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MS Cluster for Directory Server + Building Blocks for EV FSA servers

francisvd
Level 4
Partner

Hello,

 

I was wondering if following setup is supported in EV8.0 SP4:

Our current EV directory server is also doing Exchange email archiving and is installed on a Microsoft Cluster. Arhiving is done to a Centera. This is already a production environment.

I have now added an extra EV server to the EV site, dedicated to File System Archiving (from Celerra to Centera).

I want to increase availability (and performance) for the EV FSA server, by adding a second EV FSA server (actively archiving other file shares) to the site and then relying on Building Blocks (Update Service Location) to move the FSA service from the first FSA server to the second one in case of problems.

 

I  know that ms Cluster (here only for EV diretory and Exchange archiving) and Building blocks (here only wanted for the EV FSA server) could not be mixed in the past (EV 2007). Is this still the case?

If so, what is the next best procedure for quickly recovering the EV FSA server? I guess it's just the Recovery procedure in the manual?

 

 

Thanks,

 

Francis

4 REPLIES 4

Liam_Finn1
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

Sounds like you want to do Active Active clustering which is not supported in EV

 

Building Blocks would be an option for you which will give you the ability to fail over to a remote site as long as you have the indexes also stored on a NAS or preferable iSCSI network storage device

 

Microsoft Clustering would also work but the issue you would find is that the heartbeat between the clusters over a WAN or LAN may be an issue and cause unwanted fail overs if there is any delay in heartbeat

WiTSend
Level 6
Partner

Based on what you described... 

1 EV server (DS + EMA) (MS Cluster)

2 FSA servers (USL Failover)

Centera storage platform

Provided that you manage the index locations with either NAS, or use different drive letter mapping, there is nothing that would prevent you from being able to use USL to failover 1 FSA server to the other.

I would recommend that in the failover scenario you put the FSA server in a read-only status to minimize the load on the server until you have restoration.

francisvd
Level 4
Partner

Hello guys,

 

 

Thanks for your anwsers.

As maxwits correctly undertstands it, I'm not trying to do active/active Ms Clustering.

The Exchange mail archiving is on a active/passive Ms Cluster (which is also the EV directory), while I want to setup the EV FSA archiving in an active/active building blocks mode. I'll see if I can run 'USL' on the EV site. In the past it hanged when running USL on a clustered EV directory.

 

Regards

Francis

WiTSend
Level 6
Partner

Log into one of the EV FSA servers and run USL.  It should work properly from there, although I've not experieced an issue running it on a clustered server either.