Destroying/Re-creating a Failover Cluster - Server 2012

Hi all,
Some background:
We have a 4-node cluster hosting our Hyper-V environment, and for some or other reason we keep having issues where nodes will just become unresponsive, with the logs indicating an issue on the cluster.
Short of destroying the cluster, we've tried everything to resolve this, i.e. remove and re-install Hyper-V and Failover Clustering, checked Windows updates, double-checked the configuration on the hardware, etc.
Now, my question:
If I destroy a cluster through cluster manager, and then re-create it, adding back the CSV storage, will the "new" cluster pick up that there are Hyper-V servers in those CSVs and recover those roles? Is there a way to back up and restore the existing
roles prior to destroying the cluster?
Thanks in advance for any guidance.
Sebastian

Hi,
Base on my experience, if you want to remove the cluster you must remove all the cluster resource first, for Hyper-V roles you must export all the vm to the new location then
do the cluster remove action.
The similar thread:
Does the destroy cluster option affect the guests running on the hyper-v hosts?
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/aab6d54c-1220-42fb-b4f6-c0b6b1583730/does-the-destroy-cluster-option-affect-the-guests-running-on-the-hyperv-hosts?forum=winserverhyperv
More information:
Deleting a Cluster resource? Do it the supported way
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2010/01/11/deleting-a-cluster-resource-do-it-the-supported-way.aspx
Remove-Cluster
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh847273.aspx
Hope this helps.
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interview project would be greatly appreciated if you have time.
Thanks for helping make community forums a great place.

Similar Messages

Install Guide - SQL Server 2014, Failover Cluster, Windows 2012 R2 Server Core

I am looking for anyone who has a guide with notes about an installation of a two node, multi subnet failover cluster for SQL Server 2014 on Server Core edition

Hi KamarasJaranger,
According to your description, you want configure a SQL Server 2014 Multi-Subnet failover Cluster on Windows Server 2012 R2. Below are the whole steps for the configuration. For the detailed steps about the configuration, please download
and refer to the
PDF file.
1.Add Required Windows Features (.NET Framework 3.5 Features, Failover Clustering and Multipath I/O).
2.Discover target portals.
3.Connect targets and configuring Multipathing.
4.Initialize and format the Disks.
5.Verify the Storage Replication Process.
6.Run the Failover Cluster Validation Wizard.
7.Create the Windows Server 2012 R2 Multi-Subnet Cluster.
8.Tune Cluster Heartbeat Settings.
9.Install SQL Server 2014 on a Multi-Subnet Failover Cluster.
10.Add a Node on a SQL Server 2014 Multi-Subnet Cluster.
11.Tune the SQL Server 2014 Failover Clustered Instance DNS Settings.
12.Test application connectivity.
Regards,
Michelle Li

