Miscellaneous Topics

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Q. Can Server clusters and Network Load Balancing be used on the same set of servers?

A. No, Microsoft Server clusters (MSCS) and Network Load Balancing (NLB) are not supported on the same set of nodes. Both Server clusters and Network Load Balancing clusters control and configure network adapters. Since they are not aware of each other, configuring one can interfere with the other.

Q. Can I use antivirus software with a Server cluster?

A. Yes, you should make sure that the vendor has tested their solution in a Server cluster environment. Antivirus software typically layers into the storage stack as a disk driver. This can have an impact on the clusters ability to failover a disk if the driver does not support the required features.

Q. Does Microsoft provide a Distributed Lock Manager (DLM)?

A. No, at this time, Microsoft has no plans to release a distributed lock manager, however, that may change if there is sufficient customer demand for a DLM service.

Note

Do not confuse a distributed lock manager with a cluster file system. A cluster file system can be built in a number of ways, using a lock manager is one of them. However, just providing a lock manager does not solve the cluster file system problem.

Q. Will Microsoft provide a shared disk cluster file system?

A. Microsoft is continually looking at ways to improve the services it provides on the Windows operating system. A shared disk cluster file system is a way to provide a number of attributes in a cluster:

  • A single file system namespace visible to all applications on all nodes in the cluster

  • High speed access to disks from any node in the cluster

Q. How do Server clusters and Fault tolerant servers relate?

A. Server clusters address a number of availability issues:

  • Hardware failures

  • Operating system failures

  • Application failures

  • Site failures

  • Operating system and application upgrades

Fault tolerant servers provide an extremely reliable server platform that addresses hardware failures by providing redundancy at the hardware level. In some cases, fault tolerant servers can be used to address site failures.

In and of themselves, fault tolerant servers do not address issues relating to operating system and application monitoring and failure recovery, nor do they address upgrading the operating system or applications without taking the service down.

In summary, Server clusters are about providing high availability, fault tolerant servers provide high reliability. By combining highly reliable, fault tolerant servers with Server clusters, you get the best of both worlds; a set of reliable servers that can provide high availability in the face of operating system and application failures and upgrades.

Q. How do I find Server cluster KB Articles?

A. All cluster KB articles can be found at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=538

  • All Windows NT 4.0 related articles have keyword "MSCS"

  • All Windows 2000 articles have keyword "W2000MSCS"

This should allow easy selection of Server cluster related articles.