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Configuring OPS Clusters with MC/LockManager: > Chapter 4 Planning and Documenting an OPS Cluster

Hardware Planning

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Hardware planning requires examining the physical hardware itself. One useful procedure is to sketch the hardware configuration in a diagram that shows adapter cards and buses, cabling, disks and peripherals. Indicate which device adapters occupy which slots, and calculate the bus address for each adapter. Update the details as you do the actual configuration (described in Chapters 5 and 6).

NOTE: The process of configuring a cluster is easier if nodes as far as possible have identical hardware configuration (i.e., interface cards on different nodes have the same hardware I/O path, and a given disk on a shared bus has the same device file name on different nodes.)

In addition to creating a diagram like the one described above, be sure to record the characteristics of the hardware on the Hardware Worksheet. Use one form for each SPU. The form has three parts:

  • SPU Information

  • LAN and RS232 Information

  • Disk I/O Information

SPU Information

All HP 9000 Series 800 SPUs are supported by MC/LockManager and different models can be mixed in the same cluster. This includes both uniprocessor and multiprocessor computers. HP 9000 Series 700 SPUs are not supported by MC/LockManager.

SPU information includes the basic characteristics of the S800 systems you are using in the cluster. On the worksheet, include the following items:

Title not available (SPU Information )

S800 Series Number

Enter the series number, e.g., T600.

Host Name

Enter the name to be used on the system as the host name.

Memory Capacity

Enter the memory in MB.

Number of I/O slots

Indicate the number of slots.

NFS diskless clusters and NetLS servers are not supported.

LAN and RS232 Information

MC/LockManager monitors LAN interfaces as well as configured serial (RS232) lines.

LAN Information

While a minimum of one LAN interface per subnet is required, at least two LAN interfaces, one primary and one or more standby, are needed to eliminate single points of network failure.

It is recommended that you configure heartbeats on all subnets, including those to be used for client data. On the worksheet, enter the following for each LAN interface:

Title not available (LAN Information )

Subnet Name

Enter the IP address mask for the subnet. Note that heartbeat IP addresses must be on the same subnet on each node.

Interface Name

Enter the name of the LAN card as used by this node to access the subnet. This name is shown by lanscan after you install the card.

IP Address

Enter this node's host IP address intended to be used on this interface. The IP address is a string of digits separated with periods in the form 'nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn'. If the interface is a standby, enter 'Standby.'

Kind of LAN Traffic

Identify the purpose of the subnet. Valid types include the following:

  • Heartbeat

  • DLM

  • Client Traffic

  • Standby

Label the list to show the subnets that belong to a bridged net.

Information from this section of the worksheet is used in creating the subnet groupings and identifying the IP addresses in the configuration steps for the cluster manager, distributed lock manager, and package manager.

RS232 Information

If you plan to configure a serial line (RS232), you need to determine the serial device file that corresponds with the serial port on each node.

  1. If you are using a MUX panel, make a note of the system slot number that corresponds to the MUX and also note the port number that appears next to the selected port on the panel.

  2. On each node, use ioscan -fnC tty to display hardware addresses and device file names. For example:

    # ioscan -fnC tty

    This lists all the device files associated with each RS232 device on a specific node.

  3. Once you have identified the device files, verify your connection as follows. Assume that node 1 uses /dev/tty0p0, and node 2 uses /dev/tty0p6.

    • From a terminal on node 1, issue the following command:

      # cat < /dev/tty0p0 
    • From a terminal on node 2, issue the following command:

      # cat /etc/passwd > /dev/tty0p6 

      The contents of the password file should be displayed on the terminal on node 1.

  4. On the worksheet, enter the following:

Title not available (RS232 Information )

Node Name

Name of the node

RS232 Device File

Enter the device file name corresponding to a serial interface on each node. This parameter is known as SERIAL_DEVICE_FILE in the ASCII configuration file.

Setting SCSI Addresses for the Largest Expected Cluster Size

SCSI standards define priority according to SCSI address. To prevent controller starvation on the SPU, the SCSI interface cards must be configured at the highest priorities. Therefore, when configuring a highly available cluster, you should give nodes the highest priority SCSI addresses, and give disks addresses of lesser priority.

For Fast/Wide SCSI, high priority starts at seven, goes down to zero, and then goes from 15 to eight. Therefore, seven is the highest priority and eight is the lowest priority. For example, if there will be a maximum of four nodes in the cluster, and all four systems will share a string of disks, then the SCSI address must be uniquely set on the interface cards in all four systems, and must be high priority addresses. So the addressing for the systems and disks would be as follows:

Table 4-1 Fast/Wide SCSI Addressing in Cluster Configuration

System or Disk

Host Interface SCSI Address

Primary System A

7

Primary System B

6

Primary System C

5

Primary System D

4

Disk #1

3

Disk #2

2

Disk #3

1

Disk #4

0

Disk #5

15

Disk #6

14

Others

13 - 8

 

Disk I/O Information

This part of the worksheet lets you indicate where disk device adapters are installed. Enter the following items on the worksheet for each disk connected to each disk device adapter on the node:

Title not available (Disk I/O Information )

Bus Type

Indicate the type of bus. Supported busses are single-ended SCSI, F/W SCSI and FL (fiber link).

