Running chkdsk on Cluster Volumes during Cluster Volume Online

 

As of version 7.6 DataKeeper now runs chkdsk on all mirrored volumes prior to the volume being available for use. DataKeeper now creates a new flag DiskRunChkDsk in Windows Failover Clustering for each DataKeeper volume. The flag determines how chkdsk runs on each volume during disk check operations.

Volume Commands:
Flag value 0 means chkdsk is enabled and the entire volume will be checked
Flag value 4 means chkdsk is skipped for the entire volume

The volume command performed depends on the argument located in the DiskRunChkDsk flag for each DataKeeper volume. The location of this flag is in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Cluster/Resources/{DataKeeper Volume GUID}/Parameters.

The complete list of values are numeric and are documented in the Microsoft article http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb309232(v=vs.85).aspx

Running chkdsk before a volume is brought online is recommended to ensure that the volume is healthy.

Large volumes may take a long time to complete the check; therefore, it is recommended that the chkdsk be done during planned maintenance by setting the flag to 0 for each DataKeeper volume.

 

It is highly recommended to change the flag on all nodes in such circumstances. Please refer to the Microsoft blog on this specific issue http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2012/03/05/understanding-diskskipchkdsk-in-2008.aspx

 

The following messages will be logged in the Application Event log:

Message that disk is being checked
Event ID 101: Checking the dirty flag on volume <volume>

Message that volume is dirty and needs to be checked
Event ID 102: Volume <volume> dirty flags is <error number>

Message that an error occurred during volume online
Event ID 80: A failure occurred during the check of volume <volume>. Error: <error number>. The volume <volume> may be marked as failed.