Hey...

Clustering in VMware Workstation 6

UPDATE 02.15.08: I updated the last line of the VMX file in step 4 (Thanks for the heads up Jim!)

I have a need to build an Exchange 2007 single copy cluster on Server 2003 in VM environment. This is something I've done before with Microsoft Virtual Server, but haven't had the opportunity to do it with VMware Workstation (OK, I had the opportunity, but never needed to until now). Since VMware Workstation is a paid product, I assumed clustering and setting up a shared SCSI bus would be included and pretty straightforward. Wrong. No options in GUI exist for this, and the VMware help files and knowledgebase provide no assistance. I love VMware, but come on, no easy way to set up a cluster in a product that is meant for lab testing various configurations and applications?

Anyway, after poking around on the web for a while, I was able to compile a working method for setting this up. Here are the steps I took:

1. Create two VMs with a single disk on SCSI bus 0, install Windows, get updates, etc.
   
   
2. On one VM, add two new SCSI disks (one for data, one for quorum) on SCSI bus 1 (I put them on SCSI1:1 and SCSI1:2), make them independent, persistent, and fully allocate the drive space so that the VMs don't fight over expanding/managing the disk file size.
   
   
3. On the second VM, add the two already created SCSI disks on SCSI bus 1 (again, I put them on SCSI1:1 and SCSI1:2), and again make them independent and persistent.
   
   
4. Edit the .vmx files for each VM and add the following lines:
   
   scsi1.sharedbus = "Virtual"
   disk.locking = "false"
   diskLib.dataCacheMaxSize = "0"
   diskLib.dataCacheMaxReadAheadSize = "0"
   diskLib.dataCacheMinReadAheadSize = "0"
   diskLib.dataCachePageSize = "4096"
   diskLib.maxUnsyncedWrites = "0"
   
   
5. Fire up the VMs and both should have two disks ready for formatting and clustering.
   

Admittedly, the lines added to the .vmx file came from Geert Baeke’s Blog, specifically his posting on clustering in VMWare Workstation 4.5 and higher. Also, he has another good post around clustering in VMware Workstation using iSCSI. Trying that out is already on my “to do” list.

As a side note, when you complete botch the configuration of your Windows Cluster (like I did) and want to start over, use this command from the C:\windows\cluster directory on each node, then reboot the node:

cluster node <node_name> /forcecleanup

Exchange 2007 Autodiscover White Paper

Newly updated.

This white paper provides detailed information about the Microsoft Exchange Autodiscover service. It also includes information about how to configure this service in various deployment scenarios. Use the conceptual information and procedures in this white paper to help you deploy the Autodiscover service.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/59adba4e-44e1-4aa2-b09d-06988cbeab2d.aspx

Windows Server 2008 Core: Read-Only DC

New in Windows Server 2008 is the option to create a read-only domain controller (RODC). To deploy an RODC, the domain controller that holds the PDC emulator operations master role (also known as flexible single master operations or FSMO) for the domain must be running Windows Server 2008. In addition, the functional level for the forest must be Windows Server 2003.

Because the administration of a Server Core is done from the command line only (at least initially), dcpromo must be run with a host of options to promote the Server Core installation to a domain controller (read-only or standard). From the Windows Server 2008 Technical Library, here are the command line options for dcpromo. The options can optionally be specified in an answer file.

So, to create a RODC on a Server Core installation without also installing DNS, the command line would be:

dcpromo /unattend /ReplicaDomainDNSName:<FQDN_of_Domain> /ReplicaOrNewDomain:ReadOnlyReplica /SiteName:<site_name> /InstallDNS:No /DatabasePath:"C:\NTDS" /LogPath:"C:\NTDS" /SysVolPath:"C:\SYSVOL"

Obviously, the paths for the database, logs, and sysvol would need to be changed to the appropriate location for your environment. The bulk of the parameters are pretty self-explanatory, but two need attention called out. First, the /ReplicaOrNewDomain:ReadOnlyReplica parameter is what defines the DC as a RODC. Using /ReplicaOrNewDomain:Replica creates a standard DC in an existing domain. Using /ReplicaOrNewDomain:NewDomain should be pretty obvious, but it does introduce a slew of different required parameters and options. Also, when creating a RODC you must specify the site name using the /SiteName parameter. I’m not sure, but I would assume this is for the enabling of universal group membership caching. So, if you haven’t figured it out, you’ll need to create the site for the RODC in AD DS before you promote the server to a RODC.

Other handy parameters:

• /ConfirmGC:No – Do not configure the server as a GC (Default is Yes).
• /CriticalReplicationOnly:Yes – This forces dcpromo to only replicate the critical directory information before rebooting, postpoting the full replication of the remaining AD DS information until after a reboot; can be useful for large directories to speed up the dcpromo process (Default is No).
• /ReplicationSourceDC:<FQDN_of_DC> – This forces the replication operation to use a specific domain controller.

Windows Server 2008 Core: The Basics

The Server Core installation option of the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 operating system is a new option for installing Windows Server 2008. A Server Core installation provides a minimal environment for running specific server roles that reduces the maintenance and management requirements and the attack surface for those server roles. A Server Core installation supports the following server roles:

• Active Directory Domain Services
• Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS)
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server
• DNS Server
• File Services
• Print Server
• Streaming Media Services
• Web Server (IIS)

Local administration of a Server Core installation is done from the command prompt, but all roles can be administered from other computers running the appropriate MMC console. The Server Core Team Blog has a nice posting on the basics of getting a Server Core installation up and running. Here are the extreme basics to get a Server Core up and running on your network:

Change the Administrator Password

net user administrator *

Configure the IP Address and DNS Server

netsh interface ipv4 set address name <interface_name> static <ip_address> <default_gateway> <subnet_mask> 1

netsh interface ipv4 set dnsserver <interface_name> <pri_dns_server_ip> primary

netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver <interface_name> <sec_dns_server_ip>

Join the Domain

netdom join %computername% /domain:<domain_name> /userd:<domain_user> /passwordd:*

shutdown –r

Rename the Server

netdom renamecomputer %computername% /newname <new_server_name>

shutdown -r

Activate the Server

slmgr.vbs -ato

Allow Remote Administration (should really be done via GPO)

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Remote Administration" new enable=yes