HP StorageWorks Clustered File System 3.6.0 File Serving Option for Windows Administration Guide (403104-005, January 2008)

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Configure FS Option for
Windows with Cluster File
Shares
Configuration Overview
Cluster File Shares are Windows CIFS shares associated with an FS
Option for Windows filesystem health monitor. Clients connect to Cluster
File Shares using the network name or IP address of any physical server
in the cluster. Each node in the cluster provides access to the same PSFS
filesystems through its Cluster File Shares.
For high availability, Cluster File Shares can be deployed with a
connection-oriented load balancer such as the Microsoft Distributed File
System (DFS). Client connection requests to a single network name
(provided by DFS) are evenly distributed among the nodes in the cluster.
On failure of a node, DFS detects the loss of network connectivity and
routes new connection and re-connection requests to the remaining nodes
in the cluster.
The Cluster File Share monitor can detect a situation in which a node in
the cluster loses access to the PSFS filesystem (for example, because of a
SAN problem) but is otherwise healthy. The monitor then tears down the
associated CIFS share to prevent future connection and re-connection
requests from being directed to a node that has lost access to the
underlying shared filesystem.