Windows Server 2012 HyperV Cluster - Dynamic Memory Config

Hello There,
I am about to configure two node HyperV Cluster on Windows 2012 R2.
There is 192 GB RAM on each node but my VMs requirement is around 216 GB but some VMs doesn't require the full memory capacity all the time so in this scenario what is the best method to use dynamic memory utilization.
RAM
48 GB
48 GB
16 GB
48 GB
48 GB
8 GB
I need to provision 6 VMs with the above memory config but want to utilize it effectively through dynamic memory, please suggest.
I don't need the full RAM capacity all the time as in the table.
Thanks,
maqsood
Maqsood Mohammed Senior Systems Engineer MCITP-Enterprise Admin & ITILv3 Foundation Certified

Of course you can, this is the aim of the dynamic memory feature.
In the VM's memory configuration, you will find three parameters:
Start up RAM : This is the memory allocated to the VM when it's started
Maximum RAM : This is the maximum amount of memory that a VM can request from the Hypervisor. If there is available memory the host will grant it more memory, if not, the VM will not receive memory
Minimum RAM : Because the memory configuration is dynamic, when a VM will not use memory, it will give back its memory resources to the host, but it will never go down its Minimum RAM value (The total minimum RAM of all VMs can never exceed the available
memory, otherwise the VMs will not even start)
And there is the Priority option that tell the hypervisor which VM to satisfy first.
Look here for more explanation
Regards, Samir Farhat Infrastructure and Virtualization Consultant || Virtualization, Cloud, Azure ? Follow and Ask here https://buildwindows.wordpress.com

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Hi All,
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Hi,
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http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd354022(v=WS.10).aspx
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DNS Registration with the Network Name Resource
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Windows Server 2012 - Hyper-V - iSCSI SAN - All Hyper-V Guests stops responding and extensive disk read/write

We have a problem with one of our deployments of Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V with a 2 node cluster connected to a iSCSI SAN.
Our setup:
Hosts - Both run Windows Server 2012 Standard and are clustered.
HP ProLiant G7, 24 GB RAM, 2 teamed NIC dedicated to Virtual Machines and Management, 2 teamed NIC dedicated to iSCSI storage. - This is the primary host and normaly all VMs run on this host.
HP ProLiant G5, 20 GB RAM, 1 NIC dedicated to Virtual Machines and Management, 2 teamed NIC dedicated to iSCSI storage. - This is the secondary host that and is intended to be used in case of failure of the primary host.
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iSCSI SAN:
QNAP NAS TS-869 Pro, 8 INTEL SSDSA2CW160G3 160 GB i a RAID 5 with a Host Spare. 2 Teamed NIC.
Switch:
DLINK DGS-1210-16 - Both the network cards of the Hosts that are dedicated to the Storage and the Storage itself are connected to the same switch and nothing else is connected to this switch.
Virtual Machines:
3 Windows Server 2012 Standard - 1 DC, 1 FileServer, 1 Application Server.
1 Windows Server 2008 Standard Exchange Server.
All VMs are using dynamic disks (as recommended by Microsoft).
Updates
We have applied the most resent updates to the Hosts, WMs and iSCSI SAN about 3 weeks ago with no change in our problem and we continually update the setup.
Normal operation
Normally this setup works just fine and we see no real difference in speed in startup, file copy and processing speed in LoB applications of this setup compared to a single host with 2 10000 RPM Disks. Normal network speed is 10-200 Mbit, but occasionally
we see speeds up to 400 Mbit/s of combined read/write for instance during file repair
Our Problem
Our problem is that for some reason all of the VMs stops responding or responds very slowly and you can for instance not send CTRL-ALT-DEL to a VM in the Hyper-V console, or for instance start task manager when already logged in.
Symptoms (i.e. this happens, or does not happen, at the same time)
I we look at resource monitor on the host then we see that there is often an extensive read from a VHDX of one of the VMs (40-60 Mbyte/s) and a combined write speed to many files in \HarddiskVolume5\System Volume Information\{<someguid and no file extension>}.
See iamge below.
The combined network speed to the iSCSI SAN is about 500-600 Mbit/s.
When this happens it is usually during and after a VSS ShadowCopy backup, but has also happens during hours where no backup should be running (i.e. during daytime when the backup has finished hours ago according to the log files). There is however
not that extensive writes to the backup file that is created on an external hard drive and this does not seem to happen during all backups (we have manually checked a few times, but it is hard to say since this error does not seem leave any traces in event
viewer).
We cannot find any indication that the VMs themself detect any problem and we see no increase of errors (for example storage related errors) in the eventlog inside the VMs.
The QNAP uses about 50% processing Power on all cores.
We see no dropped packets on the switch.
(I have split the image to save horizontal space).
Unable to recreate the problem / find definitive trigger
We have not succeeded in recreating the problem manually by, for instance, running chkdsk or defrag in VM and Hosts, copy and remove large files to VMs, running CPU and Disk intensive operations inside a VM (for instance scan and repair a database file).
Questions
Why does all VMs stop responding and why is there such intensive Read/Writes to the iSCSI SAN?
Could it be anything in our setup that cannot handle all the read/write requests? For instance the iSCSI SAN, the hosts, etc?
What can we do about this? Should we use MultiPath IO instead of NIC teaming to the SAN, limit bandwith to the SAN, etc?

