Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP3, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1
Topic Last Modified: 2007-08-20

This topic explains how to use the Failover Cluster Management tool to validate the configuration of a Windows Server 2008 failover cluster prior to deploying a single copy cluster (SCC) in the failover cluster.

Before You Begin

To perform this procedure, the account you use must be delegated membership in the local Administrators group on each node in the cluster. For more information about permissions, delegating roles, and the rights that are required to administer Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, see Permission Considerations.

The following procedure takes the entire failover cluster offline while the tests are being conducted. If a clustered mailbox server, or any other clustered service or application, is being hosted by this failover cluster, we recommend that validation take place during off-peak hours to minimize the interruption in service that occurs during validation.

Procedure

To use the Failover Cluster Management tool to validate a failover cluster

  1. Open the Failover Cluster Management tool.

  2. In the action pane, select Validate a Configuration. The Validate a Configuration Wizard starts.

  3. If this is the first time this wizard has been run in the cluster, the Before You Begin page appears. There is an option to hide this page on subsequent uses of the Wizard, so the first page to appear might instead be the Select Servers or a Cluster page. If the Before You Begin page is displayed, read the information on that page, and click Next to continue.

  4. On the Select Servers or a Cluster page, populate the Enter name field. You can do this by typing the host name or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of a node in the cluster, or the cluster itself, or by clicking the Browse button and selecting a node in the cluster or the cluster itself.

  5. Click Add to add to the node or cluster. Regardless of which name you use, both nodes in the cluster are added to the Selected servers field. Click Next to continue.

  6. On the Testing Options page, select Run all tests (recommended) and click Next.

  7. On the Review Storage Status page, it will indicate that the disk hosting the disk majority resource cannot be tested because it is online. Select the option for Take the listed services or applications offline, so that the associated disks can be tested, and then click Next.

  8. Review the details for each test on the Confirmation page, and then click Next when you are ready to start validation. While validation is running, status information is displayed on the Validating page as the tests progress. In addition, the results for each individual test are also displayed.

  9. After the test is complete, the Summary page is displayed, which includes the results of the validation tests, as well as details about the information that was collected during each test. Any errors or warnings that are listed in the validation results should be investigated and resolved as soon as possible, ideally before a clustered mailbox server is introduced into the cluster.

  10. Click View Report to view the report in the default Web browser. The report is displayed in Web archive (.mht) format. Click Finish to close the wizard.

For more information about the Validate a Configuration wizard, see the Help in the Failover Cluster Management tool.