This blog outlines the sequence of steps to configure a Clustered Storage Space in Windows Server 2012 using the Failover Cluster Manager or Windows PowerShell®. You can learn more about Storage Spaces here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012...

Many customers use the Windows Task Scheduler to perform regularly scheduled maintenance tasks on their servers, to run audit checks, generate reports, and even updating application data caches. A task in the Windows Task Scheduler performs an action...

In this blog, I will outline the steps to troubleshoot “Create Cluster” failures. Steps when Troubleshooting “Create Cluster” Failures Step 1: Run the Cluster Validation Tool The cluster validation tool runs a suite of...

Creating a cluster on Windows Server 2012 is easy experience! After installing the Failover Clustering feature, and validating a configuration, the next step is to create a new cluster. There are some minor changes in the create cluster experience...

Storage migration is a new feature in Windows 8 Server that allows moving the files for a virtual machine (VM) to a new location while the VM is running. For example, suppose your VM’s files are currently on a SAN volume, but the SAN storage...

Overview Do you have a large number of virtualized workloads in your cluster? Have you been looking for a solution that allows you to detect if any of the virtualized workloads in your cluster are behaving abnormally? Would you like the cluster service...

The Microsoft Virtual Academy, our public online training portal, has just released several new courses on SQL HA: Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Security enhancements Microsoft SQL Server 2012 High Availability and Disaster Recovery Design Patterns...

Starting with Windows Server 2008, SMB file shares on a Failover Cluster are scoped so that they are only accessible by valid UNC paths associated with the network name they are bound to. See this blog for more information: http://blogs.technet.com/b...

The installation procedure for Failover Clustering in Windows Server 2012 is very similar to that found in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. In this blog we will discuss the changes in Windows Server 2012 as well as the different options...

In Windows Server 2012 Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) has been more tightly integrated into the Failover Clustering feature. The process for a cluster Physical Disk Resource (PDR) to be enabled for CSV has been simplified and streamlined. In this blog,...

Windows Server 2012 Failover Clusters are easier to manage and maintain with the new “Node Drain” and “Resume with Failback” features. This enables nodes to be gracefully drained for planned maintenance. This functionality is part...

In Windows Server 2012 there have been several enhancements to how Windows Server Failover Clusters integrate with the Active Directory. In this blog I am going to discuss some of the changes to help enable creating Failover Clusters in restrictive Active...

Overview Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) has many new features in Windows Server 2012 that will deliver the most resilient and highest performance storage infrastructure for your private cloud. One of those new features is the CSV Cache. CSV Cache...

Hi Cluster Fans, In Windows Server 2012, Windows PowerShell® cmdlet help content has new functionality that enables it to be updatable over the life of the product. This allows us to get feedback from the community and update the help with enhanced...

The beta of Windows Server “8” is now available for IT professionals and software developers around the world to download, to evaluate, and to give us feedback on. Specifically for the Failover Clustering feature, we have delivered a large...

On February 21 & 22 Microsoft Learning is running a 2-day virtual training event to help the world learn about the upcoming enhancements with the Creating & Managing a Private Cloud with System Center 2012 Jump Start . It is 100% free and open...

Hi Cluster Fans, We recently launched the free & public Microsoft Virtual Academy ( www.MicrosoftVirtualAcademy.com ). This training portal offers quick and easy access to presentations, webcasts, whitepapers and other technical content about Microsoft’s...

Next Tuesday, December 6 th from 8am-11am PST, we are offering a free training: Failover Clustering with Hyper-V: Designing a Highly-Available Infrastructure for the Private Cloud Register here: http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration...

On Thursday December 1 st and Wednesday January 11 th , Technical Evangelist Symon Perriman and Technical Instructor Philip Helsel will host an online 8-hour deep dive training event for the Microsoft 70-659 Technical Specialist exam, Windows Server 2008...

Virtualization Career Training On Tuesday, October 4 th Technical Evangelists Symon Perriman and Rick Claus are hosting an online conference on Virtualization Career Training with Microsoft Learning. This half day virtual event (8am – 11am PST...

Hi Cluster Fans, This blog post will show the configuration of IP Addresses on multi-subnet clusters for the cluster’s network name, or “Client Access Point” (CAP). This is different from the IP Addresses configuration for other clustered...

On a Windows Server Failover Cluster for each Network Name resource there is a logical name which has a corresponding computer object (CO) created. The computer object associated with the Cluster Name this is commonly referred to as the Cluster Name Object...

Hi Cluster Fans, On Thursday, July 14 th we will be giving online training to user groups about Failover Clustering & Hyper-V: Planning your Highly-Available Virtualization Environment . This event is run in collaboration with Microsoft’s...

Hi Cluster Fans, As you may already know, the requirements for having a supported cluster have been significantly simplified since the release of Windows Server 2008. There is no longer a need to have every component in the configuration listed in...

Hi Cluster Fans, This blog post will help you understand the different software SKU options you have when planning for a virtualized datacenter, private cloud or any other deployment model which uses Failover Clustering as a critical infrastructure...