared database disk you created earlier on), then click Next.

Note
In order to set the path for the clustered mailbox server database files, it’s important the cluster group containing the shared disks is owned by E2K7SCCNode1. The reason for this is that you aren’t allowed to use the shared disks if the cluster group is currently owned by E2K7SCCNode2.

Figure 40: Selecting to install a single copy cluster and specifying name and IP address of the clustered mailbox server

Let the readiness check complete, and if no issues are found click Next to begin the installation.

Figure 41: Exchange Server 2007 Clustered Mailbox Role Readiness Check

The Exchange Server 2007 installation wizard will now copy the needed Exchange files, install and configure the Mailbox Role then finally create and configure the clustered mailbox server resources locally and create the object in Active Directory. When each step has been completed, untick Exit Setup and open Exchange System Manager (yes this will be corrected in a later build), then click Finish. We don’t want to open the Exchange Management Console just yet, we’ll install Exchange on the second node first.

Figure 42: Installation of the Exchange 2007 clustered mailbox role completed successfully

Log on to E2K7SCCNode2 with a domain admin account and perform the exact same steps as we did when installing Exchange Server 2007 on E2K7SCCNode1. Only difference is you should tick Passive Clustered Mailbox Role instead of Active Clustered Mailbox Role as shown in Figure 43 below.

Figure 43: Installing the passive clustered mailbox role on the second node

When you have installed the Exchange Clustered Mailbox Role on the second node, we can move on to the next section, where we verify that the functionality of the clustered mailbox server works as expected.


Testing the functionality of the Single Copy Cluster

It’s time to verify that Exchange 2007 clustered mailbox server is working as expected. Let’s first open the Cluster Administrator and check whether the respective Exchange Resources have been created. If you take a look at Figure 44, it looks good, we have both nodes listed in the left pane and all Exchange resources have been created and are currently owned by E2K7SCCNode1.

Figure 44: Listing all Exchange cluster resources in the cluster administrator

Now try to open the Exchange Management Shell by clicking Start > All Programs > Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 > Exchange Management Shell on one of the nodes, then type Get-ClusteredMailboxServerStatus. As you can see in Figure 45 below the status of the clustered mailbox server is Online, and E2K7SCCNode1 is currently the active node. This just keeps getting better and better doesn’t it?

Figure 45: Requesting the online status of the clustered mailbox server

Now that we have verified that the clustered mailbox server is online, let’s try to move the Exchange resources from node one to node two using the Move-ClusteredMailboxServer CMDlet. In the test environment used in this article, we do so by issuing below CMDlet:

Move-ClusteredMailboxServer -Identity:MailboxServer -TargetMachine:E2K7SCCNode7 -MoveComment:"Testing functionality!"

You’re then asked to confirm this action, type Yesthen hit Enter. After a while the clustered mailbox resources would have been moved to the second node.

Figure 46: Moving the clustered mailbox resources to the second node

Note
Although it’s possible to move the cluster resource groups between nodes using the Cluster Administrator console, you should always do so using the Move-ClusteredMailboxServer CMDlet as the Move Group task in the Cluster Administrator console isn’t Exchange 2007-aware.

Let’s also take a look at the clustered mailbox server in the Exchange Management Console. To do so click Start > All Programs > Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 > Exchange Management Console, then drill down to Server Configuration > Mailbox. Notice the clustered mailbox server which we named MailboxServer is listed in the Result pane and that it’s recognized as a cluster server. Also notice that the Mailbox Database for this server points to the S: drive exactly as we specified during the installation of the Active Clustered Mailbox Role.

Figure 47: Viewing the clustered mailbox server in the Exchange Management Console

Conclusion

As was also the case with Exchange Server 2003, Exchange Server 2007 provides high availability of server resources, as one node takes over should the active node for some reason fail. But bear in mind that a single copy cluster is susceptible to failure of the shared storage subsystem. This means that no matter how many nodes form part of your cluster, you’ll always have a single point of failure when using this type of cluster. If you want a cluster without a single point of failure, you should consider the other type of cluster supported in Exchange Server 2007 called Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR), which not only provides high availability of server resources, but also storage groups. Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) combines a traditional active/passive cluster with the new log file shipping and reply mechanisms in Exchange Server 2007. Log file shipping and reply makes it possible to keep a replica of the production mailbox databases. In my next article series here on MSExchange.org, I’ll take you through how to prepare for, install and last but not least verify the functionality of a Cluster Continuous Replication setup. Until then have a nice one!