Re: Your thoughts on a print cluster.

MNS only addresses the Quorum. Applications like Exchange and SQL still
require Shared Storage.

Cheers,

Rod

MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
http://www.nw-america.com - Clustering Website
http://msmvps.com/clustering - Blog
http://www.clusterhelp.com - Cluster Training

"Justin Rich" <jrich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:O8bayAZAGHA.3352@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>I have Windows ent 2003
>
> I can build the cluster just cant create the shared storage.
>
> I have built a MNS cluster which seems just as happy as can be... only
> thing is i cant do anything with it because the spool service needs a
> shared storage for the data as you said in your last post. I did read
> something about Active/Active configs that contain one node in a group,
> but you implied that physical storage resource must be a shared storage
> device. On an interesting note i was already in the process of rebuilding
> a server with my previously mentioned config and the HP install CD
> detected the second hard drive as a "share storage device" and asked me to
> disable it durring the install. the only other storage device was the
> second hard disk which wasnt in an array... if im lucky that might show up
> correctly for physical storage and i can create an Active/Active cluster
> which will take care of my needs for this.
>
> Wish there was a way to lie to the system and use like a network share. i
> can see the need for a SAN in most cases but for a print spool your not
> tossing that much data at it and the speed of the network should be fine.
>
>
> "Rodney R. Fournier [MVP]" <rod@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
> message news:u0MKjyYAGHA.3584@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Software is also more expensive. A cluster requires Enterprise Edition,
>> which is about 4 times the price of Standard.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Rod
>>
>> MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
>> http://www.nw-america.com - Clustering Website
>> http://www.msmvps.com/clustering - Blog
>> http://www.clusterhelp.com - Cluster Training
>>
>>
>> "Justin Rich" <jrich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:OY6SDgYAGHA.2392@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> Thanks for the info. I've been reading as much as i can but they wanted
>>> to make a purchase that day. Obviously not the smartest move but wasnt
>>> my idea.
>>> Sadly things dont get done until something breaks and then they are
>>> willing to do the upgrades but they are obviously rushed to get things
>>> up and running as soon as possible..
>>>
>>> I dont forsee a SAN being any cheaper than 10K which im not sure i can
>>> pull off.. i might just have to make my own fail over with DNS..
>>>
>>> "Rodney R. Fournier [MVP]" <rod@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
>>> message news:ugAtcjXAGHA.532@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> You need to read up on clustering, or ask more questions :) You HAVE to
>>>> use shared storage for the spooler folder. The reason the local disks
>>>> don't show up is because they would not work for failover or
>>>> clustering. Don't waste your time reconfiguring the OS.
>>>>
>>>> A cluster should be on the Clustering Catalog. This will include a
>>>> storage solution. SCSI based would be the lowest priced. Remember its
>>>> all about HA. Clusters are expensive in many ways.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Rod
>>>>
>>>> MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
>>>> http://www.nw-america.com - Clustering Website
>>>> http://www.msmvps.com/clustering - Blog
>>>> http://www.clusterhelp.com - Cluster Training
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Justin Rich" <jrich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>> news:OiFqyGXAGHA.1676@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>> thats a good question that im currently struggling with.
>>>>>
>>>>> what i was about to try was to use a local physical disk and do
>>>>> individual groups and make it an active/active configuration.
>>>>> It currently wont show any local disks to choose from but im guessing
>>>>> thats because they are all in a RAID and show up as one physical disk
>>>>> to the OS.
>>>>>
>>>>> Because of the servers i have they only have 2 physical disks so
>>>>> unfortunatly i have to use each disk individually one for the OS and
>>>>> one for the spool storage.
>>>>>
>>>>> so now im going to have to rebuild the servers and create seperate
>>>>> single node groups. not sure how well that will work all i had about
>>>>> it was a little note in the documentation that you can do that...
>>>>> doesnt mention if you need a SAN or just a physical disk.
>>>>>
>>>>> If it comes down to it, whats the cheapest way i can setup a SAN?
>>>>>
>>>>> Its obviously just for the spooler which will only be a few MB.. the
>>>>> only SAN's i have seen are TB's or so.. much larger and much more
>>>>> expensive than im looking for.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for all your help.
>>>>>
>>>>> Justin
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> "Russ Kaufmann [MVP]" <russ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>>> news:%23QSrCCOAGHA.1568@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>> "Justin Rich" <jrich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>>>> news:OZoFwG1$FHA.916@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> well i dont really have a whole lot of choices because i dont have a
>>>>>>> SAN available to me so basically i have to do a local quorum... and
>>>>>>> set it up as a MNS cluster... which works out fine because i have 3
>>>>>>> servers :)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thats not your typical setup for such a senario but i dont think
>>>>>>> there will be a problem with it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> and what do you propose to use for your physical disk resource for
>>>>>> the print queue drive?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Russ Kaufmann
>>>>>>
>>>>>> MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
>>>>>> http://www.clusterhelp.com - Cluster Website
>>>>>> http://msmvps.com/clusterhelp - Blog
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>


.

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