Compaq ProLiant CL380 Software User Guide

System Management 6-13
Compaq Confidential – Need to Know Required
Writer: Linda Arnold Project: Compaq ProLiant CL380 Software User Guide Comments:
Part Number: 157839-004 File Name: g-ch6 System Management.doc Last Saved On: 12/14/00 8:51 AM
Managing Cluster Performance
As applications or resources transfer from one server to another, the
performance of the clustered servers will likely change. The extent of the
performance change depends on how well equipped the other server node is to
handle the increase in workload. This is especially obvious after a server
failure, where all of the cluster resources may move to the other server.
You can use the Windows Performance Monitor or the Novell NetWare
MONITOR.NLM to observe and track system performance. Some applications
may also have their own internal performance measurement capabilities.
Constant monitoring of each system’s performance in a cluster may identify a
disparity in the workload being performed by each server. Adjust the
distribution of the cluster applications so that the overall cluster performance
is maximized.
Dynamic load balancing is not available in MSCS, Cluster Service, or NCS.
However, MSCS, Cluster Service and NCS do offer the ability to manually
load balance your server nodes. Under Windows, you can use information
obtained from Performance Monitor to determine whether either of the server
nodes is operating at too high a performance level. Use Cluster Administrator
to fail over as many cluster groups as necessary to balance the load of each
server node. Similarly, under Novell NetWare, use MONITOR.NLM to
determine whether either of the server nodes is operating at too high a
performance level.
The timing of manually moving a cluster group to balance the load should
depend strongly on what type of group needs to be moved and how many
clients are using the group. File and print services are normally not
business-critical, nor do they sustain an extremely high utilization rate. For
these reasons, file and print services are good candidates to move whenever
load balancing needs to occur, even when the overall cluster utilization is high.
However, some applications, such as databases, should not be moved from one
server to another during peak processing periods. When a database is moved
from one server to another, the database must be shut down and restarted.
During the time it takes the database to restart, users do not have access to the
database. In these cases, move a database group to another server during
non-peak hours.