Reference Guide

20 Preparing Your Systems for Clustering
Configuring Windows Networking
You must configure the public and private networks in each node before you
install MSCS. The following subsections introduce you to some procedures
necessary for the networking prerequisites.
Assigning Static IP Addresses to Cluster Resources and Components
A static IP address is an Internet address that a network administrator assigns
exclusively to a system or a resource. The address assignment remains in
effect until it is changed by the network administrator.
The IP address assignments for the cluster’s public LAN segments depend on
the environment’s configuration. Configurations running the Windows
operating system require static IP addresses assigned to hardware and
software applications in the cluster, as listed in Table 2-1.
Table 2-1. Applications and Hardware Requiring IP Address Assignments
Application/Hardware Description
Cluster IP address The cluster IP address is used for cluster management
and must correspond to the cluster name. Because each
server has at least two network adapters, the minimum
number of static IP addresses required for a cluster
configuration is two (one for public network and one for
the public network). Additional static IP addresses are
required when MSCS is configured with application
programs that require IP addresses, such as file sharing.
Cluster-aware
applications running on
the cluster
These applications include Microsoft SQL Server,
Enterprise Edition, Microsoft Exchange Server, and
Internet Information Server (IIS). For example,
Microsoft SQL Server, Enterprise Edition requires at
least one static IP address for the virtual server
(Microsoft SQL Server does not use the cluster's IP
address). Also, each IIS Virtual Root or IIS Server
instance configured for failover needs a unique static
IP address.