Hi,
> All VMs are using dynamic disks (as recommended by Microsoft).
If this is a testing environment, it’s okay, but if this a production environment, it’s not recommended. Fixed VHDs are recommended for production instead of dynamically expanding or differencing VHDs.
Hyper-V: Dynamic virtual hard disks are not recommended for virtual machines that run server workloads in a production environment
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee941151(v=WS.10).aspx
> This is the primary host and normaly all VMs run on this host.
According to your posting, we know that you have Cluster Shared Volumes in the Hyper-V cluster, but why not distribute your VMs into two Hyper-V hosts.
Use Cluster Shared Volumes in a Windows Server 2012 Failover Cluster
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612868.aspx
> 2 teamed NIC dedicated to iSCSI storage.
Use Microsoft MultiPath IO (MPIO) to manage multiple paths to iSCSI storage. Microsoft does not support teaming on network adapters that are used to connect to iSCSI-based storage devices. (At least it’s not supported until Windows Server 2008 R2. Although
Windows Server 2012 has built-in network teaming feature, I don’t article which declare that Windows Server 2012 network teaming support iSCSI connection)
Understanding Requirements for Failover Clusters
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771404.aspx
> I have seen using MPIO suggests using different subnets, is this a requirement for using MPIO
> or is this just a way to make sure that you do not run out of IP adressess?
What I found is: if it is possible, isolate the iSCSI and data networks that reside on the same switch infrastructure through the use of VLANs and separate subnets. Redundant network paths from the server to the storage system via MPIO will maximize availability
and performance. Of course you can set these two NICs in separate subnets, but I don’t think it is necessary.
> Why should it be better to not have dedicated wireing for iSCSI and Management?
It is recommended that the iSCSI SAN network be separated (logically or physically) from the data network workloads. This ‘best practice’ network configuration optimizes performance and reliability.
Check that and modify cluster configuration, monitor it and give us feedback for further troubleshooting.
For more information please refer to following MS articles:
Volume Shadow Copy Service
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee923636(WS.10).aspx
Support for Multipath I/O (MPIO)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770294.aspx
Deployments and Tests in an iSCSI SAN
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/bb649502(v=SQL.90).aspx
Hope this helps!
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Lawrence
TechNet Community Support

IRPStackSize - Windows server 2012 R2

Hi ,
we did "RAP as a Service for Failover Cluster 2012" with microsoft
one of recommended tasks is
IRPStackSize is not set to default
and as per this article https://www.myotherpcisacloud.com/post/2012/11/11/Best-Practices-Remediation-Tips-for-Server-2012-Pt-I.aspx
"The Best Practices Analyzer says
IRPStackSize should be at 15, so I'll set it to 15.
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\IRPStackSize. "
Now This registry is not found in Windows server 2012 R2 Cluster
So should i create it manually or its not needed ?
Ramy

You can create it but may be defeating auto tuning. These ones still should be applicable.
Changes in IRP Stack Size in Lanman Server
Also note this one about server service and auto tuning features
Server service configuration and tuning
Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Windows Server 2012 - Hyper-V - Cluster Sharded Storage - VHDX unexpectedly gets copied to System Volume Information by "System", Virtual Machines stops respondig

