OS Configuration

Logging into a Virtual Machine (Active System, Standby System, Client)

1. From Azure Home > Virtual machines > Overview, select Connect, then obtain a Remote Desktop (RDP) connection point (IP address).

2. Connect via RDP from your computer.

Security Settings (Active System, Standby System)

1. Configure the IE enhanced security configuration appropriately. In this verification, it was set to OFF as shown below.

Server Manager > Local Server > IE enhanced security configuration off

2. Configure the Windows Defender Firewall appropriately according to your environment and the application used. In this verification, it was set to OFF as shown below.

From Server Manager > Local Server > Windows Defender Firewall, turn off domain, private network and public network.

Security Settings (Client)

1. Configure the Windows defender firewall appropriately according to your environment and the application used. In this verification, it was set to OFF as shown below.

Select Control panel > System security > Windows Defender and Firewall > and on the Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off section, set domain, private, and public network all to off.

Disk Configuration (Active System, Standby System)

Format the new 30GB disk as NTFS in the Windows disk manager and set it as drive F. The settings should be as follows:

Disabling DNS Dynamic Updates (Active System, Standby System)

When LifeKeeper activates a VIP resource (with the same IP address as ILB primary IP address (10.20.1.200)), if the Windows OS automatically creates an entry on the DNS server with a pair of the VIP address and computer name, a problem such as resolving to a VIP address (10.20.1.200) may occur when the LifeKeeper GUI resolves a computer name to an IP address. To prevent this, disable dynamic DNS updates on the NIC associated with the LifeKeeper VIP resources.

1. Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center

Click on the network interface connected to 10.20.2.0/24.

• In ipconfig, locate the NIC with 10.20.2.11 or 10.20.2.12 activated and specify the adapter name (Ethernet, Ethernet 2, etc.)

• In this case click the link for the NIC with the specified adapter name.

2. Open the dialogs in the following order:

Properties > click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) > Properties > Advanced > DNS tab

3. Uncheck Register this connection’s address in DNS.

Fixing the NIC Routing Metric (Active System, Standby System)

Here we configure the network settings required by LifeKeeper.

1. Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center

2. NIC with 10.20.1.xx activated

Select Ethernet > Properties then click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) > Properties > Advanced

• Uncheck Automatic metric
• Interface metric 1

3. NIC with 10.20.2.xx activated

Select Ethernet > Properties, then click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) > Properties > Advanced

• Uncheck Automatic metric
• Interface metric 2

Restart the virtual machine in order for settings to take effect.

Enable weak host model (Active System, Standby System)

To communicate with client using VIP through the ILB (floating IP enabled), enable weak host model. Open the command prompt and run the following commands:

• netsh interface ipv4 set interface "Ethernet" weakhostreceive=enabled
• netsh interface ipv4 set interface "Ethernet 2" weakhostreceive=enabled
• netsh interface ipv4 set interface "Ethernet 2" weakhostsend=enabled

*Note: The interface name may vary. Replace "Ethernet" with the name of the first NIC connected to 10.20.1.0/24. Replace "Ethernet 2" with the name of second NIC connected to 10.20.2.0/24. As shown below, run ipconfig in the command prompt and select the proper interface name.

LifeKeeper for Windows and Microsoft Azure Performance Test Report