With the Validate a Configuration Wizard, you can run tests to confirm that your hardware and hardware settings are compatible with failover clustering. You can run the complete set of configuration tests or a subset of the tests.
We recommend that you run the tests on your set of servers and storage devices before you configure them as a failover cluster (create a cluster from them). You can also run the tests after you create a cluster.
Note that the Failover Clustering feature must be installed on all the servers that you want to include in the tests.
 | Important |
Microsoft supports a failover cluster solution only if the complete configuration (servers, network, and storage) can pass all tests in the Validate a Configuration Wizard. In addition, all hardware components in the solution must be marked as "Certified for Windows Server 2008 R2." |
The Validate a Configuration Wizard includes five types of tests:
- Cluster Configuration tests. For an existing cluster, provide a simple way to review cluster settings and determine whether they are properly configured. These tests run only on existing clusters. For more information, see Understanding Cluster Validation Tests: Cluster Configuration.
- Inventory tests. Provide an inventory of the hardware, software, and settings (such as network settings) on the servers, and information about the storage. For more information, see Understanding Cluster Validation Tests: Inventory.
- Network tests. Validate that your networks are set up correctly for clustering. For more information, see Understanding Cluster Validation Tests: Network.
- Storage tests. Validate that the storage on which the failover cluster depends is behaving correctly and supports the required functions of the cluster. For more information, see Understanding Cluster Validation Tests: Storage.
- System Configuration tests. Validate that system software and configuration settings are compatible across servers. For more information, see Understanding Cluster Validation Tests: System Configuration.
The report from the Validate a Configuration Wizard includes messages such as the following about each test:
- The tested item meets requirements for a failover cluster.
- The tested item might meet the requirements, but there is a warning about something that you should check.
- The test item does not meet requirements.
- The test could not be run (for example, if you are testing a single node by itself, certain tests do not run).
Additional references
- Validating a Failover Cluster Configuration
- Use Validation Tests for Troubleshooting a Failover Cluster
- For information about hardware compatibility for Windows Server 2008 R2, see
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139145 . - For design and deployment information for failover clusters, see
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=137832 . - For troubleshooting information for failover clusters, see
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=137836 .