We have a problem with one of our deployments of Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V with a 2 node cluster connected to a iSCSI SAN.
Our setup:
Hosts - Both run Windows Server 2012 Standard and are clustered.
HP ProLiant G7, 24 GB RAM. This is the primary host and normaly all VMs run on this host.
HP ProLiant G5, 20 GB RAM. This is the secondary host that and is intended to be used in case of failure of the primary host.
We have no antivirus on the hosts and the scheduled ShadowCopy (previous version of files) is switched off.
iSCSI SAN:
QNAP NAS TS-869 Pro, 8 INTEL SSDSA2CW160G3 160 GB i a RAID 5 with a Host Spare. 2 Teamed NIC.
Switch:
DLINK DGS-1210-16 - Both the network cards of the Hosts that are dedicated to the Storage and the Storage itself are connected to the same switch and nothing else is connected to this switch.
Virtual Machines:
3 Windows Server 2012 Standard - 1 DC, 1 FileServer, 1 Application Server.
1 Windows Server 2008 Standard Exchange Server.
All VMs are using dynamic disks (as recommended by Microsoft).
Updates
We have applied the most resent updates to the Hosts, VMs and iSCSI SAN about 3 weeks ago with no change in our problem and we continually update the setup.
Normal operation:
Normally this setup works just fine and we see no real difference in speed in startup, file copy and processing speed in LoB applications of this setup compared to a single host with two 10000 RPM Disks. Normal network speed is 10-200 Mbit, but occasionally
we see speeds up to 400 Mbit/s of combined read/write for instance during file repair.
Our Problem:
Our problem is that for some reason a random VHDX gets copied to System Volume Information by "System" of the Clusterd Shared Storage (i.e. C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\System Volume Information).
All VMs stops responding or responds very slowly during this copy process and you can for instance not send CTRL-ALT-DEL to a VM in the Hyper-V console, or for instance start task manager when already logged in.
This happens at random and not every day and different VHDX files from different VMs gets copied each time. Some time it happens during daytime wich causes a lot of problems, especially when a 200 GB file gets copied (which take a lot of time).
What it is not:
We thought that this was connected to the backup, but the backup had finished 3 hours before the last time this happended and the backup never uses any of the files in System Volume Information so it is not the backup.
An observation:
When this happend today I switched on ShadowCopy (previous files) and set it to only to use 320 MB of storage and then the Copy Process stopped and the virtual Machines started responding again. This could be unrelated since there is no way to see
how much of the VHDX that is left to be copied, so it might have been finished at the same time as I enabled ShadowCopy (previos files).
Our question:
Why is a VHDX copied to System Volume Information when scheduled ShadowCopy (previous version of files) is switched off? As far as I know, nothing should be copied to this folder when this functionis switched off?
List of VSS Writers:
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2012 Microsoft Corp.
Writer name: 'Task Scheduler Writer'
 Writer Id: {d61d61c8-d73a-4eee-8cdd-f6f9786b7124}
 Writer Instance Id: {1bddd48e-5052-49db-9b07-b96f96727e6b}
 State: [1] Stable
 Last error: No error
Writer name: 'VSS Metadata Store Writer'
 Writer Id: {75dfb225-e2e4-4d39-9ac9-ffaff65ddf06}
 Writer Instance Id: {088e7a7d-09a8-4cc6-a609-ad90e75ddc93}
 State: [1] Stable
 Last error: No error
Writer name: 'Performance Counters Writer'
 Writer Id: {0bada1de-01a9-4625-8278-69e735f39dd2}
 Writer Instance Id: {f0086dda-9efc-47c5-8eb6-a944c3d09381}
 State: [1] Stable
 Last error: No error
Writer name: 'System Writer'
 Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
 Writer Instance Id: {7848396d-00b1-47cd-8ba9-769b7ce402d2}
 State: [1] Stable
 Last error: No error
Writer name: 'Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer'
 Writer Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de}
 Writer Instance Id: {8b6c534a-18dd-4fff-b14e-1d4aebd1db74}
 State: [5] Waiting for completion
 Last error: No error
Writer name: 'Cluster Shared Volume VSS Writer'
 Writer Id: {1072ae1c-e5a7-4ea1-9e4a-6f7964656570}
 Writer Instance Id: {d46c6a69-8b4a-4307-afcf-ca3611c7f680}
 State: [1] Stable
 Last error: No error
Writer name: 'ASR Writer'
 Writer Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
 Writer Instance Id: {fc530484-71db-48c3-af5f-ef398070373e}
 State: [1] Stable
 Last error: No error
Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
 Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
 Writer Instance Id: {3792e26e-c0d0-4901-b799-2e8d9ffe2085}
 State: [1] Stable
 Last error: No error
Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
 Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
 Writer Instance Id: {6ea65f92-e3fd-4a23-9e5f-b23de43bc756}
 State: [1] Stable
 Last error: No error
Writer name: 'BITS Writer'
 Writer Id: {4969d978-be47-48b0-b100-f328f07ac1e0}
 Writer Instance Id: {71dc7876-2089-472c-8fed-4b8862037528}
 State: [1] Stable
 Last error: No error
Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
 Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
 Writer Instance Id: {cb0c7fd8-1f5c-41bb-b2cc-82fabbdc466e}
 State: [1] Stable
 Last error: No error
Writer name: 'Cluster Database'
 Writer Id: {41e12264-35d8-479b-8e5c-9b23d1dad37e}
 Writer Instance Id: {23320f7e-f165-409d-8456-5d7d8fbaefed}
 State: [1] Stable
 Last error: No error
Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
 Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
 Writer Instance Id: {f23d0208-e569-48b0-ad30-1addb1a044af}
 State: [1] Stable
 Last error: No error
Please note:
Please only answer our question and do not offer any general optimization tips that do not directly adress the issue! We want the problem to go away, not to finish a bit faster!

