Windows Server

ebferro · Guest

Is it possible to use the same disk resource for multiple virtual servers?
That is, can I use the same raid array for both my file server and print
server in the same cluster? We're a small company with few users and
printers so the load shouldn't be significant.
TIA.
Ernie

Shon Shah [MSFT] · Guest

Ernie,

It is possible to use the same physical disk resource for multiple virtual
servers but doing so might defeat the whole purpose of using virtual
servers. e.g. You can create a file share resource and print spooler
resource in the same group and make both of them dependent on a single
physical disk resource present in the same group but consider the following
scenarios:

1. If the disk resource fails, both file share and print spooler become
unavailable. This would not be the case if each resource was dependent on a
separate physical disk resource.
2. If the print spooler resource fails for some reason, by default the group
will try to fail over to other available node and during that time file
share resource will be unavailable even though there are no issues at all
with the file share resource.
3. Similarly if the file share resource fails, print spooler resource will
be unavailable during the failover.

Now if you look at the overall design, we are creating virtual servers so
that file shares and print servers are highly available but by creating both
the virtual servers in the same group and/or by making them dependent on the
same physical disk resource we are putting the high availability at stake.

So each virtual server should be in a separate group and should have its own
resources like IP address, network name and physical disk.

Hope this helps.

--
Regards,
Shon Shah
Software Design Engineer/Test
Microsoft Cluster Server

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"ebferro" <ebferro@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:ABEEB643-71FE-4DC5-A485-2048D2D95AD2@microsoft.com...

ebferro · Guest

Shon:
Thanks for the help. I'm hoping that since the disk resources are raid
arrays that the likelihood of a disk failure is low. So, I'm going to go for
the gusto and put the print server and file server virtual servers on the
same disk resource. I guess we'll see what happens. Again, thanks for the
help and insight.
Ernie

"Shon Shah [MSFT]" wrote:

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