Users Guide

Introduction 7

Introduction

This document provides you with information required for configuring the

Dell™ PowerVault™ NX1950 storage system as a cluster solution and offers

troubleshooting tips. The PowerVault NX1950 cluster solution enables two

PowerVault NX1950 nodes to provide highly-available system and data.

Dell supports the following configuration of the PowerVault NX1950 cluster

solution:

• Integrated solution—This solution consists of two PowerVault NX1950

storage systems configured with a Dell PowerVault MD3000 storage array.

• Gateway solution—This solution consists of up to eight PowerVault NX1950

storage systems configured with Dell|EMC storage arrays.

NOTE: Throughout this document, PowerVault NX1950 storage system refers to

the individual cluster node. PowerVault NX1950 cluster solution refers to the

configuration of two or more PowerVault NX1950 storage systems running

Microsoft

Cluster Services (MSCS) attached to either PowerVault MD3000 storage

array or a Dell|EMC storage array.

Overview of MSCS

A cluster is a collection of servers that work together to provide highly- available

resources. Examples of resources include services, IP addresses, network

names, and disk drives. The PowerVault NX1950 cluster solution uses MSCS

and the Dell Storage Initialization Wizard to configure the solution for

clustering. The Dell customized components help the user to integrate the

solution with the services provided by the operating system in a seamless

way to configure the system.

Microsoft Windows

Unified Data Storage Server 2003 provides two

technologies for cluster solutions through MSCS—Server Cluster and

Network Load Balancing (NLB). The PowerVault NX1950 cluster solution

does not support NLB. This guide focuses on the Server Cluster technology

provided by the operating system.