How To Configure Windows Cluster 2012

Microsoft Failover Cluster Managing director (MSFCM) on Windows server 2012/2016

Since Microsoft Windows 2012, Microsoft accept reconfigured the way in which you tin can manage High Availability with print services. They introduced the ability to utilise Hyper-V and failover clusteringClustering allows your organisation to ensure your services are not affected if anything should happen to your main server. PaperCut is a cluster compatible awarding and is supported under Windows (Microsoft Cluster Server / MSCS, Microsoft Failover Cluster Manager / MSFCM, Vetitas Cluster Server / VCS) and Linux (Novell Cluster Services / NCS, Linux-HA) at all levels of the application, including: clustering at the print spooler service layer by integrating with clustering services, failover based clustering at the Application Server layer using clustering services, and at the database layer past utilising cluster aware databases such as Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or Oracle. to make your impress serverA print server is a system responsible for hosting print queues and sharing printer resources to desktops. Users submit print jobs to a print server rather then direct to the printer itself. A impress server can be a dedicated server just on many networks this server also performs other tasks, such equally file serving a highly available virtual machine. This solution provides total server failover options and can be implemented with the PaperCut NG/MF Application ServerAn Awarding Server is the main server program responsible for providing the PaperCut user interface, storing data, and providing services to users. PaperCut uses the Awarding Server to manage user and business relationship information, manage printers, calculate impress costs, provide a web browser interface to administrators and end users, and much more than. , Secondary Server, and/or Site ServerSite Servers accept over the role of a Primary Application Server in the event of network outages. Central roles taken over include authentication, copy and print tracking and Find-Me printing. Site Servers ensure continuous availability of printing resources to support key business organisation functions over unreliable network links or during unplanned network disruptions. .

In that location are several steps involved in the setup of this failover solution:

Before you Brainstorm
Footstep one: Configure roles / features on nodes for high availability
Step 2: Connecting to iSCI network drives
Footstep 3: Create the failover cluster
Pace 4: Create a high availability virtual machine
Step 5: Prepare upward your print server

Before y'all Begin

Systems Requirements:

2+ concrete servers
MS Server 2012/2016 with Hyper-V capabilities
iSCI SAN with 2 drives configured

Bulldoze 1: 5GB (to exist used for the Quorum if using only ii nodes)
Drive 2: VM server storage

You will also require the post-obit:

Administrative rights to be able to join machines to the domain
IP address to connect to your SAN
IP Addresses for the following:
- two x IP addresses for the Physical Servers
- 1 x IP accost for the Cluster
- 1 10 IP accost for the VM

Footstep 1: Configure roles / features on nodes for high availability

Install MS Windows Server 2012 or MS Server 2016 onto your 2 server nodes.
In the Server Manager > Dashboard, click Add roles and features.

The Before you begin window is displayed.
Click Adjacent.

The Select installation type window is displayed.
Select Role-based or characteristic-based installation.
Click Adjacent.

The Select destination server window is displayed.
Select the server that you are logged in on.
Click Next.

The Select server roles window is displayed.
In the Roles list, select Hyper-Five.

The Add feature that are required for Hyper-V window is displayed. This window shows the dependencies that will exist installed.
Click Add Features.
Click Next.

The Select features window is displayed.
In the Features listing, select Failover Clustering.

The Add together features that are required for Failover Clustering window will pop up and at present exist displayed. This window shows the dependencies that will be installed with this characteristic.
Click Add together Features.

The Hyper-V window is displayed.
Click Adjacent.

The Create Virtual Switches window is displayed.
In Network adapters, select the network that you want your virtual machine to use for the cluster. If you have multiple NIC's listed hither, choose the advisable one/due south.
Click Adjacent.

The Virtual Car Migration window is displayed.
Select the Let this server to transport and receive live migrations of virtual machines checkbox. This allows the VM to transfer between your nodes where required.
Click Next.

The Default Stores window is displayed. Exercise non change the default stores.
Click Side by side.

The Confirm installation selections window is displayed.
Cheque the setting to ensure you are happy with the selected items to be installed.
Click Install.

The chosen Function and Feature will be installed on your machine.
When the installation is complete, restart the machine to finalize the installation.
Repeat the above steps on any additional nodes you lot want to include in the failover cluster.

Footstep 2: Connecting to iSCI network drives

Start the iSCI initiator then connect to your ii SAN drives:
1. Click Start > Windows Administrative Tools > iSCI Initiator.
  
