Workplace Recovery Support and Service for

Clustering is a key technique to achieve maximum fault tolerance. A cluster is a collection of computer systems responsible for running a shared set of applications and services. The systems in the cluster are interconnected through hardware and software in such a way that in case any component in the cluster stops functioning, the workload will "failover" to, or be assumed by, another system in the cluster without a disruption of service.

Failover clustering clearly has an advantage in increasing network availability in the case of a hardware breakdown, but it also allows non-disruptive system maintenance for environments that have no time window when key applications such as email or web commerce can be taken offline without hurting business. For geographically dispersed environments, multi-site clustering provides insurance against natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes.

The Enterprise and Datacenter editions of Windows Server 2008 included significant improvements in failover clustering such as easier deployment, management, and migration; enhanced support for multi-site clusters; improved security architecture and quorum models; stronger authentication and encryption; and more efficient tools for backup and recovery. Windows Server 2008 R2 offers even more advanced support for clustering through the addition of features that make clusters more secure, more available, and easier to manage. Major clustering improvements in Windows Server 2008 R2 include Live Migration support through Cluster Shared Volumes, enhanced support for IPsec security, and expanded cluster storage.

Progent offers a full range of Windows Server 2008 Server consulting services and Windows Server 2008 R2 expertise and can assist businesses of any size to maintain and troubleshoot failover clusters powered by Windows Server 2008. If you are considering an upgrade to a modern version of Windows Server, Progent can provide Windows Server 2019 migration expertise and Windows Server 2016 failover clustering consulting to maximize the availability and performance of your system.

New and Improved Features of Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering
The failover clustering capabilities incorporated into Microsoft Windows 2008 Server represents more than a decade of Microsoft's experience in developing clustering technology. The Enterprise and Datacenter Editions of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 offer a number of new clustering services and capabilities including:

More Convenient Management Interfaces
Windows Server 2008 includes Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0, a new easy-to-use interface for controlling network resources. The new Failover Cluster Administration Console is task oriented rather than cluster resource oriented. To make a file share highly available, for example, the administrator no longer has to create a group, a disk resource, an IP address resource, Network Name, configure IsAlive/LookAlive, configure preferred services, and set dependencies. Instead, the wizard simply asks for the Network Name. You do not necessarily need to assign an IP address because Windows Server 2008 failover clustering now supports DHCP.

Windows Server 2008 also supports remote management via the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT). You can manage multiple clusters throughout the organization from a single MMC. Windows Server 2008 Failover Clusters are also fully scriptable with Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).

Built-in Cluster Validate Tool
Windows Server 2008 clustering includes a cluster Validate Tool, an expanded and integrated version of the ClusPrep tool released for Windows Server 2003 server clustering. As a part of the cluster configuration process, Validate runs a set of tests to determine whether the selected servers, cluster networks, and storage meet the requirements for failover clustering. Validate performs an inventory that includes BIOS information, operating systems, adapters, drivers and software updates; verifies cluster topology for redundancy; checks IP configuration details; and makes sure that storage can correctly handle simulated cluster actions. The Validate Tool helps prevents configuration errors, which is one of the most common problems encountered in failover clusters.

Support for Windows Server 2008 Server Core
Windows Server 2008 offers a Server Core installation option that supports failover clustering and provides a bare-bones environment for running distinct server roles. By limiting the services that need to be maintained and updated, this minimalist installation reduces support and management expense and enhances security by shrinking the server's attack surface. Server Core supports a variety of important roles including DHCP server, file services, print services, DNS server, Active Directory Domain Services, streaming media services, and Windows Server 2008 virtualization.

Better Storage and Backup Support
Improvements in storage and backup offer increased stability and availability for failover clusters. Support for both Master Boot Record (MBR) and GUID Partition Table (GPT) disks allows the creation of disks greater than 2 terabytes. Built-in logic initiates self healing automatically as long as the system can find either the disk signature in the Master Boot Record or the SCSI inquiry page 0x83 data (VPD).

Support for Storage Area Networking (SAN) solutions is improved for storage hardware that supports SCSI-3 SPC3-compliant SCSI commands for persistent reservation/release. All multi-path solutions are Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO). The Device Specific Module (DSM) provided by the storage vendor is responsible for sending PR registration information down each path to the storage system. Closer integration with Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) makes the backup process easier. Failover clustering in Windows Server 2008 has its own VSS.

