The term "local quorum" refers to the Cluster "Quorum drive" that in this case does not have to be a shared SCSI device but can be run off the local hard drive of the cluster node. This is very good for labs and some testing of Exchange Server. The local quorum cluster has most of the functionality of the "real" cluster except there is no failover possible - as there is only one node to this cluster. Cluster Administrator, Event Log, and the registry all reflect that the node is a part of the cluster.

The ability to create the local quorum resource can also be very handy in certain disaster recovery situations (for example in case of the loss of the quorum drive).

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Server has Cluster service installed by default so there is no need to install anything from Add or Remove programs. The dependency on Internet Information Services (IIS) has been removed so you do not need to install IIS before configuring cluster service. To configure the Cluster, use the following procedure:

To set up Windows Server 2003 Clustering with Local Quorum storage

1. From the Start menu, select Administrative Tools and start the Cluster Administrator tool.

2. Select Create new cluster and hit OK

   

3. The New Cluster wizard will start. Select Next.

4. Select or Type the Domain and the Cluster name (the node must already be a member of the domain) and select Next.

   

5. From the Select Computer page of the New Cluster wizard, type in the name of your computer. This is the name that will be visible in Cluster Administrator later on. Press Next

   

6. The wizard will complete. You may get some warnings at this point if you are running this setup on the single NIC machine and the machine that does not have external drives. That is okay, Just press Next:

   

7. Type in the IP address of your cluster and press Next.

   Note:
   This is not the IP address of your Exchange virtual server but the cluster itself. This IP Address must be different from the IP address of the physical cluster node itself.

8. Add the account and the password of the account that will be starting the Cluster service. This should be a domain account.

9. A summary of what Wizard is going to setup will be displayed. If you press the Quorum button, it should default to Local Quorum.

   
   

10. On the next page, the dialogue follows the resources being created. Again, you might get warnings if you are using DHCP for node NIC, have only one NIC etc. This should not be a problem as you are building a single-node cluster:

    

11. Select Finish when the tasks are completed.

12. When the Wizard is done your basic cluster resources will have been created.

    

To set up Exchanger Server 2003 on Local Quorum Cluster

1. From the Cluster Administrator, right-click on the Cluster Group and choose New, then Resource. Create a new resource of the type Distributed Transaction Coordinator and name it the same. Select Next and then Next again on the page that follows.

   

2. At the Dependencies page, sdd all of the resources from the left side pane to the right side pane and select Finish:

   

3. Right-click on the newly created Distributed Transaction Coordinator resource and bring it online. It should come online immediately.

4. Run ForestPrep and/or DomainPrep if they have not been run yet.

5. Install Exchange Server 2003 on the single node of the cluster by running Setup.

   Note:
   Exchange Server will not be configured at this time and the Active Directory object for it will not be created. The Exchange Server setup will only install the binaries on the node and make some registry entries. Additionally, unlike with Exchange 2000 Server, Exchange Server 2003 setup will not give any special indication that it is installing a clustered version of Exchange.

To create Exchange Server 2003 resources

1. The final step in configuring Exchange Server 2003 on the cluster is to configure the cluster resources in Cluster Administrator:

   1. Create a resource group for Exchange Server 2003.
      
   2. Create an IP Address resource in the new group.
      
   3. Create a Network Name resource in the new group.
      
   4. Create a Local Quorum resource in the new group
      
   5. Create the Exchange Server 2003 System Attendant resource.
      

2. To Create a Resource Group for Exchange Server 2003:

   1. On the cluster node, select Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then select Cluster Administrator.
      
   2. Right-click the Groups container, select New, and then click Group.
      
   3. The New Group Wizard starts. In the Name box, type "Exchange Group" (or whatever you like, without the quotation marks).
      
   4. In the Description box, type a description of this group (optional). Click Next.
      
   5. On the Preferred Owner page, verify that there is either one or no cluster node listed in the Available nodes box, and then click Finish. The new group is now displayed under Groups.
      

      Note:
      On a production cluster the Preferred Owner dialog box should never contain both nodes in the cluster. If both nodes are made preferred owners and one node stops working, Exchange Server would failover and failback repeatedly, effectively taking the entire resource offline.

