Specifications

CHAPTER 7 High-Availability Configurations with VMware GSX Server

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Creating a Two-Node Cluster with Microsoft Clustering

Services on a Single GSX Server Computer

This procedure creates a two-node cluster using Microsoft Clustering Services on a

single GSX Server computer using the following:

• SQL1 = host name of node 1 of the cluster

• SQL2 = host name of node 2 of the cluster

• SQLCLUSTER = public host name of the cluster

Creating the First Node’s Base Virtual Machine

The following steps describe how to create the base virtual machine that serves as the

first node in the cluster (and as a template for the additional node), and how to create

the two preallocated virtual disks that are shared among the virtual machines in the

cluster.

Note: The virtual disks used to store the operating system and clustering software

for each virtual machine (node) in the cluster do not have to be preallocated virtual

disks.

1. Log on to your GSX Server host as the user who will own the virtual machine.

2. Launch a VMware Virtual Machine Console and create a new virtual machine (for

information on creating a new virtual machine, see Creating a New Virtual

Machine in the VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide). Follow the Custom

path. Choose the settings you want (for example, the size of the virtual disk or

the amount of memory), but make sure you specify

• Windows 2000 Advanced Server as the guest operating system.

• SQL1 as the virtual machine name.

• The virtual machine directory as d:\cluster\SQL1 (on a Windows host)

or /home/cluster/SQL1 (on a Linux host).

• Bridged networking for the virtual machine.

• SQL1 as the disk file name.

3. Open the virtual machine settings editor. Choose VM > Settings.

4. Add a new network adapter that uses either another external adapter or the

VMnet1 host-only adapter. (For complete isolation from the host, you may also

use any unused virtual Ethernet switch, typically VMnet2 through VMnet7.) For

information, see Adding and Modifying Virtual Network Adapters in the VMware

GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide.