Windows Failover Clustering, one of the best features available in Windows Server OS!!
We utilized Windows Server Failover Clustering as an integral part of a MS SQL cluster setup. We utilized it for almost zero downtime on …
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What is Windows Server Failover Clustering?
Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) is a group of independent servers that work together to increase application and service availability.
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What is Windows Server Failover Clustering?
Windows Server Failover Clustering Technical Details
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
|---|---|
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) is a group of independent servers that work together to increase application and service availability.
Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 8.2.
The most common users of Windows Server Failover Clustering are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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February 18, 2022
Windows Failover Clustering, one of the best features available in Windows Server OS!!
We utilized Windows Server Failover Clustering as an integral part of a MS SQL cluster setup. We utilized it for almost zero downtime on our Microsoft SQL serving our on prem Sharepoint implementations, as well as several critical IT infrastructure systems that need a SQL database back end. This allows us to perform maintenance and patching without affecting the applications that use the SQL server. It's deployed on a active passive setup. We also set up a test Hyper-V high availability cluster.
- It allows us to perform maintenance and patching on the passive node without having to shutdown the database and incurring downtime.
- We are able to repair a failed server but failing the database over if there is a hardware failure on the active node. Minimizing downtime on the database.
- It provides an automated recovery when there is failure without IT intervention when there is an issue.
- The setup of the Windows Server Failover Clustering is complex, requiring different networks and multiple network cards.
- Better integration between the Windows Failover clustering and Hyper-V. Unlike VMWare you have to make changes to two places instead of just one panel.
- I wish there was a web portal to manage the cluster. Instead you have to remote desktop into the VIP address and go to the Cluster manager.
- One of the most important features in the high availability of the SQL cluster ensuring we have minimum downtime.
- The automatic fail over feature. Making sure the database is always up when a failure occurs on the hardware level.
- The ease of managing the resource in the Failover clustering manager.
- A positive impact is that we are able to setup the Windows Server Failover Clustering with just the Standard Windows server and SQL license.
- We have hardware redundancy on our SQL server so we won't have to worry about hardware failures on maintenance windows. We can work on the passive node while the database is up on the active node.
- We were able to setup a virtualization cluster without having to purchase additional licenses for a test instance.
- We are able to utilize MS SQL for some of our more critical infrastructure because of the Windows Failover clustering, since the database was always up as long as one node was up.
We fell the Windows Server Failover Clustering was better than the Oracle Real Application Clusters. Although the Oracle Real Application cluster provided an active setup it was more unstable. On more than one occasion a split brain issue had occurred when both nodes thought the other node was down and attempted to take control of the database causing the application to go down. Support pointed to drop pings between the two nodes on the clustering network. We had initially connected the clustering network thru a switch so we changed that to a direct connect crossover cable. Even after that, it would still occasionally have an issue. We never had that issue on the Windows Failover Clustering, it had been very stable and we never had an outage.
October 25, 2021
Simple and out of the box
We are currently using Windows Server Failover Clustering to serve our Microsoft Hyper-V cluster. The cluster runs our production environment comprising of email services, file services, database services, remote access, and more. All Microsoft Hyper-V roles are clustered and their storage is also managed by the cluster. It is currently running in a two node environment.
- Easy to use
- Out of the box
- Documentation is readily available
- Include storage spaces as part of the same feature set along with storage tiering
- Failover
- Ease of use
- No need to invest in a third part product
- Support and documentation is everywhere
- The learning curve is not steep and is very quick
Both VMware and Microsoft Failover do the job and they both do it extremely well. For many bussiness and environments though, they will have the existing investment in a Microsoft environment and Microsoft infrastructure. The introduction of VMware will or may achieve the end result however it introduces new dimensions like support, licensing, documentation and ensuring the support team are trained.
August 09, 2021
You want seamless virtual machine migration with fault tolerance? Try Windows Server Failover Clustering.
We have Hyper-V implemented as our primary hypervisor and we have also implemented failover clustering with cluster storage and multipath IO to mitigate node failure without impacting our work loads, in case of cluster node failure it seamlessly migrates workloads to other hypervisors without any downtime, the other benefit is that when we are updating hypervisors we live migrate virtual machines to different nodes in same cluster and restart one by one that results in no downtime and hassle free operation. it simply made management of virtual machines simpler and improved overall uptime of our infrastructure.
- Seamless Live Migrations
- Quick Migrations
- Failover in case of Node Failure
- Storage Migration
- Shared nothing live migration need some improvements.
- Cluster events are not very understandable.
- Cluster validation.
- Live Migrations
- Load balancing on Cluster nodes
- Quick Migration for powered off nodes
- Reduced Downtime
- Time reduction during monthly windows updates
- VMware Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery
The licensing cost zero due to we already had license for windows server datacenter edition, the feature is included in windows license on other hand VMware HA and VMware Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery requires a license, on other hand we had a lot of experience in implementing and managing Microsoft technologies.
July 26, 2021
Clustering at its best
We have Setup Windows Server Failover Clustering for our SQL Server Always On so that our databases are configured on Failover mode. In case any of our servers failing to respond this service will move our databases from the primary server to the disaster recovery server. Our Information technology department uses it and the user across the organization is not aware of what we have deployed or what is our architecture.
- Failover Priority setting , i.e. High, medium , low.
- online services movement.
- Online data movement across clusters.
- No downtime,
- Easy role movement
- Quorum settings should be improved
- San environment should be improved
- Logging of Cluster events should be improved
- SQL Server Roles deployment
- SQL Server databases on different disks
- Nodes on different Blade servers
- Zero Downtime
- Asynchronous updates
- Roles deployment
SQL Server uses a feature called Failover Clustering and it should be deployed on the Failover Cluster, SQL Server creates its own roles on the failover cluster of windows, and Windows Server failover cluster could be used to failover to the primary and secondary servers using the roles.
June 29, 2021
The Best Failover For Anything That Failovers
It is the backbone of our IT Infrastructure, It provides high availability of the servers to meet our business requirements, we are using it for failover solution of our exchange servers and database servers, Microsoft is working hard to making it better day by day and with the newer version 2019 we can failover to a cloud or on premises both.
- It is reliable, its fast, it is the best you would not even know that you have been switched to other node.
- Clustering based on geographic distribution
- Multiple server multiple site deployment
- Configuration could make easier
- [I feel] pricing should be considered for middle size organizations to adapt it
- Storage pool and VDM configuration is confusing [in my experience]
- High Availablity
- Hyper V
- Geographical Cluster Distribution
- Availability ensured and smooth operations
- Easy to setup saving a lot of time
Being a part of Microsoft ecosystem integration and configuration is easy like Microsoft Exchange Server, MS SQL Server and Windows, being familiar with other Microsoft products makes it more easy to use. Features like manual failover and switching from active to node, upgrading one node at one time and other node another time makes it more suitable to manage