migrating failover clusters time to - 1105...

TechMentor Redmond 2014

T02 ‐Migrating Failover Clusters ‐ Time to Upgrade? ‐ Bruce Mackenzie‐Low

Migrating Failover Clusters –Time to Upgrade?

Bruce Mackenzie-LowSystems Software Engineer

Level: Intermediate

Overview

• Reasons to Migrate

• Failover Cluster Versions

• Compelling New Features

• Before you Begin

• Migration Tools

• Future Windows Updates



Windows Server 2003/2008 End of Life

• Windows Server 2003 andWindows Server 2003 R2 will NO longer be supported after July 14, 2015

• Windows Server 2008 andWindows Server 2008 R2 will enter Extended Support on January 13, 2015

The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 by Forrester Consulting, June 2014• With R2, Hyper‐V meets or exceeds hypervisor requirements. Since

Hyper‐V is included in the price of Windows Server 2012 R2, which the organization was already licensing, it was able to standardize on one hypervisor platform and eliminate software licensing costs for redundant solutions.

• Built‐in virtualization with Cluster‐Aware Updating and Live Migration allows customers to automate patching, vastly reducing the need for manual interaction by speeding up maintenance of servers.

• Software‐defined storage allows the organization to use commodity servers as storage resources, meaning it can save considerably by avoiding SAN hardware costs by making use of low‐cost, high‐volume hardware, often called “JBODs,” or “just a bunch of disks.”

• Guest clustering means organizations can deliver new and improved solutions to customers, (particularly those that provide hosted services) by moving management tools to the software layer that can be exposed to customers and provided as self‐service tools, such as proactive health monitoring, application mobility, protection from host failure, and virtual machine mobility.



Failover Cluster Versions

Windows Failover Clusters• Maximum number of supported nodes in a cluster

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/288778

• Hyper‐V Scalability in Windows Server 2012http://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/jj680093.aspx

Maximum per Cluster

Windows NT 4.0

Windows2000

Windows2003

Windows 2008 R2

Windows Server 2012 R2

Nodes 1 – 2 1 – 4 1 – 8 1 – 16 1 – 64

Virtual Machines NA NA NA 1000 8000 (1024 per node)

Shared Storage SCSIFibreChannel, SCSI

FibreChannel, iSCSI, SAS

Fibre Channel, iSCSI, SAS

Fibre Channel, iSCSI, SAS, Shared VHDX



Windows Server 2012 R2 Products and Editions Comparison

http://www.microsoft.com/en‐us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=41703

Simplified Cluster Management

• Use Failover Cluster Manager or Server Manager to manage clusters

• Search, Filtering, Queries & custom views

• Multi‐select for VM resources (Live & Quick migration)

• Easier configuration of CSVs

• Cluster‐Aware Updating



Failover Cluster Manager & Server Manager

Compelling New Features



Scale‐out File Server

Traditional File Server– Shares are online to 1 node at a time

Scale‐out File Server (new with Windows Server 2012)• Shares are simultaneously online to all nodes

• Distributed Network Name (DNN) resource type

• Scale‐out File Server resource type

• Cluster Shared Volumes (CSVs)

• Integration with File Services Role

Continuous Availability for CSV shares

Scale-Out File Servers – simultaneous direct IO across cluster members with SMB3 & CSV2



Clustered File Server Comparisons

Steps to setup a Scale‐out Clustered File Server

1. Install File Server Role

2. Install Failover Clustering Feature

3. Use Disk Management to configure shared disks (bring online, initialize, format with NTFS)

* Note: Do not assign a drive letter to volumes to be used with CSV

4. Validate and Create Failover Cluster

5. Add Disks to Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV)

6. Configure Clustered File Server Role

7. Add Share enabling continuous availability



Scale‐Out SMB File Shares

Configuring Scale‐Out File Shares



Use Shares Tab to reveal File Shares

Server Message Block Version 3.0SMB 3.0 – Provides new functionality:

• SMB Transparent Failover – transparently reconnects for all interrupted file operations for either planned moves of resources or unplanned node failures

• SMB Multichannel – improved performance and reliability by aggregating bandwidth from multiple available NICs and providing network fault tolerance

