Compaq DL590 Clustering Tips for Microsoft Windows Advanced Server, Limited Ed - Page 3

Clustering Tips for Microsoft Windows Advanced Server, Limited Edition on Compaq ProLiant DL590/64 Server 3 Introduction to Clustering in Windows Advanced Server, Limited Edition The Windows Advanced Server operating system offers cluster functionality improvements over previous Windows versions. Cluster services are no longer provided as an add-on component of the operating system. Instead, cluster services are installed as part of the base operating system installation. A cluster can consist of two to four server nodes. Compaq supports a fibre channel interconnect for cluster storage. New features offered are listed in Table 1. Table 1: New features of Microsoft Advanced Server, Limited Edition Cluster Services Feature 64-bit support Improved Terminal Server installation Improved print driver installations Simplified cluster installation wizard Improved Generic Script resource 4-node cluster support Cluster Server Extension Central administration for creating and adding nodes to a cluster Feasibility analysis during the cluster setup process COM+ 1.x Enhancement: Configure applications as Windows NT Services Description The Limited Edition of the operating system offers support for the Itanium 64 processor architecture. Terminal Server (also known as Terminal Services in application server mode) is no longer blocked on servers in a cluster. In Windows 2000, the installation of Terminal Server was blocked if the server was a member of a cluster. In Windows 2000, each printer driver had to be manually installed on every node of the cluster. This improved feature installs a printer driver on a virtual cluster and propagates it to all nodes of the cluster. This feature provides a new Cluster Configuration wizard that simplifies the process of installing and configuring the cluster. The cluster scripting feature simplifies the process of clustering applications. It provides a run-time environment that takes care of complex issues. It also allows for easy creation of new resource types. Features of this new "generic script" resource type include the following: • Monitoring of cluster resources and instrumentation for applications and services • Simplifying the implementation new resource types. • Simplifying scriptable application instrumentation by making the applications cluster-aware • Allows a run-time hosting environment • Existing COM automation servers may be reused The Limited Edition operating system supports from two to four cluster nodes. This feature provides an extension of the DeviceIOControl call that allows applications to determine whether a disk is a cluster disk. This call is meant for applications and services that intend to write to the disk. The administrator can use the remote console to configure all servers that form a cluster. During cluster setup, the installation wizard will provide an analysis of the system to ensure the system is correctly set up and the installation is performed properly. This enhancement of COM+ 1.x allows the ability to configure a COM+ server application as a Windows service and implement the Windows service as a COM+ server application. This provides control over w hen the COM+ application starts. Marking the application to run as a Windows service means that the component's Dynamic Link Library (DLL) is loaded into memory when the system boots. When the COM+ application is configured as a Windows service, a Generic Service cluster resource can be configured for the application. Adding the COM+ application to a cluster makes the application highly available.