HP Netserver MSCS SPOFless Cluster Solution

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Introduction

OverviewoftheSPOFlessSystem

AchievingHigherAvailabilityThroughComponentRedundancy

Thisdocumentprofileseffortsinevaluatinghighavailabilitycluster

solutionsmanagedbyMicrosoftClusterServerinWindowsNT4.0

EnterpriseEditionandWindows2000AdvancedServeroperating

systems.Thesolutionsevaluatedaretwo-nodeclustersusingredundant

FibreChannelArbitratedLoop(FCAL)technologyfortheserverto

storageinterconnectandareintendedtobehighlyreliableandhighly

availableconfigurationswithalso

knowninHPas.

Highavailabilityclustersaredesignedtoreduceriskandcostsof

downtimeduetohardwareorsoftwarefaults.Thishighlevelofsystem

andapplicationavailabilityisaccomplishedthroughtheuseofredundant

andfaulttoleranttechnologiesimplementedondifferentlevelsof

hardwareandsoftware.

Forexample,clusteringsoftwareimprovesavailabilitybyallowing

applicationsandservicestobetransferredtoanothercomputernodeifa

failureeventoccursononeofthenodes.

Nosinglepointoffailureassuresthatasystemwillbehighlyavailable

andaccessibleincaseofanysystemcomponentfailure.Using

redundanthardwareandsoftwarecomponentseliminatessinglepoints

offailure.SPOFlesssystemredundancyfallsintothreecategories:

systemdrives,RAIDsets,

externalstoragecontrollers,hostbusadapters(HBA),network

adapters,multiprocessorservers,FibreChannel(FC)hubs,

switches,powersupplies,processorpowermodules,andfans.

MicrosoftClusterServer,

networkfaulttoleranceandadaptiveloadbalancing,HBAand

controllerdriversusingfirmwarethatsupportsfailover,and

softwaremirroring.

hotswappableharddrives,Fibre

Channel(FC)controllers,hotplug/replace/upgradePCI

adapters,cachemirroring,batterybackup.

NoSinglePointofFailure(NSPOF)

SPOFless

Redundanthardwarecomponents:

Redundantsoftwarecomponents:

Faulttoleranttechniques:

september2000

DocumentationNetServer

HPNetServerHighAvailabilitySPOFlessMSCSClusterSolution

ConnectingNetServersandtheRS/12FC

Summary of content (9 pages)

PAGE 1
HP NetServer Documentation HP NetServer High Availability SPOFless MSCS Cluster Solution Connecting NetServers and the RS/12FC Introduction This document profiles efforts in evaluating high availability cluster solutions managed by Microsoft Cluster Server in Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition and Windows 2000 Advanced Server operating systems.
PAGE 2
white paper HP NetServer Documentation Configuration Techniques A type of highly available (HA) solution is the cluster. Clusters consist of two or more servers that share networking and storage. An example of a 2-node cluster appears below. In the example, there are many single points of failure, assuming there are no redundant components in the system. For instance, if the shared storage in the cluster fails, the rest of the cluster fails as well. SPOFless clusters eliminate single points of failure.
PAGE 3
white paper HP NetServer Documentation Redundant Fibre Channel Array Controllers All SPOFless systems use redundant HP Fibre Channel array controllers. When a pair of these FC array controllers are installed into an RS/12FC storage cabinet, they operate on two redundant Fibre Channel loops. The redundant FC loops allow a fail over to occur at the storage level in the event of a controller failure. After fail over, the remaining controller supports both FC loops at a reduced performance capacity.
PAGE 4
white paper HP NetServer Documentation FC Array Controller Firmware The HP FC array controllers must have the firmware version 5.46-04 installed. The firmware version can be verified by using the FC Array Assistant. Since the RS/12FC firmware is independent of the operating system installed on the NetServers, the same firmware is used for both Windows 2000, and Windows NT. Network Interface Cards The driver Hptxnt5.sys version 4.02.27.0 was used for testing on the Windows 2000 Advanced Server platform.
PAGE 5
white paper HP NetServer Documentation Functional Diagram of the Direct Connect Cluster (SPOFless) Public Network Cluster Server #1 Cluster Server #2 Private Network Installation and Configuration FC HBA FC HBA Port 1 Port 0 FC Cont #1 Failure Causes Application Failover Port 1 Port 0 FC Cont #0 RS/12 FC External Shared Storage SCSI #2 event of an FC controller failure. This is because fail over will occur on the storage side.
PAGE 6
white paper HP NetServer Documentation After FC controllers have been configured they can be monitored as can physical devices and logical drives in the RS/12. Performance monitoring is also implemented in FC Array Assistant. To learn how to use the FC Array Assistant tool, refer to the References section at the end of this document. An example of the Controller Information screen is shown here on the left. There are two main issues concerned with the configuration of the RS/12FC storage subsystem.
PAGE 7
white paper HP NetServer Documentation When configuring an RS/12FC for a SPOFless cluster, the LUNs must always be set in a configuration similar to the one shown on the previous page. The Quorum Drive Miicrosoft clusters have a special resource known as the Quorum resource, which is always a Physical Disk type in MSCS. Quorum resources are owned by only one node at a time and provide a means of communication between cluster nodes during cluster operation.
PAGE 8
white paper HP NetServer Documentation Casualty Procedures Failed FC Array Controller IIn the event of an FC controller failure, the following steps should be taken: ! Obtain a new controller and upgrade the firmware to the same version of firmware as the working FC controller. If the firmware between the two controllers does not match, the storage functionality will be disrupted and the cluster will fail. Perform the upgrade on a separate server with an RS/12FC. Do not use a clustered RS/12FC.
PAGE 9
white paper HP NetServer Documentation Functional Diagram of the Dual HBA Cluster References ·HP NetServer Microsoft Cluster Installation Guide: http://netserver.hp.com/netserver/docs/dow nload.asp?file=ig_generic.pdf Public Network ·FC Array Assistant Installation and User Private Network Server #1 Guide:: http://netserver.hp.com/netserver/docs/dow nload.asp?file=ug_fcarray.pdf Server #2 ·RS/12FC Installation Guide: http://netserver.hp.com/netserver/docs/dow nload.asp?file=ig_rs12_2.