First cluster - Server 2012 r2 - storage spaces issues

Hi Everyone
   We just purchased two new servers (Lenovo RD640's) and an external SAS JBOD enclosure (the Lenovo SA120), and we would like to set up a 2012 r2 failover cluster with clustered storage spaces as the shared storage. Currently they are
on their own domain with the virtual active directory server residing locally on one of the servers.
   Preface: I've created and destroyed the cluster and storage spaces multiple times trying to solve this issue, so I don't know if I may have "leftovers" from those attempts now causing issues for me.
I can create the cluster, and it passes validation, and can create a clustered storage pool, but every time I try to create a virtual disk (either through the Failover cluster manager, the server manager, or powershell), it won't attach. If
I try to manually attach it I get the message: "Error attaching or detaching virtual disk: Failed to attach virtual disk to <node name>. Access denied"
Finally (and I don't know if this is related or not), when in storage spaces on the server manager, there is a gold banner at the top that says "Incomplete communication with cluster <cluster name>. The following cluster nodes or clustered roles
might be offline or have connectivity issues: <cluster name>"
I'm logged in with full domain administrator credentials, and have been running my head against this wall for a few days now. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks for your responses. Here is what I have to report:
When I destroy the cluster, and create the storage spaces on just one of the two servers (with the other server powered down), I'm able to create the storage pool - using all the HDDs and SSDs - and virtual disks (both tiered and non-tiered) without issue.
As soon as I create the cluster again, the virtual disks become "detached", and I'm back to the situation described initially.
@Apamnapat, here's the output of the powershell commandlets you suggested:
PS C:\Windows\system32> get-storagepool | fl *
Usage                             : Other
OperationalStatus                 : OK
HealthStatus                      : Healthy
ProvisioningTypeDefault           : Fixed
SupportedProvisioningTypes        : {Thin, Fixed}
ReadOnlyReason                    : None
RepairPolicy                      : Parallel
RetireMissingPhysicalDisks        : Auto
WriteCacheSizeDefault             : Auto
FileSystem                        : Unknown
Version                           : Windows Server 2012 R2
ObjectId                          : {1}\\CBC116\root/Microsoft/Windows/Storage/Providers_v2\SPACES_StoragePool.ObjectId
                                    ="{1cca13ee-d45c-11e3-80b5-806e6f6e6963}:SP:{1cca13ef-d45c-11e3-80b5-806e6f6e6963}"
PassThroughClass                  :
PassThroughIds                    :
PassThroughNamespace              :
PassThroughServer                 :
UniqueId                          : {1cca13ef-d45c-11e3-80b5-806e6f6e6963}
AllocatedSize                     : 24962849046528
ClearOnDeallocate                 : False
EnclosureAwareDefault             : False
FriendlyName                      : Primordial
IsClustered                       : False
IsPowerProtected                  : False
IsPrimordial                      : True
IsReadOnly                        : False
LogicalSectorSize                 :
Name                              :
OtherOperationalStatusDescription :
OtherUsageDescription             :
PhysicalSectorSize                :
ResiliencySettingNameDefault      : Mirror
Size                              : 25264456597504
SupportsDeduplication             : False
ThinProvisioningAlertThresholds   : {70}
WriteCacheSizeMax                 : 107374182400
WriteCacheSizeMin                 : 0
PSComputerName                    :
CimClass                          : ROOT/Microsoft/Windows/Storage:MSFT_StoragePool
CimInstanceProperties             : {ObjectId, PassThroughClass, PassThroughIds, PassThroughNamespace...}
CimSystemProperties               : Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.CimSystemProperties
Usage                             : Other
OperationalStatus                 : OK
HealthStatus                      : Healthy
ProvisioningTypeDefault           : Fixed
SupportedProvisioningTypes        : Fixed
ReadOnlyReason                    : None
RepairPolicy                      : Parallel
RetireMissingPhysicalDisks        : Auto
WriteCacheSizeDefault             : Auto
FileSystem                        : Unknown
Version                           : Windows Server 2012 R2
ObjectId                          : {1}\\CBC116\root/Microsoft/Windows/Storage/Providers_v2\SPACES_StoragePool.ObjectId
                                    ="{3407c278-597d-4d38-b877-b2eff1e8a936}:SP:{05303524-5f93-4829-b84a-44955d1eb28e}"
PassThroughClass                  :
PassThroughIds                    :
PassThroughNamespace              :
PassThroughServer                 :
UniqueId                          : {05303524-5f93-4829-b84a-44955d1eb28e}
AllocatedSize                     : 24962849046528
ClearOnDeallocate                 : False
EnclosureAwareDefault             : False
FriendlyName                      : Primordial
IsClustered                       : True
IsPowerProtected                  : False
IsPrimordial                      : True
IsReadOnly                        : False
LogicalSectorSize                 :
Name                              :
OtherOperationalStatusDescription :
OtherUsageDescription             :
PhysicalSectorSize                :
ResiliencySettingNameDefault      : Mirror
Size                              : 25264456597504
SupportsDeduplication             : False
ThinProvisioningAlertThresholds   : {70}
WriteCacheSizeMax                 : 107374182400
WriteCacheSizeMin                 : 0
PSComputerName                    :
CimClass                          : ROOT/Microsoft/Windows/Storage:MSFT_StoragePool
CimInstanceProperties             : {ObjectId, PassThroughClass, PassThroughIds, PassThroughNamespace...}
CimSystemProperties               : Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.CimSystemProperties
Usage                             : Other
OperationalStatus                 : OK
HealthStatus                      : Healthy
ProvisioningTypeDefault           : Fixed
SupportedProvisioningTypes        : Fixed
ReadOnlyReason                    : None
RepairPolicy                      : Parallel
RetireMissingPhysicalDisks        : Auto
WriteCacheSizeDefault             : Auto
FileSystem                        : Unknown
Version                           : Windows Server 2012 R2
ObjectId                          : {1}\\CBC116\root/Microsoft/Windows/Storage/Providers_v2\SPACES_StoragePool.ObjectId
                                    ="{3407c278-597d-4d38-b877-b2eff1e8a936}:SP:{48e0189b-db8c-11e3-80d3-f80f41fcd134}"
PassThroughClass                  :
PassThroughIds                    :
PassThroughNamespace              :
PassThroughServer                 :
UniqueId                          : {48e0189b-db8c-11e3-80d3-f80f41fcd134}
AllocatedSize                     : 17179869184
ClearOnDeallocate                 : False
EnclosureAwareDefault             : False
FriendlyName                      : Storage Pool
IsClustered                       : True
IsPowerProtected                  : False
IsPrimordial                      : False
IsReadOnly                        : False
LogicalSectorSize                 : 512
Name                              :
OtherOperationalStatusDescription :
OtherUsageDescription             :
PhysicalSectorSize                : 4096
ResiliencySettingNameDefault      : Mirror
Size                              : 24951612506112
SupportsDeduplication             : False
ThinProvisioningAlertThresholds   : {70}
WriteCacheSizeMax                 : 107374182400
WriteCacheSizeMin                 : 0
PSComputerName                    :
CimClass                          : ROOT/Microsoft/Windows/Storage:MSFT_StoragePool
CimInstanceProperties             : {ObjectId, PassThroughClass, PassThroughIds, PassThroughNamespace...}
CimSystemProperties               : Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.CimSystemProperties
PS C:\Windows\system32> get-virtualdisk | fl *
Usage                             : Other
NameFormat                        :
OperationalStatus                 : Detached
HealthStatus                      : Unknown
ProvisioningType                  : Fixed
ParityLayout                      : Rotated Parity
Access                            : Read/Write
UniqueIdFormat                    : Vendor Specific
DetachedReason                    : By Policy
WriteCacheSize                    : 1073741824
ObjectId                          : {1}\\CBC116\root/Microsoft/Windows/Storage/Providers_v2\SPACES_VirtualDisk.ObjectId
                                    ="{3407c278-597d-4d38-b877-b2eff1e8a936}:VD:{48e0189b-db8c-11e3-80d3-f80f41fcd134}{
                                    c1894936-db95-11e3-80d5-f80f41fcd134}"
PassThroughClass                  :
PassThroughIds                    :
PassThroughNamespace              :
PassThroughServer                 :
UniqueId                          : 364989C195DBE31180D5F80F41FCD134
AllocatedSize                     : 7516192768
FootprintOnPool                   : 8589934592
FriendlyName                      : Disk Witness
Interleave                        : 262144
IsDeduplicationEnabled            : False
IsEnclosureAware                  : False
IsManualAttach                    : True
IsSnapshot                        : False
LogicalSectorSize                 : 512
Name                              :
NumberOfAvailableCopies           :
NumberOfColumns                   : 8
NumberOfDataCopies                : 1
OtherOperationalStatusDescription :
OtherUsageDescription             :
PhysicalDiskRedundancy            : 1
PhysicalSectorSize                : 4096
RequestNoSinglePointOfFailure     : False
ResiliencySettingName             : Parity
Size                              : 7516192768
UniqueIdFormatDescription         :
PSComputerName                    :
CimClass                          : ROOT/Microsoft/Windows/Storage:MSFT_VirtualDisk
CimInstanceProperties             : {ObjectId, PassThroughClass, PassThroughIds, PassThroughNamespace...}
CimSystemProperties               : Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.CimSystemProperties

