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Failover Clustering with Windows Server 2008 R2

Posted: 11. Apr 2011, 11:55
by wearywanderer
I am trying to set up a 2-node failover cluster where the nodes run Windows Server 2008 R2 SP2 x64. I can't seem to be able to create a shareable virtual disk and make it available to both virtual machines. The Validation report states: Disk bus type does not support clustering. Disk partition style is MBR. Disk partition type is BASIC.

But first some information:
Host OS: Widows 7 x64 SP1
VirtualBox version: 4.0.4 r70112

What I've tried so far:

1. I first created a virtual disk with the following command:

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C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage createhd --filename f:VM\Reskit.com\R2RootDC01\ClusterDisk.vdi --size 16000 --format vdi --variant fixed
2. I then made it shareable using the modifyhd subcommand:

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C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage modifyhd f:VM\Reskit.com\R2RootDC01\ClusterDisk.vdi --type shareable
3. I used the storageattach subcommand to attach the disk to both the virtual machines:

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C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage storageattach R2RootDC01 --storagectl "SCSI Controller" --type hdd --medium f:VM\Reskit.com\R2RootDC01\ClusterDisk.vdi --mtype shareable --port 1 --device 0

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage storageattach R2RootDC02 --storagectl "SCSI Controller" --type hdd --medium f:VM\Reskit.com\R2RootDC01\ClusterDisk.vdi --mtype shareable --port 1 --device 0
4. I used the showhdinfo subcommand to verify it was attached to both machines and still shareable:

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C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage showhdinfo f:VM\Reskit.com\R2RootDC01\ClusterDisk.vdi
UUID:                 2b8ebc67-05dd-47d7-adeb-212b937dcc77
Accessible:           yes
Logical size:         16000 MBytes
Current size on disk: 16000 MBytes
Type:                 shareable
Storage format:       VDI
Format variant:       fixed default
In use by VMs:        R2RootDC01 (UUID: e3c5cbf0-b763-47bb-80ff-653280e313b9)
                      R2RootDC02 (UUID: e73d82a7-35bc-4a3b-bc80-fe716fd43d03)
Location:             F:\VM\Reskit.com\R2RootDC01\ClusterDisk.vdi

What exactly does the storageattach command do? Because I do not see the virtual disk within the settings of the virtual machine. And I do not see the disk under Disk Management when I boot the virtual machine up!


5. If I attach the disk to both the virtual machines uwithin the GUI the disk goes back to being normal from shareable:

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C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage showhdinfo f:VM\Reskit.com\R2RootC01\ClusterDisk.vdi
UUID:                 2b8ebc67-05dd-47d7-adeb-212b937dcc77
Accessible:           yes
Logical size:         16000 MBytes
Current size on disk: 16000 MBytes
Type:                 normal (base)
Storage format:       VDI
Format variant:       fixed default
In use by VMs:        R2RootDC01 (UUID: e3c5cbf0-b763-47bb-80ff-653280e313b9)
                      R2RootDC02 (UUID: e73d82a7-35bc-4a3b-bc80-fe716fd43d03)
Location:             F:\VM\Reskit.com\R2RootDC01\ClusterDisk.vdi
6. And once attached two both the virtual machines using the GUI, I'm not able to make the disk shareable again using the modifyhd subcommand:

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C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage modifyhd f:VM\Reskit.com\R2RootDC01\ClusterDisk.vdi --type shareable
VBoxManage.exe: error: Cannot change the type of medium 'F:\VM\Reskit.com\R2RootDC01\ClusterDisk.vdi' because it is attached to 2 virtual machines
VBoxManage.exe: error: Details: code VBOX_E_INVALID_OBJECT_STATE (0x80bb0007), component Medium, interface IMedium, callee IUnknown
Context: "COMSETTER(Type)(DiskType)" at line 493 of file VBoxManageDisk.cpp
What am I doing wrong?