Specifications

Best Practices for Virtualizing and Managing Exchange 2013
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Figure 24: High-level overview of cluster member converged networking configuration
This converged approach can significantly reduce the number of physical NICs required in each host and,
subsequently, the number of overall switch ports. Yet at the same time, the approach provides resiliency
and high levels of bandwidth for key virtual machines and workloads. More information about converged
infrastructure options can be found here on TechNet.
Cluster-Aware Updating
In the past, it has been a challenging task for administrators to appropriately update and patch failover
clusters. The Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) feature in Windows Server 2012 simplifies this task. CAU
facilitates automated maintenance of cluster nodes/servers. Automating cluster nodes makes the server
maintenance process in a cluster faster, easier, more reliable, and more consistent with less downtime.
CAU puts each cluster node in maintenance mode, applies required updates/patches, and restores the
node to be used again. At a high level, CAU performs the following steps:
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 Puts a node of the cluster in maintenance mode and takes it offline transparently.
 Moves clustered roles off the node.
 Installs the updates or patches, and any dependent updates.
 Performs a restart, if needed.
 Brings the node back online and out of maintenance mode.
 Restores clustered roles on the node.
 Moves to the next node and updates/patches it in the same manner.
This increases the availability of servers during the update and patching process in both environments
(virtualized and non-virtualized). It also helps to maintain the security and performance of servers in the
cluster. Administrators use the Cluster-Aware Updating Wizard for automating the update of a failover
cluster (Figure 25).