• SMB Direct – memory to memory data transfers between servers using RDMA‐capable NICs

• SMB Encryption – enables end to end packet encryptionFor details, see: Windows Server 2012 SMB 3.0 feature support http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2709568



Cluster Shared Volumes Version 2

CSV2 improves file data access:

• Using a single consistent file namespace called the CSV File System or CSVFS

• Accessed by multiple servers simultaneously

• High speed direct IO access

• High availability

• BitLocker Encryption support

• VSS Backup support for SMB Shares (no more redirected IO)

CSV Read Cache

Enable the CSV cache for read‐intensive workloads

Uses 2 configuration settings:

• SharedVolumeBlockCacheSizeInMB – server‐wide setting for Read cache (0 = disabled, default)

• CsvEnableBlockCache – per disk private Read cache (boolean 0 or 1, default=0)

Use PowerShell to configure:(Get‐Cluster).SharedVolumeBlockCacheSizeInMB = 512

Get‐ClusterSharedVolume “Cluster Disk 1” | Set‐ClusterParameter CsvEnableBlockCache 1



CSVs are Mount Points on C: drive

Cluster‐Aware Updating

Cluster‐Aware Updating (CAU)• New feature allowing the automatic update of cluster nodes

• Little or no downtime

• Ensures updates are installed consistently across the entire cluster (very important with up to 64 nodes)

Drain Roles• New feature under Pause‐Node for moving workloads to other nodes

for planned maintenance



CAU – Behind the scenes

1. Nodes are prioritized according to the number of workloads

2. Node with fewest workloads is drained to other nodes

3. Installs the updates and any dependent updates

4. Performs a restart if necessary

5. Resumes the node from maintenance mode

6. Restores the clustered roles on the node

7. Repeat the process for each remaining node based on priority

CAU – Modes of Operation• Self‐Updating Mode

• Configure CAU Role to coordinate cluster updates• Creates hidden failover group for CAU resources• Adds CAU Distributed Network Name & CAU Resource

• Remote‐Updating Mode• Uses a remote coordinator computer with CAU Tools• Useful for Server‐Core installations or On‐Demand Updates



Cluster‐Aware Updating using Failover Cluster Manager or Server Manager

Windows 2012 Quorum Improvements

• Node vote weights• Either on or off (Votes are enabled by default)• Useful when an odd number of nodes exist• Useful for GeoClusters to bias a particular site

• Dynamic quorum• Automatically adjusts quorum when nodes with

votes shutdown or fail• Works with Node Majority, Node & Disk Majority,

Node & File Share Majority



Configuring Quorum Settings

Advanced Quorum Settings



Clustered Role Priorities• Able to specify startup priority of

clustered roles (VMs, File Server…)

• Settings:• High – highest startup priority• Medium – default startup priority• Low – Lowest startup priority• No Auto Start – Leave role offline

CHKDSK Improvements

Problem: Chkdsk takes a long time to run on very large volumes (terabytes) with millions of files

Solution:• Chkdsk analysis phase now runs continually as a background task

• Reduces the time it takes to repair a volume (seconds instead of hours)

• Typically requires a remount of the volume or reboot

• Customers can now confidently deploy very large volumes



Additional New Cluster Features in Windows 2012

• Improved Cluster Migration Wizard – VMs, Apps & Services

• Improved Cluster Validation – CSVs, single LUN tests, VMs

• Improved Active Directory integration (computer objects in specific OUs)

• Simplified Cluster Management – New Server Manager

• Supports built‐in NIC teaming (aka LBFO – Load Balancing & Fail Over)

• Supports virtual Fibre Channel HBA adapter for VMs (direct SAN access)

• Supports Storage Spaces – virtual pools of storage

• Enhanced PowerShell support – new cmdlets

• iSCSI Target Server – new cluster resource

New iSCSI Cluster Resources



Storage Enhancements in Windows Server 2012 R2

Automated storage tiering on DAS/SAS type configurations with Storage Spaces:

• Pools with SSD (solid state drives) and HDD (hard disk drives) will move hot files to SSD

• Can manually designate hot files on SSDs

• Persistent write‐back cache by using SSD Tier then Lazy Write to HDD

De‐duplication Enhancements

• De‐duplication much faster – uses caching.

