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Widows cluster for SAN attached hosts
I have a request to set up a windows cluster using SAN attached storage. Does EMC have any white papers/guidelines/best practices on how it should be accomplished? Will appreciate any help or comments
xe2sdc
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October 8th, 2007 06:00
The only "requirement" that a cluster have is that all nodes in the cluster need to "see" the same devices. Again, the cluster will also ask you to add some smaller devices (quorum disk or something like that).
Any other "application" requirement apply .. If you have a MSQL database, use different disks for data and logs .. If you have multiple instances, use multiple data/log pairs of disks, one for each instance .. But it's a totally different problem .. and it's bound to the application, not to the cluster.
(joke) EMC has another suggestion .. use EMC Legato AutoStart as your cluster
xe2sdc
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October 8th, 2007 06:00
Windows, not widows though.
That's what I did at first ..
After replying the first time I noticed that it's monday morning and we need to wake up with a smile
xe2sdc
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October 8th, 2007 06:00
diskextender
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October 8th, 2007 06:00
anyway, we all need a good laugh early Monday morning, don't we? I would prefer some comments on Windows, not widows though.
RRR
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November 5th, 2007 08:00
We updated everything: HBA BIOS, drivers, Powerpath, queue depth, alignment, but the problem is still there. The next and final thing we can do is separate the logs and the data. This is going to be painful I'm affraid.
xe2sdc
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November 5th, 2007 13:00
Changing/fixing HBA, firmware, zones, driver, powerpath and almost everything else is useless when you have an "hot spot" .. a single queue (a single drive) where all your writes will must flow through.
RRR
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November 5th, 2007 23:00
The thing is that I first created a service request on Powerlink to get help with EMC performance manager and the outcome of that was to have everthing upgraded to the latest level first. Of course I knew this wasn't going to help (much), but hey, the host needs to become supported first. After this we're finally getting to the deviding of logs and data.... which was my underlying goal after all.
Message was edited by:
RRR
changed to "DMX should NOT have to be the bottleneck" of course.
RRR
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November 16th, 2007 02:00
As soon as somebody replied (I think), you can't change the original message anymore
xe2sdc
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November 16th, 2007 02:00
diskextender
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November 16th, 2007 05:00
diskextender
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November 16th, 2007 05:00
could you give more details on that HBA_flags feature? I've never heard about it.
xe2sdc
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November 16th, 2007 06:00
Powerlink have an entiere section of Whitepapers .. You can use the Search feature in powerlink and try to search "windows cluster DMX" in the "Documentation and WhitePaper" section.
xe2sdc
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November 16th, 2007 07:00
drivers, layout of LUNs, anything else that can be
taken into consideration.
What do you mean with "layout of LUNs" ?? In a DMX you can not choose where to create your luns .. you can only pick up some already-existing symdevs and form metas with the desired size. Or if you have free space somewhere, you can create new symdevs and form them in metas. DMX is quite different from a clariion.
You are required to use a supported driver.. but it's something that have little if nothing to do with the cluster or the application .. It's something related to the simple fact that you want to connect the host to the SAN (what we call "Base connectivity"). You can however have a look at our E-Lab navigator and feed it with the details on your configuration (which HBA, which host vendor, which OS version, which cluster software, which kind of storage, which brand of switches) and check if your particoular configuration will be supported. If you want I can say that I prefer Emulex HBA .. but it have nothing to do with support .. it's simply a personal taste
When configuring the storage, the main thing to look at is the applications that will run in the cluster. As almost everybody told you in this thread, a poor designed storage will give you poor performances. I'd change the question in "What's the best storage layout for my application" .. but we need to know the applications you will run to answer your question. However Powerlink have a lot of whitepapers on a lot of different applications (Oracle, SQL Server, Exchange) so Powerlink may be of help even when looking at application performances.
RRR
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November 16th, 2007 07:00
diskextender
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November 16th, 2007 07:00
recomendation on specific ones are welcome. I would love to attend one