Greater Expandability
With Windows Server 2008, x64-based failover clusters support up to 16 nodes in a single cluster, as opposed to the maximum of 8 nodes in Windows Server 2003. Windows Server 2008 failover clusters also now support GPT disks, which use the GUID partition table (GPT) disk partitioning system. A GPT disk allows up to 128 primary partitions and a much larger volume size. In comparison, MBR disks can support up to four primary partitions and a volume size limit of up to 2 terabytes. For greater reliability, GPT disks offer replication and cyclical redundancy check (CRC) protection of the partition table. The increased number of nodes plus support for GPT disks dramatically extends the scalability of larger volumes in cluster environments.

A New Quorum Model
Windows Server 2008 introduces a new failover clustering quorum model that incorporates a combination of Microsoft's earlier shared disk and majority node set models. In Windows Server 2008 failover clustering there are now four ways to establish a quorum:

• No Majority - Disk Only (same as Windows Server 2003 shared disk quorum)
• Node Majority (same as the Windows Server 2003 majority node set)
• Node and Disk Majority
• Node and File Share Majority

An Improved Security Model
Windows Server 2008 failover clustering incorporates a new security model that enhances its security and dependability. Changes include:

• Elimination of the need for a domain user account for the Cluster Service Account (CSA)
• Better logging and event tracing
• Transition from unsecure datagram remote procedure call (RPC) communications to TCP-based RPC communications
• Default enabling Kerberos authentication on all cluster network name resources
• The ability to audit access to the cluster service via either the Failover Cluster Management snap-in or the cluster command-line interface
• Ability to secure Inter-Cluster communications.

New Networking Capabilities and More Flexible Dependencies
Windows Server 2008 failover clustering includes a new networking model. Major improvements include:

• Enhanced support for geographically distributed networks
• The ability to place cluster nodes on different networks
• The ability to use DHCP server to assign IP addresses to cluster interfaces
• Improvements in the cluster heartbeat mechanism
• Support for IPv6

Cluster IP address resources can now get their addressing from DHCP servers as well as from static entries. The cluster heartbeat mechanism has moved from a UDP broadcast health checking mechanism to a UDP unicast communication that it uses a Ping-like Request-Reply process. This allows better security and more reliable packet sequence numbering. Windows Server 2008 supports IPv6 IP Address resources and IPv4 IP Address resources either alone or in combination in a cluster. Clustering also supports 6-4 and Intra-site Automatic Tunneling Addressing Protocol (ISATAP).

Enhancements to Failover Clustering In Windows Server 2008 R2
Major enhancements to Failover Clustering available with Windows Server 2008 R2 include:

• Clustered Shared Volumes (CSV) with dynamic I/O redirection
• Geographically dispersed clustering for immunity from natural disasters
• Easier setup and migration through the new Best Practices Analyzer
• Redundant Quorum Resource to eliminate single-point failure for the cluster quorum
• Improved security through support for IPsec security between client and cluster nodes
• Supports for GPT disks that exceed 2 terabytes in capacity

How Progent Can Help You Benefit from Microsoft's Failover Clustering
Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can help you evaluate the business benefits of Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 failover clustering, set up pilot programs to validate performance and compatibility for your key workloads, develop and execute a cost-effective deployment plan, train your IT staff to manage your clustering environment, and provide ongoing consulting and technical support services remotely or at your site. Progent can also provide comprehensive Help Desk services.

Progent's service professionals can also help you migrate from Windows Server 2003 cluster nodes. This migration requires experience because these two types of nodes cannot share the same cluster, which eliminates a rolling migration.

If you currently have a clustering environment based on Windows Server 2008 R2 and are considering a move to Windows Server 2019 or Windows Server 2016, Progent can help you plan and carry out a Windows Server 2019 failover clustering upgrade or create a Windows Server 2016 disaster recovery solution.

Progent's CISM, CISA, GIAC, CISSP, and CRISC certified security engineers can assess the protection offered by your cluster environment and can recommend and implement affordable improvements. Progent's security experts can also help you design, document, and test business continuity and disaster recovery plans.