• Can actually boot VMs faster with disks with de‐dup enabled than regular disks/VHDs.

• De‐dup now supported on CSV

• Can De‐dup live (open) files



New VHDX Enhancements

• Online Grow/Shrink of VHDX

• ISCSI now use VHDXs up to 64TB

• VHDX format is fast as native disk access. (No longer need pass‐through drives)

Live Migration Performance Gains

• Live Migration in less than 20 seconds!

• Live Migration with RDMA capable NICs

• Cross version Live Migration

0

20

40

60

80

Seconds

Live Migration Times

TCP/IP



Guest Clustering

• VHDX files are now SHAREABLE for guest clustering

• Enables Cloud providers now longer have to expose real LUNs to tenants

• Persistent reservations are emulated in software along with SCSI‐3 commands

New Cluster Shared Volume Features• Clients are redirected to the

“best” node for access to a specific share

• CSV & SMB shares are now automatically rebalanced

• Clients move as CSV volume ownership changes

• Improved network efficiency by reducing redirection traffic

• CSV Read cache can now consume up to 80% of RAM



Windows Failover Cluster PowerShell Cmdlets

Cluster Cmdlets

• New Cluster Cmdlets in Windows 2012

• Cluster Aware Updating Cmdlets

• Cluster Aware Task Scheduler Cmdlets

• Popular and Recommended Cmdlets



Where is Cluster.exe in Windows Server 2012?

• Cluster.exe is now considered deprecated

• Can still be installed from RSAT ‐ Remote Server Administration Tools (Windows Feature)



• 81 Cmdlets for managing Failover Clusters

http://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/hh847239.aspx

• 17 Cmdlets for Cluster Aware Updating

http://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/hh847221.aspx

• 19 Cmdlets for Cluster Aware Scheduled Tasks

http://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/jj649816.aspx

• 23 Cmdlets for Cluster Aware iSCSI Target

http://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/gg278022.aspx

Windows Server 2012 PowerShell Cmdlets

Get‐command –module FailoverClusters

Get‐command –module ClusterAwareUpdating

Get‐command –module ScheduledTasks

Get‐command –module iSCSITarget

Get‐Help <Cmdlet‐name> ‐detailed, ‐examples, ‐full, ‐online

Mapping Cluster.exe commands to PowerShell Cmdlets:http://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/ee619744(v=ws.10).aspx

Displaying PowerShell Cmdlets



• Windows Server 2012 provides new scale‐out functionality for file serving. Multiple nodes have direct simultaneous access to SMB shares on CSVs

• Use the Failover Cluster Manager or PowerShell to configure SOFS role

Example:

PS C:\> Add‐ClusterScaleOutFileServerRole –name SOFS1

Related commands:

Get‐ClusterGroup Gets information about a cluster role

Remove‐ClusterGroup Removes a cluster role (group)

Start‐ClusterGroup Starts a cluster role

Cluster Scale‐Out File Server Role Cmdlet

Example adding ClusterScaleOutFileServerRole

#Install Roles and FeaturesImport‐Module ServerManagerAdd‐WindowsFeature ‐name File‐Services, Failover‐Clustering, RSAT‐Clustering

#Create Failover ClusterNew‐Cluster –Name Mycluster –Node Node1, Node2, Node3

#Add Cluster Disk 1 to Cluster Shared VolumesAdd‐ClusterSharedVolume ‐Name “Cluster Disk 1”

#Create Scale‐Out File ServerAdd‐ClusterScaleOutFileServerRole ‐Name sofs1

#Create File ShareNew‐SmbShare ‐Name vm1 ‐Path c:\clusterstorage\volume1\vm1 –FullAccess

domain\hvhost$



• Get‐Command –module FailoverClusters

• Get‐Cluster | Format‐List –Property *

• Get‐ClusterLog –destination c:\temp

• Get‐ClusterResource | Format‐List –Property *

• Get‐ClusterResourceType

• Move‐ClusterGroup –name <>

Note: With Windows Server 2008 R2, use Start | Administrative Tools | Windows PowerShell Modules to import the FailoverClusters module or use the Import‐Module –name FailoverClusters cmdlet within PowerShell. This is done for you with Windows Server 2012 PowerShell 3.0 through module auto‐loading, http://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/hh857339.aspx#BKMK_AutoLoad.

