Windows Cluster Service

Windows cluster service links individual servers so they can perform common tasks. Should any one server stop functioning, a process called failover automatically shifts its workload to another server to provide continuous service. In addition to failover, some forms of clustering also employ load balancing, which enables the computational workload to be distributed across a network of linked computers.

Windows 2000 Advanced Server supports a two-node cluster while Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition supports eight-node clusters. Datacenter versions of Windows are not supported.

Windows Cluster Service support is supported for integrated Windows servers running either Windows 2000 Advanced Server or Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition.

Notes:

1. Windows clustered network server nodes must reside within a single iSeries™ partition in order to be clustered.
2. iSCSI attached xSeries® cannot be clustered with IXS/IXA attached servers.

Although the traditional Windows clustered server solution requires a shared physical SCSI or Fibre Channel device, the integrated Windows server solution uses a virtual Fibre Channel bus to share the virtual disk devices between the nodes of a cluster.

In addition, the new support for virtual Ethernet enables high-performance, secure communication for the internal node-to-node communication between clustered nodes.

Detailed checklists for planning and creating a server cluster are available in the online Microsoft® help for Server clusters and should be referred to prior to installing and configuring a Windows Cluster server. Additional information, including step-by-step guides to installing Cluster service, is available on the Microsoft Web site .

For more information about support for Windows Cluster service, see the following topics:

Install Windows Cluster service
Find out how to install and configure Windows Cluster service on an integrated Windows server.

Install Windows Cluster service on an existing server
Find out how to create clusters on an existing integrated Windows server.

Cluster support on an iSCSI attached server

For information about iSeries support for Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) on an iSCSI attached server see MSCS on an iSCSI attached server on the Integrated xSeries solutions web site (www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/integratedxseries/windows/iscsiclusters.html).