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Configuring Virtual Machines for Cluster in a Box
To create a set of clustered virtual machines (a cluster in a box), configure each of them with the following:
A primary virtual SCSI host adapter with one SCSI virtual disk.
Two virtual network adapters:
A public network adapter bridged to a physical adapter either using VMnet0, or VMnet2-8 as configured in the virtual machine settings editor of the GSX Server machine.
A private network adapter connected to VMnet1 (host-only), or another physical adapter (VMnet2 through VMnet8). This is the network adapter that the clustering service uses to monitor the heartbeat between nodes. This device selection must match in all virtual machines in a cluster set.
The remaining default virtual machine devices (such as the CD-ROM drive and the floppy disk drive).
In addition to the above devices, the following are required for shared storage:
A secondary virtual SCSI host adapter.
One or more preallocated virtual disks that are shared, attached to the secondary SCSI host adapter.
Please note the following about virtual PCI slots in the virtual machines:
Each virtual machine by default has six PCI slots available.
This configuration (two network adapters and two SCSI host bus adapters) uses four of these slots.
One more PCI slot is available for a third network adapter if needed. (The sixth slot is used by the virtual display adapter.)
If the virtual machine's boot partition is on an IDE virtual disk, then this occupies one of the PCI slots.