6.5.1

Cluster Physical and Virtual
Machines 4
You can create an MSCS cluster in which each physical machine has a corresponding virtual machine. This
type of conguration is known as a standby host cluster.
A standby host cluster has specic hardware and software requirements.
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Use ESXi hosts that have the following:
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Two physical network adapters dedicated to the MSCS cluster and to the public and private
networks.
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One physical network adapter dedicated to the VMkernel.
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Use RDMs in physical compatibility mode (pass-through RDM). You cannot use virtual disks or RDMs
in virtual compatibility mode (non-pass-through RDM) for shared storage.
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Use the STORport Miniport driver for the Fibre Channel (FC) HBA (QLogic or Emulex) in the physical
Windows machine.
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Do not run multipathing software in the physical or virtual machines.
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Use only a single physical path from the host to the storage arrays in standby host congurations.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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“Create the First Node for a Cluster of Physical and Virtual Machines,” on page 25
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“Create the Second Node for a Cluster of Physical and Virtual Machines,” on page 26
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“Add Hard Disks to the Second Node for a Cluster of Physical and Virtual Machines,” on page 27
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“Install Microsoft Cluster Service,” on page 27
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“Create Additional Physical-Virtual Pairs,” on page 28
Create the First Node for a Cluster of Physical and Virtual Machines
The rst node in a standby host setup is a physical machine.
For information about seing up a physical machine that participates in an MSCS cluster, see the Microsoft
Cluster Service documentation.
VMware, Inc.
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