Failover is a process in which a cluster node begins to provide service after the failure of other nodes in the network. The new validation tool can be used to verify requirements for failover. Administrators can use the improved set up and migration, simplified configuration interface, and improved networking and security to implement failover in Windows Server 2008.
In Windows Server 2008, the two cluster models and three quorum options are designed to simplify the process of deploying clusters and enhancing cluster stability. The two cluster models are the Shared Quorum Disk model and the MNS model. The quorum options are Majority Quorum, Node Majority Quorum, and Witness Disk Quorum models.
You can use the Validate a Configuration Wizard to run tests to confirm that the hardware and the hardware settings are compatible with failover clustering. You can use this wizard to run validation tests such as System Configuration test, Inventory Tasks test, Network test, and Storage test.
Before installing a two-node failover cluster in Windows Server 2008, you need to ensure that the server, network, storage, and infrastructure fulfill certain requirements. You require two identical failover cluster computers, two network adapters, mass-storage device controllers that are compatible with Windows Server 2008. The servers in the cluster must use DNS for name resolution.
You need to configure a network on each cluster and connect the server to the cluster storage. You need to perform various steps to install failover clustering in Windows Server 2008.
You can configure NLB by using IPv6. NLB enables you to balance loads between IIS servers. By using Terminal Services session directory service, you can integrate NLB with Terminal Services to maintain a database on terminal server sessions in load-balanced farms.
You can implement network load balancing in Windows Server 2008 by using two servers. After installing network load balancing feature on one of the servers, you need to create a cluster and select a cluster interface. Configuring cluster IP address helps every member of the cluster to benefit from the load balancing feature.
You can integrate NLB with Terminal Services by adding the required servers that run the Terminal Services to a terminal services farm. When you use NLB with Terminal Services, NLB provides you with the benefits of increased availability, scalability, and load-balancing performance.
Virtualization technology enables a computer to run multiple operating systems simultaneously. In a computer running Windows Server 2008, virtualization requires 64-bit hardware and the 64-bit version of the operating system. This provides additional processing power and a large addressable memory space.
In the server consolidation scenario, organizations can use virtualization to reduce the number of physical servers that need to be deployed, while maintaining service levels and supporting legacy operating systems. You can reduce the cost of running the servers in the production server consolidation scenario.
In the business continuity management scenario, businesses minimize scheduled or unscheduled downtime by ensuring that the network servers and services are highly available. Business continuity includes disaster recovery, business recovery, business resumption, and contingency planning.
In the dynamic datacenter scenario, organizations easily and rapidly reallocate server resources among various servers on the network to ensure the optimal use of server hardware, while providing highly available network services.
In the test and development scenario, organizations implement virtualization technologies in their test environment to reduce the hardware requirements for the test lab.
Virtualization in Windows Server 2008 provides a new technology, hypervisor, for implementing virtualization. The virtualization includes components such as hardware, hypervisor, parent partition, child partition, and application.
In Windows Server 2008, hardware support, such as 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) child partitions, symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) (2/4/8) core virtual machines (VM), and large memory support (>32GB) within VMs.
Windows Server virtualization uses the powerful enhancements of processors and provides users with a scalable, reliable, secure, and highly available virtualization platform. There are several virtualization features such as group policy integration, server core, dynamic and secure networking, scripting interface, and live virtual machine migration.
The System Center Virtual Machine Manager provides a comprehensive management solution for the virtualized data center that enables increased physical server utilization and centralized management of virtual machine infrastructure.
The System Center Virtual Machine Manager provides various benefits such as provisioning of new machines, server consolidation, P2V conversion, library for managing virtual machines, and a familiar administration interface.
