But First, Do You Know Windows Server Failover Cluster Well?

So you just download the bits for Windows Server 8 Beta and you are anxious to try out all the exciting new features. Many of these features like Windows Storage Spaces, Continuously Available Fail Servers and Hyper-V Availability are going to require you become familiar with Windows Server Failover Cluster

Windows iSCSI Target Software is a great option to provide storage for Failover Clustering and Spaces in a lab environment to play around with these new features. Especially since things like Storage Spaces may need you to have access to additional storage to simulate JBODS.

This Step-by-Step Article assumes you have three Windows Server 8 servers running in a domain environment. My lab environment consists of the following:

Hardware
My three servers are all virtual machines running on VMware Workstation 8 on top of my Windows 7 laptop with 16 GB of RAM. See my article on how to install Windows Server 8 on VMware Workstation 8.

Server Names and Roles
PRIMARY.win8.local – my cluster node 1
SECONDARY.win8.local – my cluster node 2
WIN-EHVIK0RFBIU.win8.local – my domain controller (guess who forgot to rename his DC before I promoted it to be a Domain ControllerJ)

Network
192.168.37.X/24 – my public network also used to carry iSCSI traffic
10.X.X.X /8– a private network defined just between PRIMARY and SECONDARY for cluster communication

This article is going to walk you through step-by-step on how to do the following:

INSTALL THE ISCSI TARGET ROLE ON YOUR DOMAIN CONTROLLER
Configure the iSCSI Target
Connect to the iSCSI Target using the iSCSI Initiator
Format the iSCSI Target
Connect to the shared iSCSI Target from the SECONDARY Server
Configure Windows Server 8 Failover Clustering

The article consist mostly of screen shots, but I also add notes where needed.

INSTALL THE ISCSI TARGET ROLE ON YOUR DOMAIN CONTROLLER

Click on Add roles and features to install the iSCSI target role.

Configure Windows Server 8 Beta ISCSI Target Software For Use In A Cluster

You will find that the iSCSI target role is a feature that is found under File And Storage Servers/File Services. Just select iSCSI Target Server and click Next to begin the installation of the iSCSI Target Server role.

Configure Windows Server 8 Beta ISCSI Target Software For Use In A Cluster