Failover cluster server - File Server role is clustered - Shadow copies do not seem to travel to other node when failing over

Hi,
New to 2012 and implementing a clustered environment for our File Services role. Have got to a point where I have successfully configured the Shadow copy settings.
Have a large (15tb) disk. S:
Have a VSS drive (volume shadow copy drive) V:
Have successfully configured through Windows Explorer the Shadow copy settings.
Created dependencies in Failcover Cluster Server console whereby S: depends on V:
However, when I failover the resource and browse the Client Access Point share there are no entries under the "Previous Versions" tab.
When I visit the S: drive in windows explorer and open the Shadow copy dialogue box, there are entries showing the times and dates of the shadow copies ran when on the original node. So the disk knows about the shadow copies that were ran on the
original node but the "previous versions" tab has no entries to display.
This is in a 2012 server (NOT R2 version).
Can anyone explain what might be the reason? Do I have an "issue" or is this by design?
All help apprecieated!
Kathy
Kathleen Hayhurst Senior IT Support Analyst

Hi,
Please first check the requirements in following article:
Using Shadow Copies of Shared Folders in a server cluster
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc779378(v=ws.10).aspx
Cluster-managed shadow copies can only be created in a single quorum device cluster on a disk with a Physical Disk resource. In a single node cluster or majority node set cluster without a shared cluster disk, shadow copies can only be created and managed
locally.
You cannot enable Shadow Copies of Shared Folders for the quorum resource, although you can enable Shadow Copies of Shared Folders for a File Share resource.
The recurring scheduled task that generates volume shadow copies must run on the same node that currently owns the storage volume.
The cluster resource that manages the scheduled task must be able to fail over with the Physical Disk resource that manages the storage volume.
If you have any feedback on our support, please send to [email protected]

Which role do I need DFS or File server on fail over cluster server 2012 R2?

what I want to achieve is that I want to share all my user data files in a central location and to be highly available all the time whether it's a general share or folder redirection data. BUT I'm a bit confused; I have fail over cluster set-up
on server 2012, now I would like to add DFS as a role but than we have another role called File server and virtually it does the same thing as DFS? Means it creates a namespace share that can be access even one of the nodes goes down. Now I am thinking is
that DFS does the replication between two physical location but fail over cluster works slightly differently and with file server it pretty much does the same thing except for replicating data from one drive to another. Now what do you suggest I do or
did I get the concept wrong like a noob?

