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How to Cluster DFS Replicated Resources on Windows Server 2008 R2 (Part I)

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Windows Server 2008 R2 provides support for two additional clustered services; DFS-Replication and Remote Desktop/Terminal Services. DFS-Replication is an efficient, multiple-master replication engine that is used to keep folders synchronized between servers across limited bandwidth network connections. In Windows Server 2008 R2, you can configure member servers in a replication group to be highly available for uninterrupted and failure-resilient replication services.

We are considering the following scenario built on two HP X3800 Network Storage Gateways fiber connected to a 7.2 TB HP StorageWorks P2000 G3 SAN, to replicate a DFS resource across several locations worldwide.

Both nodes have been installed with Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 and afterwards have been fully patched with all available updates to grant proper high availability and security settings. We have already setup two network connections, one connected to our private network (public) and another one between both nodes (Internal) which will hold all internal communications of our cluster.

Install Required Features and Roles

First of all, make sure that Windows Failover Clustering is installed on all nodes of the failover cluster. This can be done by adding the Failover Clustering feature in Server Manager.

To add the features follow the procedure below:

  1. Log on to the Windows Server 2008 R2 system with an administrator account.
  2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and select Server Manager.
  3. In the Add Features Wizard, click Failover Clustering and then click Install.
  4. When the wizard finishes, close it.
  5. Repeat the process for each server that you want to include in the cluster.

The below screenshot shows a server with both ‘Failover Clustering’ features installed.

Secondly, we need to add the File Services role and the following features to both nodes:

  • File Server
  • Distributed File System
    • DFS Namespace
    • DFS Replication
  • File Server Resource Manager
  • Single Instance Storage

File Server, manages shared folders and enables users to access files on this computer from the network.
Distributed File System, provides tools and services for DFS Namespaces and DFS Replication.
File Server Resource Manager, enables you to generate storage reports, configure quotas, and define file screening policies.
Single Instance Storage, enables you to reduce the amount of storage space used by consolidating duplicate files.

To add the role follow the procedure below:

  1. Log on to the Windows Server 2008 R2 system with an administrator account.
  2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and select Server Manager.
  3. In the tree pane, click on the Roles node.
  4. In the tasks pane, click on the Add Roles link.
  5. When the Add Roles window opens, read the information on the Before You Begin page and if the system meets the recommendations to have a strong administrator password, static IP address, and be updated with the latest Windows security updates, click Next to continue.
  6. On the Select Server Roles page, check the File Services check box, and click Next to continue.
  7. The next page provides a short introduction to the File Services role and notes the fact that the Windows Search Service and the indexing service cannot be installed on the same system. Click Next to continue with the installation of the File Services role.
  8. The Role Services page enables administrators to select which File Services role services will be installed on the system. The File Server service is selected by default. In addition to this service, also check Distributed File System, including DFS Namespaces and DFS Replication, File Server Resource Manager to enable quota, file screening, file classification, and reporting functionality. After checking the desired services, click next to continue.
  9. Because the Distributed File System / DFS Namespace was selected, the next page is the Create a DFS Namespace. We will choose _create a namespace later using the DFS Management snap-in in Server Manager.
  10. Because the File Server Resource Manager was selected, the next page is the Configure Storage Usage Monitoring page. We will not monitor any volume by now, so click next to continue.
  11. The Confirm Installation Selections page enables the administrator to review the chosen settings. After confirming that the settings are correct, click Install to install and configure the services and tools chosen.
  12. Review the details on the results page and click Close to complete the installation.
    Once we get all the needed role services, Server Manager snap-in should look like this:

Bring Storage Online

Before creating the cluster we will need to bring the Quorum and Data disks online from one of the nodes. Follow this procedure:

  1. Using Server Manager console, expand Storage and click on Disk Management.
  2. If your shared storage don’t appear or appear just partially, right click over Disk Management and select Rescan Disks.
  3. Once you will be able to see the disks, right click over every one of them and click online.
  4. This will bring your disks online but they need to be initialized, so right click again over one and click **Initialize Disk
  5. Select MBR partition style for the Quorum disk and GPT for the Data disk and click OK.
  6. Create Simple volumes on both disks, right clicking over the disk and selecting **New Simple Volume…
  7. Assign letters not being used on any of the nodes, in our case we will configure them as follow:
  • Disk 1 – MBR – Simple – QUORUM – E
  • Disk 2 – GPT – Simple – DATA – F

This is the result… Now, we have completed all the required pre-build steps on our cluster and we are ready to create the cluster and start clustering roles. If you want to extend this information it is available on the following TechNet links: