Creating a Windows Server 2012 Failover Cluster

Creating a cluster on Windows Server 2012 is easy experience!

After installing the Failover Clustering feature, and validating a configuration, the next step is to create a new cluster. There are some minor changes in the create cluster experience in Windows Server 2012, but it is very similar to creating a cluster in Windows Server 2008 R2.

For details on installing the Failover Clustering feature, see this blog posting: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/clustering/archive/2012/04/06/10291601.aspx

To learn more about validation, see this TechNet article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731844(v=ws.10).aspx

You can create a cluster using the Failover Cluster Manager UI, or using PowerShell. Both of these can be installed on Windows Server 2012 or Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows Server 2012.

Creating a Failover Cluster using Failover Cluster Manager

1. Open Failover Cluster Manager - it can be opened from Server Manager using the Tools menu:

2. In the Failover Cluster Manager, choose the “Create Cluster…” action, which can be found in 3 places:

3. The Create Cluster Wizard initializes. Review the information on the Before You Begin screen. Click Next

4. Enter the names of all the servers that will be part of the cluster. Note: More than one node can be specified at a time, using comma separation.

Example: MyServer1, MyServer2, MyServer3

5. If the nodes specified have not been validated, the following page in the wizard will be shown. It’s highly recommended to validate the configuration before you create the cluster. This will help ensure that the servers are connected and configured correctly and that it can be supported by Microsoft:

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