Configuration Rules for a Mixed HP 9000 / Integrity Serviceguard Cluster, March 2007
Table Of Contents
- Executive summary
- Version history
- Introduction
- Architectural rules and typical configurations
- Specific ISV information
- HP Superdome Hybrid Servers
- Typical configuration examples
- Transition to Integrity with HP Superdome hybrid servers and mixed clusters
- Adding one Integrity server to a two-node HP 9000 cluster
- Adding two HP Integrity servers to a two-node HP 9000 cluster
- Adding one critical application and two new Integrity nodes to existing four-node HP 9000 cluster
- Mixed clusters as transition aid from HP 9000 to Integrity in a multi-tier SAP environment
- HP 9000 to Integrity transition service utilizing HP Serviceguard cluster technology
- How to implement a mixed HP 9000 / Integrity HP Serviceguard cluster
- For more information
• Allow the late majority to remain on subsequent PA releases while introducing HP Integrity systems
to their operating environments at the same time
Supporting mixed HP 9000 / Integrity clusters in HP-UX 11i v2 provides an ideal platform for
customers to transition to HP Integrity servers at their own pace with optimal support from the HP-UX
environment. With mixed clusters:
• HP Integrity servers can be easily added to an existing HP 9000 cluster.
• Customers can “roll” their applications to HP Integrity using a failover operation.
• Applications can be “test driven” on HP Integrity nodes inside an existing cluster and easily failed
back to an original HP 9000 node as a fast recovery/rollback option in cases in which a problem
is discovered with the application on the HP Integrity servers that does not appear on HP 9000
servers.
Summary of the results
With the HP-UX 11i v2UD2, HP started to offer one common operating system for both server lines—
HP 9000 PA-RISC based and HP Integrity Intel® Itanium® based servers—and enabled mixing them
in a single HP Serviceguard cluster with version A.11.16 as a minimum. HP-UX 11i v2UD2 provides
customers with the opportunity to gain first experience with HP Integrity servers within their known
environments. It also promotes transition to HP Integrity by enabling customers to gradually add
Integrity servers into an HP 9000 clustered environment.
Mixed HP 9000 and Integrity clusters are easy to set up and no different in terms of configuration and
operation. Mixed HP 9000 / Integrity cluster implementations have only three basic requirements:
• All nodes must have HP-UX 11i v2UD2 installed as a minimum.
• All nodes must use HP Serviceguard version A.11.16 or later.
• The applications are configured to follow one of the ISV’s configuration rules:
– Failover between homogeneous nodes in a mixed cluster only.
– Failover between heterogeneous nodes in a mixed cluster. Following this rule, either of the two
options are available for the application using:
o One set of PA-RISC binaries and Aries emulator on HP Integrity servers
o Two native sets of binaries (one for PARISC and one for Intel® Itanium®), either all
32-bit or all 64-bit
The same applies for HP disaster tolerant solutions that are based on Serviceguard:
• HP Continentalclusters can be configured with Serviceguard mixed clusters; formed using Integrity
and HP 9000 machines as per the guidelines specified by HP. All nodes in all the clusters of the
Continentalclusters should have the same version of HP Continentalclusters software installed.
Additional restrictions apply based on the ISV application (i.e. Oracle RAC) configured in the
Continentalclusters for disaster tolerance.
• For HP Metrocluster same restrictions/guidelines as Serviceguard will apply.
Summary of changes for existing clusters
Existing HP-UX 11i v1 Serviceguard customers with HP 9000 systems will see the following changes
when transitioning to HP-UX 11i v2UD2 or later:
• No support is available for the HP-UX System Administration Manager (SAM) GUI to configure the
cluster; the command line interface and HP Serviceguard Manager are available to configure the
cluster.
• No support is available for advanced tape sharing (ATS).
7