Getting started with Microsoft Cluster Service, Part 2: Configure iSCSI disk

This entry is part 2 of 8 in the series Getting started with Microsoft Cluster Service

In this part, I’ll show how to add new disks on both servers (BKKSQL010 and BKKSQL020) as shared disks using Microsoft iSCSI Initiator. The first disk will be a quorum disk on Q: drive which has capacity 512 MB. The second disk will be a shared disk to keep applications and services on R: drive which has capacity 8 GB.

Section

  1. Install Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
  2. Configure Microsoft iSCSI Initiator

Step-by-step to configure iSCSI disk

Install Microsoft iSCSI Initiator

  1. Download Microsoft iSCSI Initiator from Microsoft website.
  2. On the first server (BKKSQL010), double-click the setup file (Initiator-2.06-build3497-x64fre.exe) to install.
    Run Microsoft iSCSI Initiator setup file
  3. On Software Update Installation Wizard, click Next.
    Click Next
  4. Check Initiator Service and Software Initiator. If you need multipathing, click the last one, too. Click Next.
    Select components to install
  5. Select ‘I Agree’. Click Next.
    Select ‘I Agree’ and click Next
  6. Wait the setup installing.
    Installing the program
  7. Click Finish. The server may restarts after you click finish.
    Finish installing Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
  8. Repeat the installation Microsoft iSCSI Initiator on the second server (BKKSQL020), too.

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Configure Microsoft iSCSI Initiator

  1. On BKKSQL010, double click ‘Microsoft iSCSI Initiator’ on the desktop.
    Run Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
  2. Now I will connect to the iSCSI server. Click on ‘Discovery’ tab and click Add button. Then, insert IP Address of the server and click OK. You’ll see the server was added to Target Portals.
    Connect to the  server that provides iSCSI disks
  3. Click on ‘Targets’ tab. You’ll see the storages are inactive. You need to logon them first. On each storage, click Logon button.
    Logon to the disks
  4. Click on ‘Automatically restore this connection when the system boots’ and click OK. Don’t forget to logon on the second storage, too.
    Configure to automatically Logon to these disks after reboots system
  5. When you logon on two storages, the status will be updated to connect.
    Status update to connected
  6. Now click on ‘Bound Volumes/Devices’ tab and click ‘Bind All’ button. You’ll see two lines were added to ‘Volume/Mount Point/Device’. This is the storage drives which are already added to the system.
    Bind disks to the server
  7. Next, I’m going to prepare the drives that were added. Open Computer Management console by right click on My Computer and select Properties. Expand Storage and click on Disk Management. The wizard window appears. Click Next.
    Initialize new disks
  8. Select disk to initialize. Check two boxes and click Next.
    Select disks to initialize
  9. No need to convert to dynamic disk. Click Next.
    Click next
  10. Click Finish to complete the initialize disks.
    Finish initialize the disks
  11. Now you’ll see two disks were added and initialized already. Next I’ll format the disks and assign drive letter.
    Note: The 510 MB will be the quorum disk and 8GB will be the data disk.
    New disks is added to the server
  12. For quorum disk, I assign as drive R: and data disk is Q: as the figure below.
    Assign drive letter and label
  13. On the second server, repeat step since 1) to 10). But do not to format and assign drive because you can’t, it’s currently active on the first server.
    Repeat disks initialization on the second server

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Now I have shared disks for cluster. Next part, I’ll create a new cluster server.

Series Navigation<< Getting started with Microsoft Cluster Service, Part 1: IntroductionGetting started with Microsoft Cluster Service, Part 3: Create Server Cluster >>

12 Comments

  1. Michael A Cooper January 17, 2009
  2. Michael A Cooper January 17, 2009
  3. linglom January 17, 2009
  4. Prashant Thakwani February 10, 2009
  5. Michael A Cooper February 10, 2009
  6. linglom February 12, 2009
  7. Prashant Thakwani February 27, 2009
  8. Prashant Thakwani February 27, 2009
  9. linglom March 4, 2009
  10. Jonh_nathan March 4, 2009
  11. linglom March 6, 2009
  12. Moises July 26, 2010

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