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The VA7100 array and Base-VXVM

 
Sebastian Viudez Ortega
Occasional Contributor

The VA7100 array and Base-VXVM


We have recently purchased a cluster
composed by two rp5470 and one VA7100, with
two fiber controler per node - HP Tachyon TS
FC A5158- and two S10 hubs, to provide path
redundancy between the VA7100 and each node.

Our intention is, based at the ServiceGuard,
tu put in high availability 3 or 4 little
independent aplications per node, and our actual
decision is the volume manager to use on the
VA7100, if LVM or Base-VXVM (we have not
purchased the VXVM add-on products).

I'm trying to use Base-VXVM, but i'm not
sure if this is possible. I've read at page 35
of the 'HP SureStore Virtual Arrays 7100 &
7400 User???s & Service Guide' September 2001
Edition, the following:

'Since the VA7100 has only one redundancy group,
and the secondary controller is used *** only for
failover***... . If Controller 1 fails, the host
will use the secondary path to Controller 2'.
I deduce from this that the VA7100 is a
active/passive array type, in contrast to
VA7400 - active/active-.

Also, i've read at page 13 (table 1-2) of
the 'VERITAS Volume Manager 3.1 for HP-UX
Release Notes for HP-UX 11i, September, 2001'
that Base-VXVM include 'Path failover support
(active/passive peripherals)'.

The problem is that the 'vmsa' utility say
that the VA7100 is a 'active/active' peripheral,
and it seems this is not a parameter to modify.
If this is true, i need the B9116AA product.
But any way, the VA7100 is not a peripheral
to work with 'load balancing', because its
second controler low performance.

The question is, can i really work in
'active/passive' mode (failover mode) with
the VA7100 and the Base-VXVM?,


Thank you in advance.

S. Viudez