(Update: BTW, I’m not being sarcastic. I really do like this KB very much, I think it’s an excellent resource.)
One of my more popular posts that I wrote a couple of years ago was about configuring Microsoft Clustering Services (MSCS) on VMs. Getting MSCS configured correctly in VMs has always been tricky. Even now there is still some mystery surrounding VMware’s support of MSCS (Windows Failover Clustering as it is now known) and Microsoft’s other clustering technologies. Often these grey areas are as much a result of Microsoft’s own careful wording of the physical hardware it considers supported, and then how that translates into the virtual hardware world that VMware presents us.
So I was delighted this weekend to see a new Knowledge Based article published by VMware, which deciphers the support requirements for each of Microsoft’s clustering techniques:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1037959
The KB even includes this rather natty ready-reckoner:
Go and look, read and digest the entire pithy article for infinite wisdom: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1037959
Hey Forbes,
Maybe I’m missing something but why the sarcasm about this KB? If anything it helps explain the complications of clustering virtual machines with respect to what is supported and what isn’t. What about it don’t you like?
I wish VMware went a little further to support clustering on its platform to be honest. Why no support for iSCSI at the host level, but if the guest uses in-guest iSCSI then it’s supported? I spoke to VMware about this at VMworld in 2010 and was told that they acknowledge that and plan to revise their guidance to support iSCSI across the board. Clearly this KB article shows that hasn’t happened yet.
Personally I’d love to see Microsoft move away from shared storage clusters completely and move to the Exchange 2010 DAG model. Would make life a lot easier.
Matt
Hi Matt,
I’m sorry my boisterous description has been interpreted as sarcasm. Seriously, I really like the KB! Which particular bit made you think I was joking about (I’ll amend as I don’t want anyone getting the wrong opinion on my opinion)?
I agree on the point about iSCSI. Seems kinda weird.
Forbes.
I think it was this sentence that did it for me:
Go and look, read and digest the entire pithy article for infinite wisdom
I guess it’s just easy to misinterpret the comment, especially since there is so much angst between VMware and Microsoft regarding support policies and clustering.
I agree with you that it’s a really good KB and pretty long overdue.
Matt