High Availability - Compaq 112726-001 - ProLiant - 6500 White Paper

ECG078/0498
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High Availability

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System performance is only part of the Compaq story concerning enterprise class performance.
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. . High availability is also required for database servers to support applications that are required to
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be available around the clock to support critical business needs. Compaq uses five levels of
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availability spanning a wide spectrum of availability requirements to design solutions tailored to
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each customer's environment.
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Level 1 High Availability (HA), currently available, is a realm characterized by single
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server configurations. Although these are single server environments, a lot of HA capability
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is built into Compaq servers to enhance uptime and minimize downtime, (e.g. redundant
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components, hot-swap components, etc.). Level 1 HA includes the standard subsystems such
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as Error Checking and Correction (ECC) memory, PCI Hot Plug, and Redundant NIC
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. . technology. Remote Insight Board, a highly intelligent remote management board providing
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continuous out-of-band communication and critical alert delivery, is also a Level 1 HA
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property. Remote Insight Board offers complete hardware independence from the server.
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With its own processor, memory, and battery backup, the board allows access to the server
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even if there has been a hardware fault or power loss. Thus, even though server components
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or the entire server have failed at a remote location, support staff at another location can dial
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into the server, ascertain the problem, and begin problem resolutions. As a result, server
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"health" is always known, and unplanned downtime can be greatly reduced.
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Combined with these hardware HA features, availability-enhancing software, such as system
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and network management facilities and anti-virus protection, are combined with good
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business practices such as security and appropriate training. In addition, appropriate services
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agreements are implemented, (e.g. improved response time).
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Level 2 solutions, also currently available, are designed to increase data protection and to
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improve data availability. Compaq servers utilize hardware RAID technology such as
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. . Compaq Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) drives, and
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SMART-2 controllers and drive arrays. Compaq further improved data high availability by
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. . recently delivering fibre channel-based storage solutions to the market, which results in non-
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disruptive growth. In addition, Level 2 solutions include On-Line Storage Controller
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Recover Option (OSCRO) that is an automatic failover option that protects from server
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failure, a failed array controller, or a failed external cable. Using OSCRO, these systems will
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automatically failover, providing redundancy without loss of access to storage.
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Level 3 solutions build upon Level 2 data availability solutions and concentrate on delivering
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higher server and application availability for both planned and unplanned downtime. Level 3
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HA is based on multi-server, cluster configurations, in which two or more servers are
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connected together for increased availability, or higher performance, or both. Cluster
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management software constantly monitors the health of each server. If either server
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experiences component or complete server failure, the cluster management software
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automatically detects the error or failure. Immediately and automatically, ownership of
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application software, disk and network resources is passed to the other node in the cluster,
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quickly returning complete services to end users. Such error or failure detection and
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application failover is fully automated; no operator intervention is required. Level 3 RSO
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Clusters are currently available.
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. . In addition to RSO Clusters already offered, Compaq will offer two new series of cluster
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products within the ProLiant Cluster family. Both of these new products utilize the Microsoft
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Cluster Server (MSCS) as the cluster software. The "Series F" supports a broad range of
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