This section provides guidelines for the following Sun Cluster components that you configure:
Add this information to the appropriate configuration planning worksheet.
Specify a name for the cluster during Sun Cluster configuration. The cluster name should be unique throughout the enterprise.
The node name is the name that you assign to a machine when you install the Solaris OS. During Sun Cluster configuration, you specify the names of all nodes that you are installing as a cluster. In single-node cluster installations, the default cluster name is the node name.
You do not need to configure a private network for a single-node cluster.
Sun Cluster software uses the private network for internal communication between nodes. A Sun Cluster configuration requires at least two connections to the cluster interconnect on the private network. You specify the private-network address and netmask when you configure Sun Cluster software on the first node of the cluster. You can either accept the default private-network address (172.16.0.0) and netmask (255.255.0.0) or type different choices.
After the installation utility (scinstall, SunPlex Installer, or JumpStart) has finished processing and the cluster is established, you cannot change the private-network address and netmask. You must uninstall and reinstall the cluster software to use a different private-network address or netmask.
If you specify a private-network address other than the default, the address must meet the following requirements:
The address must use zeroes for the last two octets of the address, as in the default address 172.16.0.0. Sun Cluster software requires the last 16 bits of the address space for its own use.
The address must be included in the block of addresses that RFC 1918 reserves for use in private networks. You can contact the InterNIC to obtain copies of RFCs or view RFCs online at http://www.rfcs.org.
You can use the same private network address in more than one cluster. Private IP network addresses are not accessible from outside the cluster.
Sun Cluster software does not support IPv6 addresses for the private interconnect. The system does configure IPv6 addresses on the private network adapters to support scalable services that use IPv6 addresses. But internode communication on the private network does not use these IPv6 addresses.
Although the scinstall utility lets you specify an alternate netmask, best practice is to accept the default netmask, 255.255.0.0. There is no benefit if you specify a netmask that represents a larger network. And the scinstall utility does not accept a netmask that represents a smaller network.
See Planning Your TCP/IP Network in System Administration Guide, Volume 3 (Solaris 8) or Planning Your TCP/IP Network (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: IP Services (Solaris 9 or Solaris 10) for more information about private networks.
The private hostname is the name that is used for internode communication over the private-network interface. Private hostnames are automatically created during Sun Cluster configuration. These private hostnames follow the naming convention clusternodenodeid -priv, where nodeid is the numeral of the internal node ID. During Sun Cluster configuration, the node ID number is automatically assigned to each node when the node becomes a cluster member. After the cluster is configured, you can rename private hostnames by using the scsetup(1M) utility.
You do not need to configure a cluster interconnect for a single-node cluster. However, if you anticipate eventually adding nodes to a single-node cluster configuration, you might want to configure the cluster interconnect for future use.
The cluster interconnects provide the hardware pathways for private-network communication between cluster nodes. Each interconnect consists of a cable that is connected in one of the following ways:
Between two transport adapters
Between a transport adapter and a transport junction
Between two transport junctions
During Sun Cluster configuration, you specify configuration information for two cluster interconnects. You can configure additional private-network connections after the cluster is established by using the scsetup(1M) utility.
For guidelines about cluster interconnect hardware, see Interconnect Requirements and Restrictions in Sun Cluster 3.0-3.1 Hardware Administration Manual for Solaris OS.For general information about the cluster interconnect, see Cluster Interconnect in Sun Cluster Overview for Solaris OS and Sun Cluster Concepts Guide for Solaris OS.
For the transport adapters, such as ports on network interfaces, specify the transport adapter names and transport type. If your configuration is a two-node cluster, you also specify whether your interconnect is direct connected (adapter to adapter) or uses a transport junction.
Consider the following guidelines and restrictions:
IPv6 - Sun Cluster software does not support IPv6 communications over the private interconnects.
Local MAC address assignment - All private network adapters must use network interface cards (NICs) that support local MAC address assignment. Link-local IPv6 addresses, which are required on private network adapters to support IPv6 public network addresses, are derived from the local MAC addresses.
Tagged VLAN adapters – Sun Cluster software supports tagged Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) to share an adapter between the private interconnect and the public network. To configure a tagged VLAN adapter for the private interconnect, specify the adapter name and its VLAN ID (VID) in one of the following ways:
Specify the usual adapter name, which is the device name plus the instance number or physical point of attachment (PPA). For example, the name of instance 2 of a Cassini Gigabit Ethernet adapter would be ce2. If the scinstall utility asks whether the adapter is part of a shared virtual LAN, answer yes and specify the adapter's VID number.
Specify the adapter by its VLAN virtual device name. This name is composed of the adapter name plus the VLAN instance number. The VLAN instance number is derived from the formula (1000*V)+N, where V is the VID number and N is the PPA.
As an example, for VID 73 on adapter ce2, the VLAN instance number would be calculated as (1000*73)+2. You would therefore specify the adapter name as ce73002 to indicate that it is part of a shared virtual LAN.
For more information about VLAN, see Configuring VLANs in Solaris 9 9/04 Sun Hardware Platform Guide.
SBus SCI adapters – The SBus Scalable Coherent Interface (SCI) is not supported as a cluster interconnect. However, the SCI–PCI interface is supported.
Logical network interfaces - Logical network interfaces are reserved for use by Sun Cluster software.
See the scconf_trans_adap_*(1M) family of man pages for information about a specific transport adapter.
If you use transport junctions, such as a network switch, specify a transport junction name for each interconnect. You can use the default name switchN, where N is a number that is automatically assigned during configuration, or create another name. The exception is the Sun Fire Link adapter, which requires the junction name sw-rsm N. The scinstall utility automatically uses this junction name after you specify a Sun Fire Link adapter (wrsmN).
Also specify the junction port name or accept the default name. The default port name is the same as the internal node ID number of the node that hosts the adapter end of the cable. However, you cannot use the default port name for certain adapter types, such as SCI-PCI.
Clusters with three or more nodes must use transport junctions. Direct connection between cluster nodes is supported only for two-node clusters.
If your two-node cluster is direct connected, you can still specify a transport junction for the interconnect.
If you specify a transport junction, you can more easily add another node to the cluster in the future.
Sun Cluster configurations use quorum devices to maintain data and resource integrity. If the cluster temporarily loses connection to a node, the quorum device prevents amnesia or split-brain problems when the cluster node attempts to rejoin the cluster. During Sun Cluster installation of a two-node cluster, the scinstall utility automatically configures a quorum device. The quorum device is chosen from the available shared storage disks. The scinstall utility assumes that all available shared storage disks are supported to be quorum devices. After installation, you can also configure additional quorum devices by using the scsetup(1M) utility.
You do not need to configure quorum devices for a single-node cluster.
If your cluster configuration includes third-party shared storage devices that are not supported for use as quorum devices, you must use the scsetup utility to configure quorum manually.
Consider the following points when you plan quorum devices.
Minimum – A two-node cluster must have at least one quorum device, which can be a shared disk or a Network Appliance NAS device. For other topologies, quorum devices are optional.
Odd-number rule – If more than one quorum device is configured in a two-node cluster, or in a pair of nodes directly connected to the quorum device, configure an odd number of quorum devices. This configuration ensures that the quorum devices have completely independent failure pathways.
Connection – You must connect a quorum device to at least two nodes.
For more information about quorum devices, see Quorum and Quorum Devices in Sun Cluster Concepts Guide for Solaris OS and Quorum Devices in Sun Cluster Overview for Solaris OS.