Hallo Lawrence!
Thankyou for youre reply, some comments to help you and others who read this thread:
First of all, we use Windows Server 2012 and the VHDX as I wrote in the headline and in the text in my post. We have not had this problem in similar setups with Windows Server 2008 R2, so the problem seem to be introduced in Windows Server 2012.
These posts that you refer to seem to be outdated and/or do not apply to our configuration:
The post about Dynamic Disks:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee941151(v=WS.10).aspx is only a recommendation for Windows Server 2008 R2 and the VHD format. Dynamic VHDX is indeed recommended by Microsoft when using Windows Server 2012 (please look in the optimization guide
for Windows Server 2012).
Infact, if we use fixed VHDX then we would have a bigger problem since fixed VHDX are generaly larger then Dynamic Disks, i.e. more data would be copied and that would take longer time = the VMs would be unresponsive for a longer time.
The post "What's the deal with the System Volume Information folder"
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2003/11/20/55764.aspx is for Windows XP / Windows Server 2003 and some things has changed since then. for instance In Windows Server 2012, Shadow Copies cannot be controlled by going to Control panel -> System.
Instead you right-click on a Drive (i.e. a Volume, for instance the C drive/Volume) in Computer and then click "Configure Shadow Copies".
Windows Server 2008 R2 Backup problem
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/windowsbackup/thread/0fc53adb-477d-425b-8c99-ad006e132336 - This post is about the Antivirus software trying to scan files used during backup that exists in the System Volume Information folder and we do not
have any antivirus software installed on our hosts as I stated in my post.
Comment that might help us:
So according to “System Volume Information” definition, the operation you mentioned is Volume Shadow Copy. Check event viewer to find Volume Shadow Copy related event logs and post them.
Why?
Furhter investigation suggests that a volume shadow copy is somehow created even though the Schedule for Shadows Copies is turned off for all drives. This happens at random and we have not found any pattern. Yesterday this operation took almost all available
disk space (over 200 GB), but all the disk space was released when I turned on scheduled Shadow Copies for the CSV.
I therefore draw these conclusions:
The CSV Volume has about 600 GB of disk space and since Volume Shadows Copy used 200 GB, or about 33% of the disk space, and the default limit is 10% then I conclude that for some reason the unscheduled Volume Shadow Copy did not have any limit (or ignored
the limit).
When I turned on the Schedule I also change the limit to the minimum amount which is 320 MB and this is probably what released the disk space. That is, the unscheduled Volume Shadow Copy operation was aborted and it adhered to the limit and deleted the
Volume Shadow Copy it had taken.
I have also set the limit for Volume Shadow Copies for all other volumes to 320 MB by using the "Configure Shadow Copies" Window that you open by right clicking on a drive (volume) in Computer and then selecting "Configure Shadow Copies...".
It is important to note that setting a limit for Shadow Copy Storage, and disabaling the Schedule are two different things! It is possible to have unlimited storage for Shadow Copies when the Schedule is disabled, however I do not know if this was the case
Before I enabled Shadow Copies on the CSV since I did not look for this.
I now have defined a limit for Shadow Copy Storage to 320 MB on all drives and then no VHDX should be copied to System Volume Information since they are all larger than 320 MB.
Does this sound about right or am I drawing the wrong conclusions?
Limits for Shadow Copies:
Below we list the limits for our two hosts:
"Primary Host":
C:\>vssadmin list shadowstorage
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2012 Microsoft Corp.
Shadow Copy Storage association
 For volume: (\\?\Volume{e3ad7feb-178b-11e2-93e8-806e6f6e6963}\)\\?\Volume{e3ad7feb-178b-11e2-93e8-806e6f6e6963}\
 Shadow Copy Storage volume: (\\?\Volume{e3ad7feb-178b-11e2-93e8-806e6f6e6963}\)\\?\Volume{e3ad7feb-178b-11e2-93e8-806e6f6e6963}\
 Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 320 MB (91%)
Shadow Copy Storage association
 For volume: (E:)\\?\Volume{dc0a177b-ab03-44c2-8ff6-499b29c3d5cc}\
 Shadow Copy Storage volume: (E:)\\?\Volume{dc0a177b-ab03-44c2-8ff6-499b29c3d5cc}\
 Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 320 MB (0%)
Shadow Copy Storage association
 For volume: (G:)\\?\Volume{f58dc334-17be-11e2-93ee-9c8e991b7c20}\
 Shadow Copy Storage volume: (G:)\\?\Volume{f58dc334-17be-11e2-93ee-9c8e991b7c20}\
 Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 320 MB (3%)
Shadow Copy Storage association
 For volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{e3ad7fec-178b-11e2-93e8-806e6f6e6963}\
 Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{e3ad7fec-178b-11e2-93e8-806e6f6e6963}\
 Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 320 MB (0%)
C:\>cd \ClusterStorage\Volume1
Secondary host:
C:\>vssadmin list shadowstorage
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2012 Microsoft Corp.
Shadow Copy Storage association
 For volume: (\\?\Volume{b2951138-f01e-11e1-93e8-806e6f6e6963}\)\\?\Volume{b2951138-f01e-11e1-93e8-806e6f6e6963}\
 Shadow Copy Storage volume: (\\?\Volume{b2951138-f01e-11e1-93e8-806e6f6e6963}\)\\?\Volume{b2951138-f01e-11e1-93e8-806e6f6e6963}\
 Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 35,0 MB (10%)
Shadow Copy Storage association
 For volume: (D:)\\?\Volume{5228437e-9a01-4690-bc40-1df85a0e6736}\
 Shadow Copy Storage volume: (D:)\\?\Volume{5228437e-9a01-4690-bc40-1df85a0e6736}\
 Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 27,3 GB (10%)
Shadow Copy Storage association
 For volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{b2951139-f01e-11e1-93e8-806e6f6e6963}\
 Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{b2951139-f01e-11e1-93e8-806e6f6e6963}\
 Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
 Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 6,80 GB (10%)
C:\>
There is something strange about the limits on the Secondary host!
I have not in any way changed the settings on the Secondary host and as you can see, the Secondary host has a maximum limit of only 35 MB storage on the CSV, but it also shows that this is 10% of the Volume. This is clearly not the case since 10% if 600
GB = 60 GB!
The question is, why does it by default set a too small limit (i.e. < 320 MB) on the CSV and is this the cause of the problem? I.e. is the limit ignored since it is smaller than the smallest amount you can provide using the GUI?
Is the default 35 MB maximum Shadow Copy limit a bug, or is there any logical reason for setting a limit that according to the GUI is too small?

