
This video will give you an overview about the course.
Get an overview of what high availability for Windows services is, as a concept.
• Go through a real example of a High Availability scenario and why we need it
• Go through a real example of a disaster recovery scenario
A brief overview of the high availability solutions offered by Windows Server 2019.
• Walkthrough each solution and explanation of how it works
A guide on how to build a virtual lab environment to follow the demonstrations.
• Understand the networking configuration of the lab
• Configure the lab and build a host
This is a continuation of Part 1.
Explore the different methods of Hyper-V migration.
• Understand Shared Nothing Live Migration
• Understand Storage Migration
• Understand Hyper-V Replica
Configure the authentication protocols for live migration.
• Understand the CredSSP authentication method
• Understand Kerberos constrained delegation
• Configure Kerberos constrained delegation
Hands on demo of performing a Shared Nothing Live Migration.
• Perform a Shared nothing Live migration via Powershell
• Perform a Shared nothing Live migration via the GUI
• Conclude the video
Create an SMB share to be used as shared storage.
• Configure the SMB share different options
• Verify the successful creation of the share
• Conclusions
Hands on demo of performing a storage migration to the newly created shared storage.
• Perform storage migration via Powershell
• Perform storage migration via the GUI
• Verify the successful completion of the migration
Hands on demo of performing a Live Migration via Powershell.
• Explain the process of Live migration via the GUI
• Verify the successful completion of the migration
• Conclusions
Configure the hosts as replicas.
• Go through hands on demo of creating a VM replica
• Understand the different options on replicas after 1st replication
• Understand the options on the source VM including Planned Failover
Explore the different architectures of clusters.
• Understand the traditional failover clustering architectures
• Understand the S2D failover clustering architectures
• Understand the hyper converged and disaggregated architectures
Explore the network configuration as a prerequisite.
• Configure the IP addressing and subnets of the nodes
• Configure the IP addressing and subnet of the file server
• Demonstration of configuring networking on a server core OS
Prepare the file server for shared storage.
• Install the iSCSI target role on the file server
• Configure iSCSI initiators on the cluster nodes
• Connect the nodes to the iSCSI target via Powershell
Understand the iSCSI persistence concept.
• Understand the configuration of the iSCSI persistence
• Configure iSCSI persistence on CLUSTER1
• Configure iSCSI persistence on CLUSTER2
Create a cluster disk.
• Initialize and bring the disk online
• Create a new volume on the disk for cluster usage
• Format and configure the newly created volume
Create and format a disk to be used as cluster Quorum.
• Validate the cluster components configuration
• Create the cluster using the New Cluster creation wizard
• Verify the successful creation of the cluster
Understand the concepts of workgroup clusters and multi-domain clusters.
• Understand the prerequisites necessary for AD detached clusters
• Understand the process of creating an AD detached cluster
• Test the successful creation of the AD detached cluster
Understand the “Quorum” concept.
• Explore the different types of Quorum available in Windows Failover Clustering
• Go through the different options in the quorum configuration wizard
• Configure quorum in the newly created cluster
Understand the concept of Cluster aware Updating.
• Run the validation tests for CAU in our cluster
• Install the CAU role on the cluster
• Install important updates on the cluster
Understand the process of Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade.
• Understand the prerequisites necessary for an upgrade
• Understand the OS upgrade process
• Upgrade your cluster nodes via Powershell
Understand the process of restoring a cluster node.
• Understand the process of restoring cluster configuration
• Understand differences between an authoritative and non-authoritative restore
• Perform a restore using Windows Backup commands
Understand the different roles and workloads a cluster can host.
• Explore scenarios for different cluster use cases
• Understand the difference between Host Clustering and Guest Clustering
• Examples of cluster roles/workloads for guest clustering
Create a DHCP high available instance.
• Install DHCP on the nodes via Powershell
• Manage the role through Failover Cluster Manager
• Manage the role through DHCP console
Create a File Server for general use role on the cluster.
