ICP GDT6618RD Addendum

Contents

ICP GDT6618RD Addendum Manual pdf 12 page image

12A. IntroductionIn today's information technology world, High Availability Systems are gaining more andmore importance. The demands on these systems are not only the continuous availabilityof all important data, i.e., "365 days * 24 hours", but also efficient resource sharing of therelatively expensive components. The secret behind the popular word "Clustering" is noth-ing more than the intelligent combination of several computer systems with the purpose tosimultaneously increase the security and computing power of the whole system. This "Clus-ter" appears to the user just like one single system with extraordinary characteristics. Aspecial Clustering software executes the controlling and management of the Cluster and itsmembers.There are several strategies to design Clustering systems. In a first model, the variousmembers (also called nodes) could only be connected with each other through the normalUser LAN. In another step, the nodes could additionally share an I/O bus (e.g., SCSI, FibreChannel). To avoid "Single Points of Failure" (these are vital components which cause ageneral failure if they fail) in such systems, host based RAID controllers are ideally suitablefor cluster systems. The choice of host based RAID controllers for the nodes of a clustersystem implements the appropriate redundancy and security in the mass storage part ofthe system right from the beginning. In contrast to this, external RAID controllers carry therisk of becoming a single point of failure. If they fail the whole cluster system goes down.Apart from that, these kinds of solutions are normally pretty inhomogeneous: The hostadapters come from vendor A, the external RAID controller from vendor B. Who guaranteesthe flawless and interefence-free operation of both components ? Who supports you whenthe system causes problems ?Since 1990 ICP vortex has been intensively engaged in the research and development ofhost based RAID products for highest performance and security requirements. Not only be-cause of our products’ outstanding performance, our expertise and continuity in develop-ment, but also due to our excellent customer support, ICP Controllers are accepted andknown as top leading-edge products all over the world. All ICP Controller products arepure-bred hardware solutions. All functionality required for the very complex tasks is hard-ware-implemented on the controller. Thus, RAID is fully independent of the computer sys-tem (the host) and the operating system. Software RAID solutions are normally not usablefor cluster systems. Thanks to the wide operating system support and easy-to-use installa-tion and maintenance utilities, setting up and using high performance and fault-tolerantmass-storage subsystems for almost every purpose is child’s play.For a successful installation of a Clustering System it is very important that the person whocarries out the installation has detailed knowledge and experience in the areas Microsoft®Windows NT/2000 Server, Microsoft® Cluster Server, Novell/Orion, Linux/Watchdog and ICPDisk Array Controllers.This Addendum contains important information, particular regarding the operation of ICPRAID Controllers in a Clustering System.Information on the Operating System, the functioning of the Cluster and other system de-tails may be found in the corresponding system manuals.For information on the installation of the ICP Disk Array Controller and the configuration ofDisk Arrays, please refer to the "User's Manual" or "Quick Installation Guide" of your ICPController. These documents may also be found on the ICP System CDROM.We would like to thank you for purchasing an ICP Controller.ICP - Intelligent Computer Peripherals ®