Windows Server 2012 Cluster Validation Failing On List All Potential Cluster Disks

I'm in the process of setting up a new cluster using Windows Server 2012 with a view to migrate from our existing 2008 R2 cluster. I am having problems validating the storage and the wizard keeps failing on the List All Potential Cluster Disks
test (which causes all the other storage tests to be cancelled).
I'm getting the following error:
Failed while verifying removal of any Persistent Reservation on physical disk 19ba99a4 at node RC-HYPERV-3.riddlesdown.local.
When I look in validation report, disk 19ba99a4 is the management LUN (Access LUN 31 as termed by the storage software).
Looking on my 2008 R2 cluster this doesn't appear in Disk Management.
Any ideas how I can get rid of it or the error that it is causing?

Hi,
Thank you for your question.
I am trying to involve someone familiar with this topic to further look at this issue. There might be some time delay. Appreciate your patience.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
Best Regards,
Aiden
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Upgrading Cluster To Windows Server 2012 R2

My previous thread was closed so here is a new one.
I have a 4 Hyper-V host failover cluster (R720s) running Windows Server 2012 Datacenter, which is connected to a SAN where the CSVs are stored. I have a 5th R720 server on which I have installed Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter from scratch. I have installed
the Hyper-V and Failover Cluster roles on it as well. It is can see the SAN.
Questions:
1. To setup the Hyper-V virtual switch on the 5th server, should I join it to the existing Server 2012 Hyper-V failover cluster and create the virtual switch then? Or should I create the virtual switch on the 5th server, with the same settings as the virtual
switch in the Hyper-V failover cluster, before adding it to the failover cluster?
2. Can I add the 5th server to the existing Hyper-V cluster, migrate virtual machines from Hyper-V host #1 to the 5th server, install Virtual Guest Services on the virtual machines which have been migrated to the 5th server, drain roles from Hyper-V host
#1 and perform an in-place upgrade on Hyper-V host #1, once the in-place upgrade is complete, fail the roles back to Hyper-V host #1.
Please advise.
Thanks,

