HP LH4r HP Netserver High Availability SPOFless MSCS Cluster Solution - Page 3

white paper HP NetSserver Documentation Redundant Fibre Channel Array Controllers SPOFless systems use redundant HP Fibre Channel array controllers. When a pair of these FC array controllers is installed into an RS/12FC storage cabinet, they operate on two redundant Fibre Channel loops. The redundant FC loops allow a failover to occur at the storage level in the event of a controller failure. After failover, the remaining controller supports both FC loops at a reduced performance capacity. Additionally, the controllers are hot pluggable, and will fail back after a failed controller is replaced. Fibre Channel Hubs For the direct connect solution, Fibre Channel hubs are not required, however for the larger configuration, redundancy should be added on the FC storage side by using two Fibre Channel hubs. The FC hubs that NSD supports are the D6976A six-port, and P4459A eight-port Fibre Channel arbitrated loop hub. These hubs support the use of either copper or optical fiber links through the use of respective Gigabit Interface Converters (GBICs). Gigabit Interface Converters Two different types of GBICs are used in the tested SPOFless solutions. The first is an optical GBIC, and the second is a copper GBIC. A pair of the appropriate type of GBIC is included when either type of Fibre Channel cable is ordered. For the direct connect solution, GBICS with a copper interface are required because the RS/12FC controllers only accept copper connections. However, if FC hubs are used, optical GBICs may be installed for the segments between the servers and the hubs to achieve longer distances between cluster components. Network Interface Controller All HP D5013 series network adapters are supported. However, for hot-plug support, model D5013B or later must be used. The Software Components Network Operating System There are two choices for the operating system to use in the SPOFless solution. The first choice is Windows NT 4.0® Enterprise Edition. The second choice is Windows® 2000 Advanced Server. Service Pack For the NT solution, Service Pack 6a was installed. For Windows® 2000, Service Pack 1 was applied during the final phase of the HCT testing. The most current service packs should be reapplied on each node after installing MSCS. Microsoft® Cluster Server Microsoft® Cluster Server is included with each copy of Windows NT® Enterprise Edition, or with Windows® 2000 Advanced Server. FC Array Assistant All SPOFless clusters based on the RS/12FC use version A.00.02-5 of the Fibre Channel Array Assistant. This version of the FC Array Assistant allows the use of mirrored logical unit numbers (LUNs). It is important to note that both the client and the server parts of the FC Array Assistant installation must come from the same installation disk. Fibre Channel HBA Driver The Fibre Channel HBA driver used for testing was Hhba5100.sys, version 2.06. This same filename and revision are available for both Windows NT® and Windows® 2000. 3