What is change in Windows Server 2016 (10) cluster – Setting Cluster Common Properties #winserv

In the new Windows Server 2016 ( Windows Server Technical Preview )there are a lot of new features an not all are clear what they are doing.

I call it here Windows server 2016 there is currently no indication that the server 10 will be named 2016 but as the product will come in 2015 it will make sense that it will be called Windows server 2015.

I made a Quick compare from the old cluster Windows Server 2012R2 to the new Windows server 2016

In the GUI there is not much change the only part that is real changed is the Enclosure part. ( See my other blog about this )

 

But what is change is underwater. when we do a Get-cluster | fl *  We get a list of all the cluster property’s that can be set.

Check this MSDN site for more info about Cluster Common Properties

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa369087(v=vs.85).aspx

 

There are a lot of new options but one option is gone RootMemoryReserved is not longer available.

cluster environment variable RootMemoryReserved was introduced to ensure that clustered VM hosts have a minimum amount of physical memory reserve for the host.

The RootMemoryReserved is by default set at 512 MB. This should be sufficient for the host VM that is not performing any operation other than manage the VMs.

As above windows10 is my cluster name and must be used in the PowerShell command

(get-cluster windows10).RootMemoryReserved

To change the RootMemoryReserved, the desired reserved memory size is assigned to the PowerShell cmdlet above. Use the following PowerShell cmdlet to set RootMemoryReserved to 1024 MB:

(get-cluster <cluster name>).RootMemoryReserved=1024

So it is no longer there.!

But now what is new.

When we do a Get-cluster | fl *

It will give us a long list but I filtered out and here are only the new parts that is only available in Windows Server 2015

ClusSvcRegroupStageTimeout        5
ClusSvcRegroupTickInMilliseconds        300
ClusterFunctionalLevel        9
ResiliencyDefaultPeriod        0
QuarantineDuration        0
ResiliencyLevel        Default
ClusterGroupWaitDelay        120
QuorumArbitrationTimeMax        20
RequestReplyTimeout        60
DumpPolicy        69913

When we need to change these options that can be done with (get-cluster).ClusterFunctionalLevel=9

(get-cluster).< with the name> = Value

As I noticed there are options from 2008 back and all have to do with latency so a logical conclusion would be will the cluster go to Azure or is there something coming that we need the values to get a better cluster. and all

Let us review these Commands

ClusSvcRegroupStageTimeout

ClusSvcRegroupTickInMilliseconds

These options where there in 2008 but removed in 2012 and now they are back.

Controls the amount of time, in seconds, that a node waits on other nodes in a membership stage before deciding that they have failed.

Controls the interval of time, in milliseconds, that the membership algorithm waits between issuances of periodic membership messages.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj151921(v=vs.85).aspx

ClusterFunctionalLevel

Upgrading a Hyper-V or Scale-Out File Server cluster from Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server Technical Preview no longer requires downtime. The cluster will continue to function at a Windows Server 2012 R2 level until all of the nodes in the cluster are running Windows Server Technical Preview. The cluster functional level is upgraded to Windows Server Technical Preview by using the Windows PowerShell cmdlt Update-ClusterFunctionalLevel.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn765474.aspx

ResiliencyDefaultPeriod

The default resiliency period for the cluster, in seconds

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn823627(v=vs.85).aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn765741(v=vs.85).aspx

ClusterGroupWaitDelay

Specifies the amount of time groups will wait for their default or preferred owner node to come up during cluster cold start, before the groups are moved to another node.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/clustering/archive/2009/08/11/9864574.aspx

QuorumArbitrationTimeMax

Specifies the maximum number of seconds a node is allowed to spend arbitrating for the quorum resource in a cluster.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa369123(v=vs.85).aspx

RequestReplyTimeout

Describes the length of time a request from a node with a cluster state update will wait for replies from the other healthy nodes before the request times out. Any nodes that do not reply within the request time out period will be removed from active membership in the cluster. The following table summarizes the attributes of the RequestReplyTimeout property.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb394696(v=vs.85).aspx

DumpPolicy

Queries that can be used to export resource type specific logs.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn823627(v=vs.85).aspx

 

There a fresh new options and currently not well documented or <NDA> but I’m sure when the server product is right a lot more new features will be made public.

When the next release of Windows Server will be available I’ll discuss the DASMode properties in a future blog

Happy clustering

Robert Smit

@clusterMVP

https://robertsmit.wordpress.com

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