• Configure storage for the new role
• Create high available share on FILE1
• Create and deploy the File Server role on the cluster
Describe the various settings for Failover and Failback.
• Configure the Failback preferences
• Configure the Failover settings
• Configure Advanced Failover policies
Simulate node failure to test Failover.
• Stop the cluster service on one of the nodes to simulate failure
• Test failover of the roles
• Test failback of the roles
Describe the concept of SOFS.
• Differentiate between SOFS and clustered file server
• Understand how SOFS works
• Implement SOFS
Stretch our cluster to a different location.
• Describe the Stretch Failover Cluster concept
• Prepare 2 additional nodes and file server in the 2nd location
• Move Quorum and add the additional nodes to the cluster
Configure the necessary settings for site awareness.
• Create sites via PowerShell
• Create the site types
• Assign the nodes to their respective site
Configure the storage for Storage Replica to be added to the cluster.
• Create SITEB lun2 and log disks
• Configure all 4 disks (initialize and format)
• Add the new disks to the cluster
Validate the storage for Storage Replica.
• Describe the PowerShell cmdlet and its parameters
• Run the validation tests via PowerShell
• Consult the results html file
Enable and configure the Cluster for storage replication.
• Enable Storage Replica
• Perform the initial seeding
• Test storage replication from SITEA to SITEB and vice-versa
New features in Windows Server 2019 Azure Aware Clusters and Cluster Sets.
• Describe Azure Aware Cluster Concept
• Features and benefits of Azure Aware Clusters
• Describe Cluster Sets concept and its benefits
Describe different S2D architectures.
• Review of traditional failover clustering methods
• Describe the hyperconverged architecture
• Describe the disaggregated architecture
Describe the different resiliency configs.
• Describe the configuration of the S2D servers
• Describe the resiliency options
• Describe the performance and capacity tiers
Creating a hyperconverged cluster.
• Install the necessary prerequisites
• Validate the cluster configuration via PowerShell
• Create the s2dcluster via PowerShell
Enable Storage Spaces Direct on the new cluster.
• Check the disks and install the required reg key on the nodes
• Enable S2D via PowerShell
• Check the configuration in Failover Manager
Prepare the disks and add them as CSVs to the cluster.
• Create new virtual disk from storage pool
• Create and configure a new volume on the virtual disk
• Add the new disk to Cluster Shared Volumes in the cluster
Create a highly available VM on the hyperconverged cluster.
• Go through the Create New VM wizard in Failover Cluster Manager
• Create the VM and store it on the cluster storage
• Power on the VM and test functionality
Describe the implementation of a disaggregated S2D cluster.
• Describe the scenarios for a disaggregated S2D cluster
• Plan and describe the implementation of SOFS
• Plan and describe the linking of the 2 clusters together
Create and configure SOFS role on our new cluster.
• Create the SOFS role on the S2D cluster
• Create an SMB application share on the new SOFS role
• Configure Kerberos constrained delegation for the 1st cluster nodes
Create aVM in the new disaggregated cluster.
• Connect to “cluster” in Failover cluster manager
• Create a VM and store it on the SOFS share
• Power on the VM and test functionality
Performing VM migrations within the cluster.
• Differences between Live migration and Quick migration
• Performing a Live Migration
• PowerShell and GUI way to do a storage migration
Export and Import VMs in a cluster.
• The process of doing Export/Import from Hyper-V manager
• GUI way to do the process
• PowerShell cmdlets to export VM explained
Configure the Drain on Shutdown feature in the cluster.
• Simulate a Node pause/manual drain
• PowerShell cmdlet to get the DrainOnShutdown property
• Enable and disable the Drain on Shutdown feature via PowerShell
Explain the VM Network Health Protection feature.
• GUI way to configure the Feature
• Explain the possible scenarios in which the feature is used
• Enable or disable the feature
Explain the Configure VM monitoring services feature.
• Configure Vm Monitoring in the GUI
• Explain the services list
• Configure the Subsequent Failures Option in Services mmc
Explain the feature and compare with VMWare DRS and SCVMM.
