HP Netserver MSCS SPOFless Cluster Solution

ConfigurationTechniques
RS/12FCStorageSubsystem
Atypeofhighlyavailable(HA)solutionisthecluster.Clustersconsistoftwoormoreserversthat
sharenetworkingandstorage.Anexampleofa2-nodeclusterappearsbelow.
Intheexample,therearemanysinglepointsoffailure,assumingtherearenoredundant
componentsinthesystem.Forinstance,ifthesharedstorageintheclusterfails,therestofthe
clusterfailsaswell.
SPOFlessclusterseliminatesinglepointsoffailure.TocreateaSPOFlesscluster,several
techniquesmustbeappliedinthefollowingmanner:
UsehardwareRAID1tomirrortheinternalsystemdiskoneachserverandonthe
quorumdriveforthecluster.UseRAID1,10or5forshareddiskscontainingdata.The
levelchosenisdependentonwhattypeofapplicationsandI/Otransferswillbeusedon
eachvolume.
UseatleasttwoFibreChannelArbitratedLoopsorpathstoaccessredundantRAIDarray
controllersontheexternalstoragesubsystem.
Useredundantnetworkinterfacecontrollers(NICs)configuredforadaptiveload
balancingandfaulttoleranceforbothpublicandprivatenetworks.
Installredundantpowersuppliesandfans.
Connecttheserversandexternalstoragetoanuninterruptiblepowersupply(UPS).
Theremainderofthisdocumentdiscussesclusteringcomponentsandconfigurationsthatwere
usedforthisproject.Somelimitationsofthecurrentsolutionsanddesiredfutureenhancements
aredisclosedaswell.
WhileinvestigatingSPOFlessconfigurations,twotypesofNetServerswereused.Onecluster
wasformedfromapairofLPrNetServers,whiletheotherwascreatedfromapairofLXr8500
NetServers.
Thehostbusadapterusedinallofourtesting
wastheD8602AHBA.
TheHewlett-PackardRS/12FCexternal
storagesubsystemwasusedforall
configurations.Anotherstoragesubsystem
couldbeusedifitisontheMicrosoft
HardwareCompatibilityList(HCL)andmeets
thesameleveloffunctionalityand
redundancy.
TheHardwareComponents
HPNetServers
Externalstorage
HostBusAdapter
TheRS/12FCisadiskstorageunitthathas
uptotwoHPFibreChannelarraycontrollers
installed.Additionally,theinstalledarray
controllerscanmanageuptotwoRS/12SCSI
cabinets.
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