Compaq ProLiant Cluster HA/F500 Administrator Guide

Overview of the ProLiant Cluster HA/F500
1-8 ProLiant Cluster HA/F500 for MA8000 Administrator Guide
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Writer: Woody Jernigan File Name: b-ch1
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ProLiant Cluster HA/F500 Configurations with Switches
The ProLiant Cluster HA/F500 can be set up in a number of different configurations
involving servers, switches, and storage subsystems connected through a Fibre
Channel switch fabric (FC-SW).
• The basic configuration is a cluster with a single host bus adapter in each server,
one switch, and one or two storage controllers.
• The enhanced configuration is a cluster with two host bus adapters in each server,
two switches, and two storage controllers, giving it increased availability over the
basic configurations.
• Additionally, two to four clusters can be configured to use the same storage
subsystems.
The basic and enhanced configurations with switches are discussed in the following
sections. In an HA/F500 configuration, a maximum of eight storage controller pairs
can be connected to a single switch. This limitation dictates how many storage
subsystems can be used in the cluster (a maximum of eight storage subsystems or
some combination of each type of storage unit). There can be a maximum of
672 drives in a configuration. A single cluster in an HA/F500 configuration can
interact with a maximum of eight pairs of controllers.
The servers in a ProLiant Cluster HA/F500 are also connected to a LAN, usually
referred to as the client LAN, through which users access the cluster. There is also
an interconnect connecting the two servers, frequently referred to as the cluster
interconnect. The interconnect is used to allow the two servers to communicate
without the delay potentials inherent on the client LAN. Because the client LAN and
the cluster interconnect are the same in all the configurations, they are not mentioned
any further when discussing the different configurations.
Basic Configurations with Switches
The basic configurations with switches are shown in Figure 1-5 and Figure 1-6. Each
of the configurations contains a single host bus adapter and a single switch.