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Daniel9999
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Microsoft Cluster in a virtual environment

Is it possible to run a Windows 2008 Failover Cluster in a virtual environment using ESX 3.5?

Regards,

Daniel9999

Daniel9999
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AndreTheGiant
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Windows 2008 Clusters are supported only with vSphere.

But if you have a iSCSI storage, you can use a "unsupported" (but working) solution using iSCSI initiator inside Windows 2008 VMs to point to some shared LUNs.

More infos on:

Andre

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro

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AndreTheGiant
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Windows 2008 Clusters are supported only with vSphere.

But if you have a iSCSI storage, you can use a "unsupported" (but working) solution using iSCSI initiator inside Windows 2008 VMs to point to some shared LUNs.

More infos on:

Andre

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
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VMmatty
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Andre - I don't believe that using the iSCSI initiator inside a guest is an unsupported configuration. I have called VMware for support and documented my environment and they have had no issues supporting me. Their explanation has generally been that anything done inside the guest is essentially out of their hands.

Also, make sure that Microsoft will support your configuration which is arguably more important. Check the SVVP Support Policy Wizard to make sure that your specific combination of Microsoft application, operating system, and hypervisor is supported:

http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/svvp.aspx?svvppage=svvpwizard.htm

Matt | http://www.thelowercasew.com | @mattliebowitz
AndreTheGiant
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The official documentation is:

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3/r35u2/vi3_35_25_u2_mscs.pdf

As you read the supported configuration (for cluster across boxes) is 2 node and RDM disks.

This doen't not mean that other solution are not working.

But could be not supported by VMware.

Andre

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
VMmatty
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True that it isn't explicitly stated in that document. My point was just that I have spoken with VMware support and they have had no issue supporting this configuration. The other point is just that I think Microsoft supportability is more important than VMware support in this particular instance, so the poster should make sure that they meet Microsoft supportability guidelines by following the link I posted above.

Matt | http://www.thelowercasew.com | @mattliebowitz
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