Can somone please point me in the direction of a microsoft document
showing the steps involved in allocating a new LUN to a cluster setup.

If I have an active/passive two node microsoft cluster, and I want to
add a new LUN to it, is there any harm in allocating the new LUN to
both nodes, then creating a Volume on the lun from the active node,
then bringing it online as a cluster resource.

I have heard that to add a new LUN you can only have one node active on
the cluster at the time. I understand the technical justification for
this, but I disagree.

The only problem I can see is if you were stupid enought to try and
create volumes on the same LUN from both nodes in the cluster.

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> If I have an active/passive two node microsoft cluster, and I want to
> add a new LUN to it, is there any harm in allocating the new LUN to
> both nodes, then creating a Volume on the lun from the active node,
> then bringing it online as a cluster resource.
i guess thats the way to do it... :-)
with microsoft clusters you would be able to see the LUN on both
servers at once. once you allocate it as a cluster resource, on active
server you will be able to create volumes on it. on passive nodes, disk
manager would show that volume as "unknown". once the cluster fails
over, passive node will become active and be able to access the LUN
normally

> The only problem I can see is if you were stupid enought to try and
> create volumes on the same LUN from both nodes in the cluster.
when you share the LUN as cluster resource, afik, its cluster service's
headache to manage the access to shared LUN and since active node will
have ownership, passive nodes will not write on it.

someone please correct me if wrong.

Kiran Ghag

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http://support.microsoft.com/?id=309186

This might help...

Kiran Ghag
http://www.kiranghag.com

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Stunster wrote:
> Can somone please point me in the direction of a microsoft document
> showing the steps involved in allocating a new LUN to a cluster setup.
>
> If I have an active/passive two node microsoft cluster, and I want to
> add a new LUN to it, is there any harm in allocating the new LUN to
> both nodes, then creating a Volume on the lun from the active node,
> then bringing it online as a cluster resource.
>
> I have heard that to add a new LUN you can only have one node active on
> the cluster at the time. I understand the technical justification for
> this, but I disagree.
>
> The only problem I can see is if you were stupid enought to try and
> create volumes on the same LUN from both nodes in the cluster.
Unfortunately I do not have anu MS article in hand.
Procedure is simple:
Create a LUN and afte it is bound - assign to the cluster storage
group.
Go to failover software ( in this situation I will use PowerPath ) and
refresh it  to see all LUNs.
then go to Device admimistration and scan for new devices.
it should pick up a new LUN.
After that - disk manager on any node ( but only one node) format and
assign letter for the drive.
ext step is the MS Cluster Admin Console - you have to enable this
drive as cluster resource assigning a letter it will bepresented with.
You my create a new group for this
Bring resource online and voila  - you have a new clustered disk....

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Well, it turns out that unfortunatly you are incorrect. What you have
exposed yourself to is a corupt disk and a blue screen cluster.
http://technet2.microsoft.com/Windo...3.mspx?mfr=true

"If multiple nodes can see the disk BEFORE any node in the cluster is
managing it, this will lead to data corruption. When adding a new disk,
first make the disk visible to only one cluster node and then once it
is added as a cluster resource, make the disk visible to the other
cluster nodes."




TUSiek wrote:
> Stunster wrote: 
> Unfortunately I do not have anu MS article in hand.
> Procedure is simple:
> Create a LUN and afte it is bound - assign to the cluster storage
> group.
> Go to failover software ( in this situation I will use PowerPath ) and
> refresh it  to see all LUNs.
> then go to Device admimistration and scan for new devices.
> it should pick up a new LUN.
> After that - disk manager on any node ( but only one node) format and
> assign letter for the drive.
> ext step is the MS Cluster Admin Console - you have to enable this
> drive as cluster resource assigning a letter it will bepresented with.
> You my create a new group for this
> Bring resource online and voila  - you have a new clustered disk....

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