Windows 10: WFC file share witness time out setting

ajpion · Aug 30, 2022

I have a 2 node cluster with a file share witness. I was upgrading the file server which required a reboot. During the reboot the cluster failed over resources which were running on node 1. I checked the cluster event log and noticed the file share witness went offline, which was expected. But I did not expect resources to fail over. The share was probably offline for about 2 minutes. Is there a setting where i can define the timeout to be longer then the default which i think is 30 seconds? I do not want clustered resources to failover when the witness is offline in a controlled instance such

:)

Brink · Aug 30, 2022

New File Share Witness Feature in Windows Server 2019

This blog discusses a new feature in the upcoming release of Windows Server 2019. Currently, Windows Insiders receive current builds of Server 2019. We urge you to become an Insider and play a part in making Windows Server 2019 the best that it can be. To do so, go to this link and sign up.

One of the quorum models for Failover Clustering is the ability to use a file share as a witness resource. As a recap, the File Share Witness is designated a vote in the Cluster when needed and can act as a tie breaker in case there is ever a split between nodes (mainly seen in multi-site scenarios).

I don’t want to go through the list of all the requirements but do want to focus on one in particular.

The Windows Server holding the file share must be domain joined and a part of the same forest.

The reason for this is that Failover Cluster utilizes Kerberos for the Cluster Name Object (CNO) to connect and authenticate the share. Therefore, the share must reside on a domain member that is in the same active directory forest.

There are scenarios where this is not possible. These scenarios are:

No or extremely poor Internet access because of a remote location, so cannot use a Cloud Witness

No shared drives for a disk witness. This could be a Storage Spaces Direct hyper-converged configuration, SQL Server Always On Availability Groups (AG), Exchange Database Availability Group (DAG), etc. All of which do not utilize shared disks.

A domain controller connection is not available as the cluster has been dropped behind a DMZ

A workgroup or cross-domain cluster where there in no active directory CNO object

We have had a lot of requests over the years for how to get around these scenarios and there wasn’t a good story for it. Well, I am here to tell you we listened, and we produced something better than a workaround.
In comes Windows Server 2019 and the new File Share Witness feature to the rescue.

We can now create a File Share Witness that does not utilize the CNO, but in fact, simply uses a local user account on the server the FSW is connected to.

This means NO kerberos, NO domain controller, NO certificates, and NO Cluster Name Object needed. While we are at it, NO account needed on the nodes. Oh my!!

The way it works is that on the Windows Server you wish to place the FSW, create a local (not administrative) user account, give that local account full rights to the share, connect the cluster to the share.

Let’s take for example, I have a server called SERVER and a share called SHARE I want to utilize as the File Share Witness. For creating this type of File Share Witness can only be done through PowerShell. The steps for setting this up are:

Log on to SERVER and create a local user account (i.e. FSW-ACCT)

Create a folder on SERVER and share it out

Give the local user account (FSW-ACCT) full rights to the share

Log in to one of your cluster nodes and run the PowerShell command:

Set-ClusterQuorum -FileShareWitness \\SERVER\SHARE -Credential $(Get-Credential)

You will be prompted for the account and password for which you should enter SERVER\FSW-ACCT and the password.

Viola!! You are done as we just took care of all the above scenarios. The cluster will keep the name and password encrypted and not accessible by anyone.

Just as an FYI, the original demo of this feature was using a USB thumb drive holding the share plugged into a router. Not that we would recommend doing it, but does show how far you could take this.

Please try out this new feature and provide feedback through the Feedback Hub app.

Thanks,
John Marlin
Senior Program Manager
High Availability and Storage
Click to expand...

Source: New File Share Witness Feature in Windows Server 2019 | Clustering and High-Availability

Brink · Aug 30, 2022

New File Share Witness Feature in Windows Server 2019

This blog discusses a new feature in the upcoming release of Windows Server 2019. Currently, Windows Insiders receive current builds of Server 2019. We urge you to become an Insider and play a part in making Windows Server 2019 the best that it can be. To do so, go to this link and sign up.

One of the quorum models for Failover Clustering is the ability to use a file share as a witness resource. As a recap, the File Share Witness is designated a vote in the Cluster when needed and can act as a tie breaker in case there is ever a split between nodes (mainly seen in multi-site scenarios).

I don’t want to go through the list of all the requirements but do want to focus on one in particular.

