Quorum disks on the same Array

[Jpro409]

Does anybody know what Microsoft best practice is for setting up Quorum disks in a Exchange 2003/Windows 2003 cluster environment? We are thinking about setting up the Quorum disks on the same array and wanted to know if this was a good idea or not. We are going to be setting up a 2x1 cluster. Two active nodes and one passive node.

 

[JohanW]

I really don't understand a number of things here.

Quorum disks plural? An MS cluster has one quorum disk.
What is a 2x1 cluster?
Does 'two active and one passive node' mean you'll have a three node cluster with two virtual servers on it?

Nothing says you can't use the quorum disk as a normal cluster resource; the quorum stuff can be out of the way in a subdirectory and doesn't take much space. I have been unable to find an MS doc that says this is a bad idea. Which means I haven't looked hard enough. It does not strike me as a good idea particularly.

Normally, I'd dedicate a disk to the quorum and set up a quorum group and separate Exchange groups with their own disks. They can be different LUNs on the same array if you like, we do that, it works and I have been unable to find MS best practices on cluster disk layouts anyway.

But I'm not sure if this is an answer to your question, not sure if you're asking the right question and quite sure I don't fully understand your question anyway.

 

[Jpro409]

Thanks for the reply. Let me add A LOT more information here... The question about the Quorum wasn't correct. Let me try this again.

We are going to be setting up a new Exchange 2003/Server 2003 Cluster.

We are going to have two Exchange Virtual Servers (EVS)

Each EVS will have a total of three storage groups and in each Storage group a total of five databases.

Too sum up the above information:
2 EVS
6 Storage Group
30 Exchange databases

We plan on creating an array with RAID 10 with 10 physical disks. Each disk is 73.4 in size.

On that Array we plan on putting the following Exchange information on it.
ALL information is going to broken down into logical disks segmented in variates sizes.

Quorum disks for both EVS 2 logical Drives
MSDTC Disks for both EVS 2 logical Drives
MTA_SMTP for both EVS 2 logical Drives

All the logs for each Storage Group:
EVS1SG1 Log 1 logical Drive
EVS1SG2 Log 1 logical Drive
EVS1SG3 Log 1 logical Drive
EVS2 SG1 Log 1 logical Drive
EVS2 SG2 Log 1 logical Drive
EVS2 SG3 Log 1 logical Drive

Putting all the Logs/SMTP/MTA/Quorum/MSDTC for both EVS on the same Array is a bad idea.

I hope I explained it better this time around. Thanks for your help. Hope to hear back....

 

[JohanW]

OK, that paints a picture. Still does not compute though. :redface:

You have one cluster. Therefore, you need one Quorum disk. Think of it as a third group, the "Cluster" group. The other ones will be "Exchange 0" and "Exchange 1".

Apart from that, if you're gonna have this cluster, you would really do yourself a favour getting a course or an outside expert whose brain you can pick on clustering. It's not just another server. It really is, but it helps tremendously to understand the subtle differences. Otherwise, no offence, you're a timebomb.

Tick. Tock. Tick. To Boom

(problem)

A cluster needs to add more than just complexity, otherwise you might as well run a single server. I sometimes wish I had less clusters and more single servers. (And sometimes not.) This is going beyond the scope of an online forum on a different product, really. (Where are you? I might get you a quote on an experienced Windows TSM TDP for Exchange cluster administrator )

 

[Jpro409]

Thank you for responding!!! I tried researching this topic else where but was unsuccessful, that is why I tried this site. We are going to be installing TDP for exchange on each EVS, but that is after we figure out what to do about the disks hehe.

 

[JohanW]

Thank you for responding!!! I tried researching this topic else where but was unsuccessful, that is why I tried this site.

I know. Your technet post turned up in Google.

We are going to be installing TDP for exchange on each EVS, but that is after we figure out what to do about the disks.

And it's worth it to get that right the first time, because you won't be changing it once it's in production.

But I'm not going to type a ground-up tutorial on Windows clusters in an edit box on a TSM forum. Get yourself a good book and enough time, or hire an expert. Experiment. Test. Validate. And don't forget to cluster the mail virus scanner along. Now there is much fun to be had.