Just and FYI, it is now called a witness disk. Yes, it does provide a quorum function from time to time, but with the new dynamic quorum model it is not always used as a quorum.
There are multiple ways to move the VMs from 2012 to 2012 R2. Here are three. A little searching of TechNet and you will most likely find some others.
One of the new capabilities is to live migrate the VM from 2012 to 2012 R2. This involves storage migration across the network, so if you have lots of VMs and not a lot of bandwidth, this can be painful. But it is the only way to ensure no downtime
of a VM, so it could be used selectively.
If you can take some downtime on the VMs, you can use something like VeeamZip -
http://www.veeam.com/virtual-machine-backup-solution-free.html
Another method that requires some downtime is to use a step-by-step guide that Microsoft published for moving from 2008 R2 cluster to a 2012 cluster. Even though you are going 2012 to 2012 R2, it works exactly the same.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/clustering/archive/2012/06/25/10323434.aspx
. : | : . : | : . tim

[SOLVED] Can't add a node to the cluster with error (Exchange 2010 SP3 DAG Windows Server 2012)

Hi there!
I have a problem which makes me very angry already :)
I have two servers Exchange 2010 SP3 with MB role started on Windows Server 2012. I decided to create a DAG.
I have created the prestaged AD object for the cluster called msc-co-exc-01c, assigned necessary permissions and disabled it. Allowed through the Windows Firewall traffic between nodes and prepared the File Share Witness server.
Then I have tried to add nodes. The first node has been added successfully, but the second node doesn't want to be added :). Now I can add only one node to the DAG. I tried to add different servers first, but only the first one was added.
LOGS on the second nodes:
Application Log
"Failed to initialize cluster with error 0x80004005." (MSExchangeIS)
Failover Clustering Diagnostic Log
"[VER] Could not read version data from database for node msc-co-exc-04v (id 1)."
CMDLET Error:
Summary: 1 item(s). 0 succeeded, 1 failed.
Elapsed time: 00:06:21
MSC-CO-EXC-02V
Failed
Error:
A database availability group administrative operation failed. Error: The operation failed. CreateCluster errors may result from incorrectly configured static addresses. Error: An error occurred while attempting a cluster operation. Error: Cluster API '"AddClusterNode()
(MaxPercentage=100) failed with 0x5b4. Error: This operation returned because the timeout period expired"' failed. [Server: msc-co-exc-04v.int.krls.ru]
An Active Manager operation failed. Error An error occurred while attempting a cluster operation. Error: Cluster API '"AddClusterNode() (MaxPercentage=100) failed with 0x5b4. Error: This operation returned because the timeout period expired"' failed..
This operation returned because the timeout period expired
Click here for help... http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/ms.exch.err.default(EXCHG.141).aspx?v=14.3.174.1&t=exchgf1&e=ms.exch.err.ExC9C315
Warning:
Network name 'msc-co-exc-01c' is not online. Please check that the IP address configuration for the database availability group is correct.
Warning:
The operation wasn't successful because an error was encountered. You may find more details in log file "C:\ExchangeSetupLogs\DagTasks\dagtask_2014-11-17_13-54-56.543_add-databaseavailabiltygroupserver.log".
Exchange Management Shell command attempted:
Add-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupServer -MailboxServer 'MSC-CO-EXC-02V' -Identity 'msc-co-exc-01c'
Elapsed Time: 00:06:21
UPD:
when Exchange servers ran on the same Hyper-V node, the DAG is working well, but if I move one of VM to another node, It stops working.
I have installed Wireshark and captured trafic of cluster interface. When DAG members on the same HV-node, there is inbound and outbound traffic on the cluster interface, but if I move one of DAG member to another node, in Wireshark I see only outbound traffic
on both nodes.
It's confused me, because there is normal connectivity between these DAG members through the main interface.
Please, help me if you can.

Hi, Jared! Thank you for the reply.
Of course I did it already :) I have new info:
when Exchange servers ran on the same Hyper-V node, the DAG is working well, but if I move one of VM to another node, It stops working.
I have installed Wireshark and captured trafic of cluster interface. When DAG members on the same HV-node, there is inbound and outbound traffic on the cluster interface, but if I move one of DAG member to another node, in Wireshark I see only outbound traffic
on both nodes.
It's confused me, because there is normal connectivity between these DAG members through the main interface.