DFS and Failover Clustering for file shares provides a similar end result for file access, but they are significantly different implementations.
Clustering provides high availability to files by presenting shared access to set a files served from a cluster. With 2012 R2 Microsoft added the ability to create a Scale-out File Server that even allows all nodes of the cluster to server access to
the files for a higher level of performance and other great things. Bottom line with Failover Clusters for files is that there is a single copy of the file presented from the cluster.
DFS on the other hand provides high availability to files by presenting multiple copies of the file by making a copy in two or more locations and presenting a naming space that allows access to the file through any of the network paths. DFS works very
well for files that are primarily read-only. When you get into a situation where there is a lot of updating of the shared files, DFS is not a very good solution. There are ways to implement DFS for read/write files, but it generally requires a
good knowledge of how the files are used and how you want to manage them.
The key to answering your question comes in your first sentence "I want to share all my user data files in a central location and to be highly available all the time". My initial reaction to this is that central location means Failover Cluster
- there is only a single copy of the file. However, "all the time" can be compromised by network failures to the central site. Remote sites would not have access if they can't access the central site. DFS provides the ability to
have copies remotely, but then if you allow updating at multiple sites, you have to manage the merging of the changes, among other things.
. : | : . : | : . tim

Failover Cluster Manager 2012 Showing Wrong Disk Resource - Fix by Powershell

On Server 2012 Failover Cluster Manager, we have one Hyper-V virtual machine that is showing the wrong storage resource. That is, it is showing a CSV that is in no way associated with the VM. The VM has only one .vhd, which exists on Volume 16.
The snapshot file location and smart paging file are also on Volume 16. This much is confirmed by using the Failover Cluster Manager to look at the VM settings. If you start into the "Move Virtual Machine Storage" dialog, you can see
the .vhd, snapshots, second level paging, and current configuration all exist on Volume 16. Sounds good.
However, if you look at the resources tab for the virtual machine, Volume 16 is not listed under storage. Instead, it says Volume 17, which is a disk associated with a different virtual machine. That virtual machine also (correctly) shows Volume
17 as a resource.
So, if everything is on Volume 16, why does the Failover Cluster Manager show Volume 17, and not 16, as the Storage Resource? Perhaps this was caused by an earlier move with the wrong tool (Hyper-V manager), but I don't remember doing this.
In Server 2003, there was a "refresh virtual machine configuration" option to fix this, but it doesn't appear in Failover Cluster Manager in Server 2012.
Instead, the only way I've found to fix the problem is in PowerShell.
Update-ClusterVirtualMachineConfiguration "put configuration name here in quotes"
You would think that this would be an important enough operation to include GUI support for it, possibly in the "More Actions" right-click action on the configuration file.

Hi,
Thanks for sharing your experience!
You experience and solution can help other community members facing similar problems.
Please copy your post and create a new reply, then we can mark the new reply as answer.
Thanks for your contribution to Windows Server Forum!
Have a nice day!
Lawrence
TechNet Community Support

SSL Cert for 2008 R2 Reporting Services that is installed on a Failover Cluster - server address mismatch?

I utilized the idea from
http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/2778/how-to-add-reporting-services-to-an-existing-sql-server-clustered-instance/ to install 2008 R2 Reporting Services on a new Clustered SQL instance. In short, create the new Clustered SQL instance on Node1,
installing Reporting Services with it. Then on Node2, Add a Failover Cluster Node (without choosing Reporting Services); following that up with starting the SQL setup.exe with a cmd to bypass a check so that I can then install the Reporting Services
feature on Node2. It points out using the SQL Cluster Network name for connecting to Reporting Services.
I verified upon failover that I could still access the Reports and ReportServer URLs. However, when wanting to add an SSL certificate to the RS configuration, I run into the warning of "mismatched address - the security certificate presented by
this website was issued for a different website's address", where I can continue and get to the Reports or ReportManager URLs.
I played with different certs (internal CA created) and SANs and other things, but I still get this error with the cert. The Reports URL, for example, is <a href="https:///Reports">https://<SQLClusterNetworkName>/Reports, and the
cert has a CN and Friendly Name of SQLClusterNetworkName (with SAN of DNS: SQLClusterNetworkName.<domain>), but the error still happens.
What am I missing to eliminate the mismatched address warning when using the SQLClusterNetworkName as the base of the URLs?

I got it working by using the FQDN as the common name on the SSL cert, with FQDN in RS URLs.

