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HPPatel
Contributor
Contributor

Microsoft Cluster Services with Windows 2003 SP1 and VMware ESX

Hello

I have just been browsing this site and I discovered that MSCS on a Windows 2003 Server with SP1 is not supported on VMware ESX 3.0. There was no date stamp on the document, but Server 2003 is now R2 SP1. Is that the same thing or have VMware and Microsoft found the solution to the problem.

If anyone has any information, could you please let me know.

Regards

H

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23 Replies
Freitag
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I have clusters running W2003 R2 without problems.

check also the Cluster doc:

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_vm_and_mscs.pdf

I really wonder where you found information that MSCS and SP1 should not be supported.

Clustering Requirements:

Operating system is Windows 2000 or Windows 2003.

Only two cluster nodes.

"Clustering Software:

Several different companies supply clustering software that can be used in conjunction

with virtual machines. However, VMware tests clustering with Microsoft Cluster

Service, and only Microsoft Cluster Service is supported."

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jagripino
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I really wonder where you found information that MSCS

and SP1 should not be supported.

Hmm, that would be this document, I guess:

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2021

"Details

Is Microsoft Clustering Service (MSCS) in Windows 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) supported with VMware ESX Server?

Solution

No. Windows 2003 SP1 introduced a change that resulted in MSCS clusters not functioning in any ESX Server version. We are working with Microsoft support to resolve the issue. There is no timeline for a fix or workaround, but this is a high priority for VMware and a resolution will be posted as soon as possible.

Note: Windows 2000 and its service packs, and Windows 2003 RTM continue to function in ESX Server virtual machines.

Product Versions

VMware

VMware ESX Server 2.5.x

VMware ESX Server 2.0.x

VMware ESX Server 3.0.x

VMware ESX Server 2.1.x"[/i]

I was halfway through building a cluster-in-a-box with VMware Server but gave up when I saw this article.

Message was edited by:

ken.cline@hp.com to shorten the URL

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Freitag
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanx, I see now. Very interesting. Smiley Sad

Did anyone have found yet a statement from VMware about support for MSCS cluster on W2003 R2?

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Jazzer
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Maybe this is old? Or just forgotten?

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jasonboche
Immortal
Immortal

A little of both maybe. I expected this to be resolved by now. A proprietary fix was distributed by Microsoft to some customers which was supposed to address the issue, but I have not seen nor heard followup to show that the issue was conclusively fixed. Furthermore, the VMware KB article is the same old one we've seen for somewhere around a year now I think - that Win2k3 SP1 clusters aren't supported. The last word from VMware on this was that it's a Microsoft issue therefore if any fix will be released, it will need to come from Microsoft.

Yes my Win2k3 SP1 clusters work.

No they are not supported.

No they are not production.

VCDX3 #34, VCDX4, VCDX5, VCAP4-DCA #14, VCAP4-DCD #35, VCAP5-DCD, VCPx4, vEXPERTx4, MCSEx3, MCSAx2, MCP, CCAx2, A+
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HPPatel
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for the information on this. We want to use Clustering on VMware as it was one of the features that interested us.

Thanks again.

H

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Freitag
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

According to the system compatibility guide only W2003 SP1 or R2 are supported as 32bit guest OS for 3.0.0 or 3.0.1

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_systems_guide.pdf

Where is the support for W2003 without SP1?

On other side there is no Support for MSCS on W2003 SP1.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2021

well, if you add those 2 conditions together you can forget to get support on any MSCS cluster.

This Topic has been very confusing anyway in the past year, VMware should get this cleared finally and make a statement. Smiley Sad

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Anders
Expert
Expert

Thanks for bringing that to our attention Freitag.

I do believe we support Win2003 RTM,

the KB is still valid and we do support clustering only on win2003 RTM.

I'll file a documentation bug against the Systems Guide and see what happens.

I think it always has been like that, but RTM should be listed separatly for clarity.

