Introduction

What is server cluster?

Group of independent computers working together as a single system

used to provide failover/failback support for applications and services

can consist of up to eight nodes where each node can be attached to
one or more cluster storage devices

Servers can be either active or passive

uses the concept of virtual servers to specify groups of resources that
failover together. Clients access resources through dedicated virtual
servers.

can be configured to allow failback to the original server or to allow the
current server to continue to process requests.
Logical Cluster Diagram
Cluster Failover / Fallback
Process
Benefits

High Availability

Designed to avoid a single-point-of-failure

provide a highly available platform for mission critical, line of business
applications, e.g database servers (such as Microsoft SQL Server) and
infrastructure servers such as file servers and print servers.

Scalability

Increase cluster’s computing power by adding more servers

Manageability

Appears as a single system image to end users, applications and the
network.

Minimal Interaction

Automatic failover which do not require human intervention