  NOTE
  
  One of the drives is configured for your Quorum and the other is configured for the virtual machines. 5GB is required for the Quorum and the second drive volition exist used to store your Virtual machines. Therefore, ensure you accept provided plenty disk infinite on this drive to handle the virtual machine storage.
2. Ensure the drives are set to allow simultaneous connections. This is configured on your SAN. Brand sure you have granted access to your two cluster servers.
Connect to the SAN drives:
1. Open iSCSI initiator.
2. Click the Targets tab.
3. In Target, enter the IP address for the SAN.
4. Click Quick Connect.
  
  Your advertised drives are displayed.
5. Highlight a drive; then click connect to connect to each drive.
6. When a drive is connected, click Done.
7. Click the Volumes and Devices tab.
8. Click Car Configure.
9. Click OK.
10. When you are connected on the first machine, click Start > WIndows Authoritative tools > Computer Direction > Disk Management.
Bring the disks online:

Right-click the disk number.
Select Online.

Echo the above pace for the 2nd drive.
Initialize the disks:

Right-click the deejay number side by side to one of the new drives.
Select Initialize disk.
In the box that appears, ensure that both your new disks have a tick marking next to them.
Set as MBR.
Click OK.

Configure the new drive:

Right-click the kickoff drive.
Select Create New Simple Volume.
Leave the defaults in identify.
Choose a bulldoze letter to assign.
Label your drives:

5GB drive—label the drive as Quorum
150GB (larger drive)—label it as ClusterStorage

Repeat the in a higher place steps for the second drive.

Once this is done for your commencement node (Server), repeat these steps on your boosted nodes (Servers). For instance, from the 2 listed servers above (Server1 and Server2), yous must connect the iSCSI drives on both systems before they volition exist bachelor for your cluster.

Note

Every bit the simple volume is at present configured, you lot only need to initialise the disks on the other Nodes, not recreate the Volume.

Step three: Create the failover cluster

From the Bone of any of the nodes:

Click Outset > Windows Administrative tools > Failover Cluster Manager to launch the Failover Cluster Managing director.
Click Create Cluster.

The Before you Brainstorm window is displayed.
Click Next.

The Select Servers window is displayed.
Enter the server names that y'all desire to add to the cluster. Alternatively, you tin locate them via Scan.
Click Add.
Click Next.

The Validation Alarm window is displayed.
Select Yes to allow verification of the cluster services.
Click Next.

The Validate a Configuration Wizard is displayed. This wizard validates the server configuration.
Click Adjacent.

The Testing Options window is displayed.
Select Run all tests (recommended).
Click Next.

The Confirmation window is displayed. This window lists all of the tests that will be run.
Click Side by side.

The Validating window is displayed while all of the clustering tests are being run. This process may take several minutes depending on your network infrastructure and the number of nodes yous have chosen to add together to your cluster.
When the tests have completed, bank check the written report then fix whatever configuration errors. The cluster setup will fail if any errors exist.

NOTE

A common fault is the NIC/s used on the two nodes. The NIC/s must take the same proper noun on both servers for the cluster to use the NIC in the configuration.

The Access Signal for Administering the Cluster window in the Create Cluster wizard is displayed.
In Cluster Name, enter a proper name for your cluster.
In the available network provide an IP address for the cluster.

Notation

This name and IP address will be registered in your DNS
Click Next.

The Confirmation window is displayed. This window lists the settings to be applied to your new cluster.
Select the Add together all eligible storage to the cluster check box.
The organisation will now endeavor to assign any storage it can find.
Click Next.

The arrangement attempts to create the new cluster in your domain. This may take a while as there are several checks that must take place and tests that are conducted while the system is configured.

When the process is complete, the Summary window is displayed stating that the cluster sorcerer completed successfully.
Click Finish.
Check to confirm that the cluster is configured correctly:

In the Failover Cluster Manager, navigate to Nodes.
Bank check that all nodes in the cluster are online. If they are non, go to the server that is offline and bring the arrangement online to join the cluster.

Navigate to Storage > Disks.

The organisation detects the SCSI drives and displays them here. If you lot were setting this upwardly with simply two nodes, and then the 5GB Quorum cluster would take been assigned as Disk Witness in Quorum.

NOTE

If no disks are displayed, check that you have correctly completed the steps on all nodes detailed in Connecting to ISCSI network drives.

The configured storage space is assigned to Bachelor Storage.
Configure this storage to be function of the cluster:

Right-click the disk assigned to available storage; so select Add to Cluster Shared Volumes.

The cluster is now assigned to Cluster Shared Book.

Cheque the Cluster Events folder for whatsoever reported issues with the cluster. If in that location are no problems, you can configure your virtual car in the cluster environment.

