Table of Contents
TLS Certificate Considerations
When adding a certificate for Windows Server Failover Clustering on general purpose servers, ensure the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the cluster name, essentially the load-balanced name, is in the Subject Name of the certificate using the Common Name (CN) attribute. The FQDN of the cluster name and the FQDN of all the individual servers making up the cluster should also be in the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) field of the certificate using the DNS attribute.
| Subject | Subject Alternative Name | |
| Load-balanced FQDN | X | X |
| Individual Server FQDN | X |
The exception to this is if you are setting up clustering for Microsoft SQL Server in preparation for an Always On High Availability group. In this case, the FQDN of the individual SQL server is required to be the Subject field, with the name of the cluster and all participating servers in the Subject Alternative Name field.
| Subject | Subject Alternative Name | |
| Load-balanced FQDN | X | |
| Individual Server FQDN | X | X |
Active Directory Considerations
Add your computer objects to an Organizational Unit (OU) in Active Directory. If you pre-stage the failover cluster computer object, ensure the object is disabled. This will let the Failover Cluster wizard know that object is not in use anywhere.
Networking Requirements
It is a good idea to add a Layer 2 network interface to each participating server for cluster heartbeats. It does not need to have a Layer 3 address as the traffic does not need to be routed.
Adding the Failover Cluster Feature
Open the Add Roles and Features Wizard from Server Manager.
Click the Next button.
Click the Next button.
Click the Next button.
Click the Next button. Choose the Failover Clustering checkbox.
A pop-up window should appear prompting to add Remote Server Administration Tools for the requested feature. Click the Add Features button.
You will be returned back to the Add Roles and Features Wizard.
Click the Next button.
Click the Install button. An installation progress bar will appear.
Wait for the feature installation to complete as indicated by the progress bar.
Click the Close button after receiving the message that a restart is pending. Restart the server.
Repeat the installation on each server that is going to participate in the Failover Cluster.
Configuring the Failover Cluster
From Server Manager, select Tools, then Failover Cluster Manager.
In the Actions pane, choose Validate Configuration…
Click the Next button.
Click the Browse… button.
The object type, Computers, should already be selected. Type in the first few characters of the group of servers to lookup. Click the Check Names button.
Choose all the participating servers by either using the shift key or ctrl key. Ensure the cluster computer object is not selected.
Click the OK button.
Click the OK button.
Click the Next > button.
Click the Next > button.
Click the Next > button.
The validation tests will start to run. Once complete, a summary screen should appear.
Assuming the validation checks all pass, click the checkbox to Create the cluster now using the validated node… and then the Finish button.
Click the Next button. Type in the Cluster Name in the text box and provide an IP address in the appropriate octet.
Click the Next button.
Uncheck the checkbox to Add all eligible storage to the cluster. Click the Next button.
A progress bar should display the cluster configuration.
Assuming the cluster configures, click the Finish button.
Expand the cluster object in the Failover Cluster Manager and choose Nodes.
Ensure all the participating servers are present and the status is Up.
Expand the cluster object in the Failover Cluster Manager and choose Networks.
If a second network interface was added and configured prior to the cluster configuration, there should be at least two networks in the list. The default configuration (as seen in the image) is acceptable.
Conclusion
This concludes the installation and configuration of the Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC) feature.