Understanding server clusters

A server cluster is a group of independent computer systems, known as nodes, that work together as a single system to ensure that mission-critical applications and resources remain available to clients. These nodes must be running Windows 2000 Advanced Server. Every node is attached to one or more cluster storage devices. Clustering allows users and administrators to access and manage the nodes as a single system rather than as separate computers.

Server for NFS is specifically designed to make use of the server cluster. Because of this, when Server for NFS is installed on a server cluster, you can share a directory as a cluster resource. This ensures that if the node sharing the directory fails, another node in the cluster will resume sharing the directory until the failed node is restored. Running Server for NFS on a server cluster also allows you to provide static load balancing by distributing file shares among two or more nodes in the cluster. For more information about Windows clustering, see "Server Clusters" in Windows 2000 Help. For information about running Server for NFS on a server cluster, see How Server for NFS runs on a server cluster.