Configuring Failover Cluster Server Share as a Distribution Point

Hello and thanks for this helpful forum!
I am trying to configure a server share as a Distribution Point and am running into problems. I am running SCCM R2 on Server 2008. I am trying to use a clustered share coming from 2008 R2 Failover Cluster.
I have been trying to get this working for the better part of 2 days now, and I have successfully created a Distribution Point to another 2008 Server (non-R2) by simply using the site system (not the server share).
When I try to use the server share option, I keep receiving an error with Message ID 4701 stating that the SMS Site System Status Summarizer cannot access storage object
\\servername\sharename$ on site system
\\servername\sharename$
The operating system reported error 2147942467: The network name cannot be found.
The server share is defined as a site system as
\\servername\sharename$
I am trying to create a "Packages" directory under it, so I'm using the option "Share the distribution folder" under the Data Access tab of the Package.
In addition, I have given local admin rights to the site server on both nodes of the cluster. I have given the site server modify rights to the share and NTFS permissions. I have given Authenticated Users Read access to the share and NTFS.
As I mentioned, I can take another server and define a Site System as a DP and everything will work properly. I am still missing something though regarding using a Server Share.
Thanks so much in advance for your assistance.

Hi,
No DP on NLBs:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb735883.aspx
Yes, but that is NOT a failover file cluster. Is there a workaround? It seems silly to have to stand up an additional server for this. It also seems odd that the forthcoming version of SCCM would not have some support for failover clustering which was a HUGE
improvement over the previous clustering solutions from MS.Jeffrey S. Patton Assistant Director of IT School of Engineering Computing Services University of Kansas 1520 West 15th Street Lawrence, KS. 66045-7621

Failover cluster server

We have a 2 node cluster both on 2012, they were both working fine until a restart where one of servers started becoming unresponsive, when connected remotely or directly on the server you could use PowerShell from the server manager window, if you attempted
to press start or click on a desktop icon the system came completely unresponsive, from PowerShell you can open control panel and task manager, and a few other things. eventually we rebuilt the server to save on troubleshooting time. but unfortunately yesterday
we had a power cut and to save UPS power we moved the roles on to one node and powered one off, upon the restart it has the exact same issues. this is the Server that was rebuilt only 3 weeks ago, no updates were done, the node will not
take any roles when using failover cluster manager from the other server which has the accept same configuration.
any ideas? i'm happy to rebuild again but not sure its solving the issue.

Hi,
Above all we recommended to patch your new cluster and see if issue could be fixed.
Here are some recommended updates:
Recommended hotfixes and updates for Windows Server 2012-based failover clusters
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2784261
See if the issue still exists after applying all these updates - we will need to monitor for some time as the issue may not reoccur immediately when you restart or shutdown a node.
If you have any feedback on our support, please send to [email protected]

How to enable "persistent mode" in Windows failover cluster manager 2012?

In Windows Server 2008 R2 there was a checkbox named "Enable persistent mode" on a General tab in the Properties of a cluster resource.
In Windows Server 2012 that seems to have disappeared.
My cluster resource is a "generic script" resource (not that it makes any difference).
How do I enable "persistent mode" for a cluster resource in Windows Server 2012?
Thanks

Hi Marcus Griley,
Enabled by default for VM groups Option is hidden from GUI in 2012, you can use the specify the preferred owner of group to realize the same function, positively not come online
on a node that is not a possible owner. If no possible owner nodes are up, then the group will still failover to a node that’s not a possible owner, but it will not come online.
Preferred Owners in a Cluster
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/clustering/archive/2008/10/14/9000092.aspx
Specify preferred owners of a group:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc759663(v=ws.10).aspx
Set group FailOver policy:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc786993(v=ws.10).aspx
Set group FailBack policy:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc778570(v=ws.10).aspx- This will help the resources to fail back on the preferred owner.
I’m glad to be of help to you!
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected]

Cant Create VDI collection in server 2012 r2 Transfer location failure

I'm setting up a 2012 R2 VDI install and having problems creating the VDI collection. No matter what target folder I specify as the transfer location, it says "VDI collection failed with the following errors: Unable to copy the virtual desktop to the
export location. Check if the export location exists and if it is configured with the correct permissions."
That has to be an erroneous error because when I type the share location into the Deployment properties, it checks for the share an won't let me specify an invalid location.
I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling RDS as completely as I can but I cant seem to get rid of this problem. Where are these deployment properties stored and how can I delete them so they get recreated by the install?
Please help!

