System-Level Fault Tolerance (Clustering/Network Load Balancing) - Removing a Node from a Cluster

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Cluster nodes can be removed from a cluster for a number of reasons, and this process can be accomplished quite quickly.

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Note - If you're removing nodes on an MNS cluster, be sure that a majority of the nodes remain running to keep the cluster in a working state.

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To remove a node from a cluster, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, Administrative Tools, Cluster Administrator.

2. When the Cluster Administrator opens, choose Open Connection to Cluster and type the server name of a node in the cluster that will remain up and running during this process.

3. Double-click the node that will be removed from the cluster and click Active Groups.

4. If any groups are running on the node, at the appropriate time move these groups to other available nodes.

5. Right-click the cluster node and choose Stop Cluster Service.

6. Right-click the cluster node and choose Evict Node, as shown in Figure 31.12.

7. Confirm the eviction process by choosing Yes, and the node will be removed from the cluster immediately.

   
   
   Figure 31.12 Evicting a node.

8. From a command line, run the following command to remove a node from a cluster:

   Cluster.exe /cluster:clustername node nodename /evict

   Then press Enter to evict the node.

9. Select File, Close to exit Cluster Administrator.

Backing Up and Restoring Clusters

To successfully back up and restore the entire cluster or a single cluster node, the cluster administrator must first understand how to troubleshoot, back up, and restore a standalone Windows Server 2003. The process of backing up cluster nodes is the same as for a standalone server, but restoring a cluster may require additional steps or configurations that do not apply to a standalone server. Detailed Windows Server 2003 backup and restore techniques and disaster recovery planning best practices are discussed in Chapter 32, "Backing Up a Windows Server 2003 Environment," and Chapter 33, "Recovering from a Disaster." This section focuses mainly on backing up and restoring cluster nodes.

To be prepared to recover different types of cluster failures, you must take the following steps:

1. For all cluster nodes (single, MNS, and single-quorum nodes), do the following:

   • Back up each cluster node's local disks.

   • Back up each cluster node's system state.

   • Back up the cluster quorum from any node running in the cluster.

   • Back up each cluster node's disks signatures and volume information.

2. For clusters with shared storage devices, do the following in addition to Step 1:

   • On the individual cluster nodes, document storage adapter settings, including manufacturer name, model number, and configurations such as SCSI ID and IRQ when applicable. Also, note which motherboard slot the nodes are located in.

   • On shared storage devices with built-in RAID controllers, record disk array configurations, including array type, array members, hot spares, volume definition, disk IDs, and LUNs.

   • Back up shared cluster disks.

To back up cluster nodes and data on their storage devices, you use the Windows Server 2003 Backup utility (ntbackup.exe). For detailed information about this utility and the different backup options available, refer to Chapters 32 and 33.

This chapter is from Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Unleashed, by Rand Morimoto, et al. (Sams Publishing, 2004, ISBN: 0672326671). Check it out at your favorite bookstore today. Buy this book now.

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