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Getting Started 1-1
Chapter 1
Getting Started
T
he Dell
®
PowerEdge
®
Cluster is an enterprise system
that implements clustering technology based on the
Microsoft
®
Windows NT
®
Server, Enterprise Edition 4.0
operating system and Microsoft Windows NT Cluster
Server. The Dell PowerEdge Cluster provides the follow-
ing benefits in meeting the needs of mission-critical
network applications:
•
High availability of system services and resources to
network clients
•
Redundant storage of application data
•
Failure recovery for cluster applications
•
Capability to repair, maintain, or upgrade a cluster
server without taking the whole cluster off-line
•
Sharing of processing and communication work load
between the two servers
The term cluster refers to two or more server systems
(referred to as nodes) that are interconnected with appro-
priate hardware and software to provide a single point of
continuous access to network services (for example, file
service, database applications, resources, and so on) for
network clients. Each cluster node is configured with
software and network resources that enable it to interact
with the other node to provide a mutual redundancy of
operation and application processing. Because the servers
interact in this way, they appear as a single system to the
network clients.
As an integrated system, the PowerEdge Cluster is
designed to handle most hardware failures and downtime
dynamically. In the event that one of the cluster nodes
fails or experiences downtime, the processing work load
of the failed node switches over (or fails over) to the
remaining node in the cluster. This fail-over capability
enables the cluster system to keep network resources and
applications up and running on the network while the
failed node is taken off-line, repaired, and brought back
online. The overall impact of a node failure to network
operation is minimal.
P
owerEdge Cluster Components
The Dell PowerEdge Cluster consists of two Dell Power-
Edge 4200 systems (the cluster nodes) equipped with one
or two Dell PowerEdge Expandable redundant array of
inexpensive disks (RAID) Controllers and two network
interface controllers (NICs) to provide a dedicated node-
to-node network interconnection and a regular Ethernet
local area network (LAN) connection. Each server has
shared Ultra/Wide small computer system interface
(SCSI) connections to one or more Dell PowerEdge
Scalable Disk System (SDS 100) storage system(s).
Figure 1-1 shows a layout of the PowerEdge Cluster
components and their interconnections.
Each component of the PowerEdge Cluster has a mini-
mum system requirement. The following section lists and
describes the minimum system requirements for the
PowerEdge Cluster.