Configuring Stretch Clusters

While Failover Clusters generally provide localized high availability for workloads in the same physical location, Stretch Clusters provide similar functionality across multiple physical locations. Stretch clusters are generally more complex to design, implement, and manage and require unidirectional and synchronous replication (called Storage Replicas) between disaster recovery sites. However, once the cluster solution has been properly configured, this solution provides a way to keep the replication of volumes and data with all cluster servers in sync to ensure minimal (active-passive configuration) or zero (active-active configuration) data loss during a system failure.

For optional reading on Stretch Cluster replication with shared storage, check out this incredible article: https://docs.microsoft.com/windows-server/storage/storage-replica/stretch-cluster-replication-using-shared-storage.

Now that we have reviewed what stretch clusters provide...