Planning a Cluster Backup and Recovery Strategy

A complete cluster backup includes:

• Documentation of the cluster configuration, including which resource registry keys map to which resources. This is recommended because each resource registry key is identified only by the globally unique identifier (GUID) for the resource.
• Catalog of the backup.
• Backup to a safe location
• Creation of an emergency repair disk for each node, for restoring Windows 2000 Advanced Server on the node, if necessary.

  An emergency repair disk is a disk that is created using Backup that contains information about your current Windows system settings. This disk can be used to repair your computer if it does not start or if your system files are damaged or erased.

  For more information about creating an emergency repair disk, see Windows 2000 Advanced Server Help.

Backup recommendations assume the following:

• You have developed and documented the restore procedures.
• You have replaced any physically-destroyed clusters with functionally-identical hardware (HCL-certified), with all clustered disks having either the same or greater capacity.

A sound backup plan addresses the following issues:

• Synchronizing backups
• Creating backup storage space
• Storing backup media
• Maintaining a backup catalog

For more information about backup and restore routines and tools for clustering, see "Windows Clustering" in the Distributed Systems Guide.

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