Fault Tolerant Solutions Offered by Progent
Progent's Microsoft and Cisco engineers can help you to create a sensible, non-stop system that addresses critical challenges encompassing a broad range of infrastructure solutions and processes including:

Workplace Recovery Planning
Progent's disaster recovery consultants can help you design a workplace recovery strategy that will allow you to resume network functionality in case of an IT system disaster. Progent can help you to create a complete disaster recovery strategy that incorporates periodic disaster recovery evaluations and drills. Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-certified professionals can also help you create an affordable, non-stop system architecture that addresses availability issues involving a wide range of infrastructure technologies and processes. To find out more, see Business Continuity Expertise.

CRISC-Premier IT Risk Mitigation
The CRISC program was initiated by ISACA in 2010 to validate a consultant's ability to design, implement, and maintain IS control mechanisms to mitigate risk. Progent offers the expertise of a CRISC-certified engineer to help you to create and carry out a business continuity plan that follows leading practices identified by CRISC and crafted to align with your company's risk appetite, business objectives, and budgetary guidelines. To read more, see CRISC-Premier network risk mitigation experts.

Microsoft Windows Server 2019 High Availability Failover Clustering
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 introduced significant enhancements in capacity, throughput, manageability, security and compliance, app compatibility, Linux support, Kubernetes technology, and hybrid combinations of local and cloud-hosted assets. Top new features of Windows Server 2019 include Windows Admin Center for centralizing the management and monitoring of hybrid on-premises/cloud-hosted resources, System Insights for taking advantage of modern predictive intelligence to control local environments, Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Exploit Guard for host-intrusion prevention, container orchestration using Kubernetes, Cluster Sets technology for creating and administering large non-stop scale-out clusters, and Storage Migration Service for streamlining the upgrade process from outdated versions of Windows Server. For more information, go to Windows Server 2019 High Availability Failover Clustering Support.

Windows Server 2016 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Progent's Windows Server 2016 disaster recovery consultants can help your organization to design a DR solution based on Microsoft's latest Failover Clustering technologies including Cluster Operating System Rolling Upgrade for non-disruptive migration to Windows Server 2016, Storage Replica for zero-data-loss recovery, Storage Spaces Direct for enterprise-class network-attached storage using industry-standard hardware, Virtual Machine Load Balancing for improving the performance and resilience of Failover Clusters while reducing TCO and management overhead, and Cloud Witness for fast, economical deployment of a failover cluster quorum witness. For more information, visit Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Disaster Recovery Support.

VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) Disaster Recovery Solutions
VMware's Site Recovery Manager (SRM) is an extension to VMware vCenter that allows you to define, automate and verify a repeatable workflow for recovering services rapidly after an outage. SRM supports centrally controlled and automated disaster recovery, application mobility, and non-disruptive site relocation, failback and site re-protect. Site Recovery Manager also allows transparent testing for disaster recovery, updates and fixes and can produce reports to confirm full service recovery, validate SLAs and demonstrate compliance. Progent can provide the support of a VCDX certified VMware Site Recovery Manager consultant to help you to design, deploy, test and manage a DR solution powered by VMware SRM.

NetApp MetroCluster High Availability and Disaster Recovery Technology
NetApp MetroCluster is a disaster recovery software suite that combines failover storage clustering along with continual replication to deliver rapid, zero data loss disaster recovery between sites that are up to 185 miles apart from each other. Progent can provide the skills of a certified NetApp MetroCluster consultant who can help you to plan, deploy, administer, upgrade, test and troubleshoot a disaster recovery solution built around NetApp MetroCluster. Progent can help you to select an architecture for your MetroCluster environment that aligns with your functional needs and IT budget. Progent can ensure you adhere to best practices for installing your MetroCluster environment by providing help with procedures like assigning shelf IDs, arranging plexes layout, provisioning NetApp FlexVol volumes, setting up Data ONTAP configuration replication service, provisioning Cisco and Brocade switches, designing a tiebreaker, designing a configuration replication network, and testing your disaster recovery solution to show compliance with information assurance standards and government mandates.

