Search Results for “Failover Cluster” – The World According to Mitch

Failover Cluster OUs

I recently created a proof of concept for a client that was built into their production environment. The POC required me to create a couple of failover clusters, so I got the names from the customer, and created them… like I’d done a thousand times before. Several weeks went by and the customer called me…
Failover Clustering: Let’s spread the Hyper-V love across hosts!

This article was originally published on the Canadian IT Pro Connection. Some veteran IT Pros hear the term ‘Microsoft Clustering’ and their hearts start racing. That’s because once upon a time Microsoft Cluster Services was very difficult and complicated. In Windows Server 2008 it became much easier, and in Windows Server 2012 it is now…
Virtualization Boot Camp… Failover Clusters sometimes DO fail!

A few weeks ago during the Virtualization Boot Camp in Toronto one of the students encountered an issue with their cluster… i.e.: They horked it beyond repair. I wrote an article on cleaning it up, which was just reposted by the Can IT Pro blog. Check it out! http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2012/02/14/how-to-clean-up-cluster-nodes-from-destroyed-clusters.aspx
Hyper-V Server Clustering Network Issue: Validation Failed?

If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times… When you build a Failover Cluster on Windows Server make sure you run the Validation Tests… and make sure those tests succeed (or at the very least nothing FAILS… Warnings are acceptable). So as I sit at a client trying to cluster two Hyper-V…
Cluster-Aware Updates: Be Aware!

When I started evangelizing Windows Server 2012 for Microsoft, there was a long list of features that I was always happy to point to. There are a few of them that I have never really gone into detail on, that I am currently working with. Hopefully these articles will help you. Cluster Aware Updates (CAU)…
Cluster Issues… how to clean out cluster nodes from destroyed clusters

There are things that you just shouldn’t do in real life. While many of them involve cold lamp posts and electric sockets, there are many in the IT field that inexperienced pros do that are avoidable, but once done seemingly impossible to recover from. I came across one such issue some time ago when resetting…
Busting the Myth: You cannot cluster Windows Small Business Server

Microsoft created Windows Small Business Server as a one-box solution for companies that did not need more. It has always been a hobbled product, based on Windows Server Standard, but limited in things like domain trusts, FSMO roles, and more. Of course even if it were based on Windows Server Enterprise, the idea of creating…
Offline Files: Groan!

You’ve configured Folder Redirection in Group Policy, and it works as expected… as long as you are connected to the network. As soon as you disconnect, things stop working. That may be a real inconvenience if you are redirecting your Photos, but if you have redirected your Desktop folder to a network share, there is…
KB4103723: DO NOT APPLY!

Hey folks, if you know what is good for you, do not apply this patch yet. KB4103723 protects against a CredSSP vulnerability that has not yet been compromised. However, it will break lots of things in your system, including RDP and Hyper-V connections. Errors will include CredSSP errors when trying to connect via RDP (or…
iSCSI Virtual Disks: If you have to make a bunch… Use PowerShell!

I don’t mean to sound like a broken record but when you have to do things over and over again, it simply doesn’t make sense to do it manually. Sure, the GUI (Graphical User Interface) in Windows is great… but if you have to click through the same wizard ten times to create ten of…
Help! My free storage cannot be used for an iSCSI Virtual Disk!

I have written at length in the past about both Storage Spaces (Storage Pools: Dive right in!) and Software iSCSI Targets (iSCSI Storage in Windows Server 2012), as well as Failover Clusters (See list). These are all great technologies that IT Professionals should know. Recently I got an e-mail from a reader who had all…
That Was the Week That Was…

This has been one of those weeks that I love as an IT Professional. I have succeeded in keeping meetings to a minimum, and got to play with a lot of cool technology. If I look back on the week, and this is without reviewing my notes, I have built: Storage Pools iSCSI Targets Failover…
Distinguished Names for Complex Items

Distinguished Names are pretty simple, right? Well… it depends on several factors. To figure out the DN for swmi.ca it is… dc=swmi,dc=ca. An Organizational Unit is not much harder… Let’s take an OU called Toronto in the swmi.com domain… ou=Toronto,dc=swmi,dc=ca. Simple. But what happens when we add a little complexity to our environment? Say… OUs within…
Step by Step: Building a Scale-Out File Server (SoFS) on Windows Server 2012 R2

In several presentations since Windows Server 2012 was released I have heard Microsofties claim that SAN devices are a thing of the past. I have a hard time getting on board with that, but have nonetheless told many an audience that if they are planning on throwing their SANs out because Microsoft said so then…
Help! Where is my Client Access Point?

So you are building a Scale Out File Server (SoFS). You are all happy because you read one of my articles (or POSSIBLY someone else’s… but really, why would you hurt me like that?) and you know you are good to go. You have your cluster, you have your drives, and you have created your…