Substantial effort has been made to provide MSCS support for SP1,

from both VMware and Microsoft.

I do believe we could have closure on this soon,

but we wont provide support on SP1 until we are sure it's solid.

\- Anders

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Freitag
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

thanx for the info, hope there will be some "good news" soon!

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Mork
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

It would be good if there was an \*official* announcement when this is fixed as it has the potential for great impact on us.

We have three physical Exchange clusters and one virtual at the moment, however the virtual will be disappearing soon due to this issue.

Both of our file clusters are also physical.

I'd really like to push virtualisation for at least some of these, but I can't even think about it until SP1 and R2 are supported as we no longer run RTM in our SOE.

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jasonboche
Immortal
Immortal

It would be good if there was an \*official*

announcement when this is fixed as it has the

potential for great impact on us.

Yeah I've been waiting for this for like... a year. VMware & Microsoft thinks I have forgotten about it but I haven't. I'll keep bugging them both. VMware says the ball is in Microsoft's court. Microsoft may be dragging their feet due to not wanting to feed the competition. A fix was supposedly released quite a while ago now but no official word on if it resolved the open clustering issues with SP1 or not. If I was a customer that really relied on clustering in a VM, I'd be pretty frustrated right now.

VCDX3 #34, VCDX4, VCDX5, VCAP4-DCA #14, VCAP4-DCD #35, VCAP5-DCD, VCPx4, vEXPERTx4, MCSEx3, MCSAx2, MCP, CCAx2, A+
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Mork
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yep, it's definitely frustrating me!

I want to push a new print cluster to take over from our standalone print servers as these are critical for some of our systems, but of course if I push it, it's going to have to be physical, not virtual...

It seems no matter how I push at the moment, there's always a valid point for the other sys admins to say "but that's not supported on VMware".

Unfortunately, they're right about 80% of the time due to this one particular item Smiley Sad

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nigoool
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi folks.

Does anybody know if there has there been an update yet as to whether Windows 2003 SP1 is supported in a MSCS configuration?

Cheers

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amickiewicz
Contributor
Contributor

MSCS for Windows 2003 with SP1 is now supported for:

ESX 2.5.3 with Patch 4:

http://www.vmware.com/download/esx/esx-253-200610-patch.html

ESX 2.5.4 with Patch 2:

http://www.vmware.com/download/esx/esx-254-200611-patch.html

I have not seen any updates for ESX 3.x. Does anyone know if it is bundled with another patch, or when a patch will be released?

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jasonboche
Immortal
Immortal

Microsoft Clustering in a VM had been supported in the past, however, when SP1 for 2k3 came out, something broke and it has taken what seems like about a year for MS and VMware to come to an agreement on whose responsibility it was to fix it. All along VMware had been saying it's a MS issue and they need to fix it. MS on the other hand was in no hurry to fix the problem, likely due to their competing virtualization products being out on the market. In the end, it appears that it is VMware that has released the patch which I am now very curious about -- was it VMware's issue to begin with since they released the patch?

VCDX3 #34, VCDX4, VCDX5, VCAP4-DCA #14, VCAP4-DCD #35, VCAP5-DCD, VCPx4, vEXPERTx4, MCSEx3, MCSAx2, MCP, CCAx2, A+
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tholling
Contributor
Contributor

Any progress on this that anyone knows about?

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jasonboche
Immortal
Immortal

Clustering is once again supported as announced above. Non issue at this point in time.

VCDX3 #34, VCDX4, VCDX5, VCAP4-DCA #14, VCAP4-DCD #35, VCAP5-DCD, VCPx4, vEXPERTx4, MCSEx3, MCSAx2, MCP, CCAx2, A+
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Godsbrother
Contributor
Contributor

Clustering is once again supported as announced

above. Non issue at this point in time.

Well thats debatable as they don't mention support for VI3!

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atzi
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

We are planning our VMware project sine 1 year. First we are waiting for VI3 and than for MSCS support for SP1. This really sucks!

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