Before you configure the management server failover cluster

Make sure your system meets the clustering requirements below.

Network and host prerequisites

To configure the failover cluster, you must prepare a minimum of two hosts with an identical configuration.

As the failover cluster relies on a quorum which generally requires more than half the nodes to be running, consider configuring an odd number of nodes.

Make sure that each of the hosts meets the prerequisites below:

  • Operating system. Use a Windows Server version that is compatible with your XProtect VMS. See https://www.milestonesys.com/systemrequirements/. Install the same Windows Server version and edition on all hosts that you plan to add to the cluster.

  • Domain. Make sure that all hosts belong to the same Active Directory domain and can reach each other.

  • Windows account. Use a single account with administrator permissions to log in to all hosts.

  • Windows server features. Install the Failover Clustering feature on all hosts. See Install the Failover Clustering feature.

Refer to the Microsoft documentation (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189910.aspx) for more detailed information on installation requirements for failover clustering.

XProtect VMS prerequisites

Install identical VMS products under a common user account with administrator permissions. You can use any XProtect VMS variant. To learn more about the general prerequisites for installing XProtect VMS, see the XProtect VMS administrator manual.

On all hosts, install the following system components:

  • XProtect Management Server

  • XProtect API Gateway

  • (Optional) XProtect Log Server

To make sure that the Management Server and Log Server components on all cluster nodes connect to one SQL Server database, during your XProtect VMS installation, you must select the following options:

  • When you install the XProtect VMS on the first host, select Let the installer create or recreate a database for the Management Server and Log Server services.

  • On the second, and all additional hosts that you want to add to the failover cluster, use the database you created on the first host. On the Select Database page in the XProtect installation wizard select to use an existing database and point to that database and select to keep the existing data.

To assign a system configuration password, use the same password for the VMS installations on all nodes.

Microsoft SQL Server prerequisites

You can use a SQL Server instance that is hosted elsewhere in your network.

Prerequisite

Description
Connection

Verify that the VMS installations on all hosts can connect to the external SQL Server instance.

Encryption considerations

To encrypt the connection to and from the failover cluster, you must install the CA certificate and SSL certificates on all cluster nodes. The certificates must contain the hostname IP address of the node and the cluster name.