4.0.0 HP Polyserve Matrix Server Installation Guide (T5392-96046, March 2010)

See Chapter 2 of the HP PolyServe Matrix Server Administration Guide for more
information about supported matrix configurations. Also see Administrative
Considerations in Chapter 3 for information about SAN restrictions.
NOTE:
You can attach a matrix server to other SANs that are not under Matrix Server
control. These SANs can include tape drives and non-PSFS filesystems. You can use
Windows utilities or other applications to access these devices and filesystems.
Fencing requirements
When certain problems occur on a server (for example, hardware problems or the
loss of matrix network communications), and the server ceases to effectively coordinate
and communicate with other servers in the matrix, Matrix Server must fence the server,
removing its access to filesystems to preserve data integrity. There are two fencing
methods: fabric-based fencing, which disables the servers access in the FC fabric,
and web management-based fencing, which either resets or shuts down the server.
When selecting a fencing method, you should be aware of the following:
If you will be using the Virtual Connect Fibre Channel Module on the HP c-Class
BladeSystem, you must configure web mangement-based fencing. Fabric-based
fencing cannot be used with this module.
If you will be using IPMI interfaces with web mangement-based fencing, you will
need to change the password from the factory default. The fencing feature will
not work correctly if the password is not changed.
ISCSI storage must use web management-based fencing.
When the matrix is configured for fabric-based fencing, arrays must operate in
fabric or switch-attached mode (not arbitrated-loop-only devices). This requirement
does not apply for non-fabric fencing configurations.
With fabric-based fencing, if the servers are connected to switches in multiple
fabrics, the physical ports on each switch must be assigned to unique domain
IDs. A different domain ID must be used on each fabric (any given domain ID
can exist on only one fabric in the SAN). For example, if a server is connected
to two switches that are not in the same fabric, switch1 could use domain ID 6
and switch2 could use domain ID 7. Domain ID 6 must not exist on the fabric
containing switch2 and domain ID 7 must not exist on the fabric containing
switch1.
Configuration information8