mix cluster alpha server and integrity rx2660

[lalo57]

hi doctors...

I want to know if you're involved to implement a cluster with alpha and integrity servers joining a set of disk like cluster. On my job he want to share a lot of disk (eva4k) for both servers. Actually, we have two axp in cluster and we want to join two rx2660 to this schema.
is it possible and what others complaint should be considered before to start the planning?.

Really thanks for your ideas, i'll appreciate it.

Eduardo

[Andy Bustamante · Accepted solution]

Clustering between Alpha and Integrity servers is supported. You'll want to move your Alphaservers to the same version of OpenVMS (8.3, soon to be 8.4) as the Integrity systems. If you're doing this as a migration measure, you may leave the Alphaservers at current release and phase in the new servers.

The Alpha and Integrity systems will require different boot disks, additional disks can be shared depending on the storage configuration. With an EVA there should be no issues with presenting to all systems in the cluster.

The OpenVMS documentation site is http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/index.html. You should consider what quorum requirements will be against your business requirements. That is, with 4 systems, what combination of votes will best provide availability to the business. With 2 systems, you probably have a quorum disk, this may be an/the Alpha system disk. With 4 nodes, removing the quorum disk is a option. Moving it to a a non system disk would be recommended.

Having a consultant come in and review your requirements might be good idea. Modifying an cluster can be done quickly and gracefully for the experienced system manager.

[P Muralidhar Kini]

Hi Eduardo,

>> is it possible
Yes. Clusering with Alpha & Integrity is supported.
You can have a Mix cluster, where some nodes are Alpha nodes and some
nodes are Integrity nodes.

>> what others complaint should be considered before to start the planning?
As these nodes would be part of the cluster, things to consider would be the
cluster configuration. i.e. VOTES/EXPECTED VOTES Sysgen parameters.

For OpenVMS Cluster Configuration refer -
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/732final/6318/6318pro_019.html
->Guidelines for OpenVMS Cluster Configurations

About the OpenVMS Versions,
You can have a Alpha V73-2 in a cluster with Integrity V82-1 and so on.
There is no problems with the VMS versions on Alpha and Integrity.
However the recommendation would be always to have the latest version
of OpenVMS on Alpha/Integrity. If you dont dont plan to upgrade the VMS
version, then you can keep it the same. There should not be any problems
with this with respect to having a mix version cluster.

In general not a lot of changes is required if you want only to add new Integrity
nodes to the two alpha nodes in the cluster. The only thing would be to add 2
nodes to the existing 2 node cluster in order to form a 4 node cluster.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Murali

[Robert Gezelter]

Eduardo,

As has been noted, sharing data volumes hosted on an EVA is not a problem.

It will be most likely necessary to use an EVA-based volume to host the cluster common files (e.g., SYSUAF, RIGHTSLIST, etc.). Consider also what is the minimum operating configuration of the cluster (if the answer is "One Node + the EVA", then appropriate use of an EVA-based quorum disk is in order.

It will also be necessary to review the quota values presently in the SYSUAF. The quota needs of users on the Alpha and IA64 nodes is different. This can be accomplished by either finding values acceptable on both architectures, or using the parameter file to define minimum values on (likely) the IA64 nodes.

It will also be necessary to ensure that any applications with executable images be correctly set up with appropriate architecture-dependent directories and logical names so that the different architectures are as transparent as possible.

Expertise with experience in this type of environment may also be in order [Disclosure: We do provide such assistance, as do several other regular contributors to this forum].

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com

[Shriniketan Bhagwat]

Hi Eduardo,

A combination of OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS integrity systems can work together in the same OpenVMS Cluster to provide both flexibility and migration capability. This is called as heterogeneous cluster environment. Using different platforms enables you to use applications that are system specific or hardware specific. Please refer manuals OpenVMS Cluster Systems and Guidelines for OpenVMS Cluster Configurations for below link.

http://www.openvms.compaq.com/doc/os83_index.html

You need to consider cluster configuration, OS version (select the latest supported one which has may features), data storage/share, system parameters etc. Basically configure your cluster based on your business requirements.

Regards,
Ketan

[Peter Zeiszler]

We actually run alpha 7.3-2 with itanium 8.2 in a mixed cluster. This works fine together. Just remember to account for common files and where every system has votes and expected votes (just like any cluster setup)

[The Brit]

Hi Eduardo,
We run mixed architecture cluster (Itanium Blades with DS10 Alpha) without any problems at all. We keep the alpha to run a couple of apps which have not been ported to I64.
The only thing you really have to be careful of, apart from the obvious "different boot disks", are the common files (as mentioned above).
There is a list of the most important VMS files in SYLOGICALS.COM, but you must also consider common files for your apps if they reside on the system disk.
The most important from the VMS perspective are the QMAN database and the SYSUAF/RIGHTSLIST files.

Anyway, if you do your "due diligence" you should not have anything to worry about.

DAve