Creating a Windows Server 2003 cluster for an Exchange 2007 SCC setup

We have reached the point where we can create the actual Windows 2003 cluster. To do so:

1. Turn off EDFS10, then log on to EDFS09 with a domain admin account. Now click Start -> Administrative Tools -> Cluster Administrator, then select Create new cluster in the drop-down box and click OK, then click Next.
2. If it's not already the case, specify the domain in which the two Windows 2003 Servers are members, then type the name of the cluster (in this case, E2K7SCC), then click Next.
3. If it's not already entered, type the name of the Windows 2003 Server, which will be the first node in the cluster (in this case, EDFS09), then click Next.
4. The Cluster Wizard will now determine the cluster configuration, and after a while you should get a check mark in each checked configuration step. We can now click Next.
5. Now enter an IP address that cluster management tools will use to connect to the cluster and click Next.
6. Enter the cluster service account and password, then click Next.
7. You now see a screen with the proposed cluster configuration. Click the Quorum button and make sure that the cluster configuration quorum is set to Disk Q, as shown in Figure 8.84. Then click Next.


Figure 8.84 Selecting the Resource Type Used for the Quorum Resource. (Click on image for enlarged view.)

8. The cluster will now be created. Again, you need to wait for each step to complete, then click Next -> Finish.

We have created the cluster itself, but since it consists of only one node, we'll need to add the other Windows server as well. To do so:

1. Turn on EDFS10 and log in with a domain admin account. Now click Start -> Administrative Tools -> Cluster Administrator. Select Add nodes to cluster in the drop-down menu, then specify the cluster name in the Cluster or server name box and click OK.
2. Click Next in the Add Nodes Wizard.
3. Type EDFS10 (or whatever you named the second server), then click Add and click Next.
4. When the configuration has been analyzed, click Next.
5. Enter the password for the cluster service account (in this case, the administrator account), then click Next.
6. Verify that you want to add the node to the cluster with the configuration shown on the proposed cluster configuration page, then click Next.
7. After a short period, the node will be added to the cluster. If it's not, you might want to expand the respective task as well as view the log. If each task has completed successfully, click Next -> Finish and verify that none of the nodes contains an error icon in the Cluster Administrator (see Figure 8.85).


Figure 8.85 The Cluster Administrator Will Cluster Resources Listed and Online. (Click on image for enlarged view.)

8. You are reading part 3 from "Managing an Exchange 2007 Single Copy Cluster (SCC) setup," excerpted from Chapter 8 of the book "How to Cheat at Configuring Exchange Server 2007: Including Outlook Web, Mobile, and Voice Access," by Henrik Walther, copyright 2007, published by Syngress, a division of Elsevier.

   There's one last thing you want to do before moving on, and that is to right-click and select Properties for the Private network in the left pane. Since the sole purpose of the Private network is to be used for communication between the internal cluster nodes, you should select Internal cluster communications only (private network), as shown in Figure 8.86, then click OK. Do the same for the Public network, but set it to Client access only (public network).


Figure 8.86 Changing the Cluster Role for the Private Network. (Click on image for enlarged view.)

We now have a fully operational two-node active/passive Windows cluster up and running.

Installing the Necessary Windows Components

Before we move on and try to install the Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 bits, we need to make sure that the required Windows components have been installed. All types of Exchange Server 2007 installations (no matter what server role we're talking about) need the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 component installed.

Since we're installing the Mailbox Server role in the cluster, we also need to install the following IIS 6.0 components:

• Enable network COM+ access
• Internet Information Services
• World Wide Web Service

Managing an Exchange 2007 Single Copy Cluster-based setup

 Home: Introduction
 Part 1: A basic Single Copy Cluster setup in Exchange 2007
 Part 2: Configuring Single Copy Cluster (SCC) nodes and shared cluster disks
 Part 3: Creating a Windows Server 2003 cluster for an Exchange SCC setup
 Part 4: Installing Exchange Server 2007 clustered mailbox roles on SCC nodes
 Part 5: Verify Exchange 2007 clustered mailbox server functionality
 Part 6: Exchange 2007 Single Copy Cluster-based setup review

This chapter excerpt from How to Cheat at Configuring Exchange Server 2007: Including Outlook Web, Mobile, and Voice Access, by Henrik Walther, is printed with permission from Syngress, a division of Elsevier, Copyright 2007. Click here for the chapter download.

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