Slot Number

Indicate the slot number in which the card is inserted. For both F/W SCSI and FL disks, use the even number printed at the bottom of the slot. (Not relevant for D and K systems.)

Address

Enter the bus hardware path number, which will be seen on the system later when you use ioscan to display hardware. The address is given by the formula 4*(slot number). E.g., for slot number 4, the hardware path number is 16. (Not relevant for D and K systems.)

Disk Device File

Enter the disk device file name. To display the name use the ioscan -fnC disk command,

Information from this section of the worksheet is used in creating the mirrored disk configuration using Logical Volume Manager. In addition, it is useful to gather as much information as possible about your disk configuration. You can obtain information about available disks by using the following commands:

  • diskinfo

  • ioscan -fnC disk

  • lssf /dev/dsk/c*

  • bdf

  • mount

  • swapinfo

  • vgdisplay -v

  • lvdisplay -v

  • lssf /dev/*dsk/*d0

These are standard HP-UX commands. See their man pages for information of specific usage.

The commands should be issued from all nodes after installing the hardware and rebooting the system. The information will be useful when doing LVM and cluster configuration. The output from the lssf command can be marked to indicate which physical volume group a disk is assigned to.

Hardware Configuration Worksheet

The following worksheet will help you organize and record your specific cluster hardware configuration. Make as many copies as you need. Complete the worksheet and keep it for future reference.

    ===============================================================================
SPU Information:

S800 Host Name ____ftsys9___________ S800 Series No ______T600___________

Memory Capacity ____128 MB _________ Number of I/O Slots ______12_______
===============================================================================
LAN Information:

Name of Name of Node IP Traffic
Subnet __Blue___ Interface ___lan0___ Addr___35.12.16.10__ Type ____HB_____

Name of Name of Node IP Traffic
Subnet __Blue___ Interface ___lan2___ Addr_______________ Type _standby___

Name of Name of Node IP Traffic
Subnet __Red____ Interface ___lan1___ Addr___35.12.15.12_ Type _HB, clients
===============================================================================
Serial (RS232) Heartbeat Interface Information:

Node Name ____node1___________ RS232 Device File ___/dev/tty0p0__

Node Name ____node2___________ RS232 Device File ___/dev/tty0p0__
===============================================================================
X.25 Information

OTS subnet ____________________ OTS subnet ____________________

===============================================================================
Disk I/O Information for Shared Disks:

Bus Type _SCSI_ Slot Number _4__ Address _16_ Disk Device File /dev/dsk/c0t1d0

Bus Type _SCSI_ Slot Number _6_ Address _24_ Disk Device File /dev/dsk/c0t2d0

Bus Type ______ Slot Number ___ Address ____ Disk Device File ____________

Bus Type ______ Slot Number ___ Address ____ Disk Device File ____________


Attach a printout of the output from ioscan -fnC disk command
after installing disk hardware and rebooting the system. Mark this
printout to indicate which physical volume group each disk belongs to.

Output of ioscan -fnC disk

Class     I  H/W Path  Driver S/W State H/W Type  Description
==============================================================
disk 1 32.1.0 disc4 CLAIMED DEVICE HP 7937
/dev/dsk/c0t1d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0
disk 2 32.2.0 disc4 CLAIMED DEVICE HP 7937
/dev/dsk/c0t2d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t2d0
disk 4 32.4.0 disc4 CLAIMED DEVICE HP 2251
/dev/dsk/c0t4d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t4d0
disk 5 32.4.1 disc4 CLAIMED DEVICE HP 2251
/dev/dsk/c0t4d1 /dev/rdsk/c0t4d1
disk 6 32.4.2 disc4 CLAIMED DEVICE HP 2251
/dev/dsk/c0t4d2 /dev/rdsk/c0t4d2
disk 7 32.4.3 disc4 CLAIMED DEVICE HP 2251
/dev/dsk/c0t4d3 /dev/rdsk/c0t4d3
disk 8 32.4.4 disc4 CLAIMED DEVICE HP 2251
/dev/dsk/c0t4d4 /dev/rdsk/c0t4d4
disk 9 32.5.0 disc4 CLAIMED DEVICE HP 2251
/dev/dsk/c0t5d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t5d0
disk 10 32.5.1 disc4 CLAIMED DEVICE HP 2251
/dev/dsk/c0t5d1 /dev/rdsk/c0t5d1
disk 11 32.5.2 disc4 CLAIMED DEVICE HP 2251
/dev/dsk/c0t5d2 /dev/rdsk/c0t5d2
disk 12 32.5.3 disc4 CLAIMED DEVICE HP 2251
/dev/dsk/c0t5d3 /dev/rdsk/c0t5d3
disk 13 32.5.4 disc4 CLAIMED DEVICE HP 2251
/dev/dsk/c0t5d4 /dev/rdsk/c0t5d4
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