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Windows 2000 Cluster server

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by mhamilton

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I was looking over the Windows 2000 cluster step by step on Microsoft's webpage. And it says you need a name resolution method such as Domain Naming System (DNS), Windows Internet Naming System (WINS), HOSTS, etc. Is that another way of saying you need active directory running??? I don't see in a quick scan of that doc where it specifies that. We might need it for a application our company wants to run and out of around 20+ NT servers I only have on 2000 right now without active directory running. Can someone confirm whether I need active directory to run Windows 2000 server in a cluster??

Thanks

Mike Hamilton

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by timwalsh

You only need Active directory if you are building (or converting to) a Win2K domain. In fact if you install Active Directory it automatically creates a Win2K Domain Controller, which CANNOT exist in an NT4 domain. I have seen nothing to suggest that you need AD to run Win2K in a cluster. The name resolution requirement is simply saying that Cluster Service needs a way of resolving a host name to a given address (which AD by itself will not do).

by timwalsh

BTW, AD requires close integration with DNS because it needs DNS to perform name resolution.

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