Many of you have read my article titled The Status of Microsoft Failover Clustering Support on VMware vSphere 5.1 where I outlined different options based on the support status of clustering configurations on VMware vSphere 5.1. I’m happy to report that in-guest storage access configurations mean that Windows 2012 Failover Clustering is now supported by VMware and the KB 1037959 Microsoft Clustering on VMware vSphere: Guidelines for Supported Configurations has been updated to reflect this. The supported configurations are limited to the use of non-shared disk configurations and in-guest storage access to either iSCSI or SMB based storage for Windows 2012 Failover Clusters. Due to the nature of non-shared disk and in-guest storage access none of the node limits apply. So you can run as many nodes as you like (up to the maximum supported by Windows). This is great news for customers wanting to run clusters within their environments using Windows Server 2012. Bare in mind that vMotion hasn’t been explicitly tested by VMware with these cluster configurations. However as the storage access is transparent to the hypervisor, the network stack is supported, and as per the VMware Clustering Guide – Setup for Failover Cluster and Microsoft Cluster Service (page 9), no explicit support statement is necessary. The KB also includes provision for SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups on top of Windows 2012! So feel free to run these types of clusters for your MS SQL Server 2012 systems on top of Windows 2012! The rule book on this has been rewritten as of vSphere 5.5. Please see my latest article titled vSphere 5.5 Windows Failover Clustering Support.
Final Word
From what I can see VMware is working hard on improving support for clustering configurations across the board including with Microsoft Server 2012 to ensure that vSphere is the best and most trusted platform for running business critical applications. I will bring you future updates on capabilities and support as they occur, such as with vSphere 5.5 – vSphere 5.5 Windows Failover Clustering Support. Until then I hope this article and my other articles help you to make the best possible design and architecture decisions for your environments.
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This post first appeared on the Long White Virtual Clouds blog at longwhiteclouds.com, by Michael Webster +. Copyright © 2013 – IT Solutions 2000 Ltd and Michael Webster +. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission.
Is Windows 2012 on ESXi 5.1 supported by MS yet ?
Seems on the VSSP It is not yet :
Hi Hugo, Yes absolutely it is supported by Microsoft on vSphere 5.1. SVVP Validation is only required for support if a customer does not have a Premier Support Agreement. Microsoft provides support regardless of SVVP status for all customers with Premier Support agreements. However SVVP status recently has been confirmed for vSphere 5.1 and the Microsoft web site will be updated in the next couple of days.
Great News… Now we only await the possibility to use RDM's and to vMotion a VM in a shared disk cluster (RDM) 🙂
[…] Windows Server 2012 Failover Clustering is not supported currently. Period. Not even with in-guest iSCSI. [Updated 21/06/2013] Except with non-shared disk access, in-guest iSCSI, or in-guest SMB storage access. MS SQL Server 2012 on top of Windows Server 2012 with AlwaysOn Availability Groups is supported as it does not require shared disk. See the VMware KB Microsoft Clustering on VMware vSphere: Guidelines for Supported Configurations (1037959) and my article Windows Server 2012 Failover Clustering Now Supported By VMware With Some Caveats. […]
[…] of Windows Server 2012 Clustering and SQL Server in particular in my articles titled Windows Server 2012 Failover Clustering Now Supported By VMware With Some Caveats and The Status of Microsoft Failover Clustering Support on VMware vSphere 5.1. VMware […]
Hi, I am planning to install Windows Server 2008 R2 or 2012 Failover cluster Virtual machines on different ESX Hosts. So wanted to understand if that is also supported? Would i be able to Vmotion the Virtual machines?
Hi Karen, Yes it would be supported, but no you wouldn't be able to vMotion the virtual machines as they would have SCSI bus sharing enabled. The VMware KB goes into a lot of detail around what is supported. I also have other articles on this site regarding failover clustering support that you might like to check out.
Hi, I am planning to install Microsoft Failover Clustering using Windows 2012 R2 and MS SQL Server 2012. This is going to be very I/O intensive DB. Can I have some recommendations and suggestions please?
Thanks
Why are you using Failover Clustering instead of AlwaysOn Availability Groups? Best suggestion would be to get a copy of Virtualizing SQL Server with VMware: Doing IT Right as it covers this. Multiple SCSI Adapters, Multiple Disks etc.
In affect a VMware cluster is a cluster. If you need HA just utilize VMware HA for failover hosts and storage. Is it really necessary to have a cluster in a cluster? Just playing a little devils advocate here.
Hi Michael. So, would I be right in saying that you can now implement a MS SQL shared disk cluster with Nutanix atop VMware using the in-guest iSCSI capabilities that NOS 4.6 supports?
Correct. That\’s actually been possible since 4.5.