Trying to setup a redundant server for server 2012

Question

have some questions  regarding creating a backup for an all in one server. The server has active directory, DNS, the file server and everything on it. I'm trying to create a redundancy setup in case of failure. So I was reading about failover clusters
and this seem to be what I need to do. I'm just a little bit confused. What is the difference between using hyper V and using clusters?
When I create a cluster and add servers to it, what exactly happens? For instance simplest case I have the main server with all the data. Now I bring in another machine with nothing on it. I install windows server 2012 on it and add it and the other computer
to a cluster. Does the data from the main server automatically get copied onto all the servers that are part of this cluster? At this point if one server fails will the other one take over?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
-FlipFlop

Answer 1

have some questions  regarding creating a backup for an all in one server. The server has active directory, DNS, the file server and everything on it. I'm trying to create a redundancy setup in case of failure. So I was reading about failover clusters
and this seem to be what I need to do. I'm just a little bit confused. What is the difference between using hyper V and using clusters?
When I create a cluster and add servers to it, what exactly happens? For instance simplest case I have the main server with all the data. Now I bring in another machine with nothing on it. I install windows server 2012 on it and add it and the other computer
to a cluster. Does the data from the main server automatically get copied onto all the servers that are part of this cluster? At this point if one server fails will the other one take over?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
-FlipFlop
You can think about Hyper-V cluster Vs. generic cluster like Hyper-V is a beehive of an independent clusters :)
You need to install Windows Server 2012 R2, enable Hyper-V role, virtualize all workload (keep all tasks inside separate set of VMs, don't run anything inside parent partition and don't use multiple roles either) and configure guest VM cluster (make sure
you use shared VHDX for that).
Data is not copied, you use shared storage and control gets passed to another VM running on another physical host. That would provide you smallest amount of downtime (if any). From the other point of view VM HA *would* have some downtime (VM reboots on another
physical host).
Some links for your interest (guest VM cluster, file server cluster, shared VHDX, shared storage for Hyper-V etc):
Deploy an Active Directory-Detached Cluster
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn265970.aspx
Failover Cluster Step-by-Step Guide: Configuring Accounts in Active Directory
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731002(v=ws.10).aspx
Cluster Nodes as a DCs
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/281662
How
To Setup Redundant DNS Servers 2012
http://www.techstaty.com/how-to-setup-redundant-dns-servers-2012/
Working
with File Shares in Windows Server 2008 (R2) Failover Clusters
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2010/08/19/working-with-file-shares-in-windows-server-2008-r2-failover-clusters.aspx
Failover
Cluster Step-by-Step Guide: Configuring a Two-Node File Server Failover Cluster
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731844(v=ws.10).aspx
Using
Guest Clustering for High Availability
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn440540.aspx
Deploy
a Guest Cluster Using a Shared Virtual Hard Disk
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn265980.aspx
How
to Configure Storage on a Hyper-V Host Cluster in VMM
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg610692.aspxHope
this helped a bit :)
StarWind VSAN [Virtual SAN] clusters Hyper-V without SAS, Fibre Channel, SMB 3.0 or iSCSI, uses Ethernet to mirror internally mounted SATA disks between hosts.