Install SQL Server 2012 SP1 on a Windows Server 2012 R2 Failover Cluster - hangs at "Running discovery on remote machine" on VMWare VSphere 5.5 Update 1

Hi,I'm trying to install SQL Server 2012 SP1 on the first node of a Windows Server 2012 R2 failover cluster.The install hangs whilst displaying the "Please wait while Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Servce
Pack 1 Setup processes the current operation." message.The detail.txt log file shows as follows:(01) 2014-07-17 15:36:35 Slp: -- PidInfoProvider : Use cached PID (01) 2014-07-17 15:36:35 Slp: -- PidInfoProvider
: NormalizePid is normalizing input pid (01) 2014-07-17 15:36:35 Slp: -- PidInfoProvider : NormalizePid found a pid containing dashes, assuming pid is normalized, output pid (01) 2014-07-17 15:36:35 Slp: -- PidInfoProvider : Use cached
PID (01) 2014-07-17 15:36:35 Slp: Completed Action: FinalCalculateSettings, returned True (01) 2014-07-17 15:36:35 Slp: Completed Action: ExecuteBootstrapAfterExtensionsLoaded, returned True (01) 2014-07-17 15:36:35 Slp: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (01) 2014-07-17 15:36:35 Slp: Running Action: RunRemoteDiscoveryAction (01) 2014-07-17 15:36:36 Slp: Running discovery on local machine (01) 2014-07-17 15:36:36 Slp: Discovery on local machine is complete (01) 2014-07-17
15:36:36 Slp: Running discovery on remote machine: XXX-XXX-01After about 4 hours and 10 minutes, the step seems to time out and move on, however it doesn't seem to have discovered what it needs to and the setup subsuently fails

Hi,
Sorry Information you provided did not helped can you post content of both summary file and details,txt file on shared location for analysis.
Can you download Service pack again and try once more
Please mark this reply as answer if it solved your issue or vote as helpful if it helped so that other forum members can benefit from it.
My TechNet Wiki Articles

Cluster Quorum Disk failing inside Guest cluster VMs in Hyper-V Cluster using Virtual Disk Sharing Windows Server 2012 R2

Hi, I'm having a problem in a VM Guest cluster using Windows Server 2012 R2 and virtual disk sharing enabled.
It's a SQL 2012 cluster, which has around 10 vhdx disks shared this way. all the VHDX files are inside LUNs on a SAN. These LUNs are presented to all clustered members of the Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V cluster, via Cluster Shared Volumes.
Yesterday happened a very strange problem, both the Quorum Disk and the DTC disks got the information completetly erased. The vhdx disks themselves where there, but the info inside was gone.
The SQL admin had to recreated both disks, but now we don't know if this issue was related to the virtualization platform or another event inside the cluster itself.
Right now I'm seen this errors on one of the VM Guest:
Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-FailoverClustering
Date: 3/4/2014 11:54:55 AM
Event ID: 1069
Task Category: Resource Control Manager
Level: Error
Keywords:
User: SYSTEM
Computer: ServerDB02.domain.com
Description:
Cluster resource 'Quorum-HDD' of type 'Physical Disk' in clustered role 'Cluster Group' failed.
Based on the failure policies for the resource and role, the cluster service may try to bring the resource online on this node or move the group to another node of the cluster and then restart it. Check the resource and group state using Failover Cluster
Manager or the Get-ClusterResource Windows PowerShell cmdlet.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-FailoverClustering" Guid="{BAF908EA-3421-4CA9-9B84-6689B8C6F85F}" />
<EventID>1069</EventID>
<Version>1</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>3</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2014-03-04T17:54:55.498842300Z" />
<EventRecordID>14140</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="1684" ThreadID="2180" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>ServerDB02.domain.com</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="ResourceName">Quorum-HDD</Data>
<Data Name="ResourceGroup">Cluster Group</Data>
<Data Name="ResTypeDll">Physical Disk</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>
Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-FailoverClustering
Date: 3/4/2014 11:54:55 AM
Event ID: 1558
Task Category: Quorum Manager
Level: Warning
Keywords:
User: SYSTEM
Computer: ServerDB02.domain.com
Description:
The cluster service detected a problem with the witness resource. The witness resource will be failed over to another node within the cluster in an attempt to reestablish access to cluster configuration data.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-FailoverClustering" Guid="{BAF908EA-3421-4CA9-9B84-6689B8C6F85F}" />
<EventID>1558</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>3</Level>
<Task>42</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2014-03-04T17:54:55.498842300Z" />
<EventRecordID>14139</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="1684" ThreadID="2180" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>ServerDB02.domain.com</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="NodeName">ServerDB02</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>
We don't know if this can happen again, what if this happens on disk with data?! We don't know if this is related to the virtual disk sharing technology or anything related to virtualization, but I'm asking here to find out if it is a possibility.
Any ideas are appreciated.
Thanks.
Eduardo Rojas