3. To Create an IP Address Resource:

   1. Right-click the Exchange Group, point to New, and then select Resource.
      
   2. The New Resource Wizard starts. On the New Resource page, type "Exchange IP Address" (or whatever you like, without the quotation marks) in the Name box.
      
   3. In the Description box, type a description (optional).
      
   4. In the Resource Type box, select IP Address. Verify that the Group box contains the new Exchange Group. Click Next.
      
   5. On the Possible Owners page, verify the single node appears in the Possible owners box. Click Next to continue.
      
   6. On the Dependencies page, verify that no resources appear in the Resource dependencies box. Click Next to continue.
      
   7. On the TCP/IP Address Parameters page, type the static IP address and Subnet mask for this virtual server. Click Finish.
      

      Note:
      Exchange Server cluster has its own dedicated static IP address, separate from all other resources including the quorum (or cluster server) and the actual node. So you will have three IP addresses associated with your server at this point, one for the actual node, one for the cluster server, and one for the Exchange virtual server.

4. To create a Network Name Resource:

   1. Right-click Exchange Group, select New, and then Resource. The New Resource Wizard starts.
      
   2. On the New Resource page, type "Exchange Network Name" (or whatever you like, without the quotation marks) in the Name box.
      
   3. In the Resource type box, select Network Name. Verify that the Group box contains Exchange Group. Click Next to continue.
      
   4. On the Possible Owners page, verify the single node is displayed in the Possible owners box Click Next.
      
   5. On the Dependencies page, select Exchange IP Address in the Available resources box, and then click Add. Click Next to continue.
      
   6. On the Network Name Parameters page, enter a name for the Exchange Virtual Server computer in the Name box. This is the network name that identifies this Exchange virtual server on your network. Click Finish.
      

5. To create Local Quorum Resources:

   1. Right-click Exchange Group, select New, and then click Resource. The New Resource Wizard starts.
      
   2. On the New Resource page, type "Disk Resource" (or whatever you like, without the quotation marks) in the Name box.
      
   3. On the Resource type page, select Local Quorum. Verify that the Group box contains Exchange Group. Click Next to continue.
      
   4. On the Possible Owners page, verify that the single node is displayed in the Possible owners box. Click Next to continue.
      
   5. On the Dependencies page, select Exchange IP Address in the Available resources box, and then select Add. Click Next to continue.
      
   6. Click Finish.
      
   7. Right-click the Exchange Group, and select Bring Online.
      

6. Create the Exchange Server 2003 System Attendant Resource:

   1. Right-click the Exchange Group, select New, and then Resource.
      
   2. On the New Resource page, type a name and a description of the resource.
      
   3. In the Resource Type box, select Microsoft Exchange System Attendant. Verify that the Group box contains Exchange Group. Click Next.
      
   4. On the Possible Owners page, verify the single node in the cluster is displayed in the Possible owners box.
      
   5. On the Dependencies page, select the Exchange Network Name and Local Quorum check boxes under Resource dependencies, and then click Add.
      
   6. On the Exchange Administrative Group page, select the administrative group you want to manage the virtual server. Click Next to continue.
      
   7. On the Exchange Routing Group page, select the routing group you want to manage the virtual server. Click Next to continue.
      
   8. On the Data Directory page, verify the location of the data files (for example, S:\Exchsrvr), and then click Finish.
      
   9. To bring the service online, right-click Exchange Group, and then select Bring Online.
      

After the Exchange System Attendant resource has successfully been created, the Exchange System Attendant resource automatically creates all other Exchange resources for the cluster. These resources include:

• Exchange Information Store Instance
  
• Exchange Message Transfer Agent Instance
  
• Exchange Routing Service Instance
  
• SMTP Virtual Server Instance
  
• Exchange HTTP Virtual Server Instance
  
• Exchange IMAP4 Virtual Server Instance
  
• Exchange POP3 Virtual Server Instance
  
• Exchange MS Search Instance
  

For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 283715, "The Features of the Local Quorum Resource on Windows Server 2003 Cluster."