The following list specifies hardware requirements for installing Novell Cluster Services. These requirements represent the minimum hardware configuration. Additional hardware might be necessary depending on how you intend to use Novell Cluster Services.
A minimum of two NetWare® servers, and not more than 32 servers in a single cluster
At least 512 MB of memory on each server in the cluster
One non-shared volume for the sys: volume for each server
At least one network card per server in the same IP subnet
In addition, each server must meet the requirements for NetWare 6.5 SP7.
NOTE:Although identical hardware for each cluster server is not required, having servers with the same or similar processors and memory can reduce differences in performance between cluster nodes and make it easier to manage your cluster. There are fewer variables to consider when designing your cluster and failover rules if each cluster node has the same processor and amount of memory.
If you have a Fibre Channel SAN, the host bus adapters (HBAs) for each cluster node should be identical.
Ensure that the following requirements are met:
Novell Cluster Services 1.8.5 for NetWare supports NetWare 6.5 SP7 or later. OES 2 NetWare must be installed and running on each cluster server in the cluster. Novell Cluster Services is a component of the services for NetWare.
You cannot mix two versions of NetWare in a single cluster except to support a rolling cluster upgrade. You cannot mix OES 2 Linux (or later versions) and NetWare 6.5 SP7 (or later versions) in a single cluster except to support a rolling cluster upgrade.
Novell eDirectory™ 8.8 is required for managing the Cluster object and Cluster Node objects for Novell Cluster Services.
It must be installed somewhere in the same tree as the cluster. It can be installed on the cluster or on a separate server or cluster. For configuration requirements, see eDirectory.
Novell iManager 2.7.2 or later is required for configuring and managing clusters. iManager must be installed on at least one server in your data center, and the Cluster plug-in and Storage Management plug-in must be installed in iManager.
NOTE:A February 3, 2009 update to the Clusters plug-in for OES 2 SP1 Linux is available that can be used to manage the Novell Business Continuity Clustering (BCC) 1.1 SP2 for NetWare® 6.5 SP8 (same as OES 2 SP1 NetWare) and Novell Business Continuity Clustering 1.2 for OES 2 SP1 Linux. You can download the update from the Novell Downloads Web site.
To use the Clusters role in iManager, the following storage-related plug-ins must be installed:
Clusters (ncsmgmt.npm)
Common code for storage-related plug-ins (storagemgmt.npm)
The storagemgmt.npm contains code in common with other storage-related plug-ins for OES 2 SP1:
These additional plug-ins are needed when working with the NSS file system. Make sure that you include the common storagemgmt.npm plug-in module when installing any of these storage-related plug-ins.
IMPORTANT:If you use more than one of these plug-ins, you should install, update, or remove them all at the same time to make sure the common code works for all plug-ins. Make sure to uninstall the old version of the plug-ins before you overwrite them in the packages folder with the new versions.
These iManager plug-ins support iManager 2.7.2 on all operating systems supported by iManager and iManager Workstation.
The latest Novell storage-related plug-ins can be downloaded as a single zipped download file from the Novell Downloads Web site. For information about installing plug-ins in iManager, see Downloading and Installing Plug-Ins During Installation
in the Novell iManager 2.7 Installation Guide.
To update storage-related plug-ins:
In iManager, uninstall the currently installed storage-related plug-ins.
Copy the new .npm files into the iManager plug-ins location, manually overwriting the older version of the plug-in in the packages folder with the newer version of the plug-in.
In iManager, install all of the storage-related plug-ins, or install the plug-ins you need, plus the common code.
For information about working with storage-related plug-ins for iManager, see Understanding Storage-Related Plug-Ins
in the OES 2 SP1: NSS File System Administration Guide.
For information about browser configuration requirements, see Web Browser.
All servers in the cluster must be configured to use the Novell Storage Services™ (NSS) file system. NSS is the only file system supported for Novell Cluster Services for NetWare. For information about managing NSS, see the OES 2 SP1: NSS File System Administration Guide.
NSS supports the following advertising protocols in concurrent use for any given cluster-enabled NSS pool:
NetWare® Core Protocol™ (NCP) (default, mandatory). For information, see NCP Server for NetWare.
Novell Apple* Filing Protocol* (AFP) for NetWare. For information, see Novell AFP for NetWare.
Novell Common Information File System (CIFS) for NetWare. For information, see Novell CIFS for NetWare.
NCP Server for NetWare is integrated in the NetWare operating system. It is installed automatically when you install NetWare.
