New Features and Functionality (Sun Cluster 3.1 8/05 Release Notes for Solaris OS)

Sun Cluster 3.1 8/05 Release Notes for Solaris OS

New Features and Functionality

This section describes each of the new features provided in Sun Cluster 3.1 8/05.

Improved Cluster Installation and Upgrade Functionality

This release introduces several enhancements to the installation and configuration of Sun Cluster software.

The following menu options are added to the scinstall utility:
- Typical-mode installation for the first node of a cluster, additional nodes of a cluster, and JumpStart installation setup
- Single-node cluster installation
- Cluster upgrade
The scinstall utility can now automatically select and configure a quorum device as part of configuration processing. This optional feature is available for two-node clusters which use only SCSI shared storage devices that are qualified for use as a quorum device.

The following file modifications are now automated as part of Sun Cluster configuration processing:

File Name	Entry Changes
`/etc/hostname.if`	An entry for each configured public-network adapter on the node is added, to enable single-adapter IPMP groups.
`/etc/inet/hosts`	An entry for each cluster node is added.
`/etc/inet/ntp.conf.cluster`	Unused private hostname entries are deleted.
`/etc/nsswitch.conf`	Most entries are modified to consult the local `files` database before performing remote server lookups.
`/etc/system`	The entry `exclude:lofs` is added.

This functionality is reflected in the installation and upgrade procedures in Chapter 2, Installing and Configuring Sun Cluster Software, in Sun Cluster Software Installation Guide for Solaris OS and Chapter 5, Upgrading Sun Cluster Software, in Sun Cluster Software Installation Guide for Solaris OS.

Support for Network Appliance Network-Attached Storage (NAS) Devices

Sun Cluster software supports Network Appliance NAS devices, for shared storage only, beginning with Sun Cluster 3.1 9/04 software. It supports NAS devices as quorum devices beginning with Sun Cluster 3.1 8/05 software. The Network Appliance NAS device can now be deployed as following with Sun Cluster:

As a quorum device, with support for fencing.
With Oracle RAC and with all Sun Cluster enabled applications except HA-NFS.
With NFSv3 and NFSv4.
Without any restriction on cluster size.

For information about installing and maintaining a NAS device in a Sun Cluster environment, see Sun Cluster 3.1 With Network-Attached Storage Devices Manual for Solaris OS. For information about using a Network Appliance NAS device as a quorum device, see How to Add a Network Appliance Network-Attached Storage (NAS) Quorum Device in Sun Cluster System Administration Guide for Solaris OS.

Simplified SunPlex Manager Interface

The information displayed in the initial data screen of the SunPlex Manager has been simplified. The initial screen now shows only the Nodes and Resource Groups tables. You can access the other tables by clicking on the appropriate item in the Navigation Tree in the left side of the browser window.

Support for Tagged VLAN to Share Network Adapters

Sun Cluster software supports tagged Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) to share an adapter between the private interconnect and the public network. For information about configuring a tagged VLAN adapter for the private interconnect, see Cluster Interconnect in Sun Cluster Software Installation Guide for Solaris OS.

Sun Cluster HA for Solaris Containers

The Sun Cluster HA for Solaris Containers data service enables applications to run in non-global zones under the control of Sun Cluster.

To enable applications to run in non-global zones under the control of Sun Cluster, Sun Cluster HA for Solaris Containers performs the following operations:

The orderly booting and shutdown of a zone, enabling a non-global zone to run in failover configuration or a multiple-masters configuration
The orderly startup, shutdown, and fault monitoring of an application within the zone by scripts or commands
The orderly startup, shutdown, and fault monitoring of a Solaris Service Management Facility (SMF) service within the zone

If you plan to use this data service, you must write your own scripts or SMF manifests for applications that are to run in non-global zones.

The following restrictions apply to the Sun Cluster HA for Solaris Containers data service:

The data service does not enable Sun Cluster software to run in a non-global zone.
The data service does not enable existing data services to run in a non-global zone.
The data service does not enable failover between non-global zones on the same node.

For more information about this data service, see Sun Cluster Data Service for Solaris Containers Guide.

Support for Solaris SMF Services

Sun Cluster software enables you to use Sun Cluster to make highly available an application that is integrated with the Solaris Service Management Facility (SMF). If you use Sun Cluster to make an SMF service highly available, restrictions apply to the use of the Solaris SMF. For more information, see Enabling Solaris SMF Services to Run Under the Control of Sun Cluster in Sun Cluster Data Services Planning and Administration Guide for Solaris OS.

Support for the AMD 64–Bit Platform

Sun Cluster software runs on the 64-bit family of microprocessor chips and compatible microprocessor chips that are made by AMD.

Support for Kerberos

Sun Cluster software supports the use of Kerberos with NFS. For more information, see Securing Sun Cluster HA for NFS With Kerberos V5 in Sun Cluster Data Service for NFS Guide for Solaris OS.

Support for Oracle 10g and Oracle 10g Real Application Clusters on the SPARC Platform and x86 Platform

Sun Cluster software supports version 10g of Oracle and Oracle Real Application Clusters on the SPARC platform. Qualification of version 10g of Oracle and Oracle Real Application Clusters on the x86 platform is pending and is not yet supported. For more information, see the following documentation: