MSCS Clusters

The LiveVault Online Backup Service can back up Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000/2003 computers that are running the Microsoft Cluster service (MSCS).

Note: LiveVault Online Backup Service has been tested in two-node clusters only.

There are two ways to configure cluster backup with the LiveVault Online Backup Service:

Cluster as a single entity
Each cluster node as a separate entity

Each configuration provides certain capabilities. Determine your backup and recovery needs and follow the appropriate configuration procedures.

Back up the cluster as a single entity

Backing up the cluster as a single entity allows you to:

Back up only those disk volumes that are shared as cluster resources.
To provide backup application failover, as part of the cluster failover.
Manage a single cluster entity in MyLiveVault, using either one cluster node name or optionally the cluster name.

This configuration does not allow you to back up any node-specific resources. For example:

You cannot back up System private disks.
You cannot back up the System State/NT registry for the individual cluster nodes.

Important: This means that you can restore only the data from the shared cluster disks. You will not be able to perform a LiveVault Online Backup Service disaster recovery for the individual cluster nodes.

You will install the LiveVault Online Backup Service Agent software on each cluster node, with the service replication files located on a shared resource and all nodes sharing a common LiveVault Online Backup Service internal alias name.

Back up each cluster node as a separate entity

Backing up each cluster node as a separate entity allows you to:

Back up data from disk volumes that are shared as cluster resources.
Back up node-specific resources, such as System private disks.
Manage each cluster node individually in MyLiveVault, using the cluster node names.

This configuration has the following restrictions:

It does not provide backup application failover as part of cluster failover.
You cannot back up the System State/NT registry for the individual cluster nodes.
If you configure multiple cluster nodes to each back up the cluster disk volumes, then you will have multiple independent copies of the data from these volumes backed up under the different cluster node names.

Important: This means that you can restore only the data from the shared cluster disks and the private disks. You will not be able to perform a LiveVault Online Backup Service disaster recovery for the individual cluster nodes.

You will install the LiveVault Online Backup Service Agent software on each cluster node, with each assigned its own LiveVault Online Backup Service internal alias name.

Related Information

Restoring Your Data: An Overview
Restoring Files and Directories, or Databases