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How to Install MSMQ on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Failover Cluster

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Basic Setup Diagram:

Assumptions:

1. 2 nodes would be there in the cluster

2. DC will also serve as shared storage provider i.e. DC and SAN/iSCSI will be collocated.

PreRequisites:

1. 3 VHD's on hyper-v (DC, ClusterNode1, ClusterNode2)

2. 1 public network interface on each of the 3 vhd's

3. 1 private network interface on each of the 3 vhd's

4. 1 Private netwrok between 2 vhd's acting as node of the cluster ie between ClusterNode1 and ClusterNode2

5. All the nodes of the cluster should have same components/sub-components installed for which clustering is desired.

Establish Public Network:

Public interface are gate to the outer network. Identify the interface on the machines which is designated against public network

created on Hyper-v.

Establish Private Network 1:

This will be a private network between DC, ClusterNode1 and ClusterNode2.

1. This network provide connectivity for DC/DNS related communication

2. Identify the interfaces on this private network and assign some static IP in the same subnet other than the subnet configured for

Private Network 2 (for eg. DC - 1.2.3.1/24, ClusterNode1 - 1.2.3.2/24, ClusterNode2 - 1.1.1.3/24)

3. Disable the firewall on the machines if required.

Establish Private Network 2:

This will be a private network between ClusterNode1 and ClusterNode2.

1. This network provide connectivity for Heartbeat syncup between the cluster nodes

2. Identify the interfaces on this private network and assign some static IP in the same subnet other than the subnet configured for

Private Network 1 (for eg. ClusterNode1 - 2.1.1.2/24, ClusterNode2 - 2.1.1.3/24)

3. Disable the firewall on the machines if required.

Promote the DC:

From the Cmd prompt, run dcpromo on machine sought as DC. This will guide through the DC installation setup.

1. Create New domain new forest for the testing purpose

2. Allow DNS installation to establish local DNS cache.

Failover Cluster manager Component Install:

Install Failover Cluster manager component on both the cluster nodes i.e. ClusterNode1 and ClusterNode2.

Install iSCSI Target on DC

iSCSITarget - TBD

Create Virtual Disks

1. Start iSCSITarget on DC machine

2. Right click on devices in the left panel to choose "Create Virtual Disk".

Note: Create atleast one virtual disk for quorum operations. Rest depends upon the application/service to be clustered.

3. For configuring transactional MSMQ, 3 disks are created viz. Quorum, MSDTC and MSMQ.

Configure iSCSIInitiator on Cluster Nodes

1. Open "Administrator Tools -> iSCSI Initiator".

2. Go to Discovery Tab.

3. Click on Discovery Portal button and add the ip assigned to DC on private network between DC and clustered nodes. (In our eg, 1.2.3.1)

Configure iSCSI Targets on DC

1. Start iSCSI Target on DC.

2. Right click on "iSCSI Targets" in the left panel to choose "Create iSCSI Target".

Note: Create atleast one Target for quorum operations. Rest depends upon the application/service to be clustered.

3. For configuring transactional MSMQ, 3 Targets are created viz. Quorum, MSDTC and MSMQ.

4. With each Target created configure all the available IQN identifiers.

5. Map Targets created in previous step with virtual disk created earlier 1-to-1.

Verify Link between iSCSI Target and Initiator on each clustered node:

1. Open "Administrator Tools -> iSCSI Initiator".

2. Go to Targets Tab.

3. Click on Refresh button to enlist the targets available.

4. Select each target and press connect and disconnect to verify.

Join Cluster Nodes to the Domain

After joining the machines to the domain configred on DC machine, reboot the machines and login as the domain administrator.

Initializing the virtual disks

1. On any of the clustered nodes, open the storage management snap-in.

2. Apart from the physical partitions present on the machine some new partitions would be visible.

3. On each partition, right click -> Online.

4. On each partition, right click -> Initialize

5. On each partition, right click -> Create Volume

Validating Failover Cluster Configuration

1. Open "Administrator Tools->Failover Cluster Manager"

2. Right click on "Failover Cluster manager" and select Validate Configuration

3. In the next screen enter the names of the machines to be made part of cluster. In our eg ClusterNode1 and ClusterNode2

4. Continue to start the validation tests.

5. Verify the test report to identify any major failures/warnings for cluster configuration.

Create Failover Cluster

1. In Failover Cluster manager, right click and select "Create a Cluster" Option.

2. Specify some name to the cluster.

Note: the name assigned to the cluster will be treated as domain level entity. So in case cluster is deleted, verify the

deletion of the same Domain controller in "Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in"

3. Add the name of the machines when prompted.

Add Disks to the Failover Cluster Storage

1. In Failover Cluster manager, eapand the newly created cluster tree.

2. Right click on the storage, and add the disks created earlier.

Configuring Cluster Quorum

1. Open Failover Cluster Manager

2. Select and Right click the cluster name to be configured.

3. Goto More Actions->Configure Cluster Quorum Settings

4. Choose one of the Disks created earlier to be used as cluster Quorum.

MSMQ Component Install:

Install MSMQ component on both the nodes of the cluster with same subcomponents.

Add Service or Application to the Cluster

1. Open Failover Cluster Manager

2. Expand the subtree for cluster to be configured

3. Select and right-click "Services and Applications" and choose "Configure a Service or Application"

4. Give an appropriate cluster name to the service/application to be added.

Note: The name assigned to the service/application would be domain wide visible and could be referred as a machine name.

5. Choose one of the disks to be associated with the service/application (if required).

In case of MSMQ, one disk is required for clustered DTC and one for clustered MSMQ.

Add DTC and MSMQ service to the cluster.

Cluster MSMQ Queue snap-in:

Cluster MSMQ snap-in could be accessed from Failover Cluster Manager snap-in.

1. Open Failover Cluster Manager.

2. Expand the subtree for cluster where MSMQ service is configured.

3. Select and Right-click the msmq service and choose "Manage MSMQ".

4. A new snap-in opened would display the clustered MSMQ.

Note: This MSMQ snap-in different from standard MSMQ snap-in and queue configurations visible in Cluster

MSMQ snap-in will not be available in standard snap-in.

Troubleshooting from Cluster logs:

1. Goto cmd prompt

2. cmd:> cluster log /g

3. logs will be generated at \windows\cluster\reports\cluster.log

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Revision #5