Start the DC VM on a windows 2008 R2 cluster that need the DC

Question

We herited the following architecture :

• 2 physicals server Windows 2008 R2
• a SAN

The 2 server are clustered and use a common LUN that contains all our production Hyperv VM. The primary domain controller is as well an hyperv VM.

Our problem is the following: Power stops during a while. When starting back the 2 HW machines, the cluster node can't mount because the Active directory ID can't be found (which is normal, as the VM is not started).

Here is the error message : Cluster network name resource 'xxxx' cannot be brought online, Unable to get Computer Object using GUID

Thus, if the cluster node can't start, impossible to access to the LUN.

And we are unable to find a DC single save.

Is there a way to force cluster to start without GUID ?

thanks a million in advance :(

PS: IBM recent hw for the 3

Answer 1

I haven't messed with hardware Cluster servers for a while, but it used to be best practice to have cluster nodes DCs in thier own domain, if it where likely, that they could start without being able to contact a DC for exactly the reason you stated.