Stride 4: Create a loftier availability virtual car

In the Failover Cluster Manager, aggrandize the cluster created in the previous steps.
Correct-click Roles; and so select Virtual Machines > New Virtual Automobile.

The New Virtual Machine window is displayed.
Select the node yous want to set the virtual car upward on. It doesn't affair which node you cull, but we recommend you choose the node that y'all are currently working on.
Click OK.

The New Virtual Automobile Magician is displayed. This window explains the steps involved in setting upward a virtual machine.
Click Next.

The Specify Proper name and Location window is displayed.
In Name, enter a proper noun for your virtual machine.
In Location, enter the drive where the VM will be stored on the server.
For this VM to be able to move between the nodes, choose the ClusterStorage\Volume drive. This is usually located on C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\ or like.
Click Adjacent.

The Specify Generation window is displayed.
Select the generation of virtual car y'all want to use:
- Generation 1—offers the all-time cantankerous compatibility with versions. Generation ii offers greater security, better performance, and supports the UEFI deejay partitioning.
- Generation 2—supported on the current releases, only non the older versions of Hyper-Five. Also Generation ii virtual machines are not supported by Azure.
Important

Once this option is fabricated, it nearly likely volition not exist able to be changed. There are some tools that allow you to switch generation (for case, Azure DR allows yous to to convert to Gen1 or Gen2 based on failover location), simply it is best to presume that it cannot be changed.
Click Next.

The Assign Memory window is displayed.
In Startup memory, enter the relevant amount of retentivity that y'all want for this virtual motorcar.
If you want the retentiveness to be dynamic, select the Use Dynamic Memory for this virtual machine check box.
Click Next.

The Configure Networking window is displayed.
In Connection, select the NIC you lot want to assign to this virtual auto.
Click Side by side.
The Connect Virtual Hard Disk window is displayed.
In Name, enter a proper noun for your virtual machine. This is the name that volition exist displayed in Hyper-V.
In Location, enter a location on the cluster bulldoze for the hard drive. By default, this is unremarkably created on your system nether C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\.
Set the difficult drive size.
Click Next.

The Installation Options window is displayed.
Select the install location for your operating arrangement. If you lot intend to perform this installation at a after fourth dimension, select Install an Operating System Later.
Click Next.

The Completing the New Virtual Machine Wizard window is displayed. This window displays the options that you have selected for the configuration of this Hyper-V machine.
Review your selections and if you are happy with them, click Finish.

When the Hyper-V machine has been configured, the Summary window displays a Success message.
Click Finish.
If your 2 node machines are running different CPU models, enable processor compatibility:
1. With the virtual motorcar turned off, in Hyper-V Manager, highlight the machine.
2. From the Action pane select Settings > Processor.
3. Aggrandize Processor; then click Compatibility.
4. Select the Drift to a physical calculator with a different processor cheque box.
5. Click OK.
Ensure that the new nodes are configured to accept the virtual machine in the effect of a failover:
1. In the Failover Cluster Managing director, select Roles.
2. Double-click your virtual machine.
3. On the General tab, under Preferred owners, select the nodes that you want to manage your virtual machine in the issue of a failure.
4. Click OK.

Step 5: Set upward your print server

From the Cluster Manager window kickoff your VM and install Windows.
Configure the machine on your network.
For testing purposes, turn off Windows Firewall and so you can RDP and Ping this machine.
Configure your impress queues.
Examination that printing works successfully:
1. Bank check printing on the server.
2. Map the print queueA print queue displays information near documents that are waiting to be printed, such as the printing status, document owner, and number of pages to print. You tin can utilize the impress queue to view, pause, resume, restart, and cancel print jobs. from a customer motorcar on the network and exam press.
When press is working successfully, test the failover.
1. In Failover Cluster Manager, correct-click the VM you have created.
2. Click Move.
3. Select Quick Migration > Select Node.
4. Select a node that the VM is not currently residing on.
  
  The VM volition at present showtime up on the other node.
When the virtual car condition shows that it is running, remote desktop into this auto to ensure it is still operational. Whatever windows you had open up previously should however be running.
Install PaperCut NG/MF onto this auto.
Send several test print jobs to ensure that PaperCut NG/MF is operating correctly.
Install your shared print queues to a client machine.
Print a document.
Log in to the server node that the PaperCut NG/MF VM is running on; and then restart the server.
While the server is restarting, from the client car, send several test print documents to the shared printer.
The impress jobs are processed and the VM fails over successfully to 1 of your other nodes.

HA accomplished!