Hi everyone! I'm new to setting up a Windows Server Failover Cluster and I have a question about quorum. Specifically, if I create a Shared VMDK from vSphere, can I use that as the disk witness for my quorum? Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks!
6 Answers
You can actually set up a shared VMDK as a datastore. It might work for quorum as well, so it’s worth a try.
Honestly, thinking about all that setup gives me flashbacks to the challenges with these technologies! But if you can present that VMDK as a formatted disk, it should technically work. Just be aware that performance could take a hit if the connection isn't low-latency!
Thanks for your help! I understand that Shared VMDKs come with challenges particularly around maintenance like extending disks and snapshots, but it seems this setup is quite common for SQL failover clusters. If anyone has more tips on maintaining performance or storage upgrades, I’m all ears!
Using a Shared VMDK from a datastore for both VMs works surprisingly well. Just keep an eye on the limitations—like shutting down all VMs when you extend disks or the inability to snapshot them easily. We've set up around 10-15 SQL failover clusters this way and it usually runs pretty smoothly!
Thanks for the input! What disk mode are they configured on?
Using a Shared VMDK for quorum can be tricky because I'm not sure how you'd mount it on all the cluster nodes. It's usually better to stick with a LUN on your SAN for this purpose. Trust me, that tends to work more smoothly!
It's absolutely possible! Shared VMDKs serve that exact purpose.
Why would you go this route if you're using Always On? That setup is typically far more reliable.
I'm sticking with a traditional mssql failover cluster for this project.
Keep in mind, a witness disk doesn't require a whole lot in terms of performance.