Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 167
Chapter 7 Using High-Availability Configurations
file!servers,!and!mail!servers.!Under!Windows!Server!2003,!MSCS!provides!
failover!support!for!eightnode!clusters.
! Microsoft!Network!Load!Balancing!(NLB)!!balances!the!load!of!incoming!IP!
traffic!across!a!cluster!of!up!to!32!nodes!for!applications!such!as!Web!servers!and!
terminal!services.
! Veritas!Clustering!Service!(VCS).
! Novell!Clustering!Services.
NOTE These!clustering!services!are!tested!and!supported!by!VMware!only!with!
Windows!host!operating!systems.
Creating a Cluster in a Box
With!VMware!Server,!you!can!create!a!simple!cluster!in!a!box!to!help!mitigate!the!
effects!of!software!crashes!or!administrative!problems.
CAUTION When!you!use!VMware!Server!virtual!machines!in!a!cluster,!you!must!
turn!off!disk!caching!for!each!virtual!machine!that!is!a!member!of!the!
cluster.!If!you!do!not!turn!off!data!on!the!shared!drive!might!become!
corrupted.!To!turn!off!disk!caching!open!the!configuration!.vmx!file
!of!
each!virtual!machine!in!a!text!editor!and!add!the!following!line:!
diskLib.dataCaheMaxSize = “0”
NOTE When!you!configure!a!cluster,!the!ability!to!take!snapshots!is!disabled!in!
virtual!machines!in!the!cluster.!
This!type!of!cluster:
! Consists!of!multiple!virtual!machines!(nodes)!on!a!single!physical!machine.
! Supports!shared!disks!without!any!shared!SCSI!hardware.
! Supports!a!heartbeat!network!without!an!extra!physical!network!adapter.