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Table Of Contents
Cluster Virtual Machines Across
Physical Hosts 3
You can create a MSCS cluster that consists of two or more virtual machines on two ESXi or more hosts.
A cluster across physical hosts requires specific hardware and software.
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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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Supported shared storage configuration. For more information, see Supported Shared Storage
Configurations.
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RDM in physical compatibility (pass-through) or virtual compatibility (non-pass-through) mode.
VMware recommends physical compatibility mode. The cluster cannot use virtual disks for shared
storage.
Failover clustering with Windows Server 2008 is not supported with virtual compatibility mode (non-
pass-through) RDMs.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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Create the First Node for MSCS Clusters Across Physical Hosts
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Create Additional Nodes for Clusters Across Physical Hosts
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Add Hard Disks to the First Node for Clusters Across Physical Hosts
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Add Hard Disks to the First Node for Clusters Across Physical Hosts with VVol
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Add Hard Disks to Additional Nodes for Clusters Across Physical Hosts
Create the First Node for MSCS Clusters Across Physical
Hosts
To create the first node, you create and configure a virtual machine with two virtual network adapters and
install a guest operating system on the virtual machine.
You configure the virtual network adapters to handle virtual machine traffic for the cluster: a private
network connection for the private heartbeat and a public network connection.
VMware, Inc.
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