Microsoft KB Archive/302830

= The Option to Change the Cluster Network Roles, Priority, and Names Is Removed in Windows Server 2003 =

PSS ID Number: 302830

Article Last Modified on 11/4/2003

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition

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This article was previously published under Q302830



SUMMARY
The option to change the cluster network roles, priority, and names during cluster Setup has been removed from Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition.

In most circumstances, the amount of cluster-specific network traffic that is generated over the cluster interconnect is not substantial and does not cause a problem if the network priority is set to the public interface first. The network that is designated as the cluster interconnect is the network that is listed first on the Network Priority tab. To view the Network Priority tab, right-click the cluster name in the left column, and then click Properties. The Network Role and Name settings have no effect on network performance.



MORE INFORMATION
Five types of information designated as the cluster interconnect (also referred to as the cluster heartbeat or private network) are sent over the network. Typically, the amount of information that is sent across the network is a very small percentage of the total network traffic. The type of network traffic that travels across the interconnect is:
 * Server &quot;heartbeats&quot; - These tell the Cluster service that another server is up and running.
 * Replicated state information - The Cluster service does this so that every server in the cluster knows which cluster groups and resources are running on every other server.
 * Cluster commands - The Cluster service software on one server can issue a command to the Cluster service software on another server. For example, when you are moving a program, the Cluster service actually tells its current server to take it offline, and then tells the new server to bring it online.
 * Program commands - A cluster-aware program might use the interconnect to communicate among copies of the program that are running on multiple servers. This is generally referred to as &quot;function shipping.&quot;
 * Program data - A cluster-aware program might use the interconnect to transfer data between servers. This is generally called &quot;input/output (I/O) shipping.&quot;

The reasons to adjust the Network Priority list and force the private network depend on several conditions:
 * There are several hundred resources that are being managed by the Cluster service. In this scenario, the interconnect has a high concentration of Replicated State information to keep track of all the resources; the interconnect should be separate from the client network.
 * There are several cluster nodes and there is a lot of cluster communications.
 * There are programs that use the network designated as the heartbeat to send program-specific data and send a lot of information.

For additional information about best practices for network configuration, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

258750 Recommended Private 'Heartbeat' Configuration on Cluster Server

Additional query words: MSCS

Keywords: kbenv kbinfo kbsetup KB302830

Technology: kbWinServ2003Data kbWinServ2003DataSearch kbWinServ2003Ent kbWinServ2003EntSearch kbWinServ2003Search

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