Before Beginning Installation; Using Multipath Data Paths For High Availability; Checklists For Cluster Server Installation; Network Requirements - HP X1000 System User's Manual

Before beginning installation

Confirm that the following specifications have been met before proceeding:
• The Quorum disk has been created from shared storage and is at least 50 MB. (500 MB is recom-
mended.) Additional LUNs may also be presented for use as shared disk resources.
• Cluster configurations should be deployed with dual data paths for high availability. Dual data
paths from each node enable a path failure to occur that does not force the failover of the node.
Clusters can be configured with single path, but if a failure in the path does occur, all of the node
resources will be failed to the non-affected node.

Using multipath data paths for high availability

HP recommends that cluster configurations be deployed with dual data paths for high availability.
Clusters can be configured with single path, but if a failure in the path occurs, all of the node resources
will be failed to the non-affected node. Pathing software is required in configurations where multipathing
to the storage is desired or required. Multipathing software allows for datapath failure to occur without
forcing a node failover.

Checklists for cluster server installation

These checklists assist in preparing for installation. Step-by-step instructions begin after the checklists.

Network requirements

• A unique NetBIOS cluster name
• For each node deployed in the cluster the following static IP addresses are required:
• One for the network adapters on the private network
• One for the network adapters on the public network
• One for the virtual server itself
A single static cluster IP address is required for the entire cluster.
• A domain user account for Cluster service (all nodes must be members of the same domain)
• Each node should have at least two network adapters—one for connection to the public network
and the other for the node-to-node private cluster network. If only one network adapter is used for
both connections, the configuration is unsupported. A separate private network adapter is required
for HCL certification.

Shared disk requirements

NOTE:
Do not allow more than one node access the shared storage devices at the same time until Cluster
service is installed on at least one node and that node is online. This can be accomplished through
selective storage presentation, SAN zoning, or having only one node online at all times.
• All shared disks, including the Quorum disk, must be accessible from all nodes. When testing
connectivity between the nodes and the LUN, only one node should be given access to the LUN
at a time.
• All shared disks must be configured as basic (not dynamic).
94 Cluster administration