Fault Tolerant Load Balancing
Progent offers high availability load balancing support covering system load balancing, load balanced programs, LAN/WAN backbone routing, and content delivery technology such as F5 Networks 3DNS. Non-stop load balancing solutions for which Progent can provide consulting expertise include Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Network Load Balancing Manager, Citrix Metaframe and Access Gateway, Cisco CSS, Cisco Distributed Director and Cisco CDN Software, and F5 Networks 3-DNS. For more information, visit Non-stop Load Balancing.

Fault Tolerant Colocation
Progent's Data Center engineers can show you how to identify fault-tolerant data centers that meet the particular needs of your company. Fault tolerant colocation sites are particularly attractive to small and mid-size businesses because of their affordability and simplified logistics in comparison to taking a do-it-yourself approach. Attempting to design an in-house data center that offers even a basic degree of fault tolerance is too expensive for typical small organizations. Progent is ready to help you reap all the benefits of 24x7 colocation centers by providing a full array of engineering and maintenance services. To read more, see Fault Tolerant Colocation Consulting.

Fault Tolerant Inter-office Connectivity
Progent's interoffice network infrastructure consultants can help businesses achieve non-stop branch office connectivity solutions via redundant system architectures featuring automatic failover. Progent's Cisco-premier CCIE network engineers can plan and implement high-availability Inter-office networks supported by non-stop EIGRP network routers or non-stop OSPF configurations of Cisco routers. Progent can demonstrate how multi-path connectivity and automatic fail-over offers economical 24x7 interoffice connectivity. To find out more, see Fault Tolerant Inter-office Connectivity.

24x7 Internet Connections
Progent's Cisco-authorized IT consultants can show you how to design an economical, fault tolerant Internet configuration solution that can deliver non-stop Internet access via a broad array of fault tolerant Internet network technologies including high availability BGP, automatic fail-over, and multiple ISPs. Progent offers CCIE engineers to help you utilize the most up-to-date technology for 24x7 Internet connectivity to create an economical, fully redundant Internet network with automatic failover and other capabilities to deliver non-stop Internet availability. For details, go to 24x7 Internet Connectivity Architecture.

Backup and Restore Technology Consulting and Support Services
Progent offers affordable online support from IT engineers with expertise in a broad array of utilities and technologies that deliver solutions for backing up Microsoft Windows, Mac, and Linux/UNIX physical and virtual servers and workstations as well as laptops and smartphones. Progent can provide expertise for all major data protection platforms including Acronis Backup and Recovery, Symantec Backup Exec, BackupAssist Software, HP Data Protector, Double-Take Backup, MozyPro, Retrospect for Macintosh, Apple Time Machine, VMware Data Recovery, and Oracle Solaris FLARs. Progent can help your company to install, upgrade, or maintain data backup solutions for a variety of environments such as on-premises, remote, cloud, or hybrid. To read more, visit Backup and Restore Solutions Consulting.

Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager Backup and Recovery Consulting Services
Progent's certified Microsoft SCDPM support professionals can help you to develop an effective workplace recovery strategy, implement an affordable fault-tolerante IT architecture, deploy a SCDPM-based backup and restore solution, thoroughly test your system, train your IT staff or local consultants how to manage System Center Data Protection Manager, or provide extensive information technology outsourcing including off-site housing of Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager machines in Progent's data center facility. To find out more, visit Microsoft SCDPM Consulting and Support Services.

Barracuda Backup Multi-site and Cloud Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
Barracuda Backup is an affordable, subscription backup and disaster recovery platform for small and medium-size organizations. A Barracuda Backup deployment can incorporate a purpose-built physical storage device manufactured by Barracuda or a software-based appliance with comparable functionality but which uses your own storage hardware. Barracuda Backup protects vital company data generated locally, at one or multiple remote sites, or in the cloud. For disaster recovery, you can replicate data to the Barracuda Cloud, to Amazon AWS, or to any site with a physical or virtual Barracuda appliance. Progent is a certified Barracuda partner and Progent's Barracuda Backup consulting experts can provide a broad range of consulting services to assist you to plan, integrate, manage and repair a BDR solution built on Barracuda technology. For details, go to Barracuda Backup and disaster recovery consulting and management.