Popular Cmdlets for Failover Clusters

Set‐ClusterLog

Options:

‐Level {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5} default 3

‐Size {8 – 1024} in MB, default 100

For example:

Set‐ClusterLog –Level 3 Log warnings, errors & failure

Set‐ClusterLog –Size 1024 Increase the default cluster log size to 1GB

For further details, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/hh847317.aspx

Recommended Cmdlets for Failover Clusters



Deprecated Functionality

• Cluster.exe CLI command

• Still available with the Failover Clustering Tools in the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT)

• Failover Clustering Tools can be installed on Windows 8 to remotely administer Windows 2012 Failover Clusters

• 32‐bit cluster resource DLLs

• Clustered Print server role

Before You Begin…



Strategies for Migrating Clusters

• Always preferable to do a fresh install

• Easy to do when you have new hardware

• Alternatively, you can do an In‐Place Migrationhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/dn486804.aspx

• Use Cluster Migration Wizard to transfer cluster roles and resources to the new clusterhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/dn486790.aspx

Backups

• Windows Server Backuphttp://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/jj614621.aspx

• Third Party Backup solutionsEnsure any kernel mode drivers are up to date

• Cluster Copy/Migration Wizard assumes the same shared storage will be used on the new cluster



Windows Server Catalog

• Minimum system hardware requirementshttp://windowsservercatalog.com/

• New BIOS Power Management Features

• For example, most HP ProLiant servers need to be Gen7 or Gen8 to support Windows Server 2012

Update System BIOS (ROM)

• Support new operating system features such as Power Management

• Prevent erratic crashes & hangs

• Check your Vendor’s web site for the latest version



Update 3rd Party Drivers & Firmware

• Anti‐virus software

• NIC drivers & firmware

• HBA Storage drivers & firmware

• Ensure consistency among all cluster members

Migration Tools



Migration Guides and Tools

Migrating Roles and Features in Windowshttp://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/windowsserver/jj554790.aspx

• PowerShell migration scripts

• Migrate from Windows Server 2003 & 2008 to Windows Server 2012 & 2012 R2

• Includes migrating Active Directory, File and Storage Services, Hyper‐V and Remote Access

• Provides installation checklists, PowerShell Migration Cmdlets, and post‐installation tasks

• Allows cross‐architecture migrations (x86 x64), physical to virtual, and Server Core to GUI

Cluster Migration Wizard• Used to copy cluster roles and applications from the old cluster

to the new onehttp://technet.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/dn486790.aspx

• Only works to migrate Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 (no 2003 clusters)

• Bring new storage online, initialize, format and add to cluster before running the Cluster Migration Wizard

• Configure physical and virtual networks before running the Cluster Migration Wizard

• Newly created roles and storage are left in the offline state



Supported Migrations

Copy Cluster Roles Wizard



Specify Old Cluster

Select Which Roles to Migrate



Customize VM Networks

Specify Old & New Storage



Confirm Copy Cluster Roles

Newly Added Roles and Storage are Left Offline

Copies over all disk resources needed to support migrated resources



Make sure destination and source disks match

Future Windows Updates



No More Service Packs

• After migration, install the most recent Update Rollups

• Monthly Update Rollups (multiple hotfixes)

• Separate update for Windows 2012/Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 R2/Windows 8.1

• Rollups are not cumulative like a Service Pack

• Windows 2012 R2 can be thought of as Windows Server 2012 SP1

Recent Update RollupsWindows 8, and Windows Server 2012 update rollup: July 2014 – KB 2967916

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2967916

Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 update rollup: July 2014 – KB 2967917http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2967917

Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012 update rollup: June 2014 – KB 2962407http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2962407

Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 update rollup: June 2014 – KB 2962409http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2962409



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