For information about managing NCP Server for NetWare, see the NW65 SP8: Novell Remote Manager Administration Guide.
AFP is the network protocol for Macintosh*. Novell Cluster Services supports using Novell AFP for NetWare as an advertising protocol for shared NSS pools. Novell AFP is installed automatically when you install NetWare.
For information about using Novell AFP for NetWare, see the OES 2 SP1: AFP, CIFS, and NFS for NetWare (NFAP) Administration Guide.
CIFS is the network protocol for Windows*. Novell Cluster Services supports using Novell CIFS for NetWare as an advertising protocol for shared NSS pools.Novell CIFS is installed automatically when you install NetWare.
For information about using Novell CIFS for NetWare, see the OES 2 SP1: AFP, CIFS, and NFS for NetWare (NFAP) Administration Guide.
SLP (Service Location Protocol) must be configured and running on each server. It is required for the bind and unbind commands.
For information, see Implementing the Service Location Protocol
in the Novell eDirectory 8.8 Administration Guide.
Ensure that the following configuration requirements are met:
All IP addresses used by the cluster servers and its cluster resources must be on the same IP subnet.
Each server in the cluster must be configured with a unique static IP address.
You need additional unique static IP addresses for the cluster and for each cluster resource and cluster-enabled pool.
All servers in the cluster must be in the same eDirectory tree.
If the servers in the cluster are in separate eDirectory containers, the user who administers the cluster must have rights to the cluster server containers and to the containers where any cluster-enabled pool objects are stored. You can do this by adding trustee assignments for the cluster administrator to a parent container of the containers where the cluster server objects reside.
See eDirectory Rights
in the eDirectory 8.8 Administration Guide for more information.
If you are creating a new cluster, the eDirectory context where the new Cluster object will reside must be an existing context. Specifying a new context during the Novell Cluster Services install configuration does not create a new context.
When you install Novell Cluster Services in a tree, the eDirectory schema for the tree is extended to include the following types of objects:
Cluster objects (containers)
Cluster Node objects
Cluster Resource objects
Cluster Template objects
Volume Resource objects
The administrator user who installs Novell Cluster Services must have the eDirectory rights necessary to extend the eDirectory schema for Cluster objects.
The browser that will be used to manage Novell Cluster Services must be set to a supported language.
The Cluster plug-in for iManager might not operate properly if the highest priority Language setting for your Web browser is set to a language other than one of the supported languages. To avoid problems, in your Web browser, click > > , and then set the first language preference in the list to a supported language.
For a information about supported browsers, see Using a Supported Web Browser
in the Novell iManager 2.7.3 Administration Guide
A shared disk system (Storage Area Network or SAN) is required for each cluster if you want data to be highly available. If a shared disk subsystem is used, ensure the following:
Novell Cluster Services supports the following shared disks:
Fibre Channel SAN LUNs
iSCSI SAN LUNs
SCSI disks (shared external drive arrays)
Before installing Novell Cluster Services, the shared disk system must be properly set up and functional according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Prior to installation, verify that all the drives in your shared disk system are recognized by NetWare by running the LIST DEVICES command on each server you intend to add to your cluster. If any of the drives in the shared disk system do not show up in the list, consult your NetWare documentation or the shared disk system documentation for troubleshooting information.
If you are using iSCSI for shared disk system access, ensure that you have configured iSCSI initiators and targets prior to installing Novell Cluster Services.
We recommend that the disks contained in the shared disk system are configured to use mirroring or RAID to add fault tolerance to the shared disk system.
If this is a new cluster, the shared disk system must be connected to the first server so that the cluster partition can be created during the Novell Cluster Services install.
The shared disk system must have at least 20 MB of free disk space for creating a special cluster partition.
If you want to mirror the SBD partition for greater fault tolerance, you need to have at least 20 MB of free disk space on a second shared disk where you want to create the mirror.
The Novell Cluster Services installation automatically allocates one cylinder on one drive of the shared disk system for the special cluster partition. Depending on the location of the cylinder, the actual amount of space used by the cluster partition may be less than 20 MB.
If you create new partitions that you plan to use during the install for the SBD, you must initialize the partition before installing Novell Cluster Services. This allows the installation software to recognize available partitions and present them for use during the install.
When you create a Novell Cluster Services system that utilizes shared storage space, it is important to remember that all servers attached to the shared disks, whether in the cluster or not, have access to all of the data on the shared storage space unless you specifically prevent such access. Novell Cluster Services arbitrates access to shared data for all cluster nodes, but cannot protect shared data from being corrupted by non-cluster servers.