Physical to Virtual clustering on vmware

[kathirkk23]

Hi All,

We are planning to convert one of our Domain controller (AD) in to Virtual box then need to do clustering with another Physical box (DHCP) .

Can any one help me out on this...

First need to knew

1. Can we do clustering on Virtaul -Physical bix on a windows environment.?

2. Keeeping Domain controller (ADC) on vmware box is a recommended..one ..? if so can we do clustering Virtaul to virtual or Physical to Virtual.

Note: The planned Domain controller(ADC) only DHCP enabled no ROLES specified on this.

Thanks in advance

Regards

Kathir

[AndreTheGiant]

1. Can we do clustering on Virtaul -Physical bix on a windows environment.?

Yes, but you need a shared storage.

See:

2. Keeeping Domain controller (ADC) on vmware box is a recommended..one ..?

It works. See:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888794

PS: do not make a P2V of the DC. Instead create a new VM, and use dcpromo, than move all FSMO roles (if needed).

See also: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006996

Andre

[kathirkk23]

Hi Andre,

Thank you very much your lightning fast responds,

My scenorio here is

The ADC does not have any FSMO roles, it has only DHCP & DNS (by default) enabled only, in this case can I convert P2V and need to do

clustering with same Physical to virtaul box for redudancy.

Regards

Kathir

[habibalby]

If you don't wish to transfer the FSMO Roles then run DcPROMO and make it as an Additional Domain Controller.

We run DC which holds the FSMO Roles= PDC and the Additional DC as virtual. Between time to time, we transfer the FSMO Roles from the Physical DC to the virtual ADC and then we run the vRanger Backup on it. So, in case of failuer, we can revert back from Backup with all the FSMO Roles in place, no need for sezing.

Best Regards,

Hussain Al Sayed

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[AndreTheGiant]

Do not make a MSCS with 2 DC.

Use 2 simple Windows 2003 Enterprise member server but not DC.

Andre

[jbruelasdgo]

http://viops.vmware.com/home/docs/DOC-1223

Jose B Ruelas

http://aservir.wordpress.com

[kathirkk23]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply,

Please tell me can I do MSCS clustering on ADC (one Physical one Virtual) which enabled only DHCP role and it has no FSMO roles.

Plan is :- Want to do P2V current ADC which is enabled only DHCP role and after converted virtaul then want to enable MSCS betw'n physical to virtual.

Pls advice.

Regards

Kathir

[AndreTheGiant]

Please tell me can I do MSCS clustering on ADC (one Physical one Virtual) which enabled only DHCP role and it has no FSMO roles.

Yes, if a MSCS with 2 ADC as nodes is possible (see on Technet or Microsoft forum).

As I know each node must be domain member...

Plan is :- Want to convert my current ADC which is enabled only DHCP role and after converted virtaul then want to enable MSCS.

Don't make a P2V of a DC... you can have a lot of issues.

Create a new VM, and use dcpromo to add a new DC.

IMHO I think that a better solution is create a MSCS of two clean member server, and use backup/restore function to recreate your DHCP server configuration.

Or not use at all the MSCS and simple create 2 DHCP server with the 80-20 configuration (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc958936.aspx)

Andre

[kathirkk23]

Andre,

Thanks for the reply,

What is wrong to do P2V ADC (Which has only DNS & DHCP enabled)

Regards

Kathir

[AndreTheGiant · Accepted solution]

What is wrong to do P2V ADC

It's a wrong approach

AD is a database structure that cannot be stopped on a live system.

So the only way to do a consistent P2V is use a cold conversion (but you need the Converter Enterprise) or try to do in Active Directory Restoration Mode.

Andre

[bulletprooffool]

I would definitely recommend a fresh build and DCPromo for the DC . . aver P2V - AD is quite sensitive, and plays a huge role in the running of your network.

For the cluster aspect of this, it is definitely possible to cluster a physical and a virtual machine, but you would be best advised to provision your storage using raw device mappings - once that is done, the rest shouldbe done much the same as any other cluster.

On vSphere, you could simply use FT, which would behave the same as a cluster, but oprotect your AD environment from hardware failure . .

[msemon1]

As the others have stated, it is best not to P2V domain Controllers. There can be issues with the Active Directory database. Use a member server and DCPROMO to make Domain Controller and transfer roles if you wish. What is the business case for clustering your Domain Controllers? For redundancy if you have a couple of Domain Controllers running as VM's you should be covered. You can transfer roles around as needed. We have 1 physical Domain Controller and 3 virtual. We could run them all as virtual but management likes having a physical in case something catastrophic happens to our VM environment. Redundancy and high availablility are better for Domain Controllers. As the saying goes load balance the front end and cluster the backend.

Mike

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Moved to Virtual Machine and Guest OS forum.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst[/url]
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