It turns out that the error was not a problem with the transfer share. Something in the configuration prevented the hyper-v host server from connecting to the broker where the transfer share was located. Net use commands run the host produced an "error
53". Removing the Hyper-V did NOT solve the problem nor did removing the updated network drivers. The only solution I found was to remove the entire RDS installation from all the servers in the installation and reload Windows server 2012 R2 on the Hyper-V
host from scratch.
Once those tasks were completed, everything ran as expected.
I found the following article to actually be useful: http: //blog.itvce.com/?p=1569
It clearly explains most of the steps to install RDS VDIs simply and quickly. I'm still waiting for Microsoft to produce a simple brief step by step that includes component high availability and that explains how the system actually works both from a user
perspective as well as an administrator role. While it may exist out there somewhere, It is obscured by the countless third-party attempts to document these steps.
I'm disappointed that MS leaves it to third parties to document their products.
As for this installation, you must figure out the steps in a test environment and be prepared to rebuild your servers along the way, as uninstalling the RDS product components does not work properly as is typical with many MS products of the past. Also,
make sure all your chipset and network drivers are up to date as many of mine installed using "MS generic" drivers that simply do not work properly in the Hyper-V environment.

Create ISO of Windows Server 2012 R2 Physical Server - NOT VM

I have a windows server 2012 R2 installed on a physical server. I have windows patches and other firmware upgrades on it. I would like to create a gold image in the form of ISO, so that i can use this ISO and build my other servers. I have read many many
blogs but none of them have clear steps. I know there are tons of ways to do this for VM, but this is for a physical machine. I have used sysprep, completely messed up my server, i am used there is no warning or anything listed on technet for using this software.
If anyone has able to do this successfully please let me know. Please don't send me instructions for VM, this is not a VM, it is a physical server. Thanks in advance.

Okay, it's been a while since I worked with MDT and my memory was bad. The best thing to do is to download MDT (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40796
for the 2013 version) and its documentation. One of the documents is a Quick Start Guide. It gives you step-by-step instructions on how to do what you are asking. It doesn't make sense to replicate all that content in a forum when there is
already a published document.
Then, if you have problems with performing the tasks, come back to this forum and ask specific questions about the issues you are encountering.
Note, the documentation assumes working with Windows 8.1, but it also says it supports it for Windows Server.
. : | : . : | : . tim
Thanks Tim. I started working on it, i do have few questions:
i) Why do i need 3 machines as per the document "Quick Start Guide for Lite Touch Installation.docx"? I am not quite following here, can i just do it on 2 servers, 1 which will capture the image and server 2 will be used to build using captured image.
ii) I was able to get till Step 41. (page 17 from doc 'Quick Start Guide for Lite Touch Installation.docx'), i do see the ISO created, but it is only 300 MB? My original ISO was 4 gb. I don't think i can just copy the 300 MB iso and build another machine, i
am lost here, any advice is appreciated.
Thanks

CA Cluster Server 2012

Hi!!!
I configured a CA in Windows Server 2012 Cluster and it is working!!
However CAServerName registry entry show the name of one of the nodes. This parameter should be change to name of cluster?
regards
Rene Anton

> This parameter should be change to name of cluster?
no, this parameter should be a node name.
My weblog: en-us.sysadmins.lv
PowerShell PKI Module: pspki.codeplex.com
PowerShell Cmdlet Help Editor pscmdlethelpeditor.codeplex.com
Check out new:
SSL Certificate Verifier
Check out new:
PowerShell FCIV tool.

