Ensuring the Availability of Applications and Services

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Tools to Automate the Deployment of Cluster Service

There are tools to automate the deployment of Cluster service in your enterprise. These tools are available on the Windows 2000 product compact disc (CD).Table 18.2 describes these tools.

Table 18.2 Tools to Automate the Deployment of Cluster Service

Tools Description
Sysprep A tool that enables disk duplication. You can install the Windows 2000 Advanced Server operating system and applications on a single computer, and then duplicate that installation on as many systems as you like.
Cluscfg.exe This tool is included in the base operating system. Any time you install Cluster service on a system, you need to run it to configure the cluster.
Setup Manager A wizard-based tool that helps you create unattended scripts and a network distribution share required for regular unattended and Sysprep deployments.

The following examples illustrate how you can use these tools.

If you have completely different hardware configurations on the systems you want to deploy the Cluster service on, you can use an unattended Setup to set up these systems. This involves creating an Unattend.txt file and a network distribution share (optional) that will be used to automate the running of Setup, including configuring the Windows 2000 Cluster service.

If you have similar hardware configurations, you can use Sysprep to create an image and speed the setup and deployment process. To use Sysprep to deploy Windows 2000 Cluster service, you must first install the Cluster service (by selecting it in the Windows Components Wizard). When the image has been deployed on the systems, you can run the Cluscfg.exe file. You can automate the running of Cluscfg.exe by placing Cluscfg.exe in the [GuiRunOnce] section of the Sysprep answer file. That way, Cluscfg.exe runs on each system after Sysprep has finished running. You can automate Cluscfg.exe by using an answer file.

For more information about these tools, see "Windows Clustering" in the Distributed Systems Guide.

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