Hi,
Please refer to the following link:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithmayer/archive/2013/03/21/virtual-machine-guest-clustering-with-windows-server-2012-become-a-virtualization-expert-in-20-days-part-14-of-20.aspx#.Ux172HnxtNA
Best Regards,
Vincent Wu
Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Cannot Add File Share to (any) File Server Role of a Cluster in Windows Server 2012

Cannot Add File Share to (any) File Server Role of a Cluster in Windows Server 2012...
Get this message in the Operational Log in "FileServices-ServerManager-EventProvider" section of MS-Windows Eventlogs:
Exception: Caught exception Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.CimException: The xsi:type attribute (MSCluster_Property_Resource_Network_Name) does not identify an existing class.
   at Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.Internal.Operations.CimSyncEnumeratorBase`1.MoveNext(Boolean discardResultsAndErrors)
   at Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.Internal.Operations.CimSyncEnumeratorBase`1.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.FileServer.Management.Plugin.Services.FSCimSession.PerformQuery(String cimNamespace, String queryString)
   at Microsoft.FileServer.Management.Plugin.Services.ClusterEnumerator.BuildNodes(ICimSession session, ClusterRole scopeType, String query, IDictionary`2 groupNameToTypeMap)
   at Microsoft.FileServer.Management.Plugin.Services.ClusterEnumerator.GetClusterClientAccessPointNames(ICimSession session, IDictionary`2 groupNameToTypeMap)
   at Microsoft.FileServer.Management.Plugin.Services.ClusterEnumerator.RetrieveClusterConnections(ComputerName serverName, ClusterMemberTypes memberTypeToQuery)
Thanks for help...(everything else works fine in other type of cluster roles).
Thomas.

This issue also happens in fresh Windows 2012R2 installations, not just upgrades from 2008R2!
I have the issue where I cannot modify any settings on SMB shares. Here is the stacktrace. It appears to be WMI related.
Error: ERROR: Task 'TEST.xxxxxxx.COM-ClusterStorage$-SmbShareUpdate-46bcabf6-1dd4-4a48-a525-5e5d374596c7' has failed: Microsoft.FileServer.Management.Plugin.FSACException: Error occurred while updating an SMB share: The requested operation is not supported.
---> Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.CimException: The requested operation is not supported.
   at Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.Internal.Operations.CimSyncEnumeratorBase`1.MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.SingleOrDefault[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
   at Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.CimSession.ModifyInstance(String namespaceName, CimInstance instance, CimOperationOptions options)
   at Microsoft.FileServer.Management.Plugin.Services.FSCimSession.ModifyInstance(ICimInstance instance)
   at Microsoft.FileServer.Management.Plugin.Services.FSCimSession.ModifyInstance(ICimInstance instance, IEnumerable`1 propertiesWithKeys)
   at Microsoft.FileServer.Management.Plugin.Providers.WmiUpdateTaskBase.DoUpdateInstance(ICimSession session, ICimInstance instance)
   at Microsoft.FileServer.Management.Plugin.Providers.WmiUpdateTaskBase.DoWork(Object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at Microsoft.FileServer.Management.Plugin.Providers.WmiUpdateTaskBase.DoWork(Object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
   at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.WorkerThreadStart(Object argument)

Failover Cluster Manager : Add node wizard Error " This operation returned because the timeout period expired" Windows Server 2012

Hi Everybody,
I have two node cluster and trying to add the third node (which is a Virtual Machine), all nodes are in different subnet and can communication with each other. While adding the third node it gives the error at the end of wizard " This operation
returned because the timeout period expired ". My domain controller is 2008 Enterprise Server and nodes are all running Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition. Any idea what is causing the issue.
thanks

Hi,
Before you add a server (node) to a failover cluster, we strongly recommend that you run the Validate a Configuration Wizard for the existing cluster nodes and the new node
or nodes. The Validate a Configuration Wizard helps you confirm the configuration in a variety of important ways. For example, it validates that the server to be added is connected correctly to the networks and storage and that it contains the same software
updates. Please post the error or warning report.
Please try to install the Recommended hotfixes and updates for Windows Server 2012-based failover clusters:
Recommended hotfixes and updates for Windows Server 2012-based failover clusters
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2784261
Hope this helps.
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Windows Server 2012 HyperV Cluster - Dynamic Memory Config

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