How to make a Windows service which is not cluster-aware highly available

navisionwindows-cluster

I am using Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009's Role-Tailored Client (RTC), which utilizes a 3-tier architecture. The middle tier, which Microsoft calls the service tier, is a non-cluster-aware application that runs as a Windows service. I've identified that I need a virtual IP and name so that my Windows cluster can at a minimum start/stop the service on one of the clustered servers. I currently have two servers with Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise and are clustered.

How can I make the service tier application/service cluster-aware to a level that I can make it highly available?

Best Answer

The most generic method I can think of to do this would be to virtualise the middle-teir service in a hypervisor that supports high availability (such as VMWare vSphere).

Of course, this is only easy if you:

  • Have an existing virtual environment
  • Have existing shared storage
  • Have HA-compatible hardware

Otherwise it's difficult and expensive, but it's at least guaranteed to work with any non-cluster aware software.

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