Dell 4200 manual Setting Up the Shared Storage Subsystem Hard-Disk Drives, Checking the System

Setting Up the Shared Storage Subsystem Hard-Disk Drives

If your Power-Edge Cluster consists of all new compo- nents, the hard-disk drives in the shared storage subsystem may already be partitioned, formatted, and set up in a RAID configuration for clustering. If you are upgrading a shared storage subsystem in an existing sys- tem, the shared hard-disk drives must be set up for clustering as part of the upgrade.

The first step is to configure the RAID level that you will be using in your cluster. For instructions on setting up a RAID array, refer to the Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller User’s Guide . Then the hard-disk drives in the shared storage subsystem must be partitioned and formatted, and drive letters must be assigned to each drive. For instructions on partitioning and formatting the shared storage subsystem hard-disk drives, refer to the Microsoft Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition Admin- istrator’s Guide and Release Notes and the Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller User’s Guide . Chapter 3, “Configuring the Cluster Software,” in this guide describes how to assign drive letters to the shared hard-disk drives.

Setting Up the Internal SCSI Hard-Disk Drives

If you have added new hard-disk drives to your Power- Edge system or are setting up the internal drives in a RAID configuration, you must configure the RAID, if applicable, and partition and format the drives before you can install Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition. For instructions on partitioning and formatting SCSI hard- disk drives, refer to your PowerEdge system User’s Guide. For instructions on setting up a RAID array, refer to the Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller User’s Guide .

Installing and Configuring Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition

If it has not already been done, Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition must be installed on the internal hard- disk drives of both cluster nodes.

NOTE: Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition cannot be run from the shared storage subsystem.

Cluster-specific device drivers are also installed at this time. Refer to the Microsoft Windows NT Server Enter- prise Edition Administrator’s Guide and Release Notes for instructions on installing and configuring the operat- ing system and adding cluster-specific device drivers.

Refer to Chapter 3, “Configuring the Cluster Software,” of this guide for information specific to configuring Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition on your PowerEdge Cluster.

Installing and Configuring the Microsoft Cluster Server Software

Like Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition, the Cluster Server software must be installed on both cluster nodes if it has not already been done. Refer to the Microsoft Windows NT Cluster Server Adminstrator’s Guide for instructions on installing and configuring the clustering software. Also refer to Chapter 3, “Configuring the Clus- ter Software,” for specific information about installing and configuring Microsoft Cluster Server on your PowerEdge Cluster.

Installing PowerEdge Cluster

Applications

Additional steps are required to configure applications software to run on the cluster. Chapter 4 in this guide pro- vides general information about this process and cites example procedures for setting up the Windows NT Internet Information Server (IIS) Virtual Root service, the File Share service, and the Print Spooler service to run on a cluster.

Chapter 4 also describes the rediscovery application, which must be run whenever the primary cluster node fails over to the secondary cluster node. The rediscovery application enables the secondary cluster node to redis- cover and reestablish system management of the SDS 100 storage system(s).

Checking the System

When installation is complete, you should check the functionality of your cluster system by performing a number of tests. See “Verifying the Cluster Functional- ity” in Chapter 3 for specific tests and procedures that you can perform to check out the cluster.

1-6 Dell PowerEdge Cluster (PowerEdge 4200) Installation and Troubleshooting Guide