- [Instructor] As you explore the new features
of Windows Server 2019,
you may look at one of the new features
and realize it doesn't have a place in your network.
Another network architect or system administrator
will look at the same feature and say,
finally, this is what I've been waiting for.
Not every feature is meant for every environment.
Cluster Sets is a great example of this type of feature.
For several years, you've had the ability
to create clusters of Windows Servers
to make one or more functions resilient.
You may have created storage clusters
to replicate stored data.
You may have created compute clusters
to improve performance and stability of an application.
And when you've created these clusters,
you've had some limitations.
It was a really good idea
to build your clusters out of similar hardware.
Things worked out better
if all nodes in a cluster performed pretty much the same.
That limited the ability to scale a cluster down the road
because there was no guarantee
that you'd be able to purchase an equivalent server
or identical hardware, two to three years down the line.
When you created these clusters,
you also set aside a namespace for each cluster,
which was better than a namespace for each server,
but it did mean that each cluster was an isolated entity.
Cluster Sets is a feature that was added to Server 2019
during the insider preview phase.
Cluster Sets let you step up your high availability
and at the same time,
simplify access to your server resources
by, essentially, clustering your clusters.
Here's how it works.
One of the clusters will be specified as a master cluster.
This is the group that oversees all of the member clusters.
Each member cluster has a server
designated as a cluster set worker.
This is the machine
that checks in with the cluster set master
to let it know what resources are up and running.
Resources like applications, storage pools, and so on.
And this is where it becomes simpler for users
to access any given resource.
The cluster set can be given a single namespace,
making it possible to access the entire set
as a single entity.
Cluster Sets allow you to point to the set
and locate resources within that set
even though those services are likely hosted
on one cluster or another.
Each member cluster is still able to perform independently,
in the event that the network links go down,
but when everything is connected and working,
you have redundancy across multiple sites,
multiple clusters, however you need to scale this.
With the set being managed at this higher level,
you now also have the flexibility of migrating a server
from one cluster to another based on need,
with just a couple of lines in Powershell.
The fact that the cluster set master keeps contact with,
and tracks the resources in every cluster
makes it possible for a server to move and become a part
of whatever the destination cluster is doing.
Now as I said at the beginning of this video,
different features of Windows Server
are designed for different environments.
This technology, Cluster Sets,
is designed for networks that would benefit
from the ability to scale clusters
up to 1,000 members.
Also environments where entire clusters
need to be redundant across sites.
Those that need to be able to migrate
live virtual machines between clusters easily,
and those that have so many servers and clusters
that they need better support for varying hardware.
Any environment where you have so many servers
or so many clusters
that it's hard to keep track of where to find resources.
All of these would be reasons to consider Cluster Sets
as an opportunity to simplify your data center.
If that's you,
Cluster Sets is likely to be a welcome capability,
and it's built right into Windows Server 2019.