Reference Guide

10 Introduction
Cluster Nodes
Table 1-2 lists the hardware requirements for the cluster nodes.
Table 1-2. Cluster Node Requirements
Component Minimum Requirement
Cluster nodes Two to eight Dell PowerEdge™ systems running the
Windows Server 2003 operating system.
RAM At least 256 MB of RAM installed on each cluster node for
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition or
Windows Server 2003 R2, Enterprise Edition.
At least 512 MB of RAM installed on each cluster node for
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition, or
Windows Server 2003 R2, Enterprise x64 Edition.
NICs At least two NICs: one NIC for the public network and
another NIC for the private network.
NOTE: It is recommended that the NICs on each public network
are identical, and that the NICs on each private network are
identical.
Internal disk
controller
One controller connected to at least two internal hard drives
for each node. Use any supported RAID controller or disk
controller.
Two hard drives are required for mirroring (RAID 1) and at
least three are required for disk striping with parity (RAID 5).
NOTE: It is strongly recommended that you use hardware-based
RAID or software-based disk-fault tolerance for the
internal drives.
HBA ports
• For clusters with Fibre Channel storage, two Fibre Channel
HBAs per node, unless the server employs an integrated or
supported dual-port Fibre Channel HBA.
• For clusters with SAS storage, one or two SAS 5/E HBAs per
node.
NOTE: Where possible, place the HBAs on separate PCI buses
to improve availability and performance. For information about
supported systems and HBAs, see Dell Cluster Configuration
Support Matrices located on the Dell High Availability Clustering
website at www.dell.com/ha.