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Introduction 9
Cluster Nodes
Table 1-1 lists the hardware requirements for the cluster nodes.
NOTE: For more information about supported systems, HBAs and operating system
variants, see the Dell Cluster Configuration Support Matrix on the Dell High
Availability website at www.dell.com/ha.
Table 1-1. Cluster Node Requirements
Component Minimum Requirement
Cluster nodes A minimum of two identical PowerEdge servers are required.
The maximum number of nodes that are supported depend
on the variant of the Windows Server operating system used
in your cluster, and on the physical topology in which the
storage system and nodes are interconnected.
RAM The variant of the Windows Server operating system that is
installed on your cluster nodes determines the minimum
RAM required.
Host Bus Adapter
(HBA) ports
Two Fibre Channel HBAs per node, unless the server employs
an integrated or supported dual-port Fibre Channel HBA.
Where possible, place the HBAs on separate PCI buses to
improve availability and performance.
NICs At least two NICs: one NIC for the public network and
another NIC for the private network.
NOTE: It is recommended that the NICs on each public network
are identical, and that the NICs on each private network are
identical.
Internal disk
controller
One controller connected to at least two internal hard drives
for each node. Use any supported RAID controller or disk
controller.
Two hard drives are required for mirroring (RAID 1) and at
least three are required for disk striping with parity (RAID 5).
NOTE: It is strongly recommended that you use
hardware-based RAID or software-based disk-fault tolerance
for the internal drives.