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Troubleshooting a Windows Server Cluster

Microsoft BizTalk Server supports the use of Windows Server cluster for host cluster support, to provide high availability for the Enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO) Master Secret, and to provide high availability for the BizTalk Server databases. This topic provides some general guidelines for using BizTalk Server in a Windows Server cluster environment and discusses some known issues that may occur when using BizTalk Server in a Windows Server cluster environment.

General Guidelines

Follow these general guidelines to maximize productivity with Windows Server cluster and to troubleshoot Windows Server cluster problems that may affect BizTalk Server.

  1. Complete BizTalk Server proof of concept work with a Windows Server cluster in a virtualized server environment.

    The Hyper-V role available with Windows Server 2008 can be used to create a virtualized server environment.

    Virtual Server 2005 R2 can be used to create a virtualized server environment.

    Doing BizTalk Server proof of concept work with a Windows Server cluster in a virtualized server environment offers great flexibility and uses considerably fewer hardware resources than required for a Windows Server cluster. If this approach is used, allocate at least 512 MB of memory for each virtual machine that is concurrently running on the host computer and an additional 512 MB of memory for the host operating system. For example, for a BizTalk Server solution with a Windows Server cluster that uses five virtual machines (two BizTalk Server cluster nodes, two Microsoft SQL Server cluster nodes, and one domain controller), you would plan to have 3 GB of memory installed on the host computer. If the BizTalk Server proof of concept environment requires more than 2 GB of memory, consider installing a 64-bit version of Windows on the host computer (required for the Hyper-V role) to ensure that all installed memory is accessible by the host operating system.

Troubleshooting Resources

Resources for troubleshooting Windows Server 2003 clusters

  • Review the Server Cluster Troubleshooting topic on the Microsoft TechNet Web site. This topic documents several known problems when using a Windows Server 2003 cluster and the resolution for these problems.

  • Analyze the cluster log file for information about any problems that may be occurring. Review Microsoft Knowledge Base article 168801, How to turn on cluster logging in Microsoft Cluster Server for information about how to change the default cluster logging parameters.

    The location of the cluster log file is stored in the %clusterlog% environment variable. To determine the location of the cluster log file on a cluster node, open a command prompt, type echo %clusterlog%, and then press ENTER. The cluster.log file captures, in order, the events that occur in the cluster service for a single cluster node.

    A cluster log entry contains several elements that are common to each entry in the log including the following:

    • Process ID (this can be the ID of the Cluster service or of the Resource Monitor)

    • Thread ID that created the log entry

    • Time stamp in GMT format

    • Type of log entry (INFO, WARN, ERR)

    • Event Description, which is preceded with either the component name (for component event log entries) or the resource type and name (for resource dll log entries)

    The following example log entries illustrate the differences between a component event log entry and a resource dll log entry:

    Sample component event log entry:

    Copy 
    00000710.00000765::2006/08/29-14:40:22.001 INFO [DM] Loading cluster database from C:\WINNT\Cluster\CLUSDB
    The entry above was generated by a [DM] component.

    Sample resource dll log entry:

    Copy 
    000005ec.00000378::2006/08/29-14:41:28.621 INFO Physical Disk <Disk S:>: [DiskArb] Wait for offline thread to complete...
    The entry above was generated by the resource of type "Physical Disk" with the name "<Disk S:>".

    For more information about cluster log entries, see Anatomy of a Cluster Log Entry on the Microsoft TechNet Web site.

    Consider using the Cluster Diagnostics and Verification Tool to analyze the cluster log file on a Windows Server 2003 cluster as this tool provides advanced parsing and searching capabilities.

Resources for troubleshooting Windows Server 2008 failover clustering

Known Issues

Any attempt to bring a clustered MSDTC resource online fails which causes dependent BizTalk Server services to fail

Problem

A clustered Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) resource cannot be brought online through the Bring Online option in Cluster Administrator, which causes BizTalk Server run-time operations that are dependent upon MSDTC transaction support to fail.

Cause

Clustered MSDTC resource failure can occur for a number of reasons including the following:

  • The clustered MSDTC resource is not configured with the correct Disk and Network Name resource dependencies or the resource dependencies are failing.

  • Permissions problems are preventing the clustered MSDTC resource from being activated.

