The Design and Architecture of the Microsoft Cluster Service
-- A Practical Approach to High-Availability and Scalability

Werner Vogels, Dan Dumitriu, Ken Birman
Dept. of Computer Science, Cornell University

Rod Gamache, Mike Massa, Rob Short, John Vert
Microsoft Cluster group, Microsoft Corporation

Joe Barrera, Jim Gray
Scalable Server group, Microsoft Research.

Abstract

Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) extends the Windows NT operating system to support high-availability services. The goal is to offer an execution environment where off-the-shelf server applications can be continuously available, even in the presence of node failures. Later versions of MSCS will provide scalability via a node and application management system which allows applications to scale to hundreds of nodes. In this paper we provide a detailed description of the MSCS architecture and the design decisions that have driven the implementation of the service. The paper also describes how some major applications use the MSCS features, and describes features added to make it easier to implement and manage fault-tolerant applications on MSCS.

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