Can Not Bring Disks Online In Failover Cluster Storage

Question

In preparation for my MCSA 70-412 exam, I have purchased a used 2U server, and am trying to become familiar with failover clustering.

I am using Hyper-V as my hypervisor, and am working with two different VMs running Windows 2012R2, with the File Server role and features installed. These machines are named MCD-FS1, and MCD-FS2. I then installed the Failover Clustering feature for both of these VMs.

But, creating a failover cluster with the File Server role requires cluster storage. I do not have an iSCSI SAN available in my home lab, so I have attempted to create several disks for use in the cluster storage by creating VHDs with my hypervisor. I then added the VHDs to MCD-FS1 in the VM's settings in Hyper-V.

I connected to MCD-FS1, and I used Disk Management to bring the disks online. I did not create a volume on them. The disks were then selectable to add to cluster storage. But, none of the disks are able to come online.

Thread source link: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/53e252b9-cfd6-47db-8d53-60b796158eef/can-not-bring-disks-online-in-failover-cluster-storage?forum=winserverClustering

Answer 1

Hi josephfmcd,

I do not have an iSCSI SAN available in my home lab, so I have attempted to create several disks for use in the cluster storage by creating VHDs with my hypervisor.

Are the disks local disk that only available to one node? If yes, these disks are unable to be used by cluster.

For 2012R2 cluster, we need to use shared disks which are available for all nodes to access.

In a test lab, we may need an additional storage server and install ISCSI target server:

In this server, new virtual disks for the cluster nodes to connect:

On the cluster nodes, connect to the ISCSI virtual disk:

Then, in the cluster node's disk management, online and initialize the disk and assign volume to the disk. Online the disk in all nodes while just need to initialize on one node. Then we may add the disk into the cluster for cluster use:

On server 2016 cluster, we may use local disks for cluster use, which is S2D technology.

Best Regards,

Anne

Answer 2

Hey,

In order to create shared storage cluster you can use StarWind VSAN free, which can create iSCSI LUNs on top of local storage. These LUNs would be replicated shared storage for your cluster. The following guide will walk you through the configuration: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/resource-library/starwind-virtual-san-for-hyper-v-2-node-hyperconverged-scenario-with-windows-server-2012-r2/

Cheers,

Alex Bykvoskyi

StarWind Software

Note: Posts are provided “AS IS” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

Answer 3

The easiest way that I always configured a cluster without any additional software was to used the shared VHD capability that comes as part of the clustering software. This is not a supported configuration, but for lab purposes it works just fine.

You need to install the clustering feature on the host. The shared VHD option is part of the clustering feature. This enables a file filter driver to be run on the host, but it is a manual process. Any time you reboot the host, you must manually start the filter driver.

Once this filter driver is enabled, it is possible to make use of the built-in shared VHD capability needed for clustering. You simply create one or more VHDs for use by the VMs, define them to both VMs to be clustered, and define them as shared VHD in the VM configuration.