Cluster Nodes
Table 1-1 lists the hardware requirements for the cluster nodes.
Table 1-1. Cluster Node Requirements
Component | Minimum Requirement |
|
|
Cluster nodes | A minimum of two identical Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers are |
| required. The maximum number of nodes that is supported |
| depends 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 |
| required amount of system RAM. |
|
|
HBA ports | Two Fibre Channel HBAs per node, unless the server employs |
| an integrated or supported |
| Where possible, place the HBAs on separate PCI buses to |
| improve availability and performance. |
|
|
NICs (public and | At least two NICs: one NIC for the public network and |
private networks) | 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 | One controller connected to at least two internal hard drives |
controller | 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 |
| internal drives. |
|
|
NOTE: For more information about supported systems, HBAs and operating system variants, see the Dell Cluster Configuration Support Matrices located on the Dell High Availability Clustering website at dell.com/ha.
Introduction
9
