HP NETSERVER AA SOLUTION Endurance Release Notes Release 4.
NOTICE The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. Hewlett-Packard makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.
Table of Contents About This Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 HP Netserver AA Solution Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Additional Documentation on the Customer Support Web Site . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Platform Support and System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 CE Dual Processor Support and CPU Requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 CE Configuration Requirements . . . . .
iv Endurance Release Notes for Release 4.
About This Product These Release Notes document Endurance® Release 4.0 Service Pack 1 for the Windows® 2000 operating system. This release is a complete Endurance software kit, containing all files needed to perform an Endurance installation. Follow the instructions in the HP Netserver AA Solution Installation Guide to perform a new Endurance installation. You can also use this release to upgrade your Endurance 4.0.0 server to Release 4.0 Service Pack 1.
Table 1 Release 4.
CE Configuration Requirements Release 4.0 CEs must be configured identically, and must contain identical chipset versions to avoid loss of CE synchronization when various system management tools are used.
CE Motherboard BIOS Settings Use the BIOS Setup Utility to verify that all onboard device settings between the two CEs are identical. We strongly recommend that parallel, serial, SCSI, and network devices be disabled on the CE. Make sure that the following devices are enabled: • Video adapter • Keyboard • Mouse • 3.5-inch Floppy Disk — this can be disabled when it is not needed for maintenance operations, such as flashing the BIOS.
Motherboard Requirement The motherboards on all computers (CEs and IOPs) in the server must be capable of supporting two or more processors. Memory Requirement An Endurance server requires a minimum of 256 MB of memory in the CEs and IOPs. In addition, the server can support up to 4 gigabytes of memory in the CEs. There is no limit to supported memory in the IOPs. Marathon Interface Card (MIC) Requirement An Endurance server requires the Marathon Interface Card (MIC) version 4.2 or 4.3.
Table 3 Endurance Release 4.
Support for Long Distance SplitSite® Distances Up to 10 Kilometers As of Endurance Release 4.0 Service Pack 1, you can install the tuples up to 10 kilometers apart. In order to configure your server with this SplitSite configuration, you must install Version 4.3 of the Marathon Interface Card (MIC), described in the next section. Marathon Interface Card (MIC) 4.3 Available MIC version 4.3 accommodates increased long distance SplitSite installations with tuple separations of up to 10 kilometers.
Optional Endurance Kit Contents for 10 Kilometer SplitSite Configurations If you have purchased the support for long distance SplitSite configurations of up to10 kilometer separation of the tuples, the content of your Endurance kit is different from that described in the Release 4.0 HP Netserver AA Solution Installation Guide. Note: If you have not purchased the optional long distance SplitSite product, the content of your Endurance kit is as described in the Release 4.
Table 6 Endurance Server Kit Contents Quantity Part 1 Endurance documentation, including the Endurance Release Notes, HP Netserver AA Solution Administrator’s Guide, and this manual 1 Endurance Accessory Kit that contains the labels for the Endurance server computers, and two loopback plugs that enable you to perform the BIOS loopback tests if you choose or need to do so. Notes: For long distance SplitSite installations, you must obtain 4 singlemode patch cords to connect the MICs to the patch panels.
Cabling for Loopback Tests After completing the hardware installation, if you want to perform BIOS loopback tests, install the loopback plugs as follows: Step Action Notes 1 Remove the two loopback plugs from the Endurance accessory kit. The local and remote ports of the V4.3 MIC use different fiber optic wave lengths than those in the V4.2 MIC, requiring the installation of plugs into the individual ports for loopback testing. 2 Carefully remove the protective covers from the loopback plugs.
Cabling for Staging Purposes in Long Distance SplitSite Installations When staging the Endurance server for test purposes only, cable the MICs and IOP Link (IL) as follows: • MIC cables — Use the 2 local fiber optic cables and 2 remote fiber optic cables shipped in your kit to connect the server components. The two different length cables shipped in your kit are interchangeable when distance is not an issue during staging.
Table 7 explains how to install the long distance SplitSite Endurance server cables. Table 7 Long Distance SplitSite Endurance Server Cables Cable Description Connects Installation Instructions MIC cables 4 singlemode patch cords (that you obtain), with an MT-RJ connector on one end, which attaches to the MIC, and a connector at the other end that will fit the type of patch panel you are using – for example, an SC, FC, ST, or LC connector. IOP1 to CE2 via the patch panel 1.
Table 7 Long Distance SplitSite Endurance Server Cables Cable Description Connects Installation Instructions IL Cable 2 singlemode patch cords (that you obtain) with SC connectors on each end IL singlemode gigabit network adapters on IOP1 to IOP2 via the patch panel 1. Attach one end of the patch cord to the IL Ethernet adapter port on IOP1 and the other end of the cord to the patch panel. 2.
Step Action Notes 2 In the Device Manager section, select Driver Signing. 3 In the File signature verification section, click Warn, and then OK. Resetting this parameter to Warn causes a message to be displayed before any unsigned files are installed. Dynamic Disk Considerations Release 4.0 supports the use of dynamic disks, as described below. To use dynamic disks with the Release 4.0 Endurance software, consider the following: • Consider using a basic disk for the CE boot disk.
Performance Monitor Considerations The Endurance Performance Monitor is not installed automatically as part of the standard Endurance installation. If you elect to install it, you may see the following events in the Application Event Log when Endurance performance counters are enabled: The data buffer created for the "MtcPerf" service in the "%SystemDrive%\Program Files\Marathon Endurance\MtcPerf.dll" library is not aligned on an 8-byte boundary.
General Limitations • CE boot partitions larger than 4000 megabytes are supported on some controllers. If your environment requires a CE boot partition larger than 4000 megabytes, consider the following: - Endurance Release 4.0 software does not provide extended INT13 BIOS support. Because of this, the size of the CE boot partition is restricted to sectors that can be accessed via INT13 calls that use Cylinder/Head/Sector (CHS) mapping.
• Dynamic recognition of hardware is not supported for any device redirected to the CE. The CEs and IOPs must be rebooted to add or remove redirected devices. • An Endurance server should never hibernate, be suspended, or automatically power down. With the exception of an IOP monitor power down, Power Management requests will be rejected by the Endurance software on the CEs and IOPs.
Known Third-Party Vendor and Application Limitations • As of the publication of this document, Windows 2000 does not support Complete Memory Dump with more than 2 GB of memory. This is a known problem as of Windows 2000 Service Packs 1 and 2. For more information, refer to the Microsoft Knowledge Base article “Windows 2000 Does Not Enable Complete Memory Dumps Between 2 and 4 Gigabytes” at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q274/5/98.ASP.
• • Do not install any device drivers on the CEs that would replace or disable Endurance drivers, such as: - Remote control applications that replace Endurance video drivers with their own video drivers. - Video display drivers other than the Endurance Video Redirector (MtcVidR.sys). Debug tools that use drivers or have application code tied to hardware performance counters may cause the server to hang or crash.
20 Endurance Release Notes for Release 4.
