Deployment Guide

Introduction 7
Cluster Nodes
Table 1-1 lists hardware requirements for the cluster docs.
Table 1-1. Cluster Node Requirements
Component Minimum Requirement
Processor At least one processor for each cluster node.
Cluster Nodes A minimum of two identical Power Edge systems are required.
The maximum number of nodes that is supported depends on the
variant of the Windows Server operating system used in your
cluster, and on the physical topology in which the storage system
and nodes are interconnected.
RAM The variant of the Windows Server operating system that is
installed on your cluster nodes determines the minimum required
amount of system RAM.
iSCSI Initiator Complete installation of the iSCSI port driver, Initiator Service,
and Software Initiator on each node.
NOTE: Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO) Multipathing Support for
iSCSI is not installed.
Network
Interface Cards
(NICs) for iSCSI
access
Two iSCSI NICs or NIC ports per node. Place the NICs on
separate PCI buses to improve availability and performance.
TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE) NICs are also supported for iSCSI
traffic. For a list of recommended operating systems, hardware
components, and driver or firmware versions for your Dell
Windows Server Failover Cluster, see the Dell Cluster
Configuration Support Matrices located on the Dell High
Availability Clustering website at www.dell.com/ha.
book.book Page 7 Tuesday, April 15, 2008 12:30 PM