
162 3.4 Windows Clusters
Eight-Node Clustering
With Windows 2000 Advanced Server edition, you were limited to two-
node clustering, and had to use the Data Center edition, delivered solely
through an OEM such as HP, to be able to use four nodes in a cluster. The
advantage of having more than two nodes in a cluster is the ability to oper-
ate in an active/passive mode (i.e., with at least one node available to host
an Exchange virtual server instance, yet not running one actively) without
“wasting” half of your computing resources.
We are now seeing models—typically labeled “N+M”—where N is the
number of active nodes (i.e., with Microsoft Exchange installed ...