Resolution

Complete the following steps on a Windows Server 2003 cluster:

  1. Review Microsoft Knowledge Base article 301600, How to configure Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator on a Windows Server 2003 cluster to ensure that the clustered MSDTC resource is configured correctly.

  2. Review Microsoft Knowledge Base article 890634, You cannot bring a Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator resource online after you create it on a Windows Server 2003-based server cluster to ensure that the appropriate rights are granted to the Administrator account on each Windows Server 2003 cluster node.

Under certain circumstances it may be necessary to rebuild the clustered MSDTC resource on a Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 cluster. To rebuild a clustered instance of MSDTC on a Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 cluster, complete the following steps:

  1. Take all of the groups in the cluster offline except for the group that contains the quorum drive. The group that contains the quorum drive is also referred to as the cluster group.

  2. Fail over all groups so that you are working on a node that has no cluster resources running on it.

  3. If a clustered MSDTC resource exists, take it offline and delete it.

  4. Open a command prompt, type msdtc -uninstall, and then press ENTER.

  5. Delete the following registry hives out of the registry if they still exist:

    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Msdtc

    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSDTC

    • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CID

  6. Disable Network DTC and Network COM+ Access by completing the following steps:

    1. Open Add/Remove Programs. To do this, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add/Remove Programs.

    2. Select Add/Remove Windows Components to start the Windows Components Wizard.

    3. Select the Application Server component from the list of components, and then click the Details button.

    4. Clear the Enable Network DTC Access and the Enable Network COM+ Access check boxes, and then click OK. If these check boxes are already cleared then click Cancel and click Cancel again to close the Windows Components Wizard dialog box.

    5. Click the Next button and the Finish button in the Windows Components Wizard if you did not cancel the Windows Components Wizard dialog box already.

  7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 on each cluster node in the cluster.

  8. Restart each cluster node.

  9. Once the cluster nodes come back online, log on to one of the nodes, start the Cluster Administrator, and move all cluster groups to this cluster node.

  10. Open a command prompt, type msdtc -install, and then press ENTER. This will create a clustered MSDTC resource in the cluster group that contains the Quorum drive. Although we recommend that you create the clustered MSDTC resource in a group other than the cluster group, if this is not feasible in your environment then proceed to step 18.

    noteNote
    You may need to temporarily disable any running antivirus programs before completing this step. Antivirus programs may interfere with the successful completion of this step.

  11. Delete the clustered MSDTC resource that was created in the Quorum group.

    noteNote
    We recommend this step because it is considered a best practice to run a clustered MSDTC resource in a cluster group other than the Quorum group.

  12. Right-click the cluster group that will contain the cluster MSDTC resource, and then click New\Resource.

    noteNote
    The MSDTC resource requires that a Disk, IP Address, and Network name resource be available in the same group. If this group does not yet contain these resources, then complete steps 8 through 10 of the topic How to Create a Cluster Group with a Disk, IP Address, and Name Resource to create the required cluster resources.

  13. Type a name, such as MSDTC Resource.

  14. In Resource Type, click to select Distributed Transaction Coordinator, verify that the correct cluster group is selected, and then click Next.

  15. In Possible Owners, click Next.

  16. In Dependencies, press and hold the CTRL key on the keyboard, select both a Physical Disk and Network Name resource, and then click the Add button.

  17. Click Finish, and then click OK to confirm that the resource has been created.

  18. Right-click the clustered MSDTC resource, and then click Bring Online.

    noteNote
    Since the clustered MSDTC resource is dependent upon the Disk, IP Address, and Network name resources, bring these clustered resources online first.

  19. Enable Network DTC and Network COM+ Access by completing the following steps:

    1. Open Add/Remove Programs. To do this, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add/Remove Programs.

    2. Select Add/Remove Windows Components to open the Windows Components Wizard.

    3. Select the Application Server component from the list of components, and then click the Details button.

    4. Select the Enable Network DTC Access and the Enable Network COM+ Access check boxes, and then click OK.

    5. Click the Next button and the Finish button in the Windows Components Wizard.

  20. Log on to the other cluster node and repeat step 10 on this node.

    noteNote
    Since a clustered MSDTC resource has already been created, running this command now will not create a new clustered MSDTC resource in the cluster group.

  21. Fail over all cluster groups to this cluster node and repeat step 19 on this cluster node.

  22. Fail over all cluster groups to the first cluster node to verify fail back capabilities.

Complete the following steps on a Windows Server 2008 cluster:

See Also

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