Windows NT Microsoft Cluster Server (Network Professional's Library) [Paperback]

Richard Lee (Author)

Book Description

Series: Network Professional's Library | Publication Date: May 1999

-- Microsoft's new clustering technology is taking the industry by storm -- NT professionals widely implementing the product into their networking environment
-- Clustering is an imperative for NT to succeed in the large-scale, business critical market, however it remains poorly documented and difficult to configure
-- Although MSCS is an extremely immature product it is expected to play a key role in analyst's predictions that NT will surpass UNIX as the universal NOS of choice
-- Osborne has the first book available on the market covering Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS)
-- Author is a renowned clustering expert who writes papers and speaks at conferences on clustering around the world
-- Provides the most reliable and detailed information for NT professionals looking to make their networks available 24X7, reliable, and scalable
-- The book's thorough chapters go way beyond what information is currently provided by either Microsoft or its hardware partners
-- Special appendices have been designed to provide specific information on important special interest topics (see Table of Contents on back)
-- Includes one CD-ROM containing a collection of MSCS utilities, applications, and demos from Microsoft partners and ISVs to help the NT professional implement this new technology

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Master Microsoft's most critical component for Enterprise Computing! Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) is the key component in creating a true enterprise computing infrastructure based on Windows NT. MSCS provides substantial increases in availability, scalability, and manageability to meet the challenges of enterprise computing. Learn to deploy Phase 1 of MSCS today for increased availability and manageability, while planning for Phase 2, with its linear scalability, fault-tolerant architectures, and mission-critical application support. Written by clustering expert Richard Lee, this unique hands-on guide provides you with everything you need to design, deploy, administer, and troubleshoot your clusters today. Coverage includes: using MCSC with cluster-aware versions of IIS, MSMQ, and MTS to provide high-availability and enhanced scalability and manageability; a hands-on guide for designing, deploying, and administering MSCS clusters; a primer on cluster-aware applications for MSCS, including the cluster-aware conversion of legacy applications; a side-by-side comparison between MSCS and competing high-availability solutions for Windows NT; technical overview and long-range deployment planning information for MSCS Phase 2; troubleshooting tips for MSCS, including a detailed problem diagnosis resource guide; a detailed overview of MSCS' theory and features.

Product Details

• Paperback: 375 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies (May 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0078825008
• ISBN-13: 978-0078825002
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,717,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor source of reference, September 23, 1999

By 

"[e-mail]" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Windows NT Microsoft Cluster Server (Network Professional's Library) (Paperback)

Having 'played' around with MSCS for 1 year now on NT4 I'm still looking for good sources of reference for this technology, and unfortuneatly this is not it! In a lot of cases his explanations are very basic, and a lot of his examples don't make sense, and in some cases have serious errors. There is also far too much information that is not relevent to MSCS (have 32 pages of a registry dump with little explanation is not very useful!) After waiting months for this book to appear I was disappointed at the content, particularly when it turned up without the CD

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Serious Errors contained in this book..., August 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Windows NT Microsoft Cluster Server (Network Professional's Library) (Paperback)

I recently purchased the above book, somewhat in desperation, as I was detecting conflicting information regarding the installation and configuration of MS Cluster Server (MSCS.) Unfortunately, I made a poor choice in purchasing the book. What the author skimped on was the actual installation of MSCS.

While there isn't room to detail every omission here, the most serious of blunders occurs during his step by step install procedure where he mistakenly tells the reader that the MS Cluster installer is asking for the IP address of the NT workstation that will administer this cluster. This is in fact the IP address of the Cluster itself. This is a serious mistake and will result in the reader giving the IP address of another NT workstation to the Cluster which will ultimately cause an IP conflict.

Personally, I would recommend reading the MS documentation several times rather than this book

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good primer and reference, May 16, 2000

By 

Chris Baker (Overland Park, KS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Windows NT Microsoft Cluster Server (Network Professional's Library) (Paperback)

If you are currently running MSCS, you may find this book useful. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

This book is invaluable to me for it's section on troubleshooting. Believe me, when you have trouble with your cluster, this is likely the only place you will find an answer, or perhaps a glimmer of a clue, without calling Microsoft and getting their so called engineers (more like web-knowledge-base users) some more job security.

The section on clustering is good for a primer/refresher, and the installation section should ONLY be used as a guide in understanding why MSCS works. I would not recommend creating your first (or any) cluster with this section. You should KNOW how to create your cluster before doing so. DO NOT depend on a book to hold your hand on creating your cluster. LEARN this stuff any way you can, then when armed with sufficient understanding and skills, go for it.