ProSight Altaro VM Backup Software for Data Protection and Disaster Recovery
Altaro VM Backup offers small organizations a reliable and affordable solution for backing up and restoring Hyper-V and VMware-based virtual machines. Altaro VM Backup can be deployed in local, offsite, multi-site, and cloud environments and also enables low-cost cloud backup to Azure Block Blob storage. Altaro VM Backup supports high-end features like Immutable Cloud Storage for enhanced recoverability from ransomware. Progent is a certified Altaro partner and offers a broad range of remote or onsite consulting services to assist you to design, deploy, manage and troubleshoot a comprehensive backup/restore system based on Altaro VM Backup software. With ProSight Data Protection Services Altaro VM Backup, Progent offers a fully managed backup/restore service based on Altaro VM Backup software. To read more, visit Altaro VM Backup certified consultants.

ProSight DPS 365 Total Backup Services for Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 offers rudimentary archiving but does not include native support for vital data protection capabilities like Exchange Online backups or long-term point-in-time data recovery for OneDrive or SharePoint Online. Hornetsecurity's 365 Total Backup delivers a full-featured platform for automatic backup and quick restoration of all your company's M365 mail, Microsoft Teams Chats, SharePoint sites, OneDrive files, and content on Windows endpoints. Progent is a certified Hornetsecurity/Altaro partner and offers ProSight Data Protection Services 365 Total Backup to provide end-to-end management services for Hornetsecurity's 365 Total Backup product. ProSight Data Protection Services 365 Total Backup delivers a budget-friendly backup-as-a-service alternative that protects M365 apps against data loss resulting from user or system mistakes, malicious corruption, and cyber assaults such as ransomware. For more information, see ProSight DPS 365 Total Backup solutions for Microsoft 365.

Fully Managed Cloud Backup: ProSight Data Protection Services ECHO
ProSight Data Protection Services ECHO offer small and medium-sized organizations a low cost and fully managed solution for secure backup/disaster recovery (BDR). For a fixed monthly price, ProSight DPS ECHO automates your backup processes and enable fast restoration of vital data, apps and VMs that have become unavailable or corrupted as a result of component breakdowns, software glitches, disasters, human mistakes, or malicious attacks such as ransomware. ProSight DPS ECHO can help you protect, recover and restore files, folders, apps, system images, as well as Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware virtual machine images. Critical data can be protected on the cloud, to a local storage device, or mirrored to both. Progent's BDR specialists can deliver advanced support to set up ProSight DPS ECHO to to comply with government and industry regulatory standards like HIPAA, FIRPA, PCI and Safe Harbor and, whenever necessary, can help you to restore your business-critical data. Learn more about ProSight DPS ECHO managed cloud backup.

ProSight MSP360 Backup Services
Progent can help you to create, deploy and debug a backup/restore plan built around MSP360 technology. MSP360 enables file/folder or image-based backup/recovery for VMs and physical machines, works with all popular public clouds, and allows you to build a data protection solution with a low Recovery Time Objective and a defined RPO. With ProSight MSP360 Backup, Progent offers comprehensive monitoring and management of your backup system to prevent data loss caused by human miscues, system glitches, malicious users, and external attacks such as ransomware. To read more, see ProSight MSP360 Backup services.

Consulting for Double-Take Software for Data Backup and Recovery
Double-Take offers a selection of products intended to provide small companies a variety of cost-effective solutions for backing up and restoring business-critical workloads including Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, Blackberry, and Microsoft SharePoint. Progent's business continuity planning consultants have in-depth experience integrating Double-Take technology into small business information systems to create a high level of availability and disaster recovery readiness at an affordable price. To read more, see Consulting Services Double-Take Software for Data Backup.

Why Choose Progent for Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Planning Solutions?
Since Progent is a Microsoft AI Cloud Partner and provides specialized application consulting for a wide range of business applications, Progent is able to assist customers to arrive at complete IT solutions that maximize the productivity of your network. As a Registered Partner with Cisco, Progent can provide the expertise of premier engineers and specialists with expertise in architecting, configuring and troubleshooting infrastructure environments built on Cisco products. The extent of Progent's technical know-how and Progent's sensitivity to the requirements of small businesses make Progent the perfect partner for building and maintaining an affordable, dependable information system.

How You Can Contact Progent's Experts for Support for Fault Tolerant Computing
In order to ask Progent about technical support for fault tolerant IT design, call 1-800-993-9400 or see Contact Progent.