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I'm setting up a cluster between two Windows 2012 servers (for use with SQL Server), and among the warnings that the cluster validation wizard points out to me is this one in the Active Directory section:

The servers are not all in the same organizational unit.

I know what that means, but what I don't know is whether this is a problem for the purposes of clustering. Is it perfectly fine to set up the cluster this way, or should I have the client make some AD changes? I did some searching, but can't find any clear description of the implications (if any).

db2
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1 Answers1

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The implications are that there is the potential for group policy, or other processes that rely on the OU structure in AD, to make non-uniform changes to cluster members. Best practices are to have them in the same OU, and it only takes a moment to correct, so I would ask your client to move them into the same OU.

Also, Microsoft also supports Failover Clusters only when the cluster passes all validation tests. That alone should be reason enough to drop them in the same OU.

MDMarra
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  • Got it, hadn't thought of the GP aspect. Though the storage tests in this case are *supposed* to spew warnings, since this won't be a shared-storage cluster (AlwaysOn Availability Groups). I'll nag them to move things around in AD. – db2 Jun 04 '13 at 20:04