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Cluster optimizations

You should carefully review Microsoft documentation and resources for properly configuring your cluster before implementing Double-Take Availability on a cluster. The Microsoft TechNet articles Failover Clusters and Installing and Upgrading Cluster Nodes are two resources you can start with. There are many other resources available on the Microsoft TechNet web site.

• Double-Take Source Connection resource—In a clustered environment, MSCS handles failover between nodes of the cluster. By using the Double-Take Source Connection resource, you can further protect your data by replicating the cluster data to a target. The Double-Take Source Connection resource automatically starts mirroring and replication after a group changes nodes on the source. In the event the cluster fails, your cluster data will be available on the target.
• Target cluster—If your target is also a cluster, connect the Double-Take Source Connection resource to a virtual IP address on the target.
• Auto-reconnect—Double-Take Availability mirroring should be controlled by the Double-Take Source Connection resource. Therefore, you must disable the default auto-reconnect process for each node in the cluster. This option is available through the server setup properties. Disable the option Automatically Reconnect During Source Initialization.
• Double-Take Availability disk queue—Ensure that the disk queue is not on a Physical Disk resource. See the installation optimizations and Double-Take Availability queue for more details on the disk queue.
• Exchange or SQL protection—If your source is a cluster running Microsoft Exchange or SQL, use the Double-Take Availability Application Manager, instead of trying to use the Double-Take Source Connection resource. The Application Manager does support clusters for Exchange and SQL.
• Cluster service account—For Windows 2003 clusters, use the same cluster service account on source and target clusters.