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support.dell.com Cabling the Cluster Hardware 4-3
Fibre Channel devices using HSSDC connections must not be connected directly to
Giganet devices using HSSDC connections.
Cabling Your Public Network
The NICs in the PowerEdge systems (cluster nodes) provide at least two network
connections for each cluster node—a dedicated private network (cluster interconnect)
between the nodes and a public network connection to the local area network (LAN).
NICs connected to the LAN can also provide redundancy at the communications level
in case the cluster interconnect fails. See your Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) doc-
umentation for more information on cluster interconnect redundancy.
Using NICs in Your Public Network
Connection to the public LAN is provided by a Broadcom NetExtreme Gigabit Ether-
net or Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit Server Adapter installed in each node. The Dell
PowerEdge Cluster FE100/FL100 Datacenter Server supported NICs running Trans-
mission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) may be used to connect to the
public network. Additional NICs may be installed to support additional separate public
LAN segments.
Cabling Your Private Network
Your cluster configuration can use Broadcom NetExtreme Gigabit Ethernet NICs or
Giganet cLAN 1000 host bus adapters for the private network (cluster interconnect).
The private network is established by using a network switch and/or Giganet cLAN
switch. You can use standard Ethernet cables to connect these Broadcom
NetExtreme Gigabit Ethernet NICs to a network switch or the GigaNet cable to con-
nect from the Giganet adapter to the cLAN GigaNet switch.
The private network can be used for intracluster communications, intercluster com-
munications, or a separate, dedicated network, which can provide some or, all of the
following features depending on the applications:
• Database replication, snapshots, and synchronization
• High-speed network backup
• Application-to-database communications
• Web server-to-application or web server-to-database communications
Using Broadcom NetExtreme Gigabit Ethernet Controllers
in Your Private Network
The private network is established by using a straight-through Category 5 (CAT 5)
unshielded network cable to connect the Broadcom NetExtreme Gigabit Ethernet
NICs to the private network through a network switch.