Hardware Recommendations; Architecture Considerations - Novell SENTINEL 6.1 SP2 - INSTALLATION GUIDE 02-2010 Installation Manual

Although the following platform configurations might be supported by their respective vendors,
Novell does not recommend these configurations in a Sentinel environment:
Sentinel on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 running with the ReiserFS file system

 Oracle database on Microsoft Windows
Crystal Reports Server on Microsoft Windows 2000

Crystal Reports Server with MSDE as the database

Novell recommends running the Sentinel database and reporting engine on platforms that have been
fully quality assured by Novell. However, both the Oracle database and Crystal Reports Server are
supported by their respective vendors on additional platforms that are not fully quality assured by
Novell. If a customer wants to use one of these additional platforms, Novell support for these
platforms includes the following conditions.
Because the Sentinel database installation and configuration are platform specific, only Novell

Consulting or a qualified partner should be engaged to perform the initial Sentinel installation
and setup.
The standard installer might not work as expected on an untested platform.

When the Sentinel system is functional, any database or reporting issue that cannot be

duplicated on Novell in-house supported platforms must be addressed by the appropriate
vendor.
Finally, for full functionality, Novell recommends that the database and DAS be installed with the
same operating system (although not necessarily on the same machine). For example, Windows
Authentication cannot be used if DAS is installed in a mixed environment where DAS is on
Windows and the database is Oracle or where DAS is on UNIX* or Linux and the database is SQL
Server.
Collector Builder runs only on the Windows platform.

2.2 Hardware Recommendations

Sentinel has a highly scalable architecture, and if high event rates are expected, components can be
distributed across several machines to achieve the best performance for the system. As you plan
your system, make sure you take into account the following considerations:
Section 2.2.1, "Architecture Considerations," on page 21

Section 2.2.2, "Supported Hardware," on page 23

 Section 2.2.3, "Proof of Concept Configuration," on page 23
Section 2.2.4, "Production Configuration," on page 24

Section 2.2.5, "High-Performance Production Configuration," on page 25

 Section 2.2.6, "Virtual Environments," on page 26

2.2.1 Architecture Considerations

There are many factors that should be considered when designing a Sentinel system.:
Event rate (events per second, or EPS)

Geographic/network location of event sources, and bandwidth between networks

System Requirements 21