When a cluster is formed, a group is automatically created called a Cluster Group. This group contains the disk resource that serves the Quorum Resource for the cluster. It also contains two additional resources: Network Name and IP Address.

The Network Name resource is the resource that contains the network name for the cluster itself. This is the name that network clients use to access the cluster.

The IP Address resource is the IP address assigned to the cluster as a whole. This is the IP address that can be used to communicate with the cluster as a whole.

For example, suppose there is a cluster named Cluster1 with two nodes: Server A and Server B. The two nodes have the respective IP addresses: 10.0.0.2/8 and 10.0.0.3/8. Cluster1 has an IP address of 10.0.0.10/8. The Quorum resource in on shared SCSI drive W. There is an additional shared SCSI drive X.

The default groups created as Cluster Group and Disk Group 1. Using the example above, Cluster Group contains the following resources:

• Network Name - This will be Cluster1.

• IP Address - This will be 10.0.0.10/8.
• Physical Disk - This will be drive W.

Disk Group 1 will contain the following resource:

• Physical Disk - This will be drive X.

For every disk drive that is on the shared bus between the nodes, a disk group will be created representing that Physical Disk resource.

Now that you are familiar with creating and managing cluster groups as well as the default groups created, you are ready to look at cluster resources. The next installment of this article will introduce you to cluster resources and virtual servers.

Tags: windows 2000, windows 2k, server cluster group, quorum resource, cluster1, 10.0.0.10/8