As of previous post, we have configured all the necessary parameters to start the Failover Cluster installation including dotnet framework 3.5. In this post, we are going to build the failover windows cluster on Windows Server 2008. I have started the node BLRC100 and open the Disk Management (Server Manager –> Storage –> Disk Management). Bring Online all the available disks, which are presently offline as shown below.
Now we need to add the Failover Clustering feature. Open the Features (Server Manager –> Features) and click on Add Feature from the available menu on the right-side of the screen.
From the available option, select Failover Clustering and click on Next. On the confirm installation page, click on Install to start the failover cluster feature installation.
Restart the node BLRC100 once the failover cluster feature is installed. Install the failover cluster feature on the other node, in our case, BLRC101. Once you have install the failover cluster on BLRC101, shut it down. We are going to configure the failover clustering on the first node BLRC100 and later we will add the second node, BLRC101.
Validating the Failover Cluster Configuration
Now that I have logged on to BLRC100 using the domain administrator account and we are going to start the configuration of our Windows Cluster. To start with, open the Failover Cluster Management Console (Start Menu –> Administrative Tools –> Failover Cluster Management). We need to validate the hardware configuration of our server, click on Validate a Configuration as shown below. 
The wizard to validate the cluster configuration starts, click on Next to continue.
Enter the servers details which are going to be part of the cluster, click on Next to continue.
Select the testing options (default, Run all tests). This tests include Network tests, storage, system configurations etc. This will validate the server configuration and provide a report whether this configuration is suitable for cluster installation. Click on Next to continue.
This page provides details about all the tests which are going to run. Verify and click on Next to start the test.
Now the test is running on the server BLRC100.Demolab.Local. You will get a detailed report once the test is completed.
Once the test completed, it will provide a detailed report about the current hardware, network and storage configuration. The validation report of our demo server contains some warnings. Since we are going to use it for learning purposes, we are proceeding further. In case of production environment, do not proceed further until you fixed all the warnings and your validation report returns all success report. I have executed the validation report on the other node, thus, I am moving to the next part of installation. Click on Finish to close the cluster validation wizard.
Creating a Failover Cluster
Since the validation of failover cluster wizard completed, now we are going to create the cluster. Click on Create a Cluster as shown below.
The Create Cluster Wizard begins, click on Next to continue.
Enter the name of the servers, which are going to be the part of cluster as shown below.
Enter the name of our Failover Cluster, BLR102C, and the IP Address to connect to this cluster (172.16.10.102/16). Click on Next to continue.
Verify all the settings for this cluster. If you want to modify the information, click on the Previous button; else click on Next to continue.
Now the windows cluster installation begins.
Once the installation is completed, you will get the following Summary report. Click on Finish to complete the cluster installation. 
As you can see from the above screenshot, the quorum of this cluster is set as Node Majority. Also the steps to build a cluster on Windows Server 2008 is different than the previous versions of Windows. Since we are going to build a two-node cluster using Windows Server 2008, we can not use the Quorum type as Node Majority. Later, we are going to change the Quorum configuration. Once the cluster is configured, you will get the following screen.
Our cluster BLR102C is ready; however, before adding the other node, we need to add the disks to our cluster, which also include the Quorum disk. Once we will add the disks, then we will add the other node of the cluster.
Adding Disks to Cluster
Open the Failover Cluster Management(Start —> Administrative Tools –> Failover Cluster Management) and browse to Storage. Click on Add a disk, to add disks to our cluster.
You will get a list of disks available for our cluster. Select all the disks and click on OK.
Once all the disks are added, you will get the following screen. 
In this post, we have install failover cluster feature and create a windows cluster. We have also added all the available disks to the cluster. In the next part of this series, we are going to re-configure the Quorum setting and add the other node to complete the Windows Cluster installation.
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