Joining an Existing Cluster

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Updated: October 22, 2009

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1

For most purposes, joining one or more Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) servers to a root cluster is the best way to increase the availability and redundancy of your deployment. A root cluster can contain one or many servers that provide all services to AD RMS clients. You can also join an AD RMS server to a licensing-only cluster.

When you install the AD RMS server role on a computer running Windows Server® 2008 R2, you can choose the option to join the server to a cluster. When joining a server to a cluster, you must configure your load balancing software or hardware to work with the new cluster member.

Before you can use Windows PowerShell cmdlets to install the AD RMS server role, you must start Windows PowerShell with administrator privileges after logging in with an account that meets the following requirements:

  • The user account that you use to install AD RMS must not be the same account as the AD RMS service account.

  • If you are using an external database server for the AD RMS databases, the user account that you use to install AD RMS must have the right to create new databases. If Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or Microsoft SQL Server 2008 is used, the user account must be a member of the System Administrators database role, or equivalent.

  • The user account that you use to install AD RMS must have access to query the AD DS domain, such as a domain user account.

  • The user account that you use to install AD RMS must be a member of the Administrators group, or equivalent, on the server.

Installing and provisioning AD RMS as a member server in an existing AD RMS cluster consists of the following steps:

  1. Create the Windows PowerShell drive to represent the server that you are provisioning. For more information, see Creating an AD RMS Server Windows PowerShell Drive.

  2. Set properties on objects in the drive namespace that represent required configuration settings. For more information, see Setting Properties on Objects in the AD RMS Drive Namespace.

  3. Run the Install-ADRMS cmdlet. In addition to installing the AD RMS server role and provisioning the server, this cmdlet also installs other features required by AD RMS, such as Message Queuing, if necessary. For more information, see Running the Install-ADRMS Cmdlet.

See Also

Concepts

Using Windows PowerShell to Deploy AD RMS
Understanding the AD RMS Deployment Provider Namespace
Using Windows PowerShell to Administer AD RMS