The Windows Server holding the file share must be domain joined and a part of the same forest.

The reason for this is that Failover Cluster utilizes Kerberos for the Cluster Name Object (CNO) to connect and authenticate the share. Therefore, the share must reside on a domain member that is in the same active directory forest.

There are scenarios where this is not possible. These scenarios are:

No or extremely poor Internet access because of a remote location, so cannot use a Cloud Witness

No shared drives for a disk witness. This could be a Storage Spaces Direct hyper-converged configuration, SQL Server Always On Availability Groups (AG), Exchange Database Availability Group (DAG), etc. All of which do not utilize shared disks.

A domain controller connection is not available as the cluster has been dropped behind a DMZ

A workgroup or cross-domain cluster where there in no active directory CNO object

We have had a lot of requests over the years for how to get around these scenarios and there wasn’t a good story for it. Well, I am here to tell you we listened, and we produced something better than a workaround.
In comes Windows Server 2019 and the new File Share Witness feature to the rescue.

We can now create a File Share Witness that does not utilize the CNO, but in fact, simply uses a local user account on the server the FSW is connected to.

This means NO kerberos, NO domain controller, NO certificates, and NO Cluster Name Object needed. While we are at it, NO account needed on the nodes. Oh my!!

The way it works is that on the Windows Server you wish to place the FSW, create a local (not administrative) user account, give that local account full rights to the share, connect the cluster to the share.

Let’s take for example, I have a server called SERVER and a share called SHARE I want to utilize as the File Share Witness. For creating this type of File Share Witness can only be done through PowerShell. The steps for setting this up are:

Log on to SERVER and create a local user account (i.e. FSW-ACCT)

Create a folder on SERVER and share it out

Give the local user account (FSW-ACCT) full rights to the share

Log in to one of your cluster nodes and run the PowerShell command:

Set-ClusterQuorum -FileShareWitness \\SERVER\SHARE -Credential $(Get-Credential)

You will be prompted for the account and password for which you should enter SERVER\FSW-ACCT and the password.

Viola!! You are done as we just took care of all the above scenarios. The cluster will keep the name and password encrypted and not accessible by anyone.

Just as an FYI, the original demo of this feature was using a USB thumb drive holding the share plugged into a router. Not that we would recommend doing it, but does show how far you could take this.

Please try out this new feature and provide feedback through the Feedback Hub app.

Thanks,
John Marlin
Senior Program Manager
High Availability and Storage
Click to expand...

Source: New File Share Witness Feature in Windows Server 2019 | Clustering and High-Availability

NarendranKandasamy1 · Aug 30, 2022

Cluster File share witness failed frequently

I have Windows 2012 2 node fail over cluster and File share witness configured. File share witness frequently goes offlin and triggers this events. When I check the File share witness its accessible. Its coming online when I manually bring online. This
continues frequesntly and create the tickets. Please suggest a solution

EveNT ID 1052

File share witness resource 'File Share Witness (2)' failed a periodic health check on file share '\\server\FileShareWitness'. Please ensure that file share '\\server\FileShareWitness' exists and is accessible by the cluster.

EveNT ID 1069

Cluster resource 'File Share Witness (2)' of type 'File Share Witness' in clustered role 'Cluster Group' failed.

Based on the failure policies for the resource and role, the cluster service may try to bring the resource online on this node or move the group to another node of the cluster and then restart it. Check the resource and group state using Failover Cluster Manager
or the Get-ClusterResource Windows PowerShell cmdlet.

EveNT ID 1564

File share witness resource 'File Share Witness (2)' failed to arbitrate for the file share '\\Server\FileShareWitness'. Please ensure that file share '\\server\FileShareWitness' exists and is accessible by the cluster.

EveNT ID 1205

The Cluster service failed to bring clustered role 'Cluster Group' completely online or offline. One or more resources may be in a failed state. This may impact the availability of the clustered role.

EveNT ID 1254

Clustered role 'Cluster Group' has exceeded its failover threshold. It has exhausted the configured number of failover attempts within the failover period of time allotted to it and will be left in a failed state. No additional attempts will be made to bring
the role online or fail it over to another node in the cluster. Please check the events associated with the failure. After the issues causing the failure are resolved the role can be brought online manually or the cluster may attempt to bring it online again
after the restart delay period.

Windows 10: WFC file share witness time out setting

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