Server 2012 File Server Cluster Shadow Copies Disappear Some Time After Failover

Hello,
I've seen similar questions posted on here before however I have yet to find a solution that worked for us so I'm adding my process in hopes someone can point out where I went wrong.
The problem: After failover, shadow copies are only available for a short time on the secondary server. Before the task to create new shadow copies happens the shadow copies are deleted. Failing back shows them missing on the primary server as
well when this happens.
We have a 2 node (hereafter server1 and server2) cluster with a quorum disk. There are 8 disk resources which are mapped to the cluster via iScsi. 4 of these disks are setup as storage and the other 4 are currently set up as shadow copy volumes
for their respective storage volume.
Previously we weren't using separate shadow copy volumes and seeing the same issue described in the topic title. I followed two other topics on here that seemed close and then setup the separate shadow copy volumes however it has yet to alleviate the
issue. These are the two other topics :
Topic 1: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/ba0d2568-53ac-4523-a49e-4e453d14627f/failover-cluster-server-file-server-role-is-clustered-shadow-copies-do-not-seem-to-travel-to?forum=winserverClustering
Topic 2: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/c884c31b-a50e-4c9d-96f3-119e347a61e8/shadow-copies-missing-after-failover-on-2008-r2-cluster
After reading both of those topics I did the following:
1) Add the 4 new volumes to the cluster for shadow copies
2) Made each storage volume dependent on it's shadow copy volume in FCM
3) Went to the currently active node directly and opened up "My Computer", I then went to the properties of each storage volume and set up shadow copies to go to the respective shadow copy volume drive letter with correct size for spacing, etc.
4) I then went back to FCM and right clicked on the corresponding storage volume and choose "Configure Shadow Copy" and set the schedule for 12:00 noon and 5:00 PM.
5) I noticed that on the nodes the task was created and that the task would failover between the nodes and appeared correct.
6) Everything appears to failover correctly, all volumes come up, drive letters are same, shadow copy storage settings are the same, and 4 scheduled tasks for shadow copy appear on the current node after failover.
Thinking everything was setup according to best practice I did some testing by changing file contents throughout the day making sure that previous versions were created as scheduled on server1. I then rebooted Server1 to simulate failure. Server2
picked up the role within about 10 seconds and files were avaiable. I checked and I could still see previous versions for the files after failover that were created on server1. Unfortunately that didn't last as the next day before noon I was going
to make more changes to files to ensure that not only could we see the shadow copies that were created when Server1 owned the file server role but also that the copies created on Server2 would be seen on failback. I was disappointed to discover that
the shadow copies were all gone and failing back didn't produce them either.
Does anyone have any insight into this issue? I must be missing a switch somewhere or perhaps this isn't even possible with our cluster type based on this: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc779378%28v=ws.10%29.aspx
Now here's an interesting part, shadow copies on 1 of our 4 volumes have been retained from both nodes through the testing, but I can't figure out what makes it different though I do suspect that perhaps the "Disk#s" in computer management / disk
management perhaps need to be the same between servers? For example, on server 1 the disk #s for cluster volume 1 might be "Disk4" but on server 2 the same volume might be called "Disk7", however I think that operations like this
and shadow copy are based on the disk GUID and perhaps this shouldn't matter.
Edit, checked on the disk numbers, I see no correlation between what I'm seeing in shadow copy and what is happening to the numbers. All other items, quotas, etc fail and work correctly despite these diffs:
Disk Numbers on Server 1:
Format: "shadow/storerelation volume = Disk Number"
aHome storage1 = 16
aShared storage2 = 09
sHome storage3 = 01
sShared storage4 = 04
aHome shadow1 = 10
aShared shadow2 = 11
sHome shadow3 = 02
sShared shadow4 = 05
Disk numbers on Server 2:
aHome storage1 = 16 (SAME)
aShared storage2 = 04 (DIFF)
sHome storage3 = 05 (DIFF)
sShared storage4 = 08 (DIFF)
aHome shadow1 = 10 (SAME)
aShared shadow2 = 11 (SAME)
sHome shadow3 = 06 (DIFF)
sShared shadow4 = 09 (DIFF)
Thanks in advance for your assistance/guidance on this matter!

Hello Alex,
Thank you for your reply. I will go through your questions in order as best I can, though I'm not the backup expert here.
1) "Did you see any event ID when the VSS fail?
please offer us more information about your environment, such as what type backup you are using the soft ware based or hard ware VSS device."
I saw a number of events on inspection. Interestingly enough, the event ID 60 issues did not occur on the drive where shadow copies did remain after the two reboots. I'm putting my event notes in a code block to try to preserve formatting/readability.
I've written down events from both server 1 and 2 in this code block, documenting the first reboot causing the role to move to server 2 and then the second reboot going back to server 1:
JANUARY 2
9:34:20 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 1074 - INFO - Source: User 32 - Standard reboot request from explorer.exe (Initiated by me)
9:34:21 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The Volume Shadow Copy service entered the running state."
9:34:21 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 60 - ERROR - Source: volsnap - "The description for Event ID 60 from source volsnap cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy49
F:
T:
The locale specific resource for the desired message is not present"
9:34:21 PM - Server 1 - Event ID 60 - ERROR - Source: volsnap - "The description for Event ID 60 from source volsnap cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy1
H:
V:
The locale specific resource for the desired message is not present"
***The above event repeats with only the number changing, drive letters stay same, citing VolumeShadowCopy# numbers 6, 13, 18, 22, 27, 32, 38, 41, 45, 51,
9:34:21 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 60 - ERROR - Source: volsnap - "The description for Event ID 60 from source volsnap cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy4
E:
S:
The locale specific resource for the desired message is not present"
***The above event repeats with only the number changing, drive letters stay same, citing VolumeShadowCopy# numbers 5, 10, 19, 21, 25, 29, 37, 40, 46, 48, 48
9:34:28 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The NetBackup Legacy Network Service service entered the stopped state."
9:34:28 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The Volume Shadow Copy service entered the stopped state.""
9:34:29 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The NetBackup Client Service service entered the stopped state."
9:34:30 PM - Server 1 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The NetBackup Discovery Framework service entered the stopped state."
10:44:07 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The Volume Shadow Copy service entered the running state."
10:44:08 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 7036 - INFO - Source: Service Control Manager - "The Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider service entered the running state."
10:45:01 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 48 - ERROR - Source: bxois - "Target failed to respond in time to a NOP request."
10:45:01 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 20 - ERROR - Source: bxois - "Connection to the target was lost. The initiator will attempt to retry the connection."
10:45:01 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 153 - WARN - Source: disk - "The IO operation at logical block address 0x146d2c580 for Disk 7 was retried."
10:45:03 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 34 - INFO - Source: bxois - "A connection to the target was lost, but Initiator successfully reconnected to the target. Dump data contains the target name."
JANUARY 3
At around 2:30 I reboot Server 2, seeing that shadow copy was missing after previous failure. Here are the relevant events from the flip back to server 1.
2:30:34 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 60 - ERROR - Source: volsnap - "The description for Event ID 60 from source volsnap cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy24
F:
T:
The locale specific resource for the desired message is not present"
2:30:34 PM - Server 2 - Event ID: 60 - ERROR - Source: volsnap - "The description for Event ID 60 from source volsnap cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy23
E:
S:
The locale specific resource for the desired message is not present"
We are using Symantec NetBackup. The client agent is installed on both server1 and 2. We're backing them up based on the complete drive letter for each storage volume (this makes recovery easier). I believe this is what you would call "software
based VSS". We don't have the infrastructure/setup to do hardware based snapshots. The drives reside on a compellent san mapped to the cluster via iScsi.
2) "Confirm the following registry is exist:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\Settings"
The key is there, however the DWORD value is not, would that mean that the
default value is being used at this point?

