HP Fabric Clustering System HP-UX Administrator's Guide, March 2008

nodes. If additional ports are needed, HP recommends
using a high-port count switch.
Minimum Number of Switches You will need to have at least one 24-port copper switch
in the database cluster.
Trunking Between Switches
(multiple connections)
Trunking between switches can be used to increase
bandwidth and cluster throughput. Trunking is also a way
to eliminate a possible single point of failure. The number
of trunked cables between nodes is only limited by port
availability.
Maximum Cable Lengths The longest supported cable is 10 meters. This constrains
the maximum distance between servers and switches or
between servers in node-to-node configurations.
Minimum Host Memory Required
per HCA
Each AB286C Host Channel Adapter card requires a
minimum of 512 MB host memory in supported servers.
Non-Supported Features
The following are non-supported HP Fabric Clustering System features:
High Availability (HA): Not Supported
No High Availability features are provided with the HP Fabric Clustering System product.
Transparent Local Failover: Not Supported
Link and/or adapter failure is terminal for applications running on the HP server node.
Dynamic Resource Utilization (DRU): Not Supported
Addition of new HP Fabric resources (node, cable or switch) to a cluster running an HP Fabric
application is not supported.
Load Balancing: Not Supported
The HP Fabric Clustering System product has no support capability to balance the load across
all available resources in the cluster, including nodes, adapter cards, links, and multiple links
between switches.
Supported Configurations
Multiple configurations are supported to match the performance, cost and scaling requirements
of each installation.
In the section, “Configuration Parameters” (page 51), the maximum limits for HP Fabric hardware
configurations were outlined. This section discusses the configurations that HP supports. These
recommended configurations offer an optimal mix of performance and availability for a variety
of operating environments.
There are many variables that can impact performance. If you are considering a configuration
that is beyond the scope of the following HP supported configurations, contact your HP
representative.
Sample Configurations using the AB286A/C or AD313A HCA
Configurations up to 24 End Nodes
For simple configurations with up to 24 end nodes, a single 376227-B21 24-port 4x Fabric Copper
Switch may be sufficient (see Figure 5-1).
52 Configuration