Stretched Cluster Support in Windows Server 2025

Hello Metej, I am Henry and I want to share my insight about your concern.

1. Is stretched cluster fully supported in Windows Server 2025?

Yes. You can reference the link

2. Will this support continue in the future?

Yes. The technologies that enable stretched clusters (Failover Clustering, Storage Replica, Storage Spaces Direct) are fundamental building blocks of Microsoft's entire hybrid cloud strategy, including Azure Stack HCI.

3. Is it suitable for production environments?

Yes, it is designed for and suitable for production. A stretched cluster is an advanced solution with strict prerequisites. Please make sure you must have:

• A Solid Network: For synchronous replication (required for automatic failover), you need very low latency (typically <5ms round-trip) and high bandwidth between the two sites.
• A Resilient Quorum: You must use a third-location witness, such as a Cloud Witness in Azure or a file share witness in another datacenter, to prevent "split-brain" scenarios.
• Thorough Testing: You must regularly test the failover process to ensure it works as expected. A disaster recovery plan is only useful if it's proven to work.

I hope this information is helpful.

I figured I post here, to add some insight for anyone else who see this post, but using 2022 stretched cluster with storage replica (storage replication inside the cluster manager) worked fine. Tried exact same setup in 2025 Multiple times with various topologies, and it failed after a failover action each time. have an active ticket with MSFT , but it someone has it working or fixed it let me know please {note: I did see the last comment from Matej referencing S2D being local storage, though}