SQL Server Failover Cluster Questions

Dear All,
            I am building a two-node failover cluster on SQL Server 2012 SP1 (inside Hyper-V as a Guest Cluster) and want clarification on few things that I am facing.
1.  I am receiving MSDTC Warning. I can go ahead and create the cluster, but want to understand whether this MSDTC is to be configured as a role on the cluster or not. I plan to run SCVMM, SCOM, Orchestrator and Windows Azure Pack Databases
and Reports through it so in such a scenario, do I need MSDTC? If yes, how much should be the size of the MSDTC Drive? Is following process correct?
http://www.sqlnotebook.info/configure-msdtc-on-windows-cluster-2012/
2. During First Node configuration, one needs to provide the "SQL CLUSTER RESEOURCE GROUP NAME". Does it have any bearing on how it will be accessed by other servers for databases and logs? or is it just how the cluster resource group
would be named? would it be required for every instance that is created inside the cluster? Just to be clear, so one can name it according to the instance name.
3. During the instance creation, one needs to provide "SQL Server Network Name". As stated above, I plan to run SCVMM, SCOM, Orchestrator and Windows Azure Pack Databases and Reports through it, so would I be required to provide this
for all instances that I create or this is only required once in the cluster:
4. During the instance creation, one needs to provide the features required for installation i.e. instance features and shared features. As stated above, I plan to run SCVMM, SCOM, Orchestrator and Windows Azure Pack Databases and Reports through
it, so which features should be selected? so that there is less workload on the server.
5. All the instances use TempDB for databases that are present inside it. What would be the best practice with respect to TempDB. One TempDB for all instance on the servers on a separate LUN or all instance having their own TempDB LUN?  What
should be the ideal size of the TempDB LUN?
6. Should all the disks required for DBs and Logs be added to Cluster?  Should they be added normal disks or CSV Volumes?
Thanks in advance.

Hello,
1.You can run the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator service (MSDTC) as a clustered resource on a failover cluster server for increased reliability, based on the failover capabilities of the clustered servers. You can
refer to the MSDTC section of the following blog about determine whether the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) cluster resource must be created.
Reference:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189910.aspx#MSDTC
2. The Cluster Resource Group is where SQL Server failover cluster resource will be placed. Each clustered SQL Server will belong to a Failover
Cluster Resource Group. For example, if you had configure a two node SQL Server Cluster, each clustered instance on the two node belong to a same Cluster Resource Group.
You can change the Cluster Resource Group name, but notes the following name is reserved and already used as Resource Group names: Available Storage, Cluster Group.
3. Each SQL Server cluster is assigned a virtual Network name and IP address, which client applications use to connect to the clustered SQL Server.
4. Not familiar with SCVMM, SCOM, Orchestrator, but you should install the Database Engine Services and SQL Server Management tools.If you want to use SQL Server Reporting Services, you can install Reporting Servers, but Report Server service cannot participate
in a failover cluster.
5. You can use isolated disk for user database and temp DB of each SQL Server Cluster
6. Yes. You should use Cluster Disks which add to Clustered Shared Volumes to host the data file and log of databases.
http://www.pythian.com/blog/how-to-install-a-clustered-sql-server-2012-instance-step-by-step-part-1/
Regards,
Fanny Liu
Fanny Liu
TechNet Community Support

Destroying/Re-creating a Failover Cluster - Server 2012

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