• GUI way to configure the feature
• Balance at node join vs Always Balance Options
• Configure the High, Medium and Low thresholds
Configure VHD sets and create a guest cluster.
• The GUI way to configure the disks
• Create a VHD set in Hyper-V manager
• Attach the VHD set to the VM in Failover Cluster Manager
Understand the NLB prerequisites.
• Configure Unicast Mode
• Configure Multicast Mode
• Configure IGMP Multicast Mode
Install the NLB nodes to create the NLB Cluster.
• Install the NLB feature on both nodes
• Work with NLB Cluster Manager
• Add the first node to the cluster
Configure the settings for the cluster operation mode.
• Discuss the operation modes
• IGMP Multicast mode cannot be selected as it needs the supporting hardware
• Set the cluster operations mode to Multicast
Configure the port rules options.
• Configure options for all IPs
• Configure options only for the needed IP address
• Configure port rule for port 80
Discuss and configure the several affinity options.
• Understand Single host affinity mode
• Understand Multiple host affinity mode: None, Single and Network options
• Set the affinity mode to Single
Add an additional node to the NLB cluster.
• Select the node you want to add and set it’s priority
• Configure port rules for the new node
• Check the successful deployment of the new node
Validate the new NLB cluster creation.
• Check if the tasks have been completed successfully
• Set the management machine on the cluster network
• Verify you can successfully access the cluster virtual IP
Manage the NLB services in the cluster.
• Drainstop node
• Suspend node
• Resume node
Discuss the process of upgrading the nodes of an NLB cluster.
• Drainstop the node
• Power off and Upgrade the node
• Power on and rejoin the node to the cluster
Windows services these days almost never stand alone. Our need for always-on applications means that just about everything you manage must be made highly available. The need for always-on applications in this day and age is at an all-time high, and so is the need for high availability technologies. This course explores preparing, configuring, and managing high-availability technologies in Windows Server 2019.
This course explores a range of high availability technologies available in Windows Server 2019 for Hyper-V, as well as other common Windows services. You'll explore the preparation, configuration, and management of Windows Failover Clustering, both with and without Storage Spaces Direct. Later, you'll delve into Storage Replicas, Hyper-V Replicas, Network Load Balancing, Shared Nothing Live Migration, and Stretch Clustering, among a range of supplementary out-of-the-box technologies for Windows workloads. You'll also extend your skills by implementing and managing Failover Clusters and Storage Spaces Direct, and you'll manage VM movement in clustered nodes.
By the end of this course, you will have the foundational knowledge to be able to implement a highly available Windows Server 2019 environment like a pro.
About the Author:
Colibri Digital is a technology consultancy company founded in 2015 by James Cross and Ingrid Funie. The company works to help its clients navigate the rapidly changing and complex world of emerging technologies, with deep expertise in areas such as big data, data science, machine learning, and Cloud computing. Over the past few years, they have worked with some of the World's largest and most prestigious companies, including a tier 1 investment bank, a leading management consultancy group, and one of the World's most popular soft drinks companies, helping each of them to better make sense of its data, and process it in more intelligent ways. The company lives by its motto: Data -> Intelligence -> Action.
Cristian Calinescu is a Microsoft certified Senior Infrastructure Engineer and is CompTIA-certified in Cyber Security. He's been involved in various maintenance and/or implementation projects based on technologies mentioned in the previous paragraph. He's participated in network design and implementations projects and assisted customers in migrating to the latest technologies.
He's certified by Microsoft as a Microsoft Technology Associate on Windows Operating System Fundamentals, Networking Fundamentals, and Windows Server® Administration Fundamentals.
He's also a:
Microsoft® Certified Solutions Associate: Windows 8 (MCSA)
Microsoft® Certified Solutions Associate: Windows Server 2012 (MCSA), Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center (MCSA)
Microsoft® Certified Solutions Expert: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure (MCSE), CompTIA Security +, and Microsoft Cyber Security Professional