HOW TO: Install the .NET Framework on a Cluster (324393)

SUMMARY

This step-by-step article describes how to install the Microsoft .NET Framework in a Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) configuration to run ASPX pages or Microsoft ASP.NET applications.

This article assumes that you already have Internet Information Services (IIS) installed and working on your clustered servers.

For additional information about how to cluster IIS, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: To see a list of what is not supported in an IIS MSCS configuration, see the "IIS and MSCS Implementation" section of the following Microsoft Web site: back to the top

Installation Procedures

1. Disable any real-time antivirus software on the computer. Microsoft recommends that you stop all of these services for your particular antivirus software, including any real-time scanning.
2. Use Cluster Administrator to move all the groups to node 1 that are not already on that node. To do this, right-click the groups that you want to move, and then click Move Group.
3. Take all groups that contain IIS Server instances offline. If the group contains the shared disk resource, you may receive an error message that says that you cannot take the quorum resource offline. You can disregard this message.
   
   NOTE: Taking these groups offline prevents the cluster server from failing over during the installation of the .NET Framework because it involves an IISRESET command.
4. Download the .NET Framework. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

   .NET Framework Download Redistributable
   http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/default.asp?url=/downloads/sample.asp?url=/MSDN-FILES/027/001/829/msdncompositedoc.xml

5. Install the .NET Framework on node 1.
6. Bring all the groups back online. Make sure that the IIS instances also come online.
7. Move your groups to the second node.
8. Again, take all groups on node 2 that contain IIS Server instances offline. You may receive an error message that says that you cannot take the quorum resource offline. You can disregard this message.
9. Install the .NET Framework on node 2.
10. Bring all the groups back online and make sure that all IIS instances come online.
11. Move the groups back and forth between nodes to make sure that the failover is working properly.

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Configure the ASP.NET Account

The framework has now been installed correctly. Next, you must configure the account that the ASP.NET pages will run under. To start ASP.NET worker processes in an MSCS configuration, Microsoft recommends that you create a common account between the two nodes to run your applications under. You can change this under the <processModel> section of the Machine.config file. This is similar to the steps to set up the common IUSR_machinename and IWAM_machinename accounts.

For additional information about the steps to set up the common IUSR_machinename and IWAM_machinename accounts, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: NOTE: Before you run IISSync between the two nodes, make sure that the hotfix that is listed in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article is installed so that the process finishes successfully:

If you install MSCS on Microsoft Windows 2000 domain controllers, you may experience problems when you start the ASP.NET worker processes.

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Create a new domain account to use for the ASP.NET processes such as ASPNET. If you have not done so already, grant the appropriate permissions for this account.
   
   For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   317012 INFO: Process and Request Identity in ASP.NET

   NOTE: When you install the .NET Framework on member servers, an ASPNET account is created locally on each node. Delete these accounts and use the domain account to maintain consistency between both nodes when a failover occurs.
2. On node 1, open the Machine.config file in Notepad. This file is located in the C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705\Config directory.
3. In the <processModel> section of the Machine.config file, change the userName and the password attributes to the name and the password of the account that you created in step 1.
   
   NOTE: Before you change this information, change the ASPNET password to something that is known. The installation of the .NET Framework generates a random password that prevents .aspx pages from working if you do not use a password such as the following:

   userName="DomainName\ASPNET" password="ASPNETpassword"

4. Change the Machine.config file on node 2 as well to reflect the same information that you used in step 3, and then save the file.
5. Save the changes to the Machine.config file.
6. Open an .aspx page to test for functionality on node 1.
7. Do a failover on the group that contains your IIS server instances, and then open the same .aspx page on node 2.

You have now successfully configured the ASP.NET account on your cluster servers.

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