Can VMWare server allow setting up Windows 2003 cluster?

Hi,

I am a newbie in Windows clustering. Could someone verify this for me?

We have the VMWare Server (free download from VMWare website). Does VMWare
Server support a 2-node Windows 2003 cluster? Or do we have to use
VMWare ESXi ?

Thank you.

I cannot speak to VMware support policies but I cannot see why you could
not set one up. You can create one in Virtual Server or Hyper-V as well.
You will need to use iSCSI to present shared storage to both nodes or see
if VMware provides the ability to configure a shared bus for both nodes
regarding storage. Hyper-V for example would require iSCSI.

Should work fine.

Dave Guenthner [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Thank you.

"Dave Guenthner [MSFT]" wrote:

> I cannot speak to VMware support policies but I cannot see why you could
> not set one up. You can create one in Virtual Server or Hyper-V as well.
> You will need to use iSCSI to present shared storage to both nodes or see
> if VMware provides the ability to configure a shared bus for both nodes
> regarding storage. Hyper-V for example would require iSCSI.
>
> Should work fine.
>
> Dave Guenthner [MSFT]
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
>
>

Also check this out...
http://www.minasi.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17981

Mark's right - there is an excellent article in the Windows IT Pro magazine
from 2003 to assist step by step... Need a subscription though... (worth
every penny).



"coady" wrote:

> Thank you.
>
> "Dave Guenthner [MSFT]" wrote:
>
> > I cannot speak to VMware support policies but I cannot see why you could
> > not set one up. You can create one in Virtual Server or Hyper-V as well.
> > You will need to use iSCSI to present shared storage to both nodes or see
> > if VMware provides the ability to configure a shared bus for both nodes
> > regarding storage. Hyper-V for example would require iSCSI.
> >
> > Should work fine.
> >
> > Dave Guenthner [MSFT]
> > This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
> >
> >

I have done this before, but with ESX 3.5 (pricey but worth it).

iSCSI is not supported by VmWare for setting up MSCS Clusters. You need to
configure a virtual hard disk and an additional SCSI controller on Each VM.
If the two nodes are on the same ESX Host it's easy. If you want to put each
node on a different ESX Host, you need to use Raw Mappings for the shared
storage, not a VHD.

Also VmWare only supports SCSI-2 persistant bindings, not SCSI-3. That and
the fact that you are using "parallel SCSI" you can only use Win2k3 not Win2k8

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx...25_u2_mscs.pdf

"coady" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am a newbie in Windows clustering. Could someone verify this for me?
>
> We have the VMWare Server (free download from VMWare website). Does VMWare
> Server support a 2-node Windows 2003 cluster? Or do we have to use
> VMWare ESXi ?
>
> Thank you.