Administrator's Guide

Planning the Fabric

TCP/UDP/IP

Chapter 216

ServiceGuard uses a “heartbeat” to monitor the cluster. The

HyperFabric links cannot be used for the heartbeat. Instead, an

alternate LAN connection such as 100BaseT, Ethernet, Token Ring,

or FDDI must be made between the nodes for use as a heartbeat link.

End-To-End HA: HyperFabric provides end-to-end HA on the entire

cluster fabric at the link level. If any of the available routes in the

fabric fails, HyperFabric transparently redirects all the trafﬁc to a

functional route and, if conﬁgured, notiﬁes ServiceGuard or other

enterprise management tools.

Active-Active HA: In conﬁgurations where there are multiple

routes between nodes, the HyperFabric software uses a hashing

function to determine an adapter or a route through which it sends

messages. This is done on a message-by-message basis. All of the

available HyperFabric resources in the fabric are used for

communication.

In contrast to Active-Passive HA, where one set of resources is not

utilized until another set fails, Active-Active HA provides the best

return on investment because all of the resources are utilized

simultaneously. ServiceGuard is not required for Active-Active HA

operation.

For more information on setting up HA HyperFabric clusters, see

Figure 2-3 “TCP/UDP/IP High Availability Switched Conﬁguration”

on page 24.

• Dynamic Resource Utilization (DRU): Supported

If you add a new resource (node, adapter, cable or switch) to a cluster,

the HyperFabric subsystem dynamically identiﬁes the added

resource and starts using it. The same process takes place when a

resource is removed from a cluster. The difference between DRU and

OLAR is that OLAR applies only to the addition or replacement of

adapter cards from nodes.

• Load Balancing: Supported

When an HP 9000 HyperFabric cluster is running TCP/UDP/IP

applications, the HyperFabric driver balances the load across all

available resources in the cluster, including nodes, adapter cards,

links, and multiple links between switches.

• Switch Management: Not Supported