Sun Cluster 3.1 Software Installation Guide

Planning the Solaris Operating Environment

This section provides guidelines for planning Solaris software installation in a cluster configuration. For more information about Solaris software, see the Solaris installation documentation.

Guidelines for Selecting Your Solaris Installation Method

You can install Solaris software from a local CD-ROM or from a network installation server by using the JumpStart^TM installation method. In addition, Sun Cluster software provides a custom method for installing both the Solaris operating environment and Sun Cluster software by using JumpStart. If you are installing several cluster nodes, consider a network installation.

See How to Install Solaris and Sun Cluster Software (JumpStart) for details about the scinstall JumpStart installation method. See the Solaris installation documentation for details about standard Solaris installation methods.

Solaris Software Group Considerations

Sun Cluster 3.1 software requires at least the Solaris End User System Support software group. However, other components of your cluster configuration might have their own Solaris software requirements as well. Consider the following information when you decide which Solaris software group you will install.

See your server documentation for any Solaris software requirements. For example, Sun Enterprise 10000 servers require the Entire Distribution + OEM software group.
If you install the Solaris 8 10/01 operating environment and intend to use SCI-PCI adapters or the Remote Shared Memory Application Programming Interface (RSMAPI), ensure that you install the RSMAPI software packages (SUNWrsm, SUNWrsmx, SUNWrsmo, and SUNWrsmox). The Solaris Developer System Support software group or higher includes these packages. If you install the End User System Support software group, use the pkgadd(1M) command to install these RSMAPI packages before you install Sun Cluster software. See the Solaris 8 10/01 section (3RSM) man pages for information about using the RSMAPI.
You might need to install other Solaris software packages which are not part of the End User System Support software group, for example, the Apache HTTP server packages. Third-party software, such as ORACLE®, might also require additional Solaris packages. See your third-party documentation for any Solaris software requirements.

System Disk Partitions

Add this information to “Local File Systems With Mirrored Root Worksheet” in Sun Cluster 3.1 Release Notes or “Local File Systems with Non-Mirrored Root Worksheet” in Sun Cluster 3.1 Release Notes.

When you install the Solaris operating environment, ensure that you create the required Sun Cluster partitions and that all partitions meet minimum space requirements.

swap – The amount of swap space allocated for Solaris and Sun Cluster software combined must be no less that 750 Mbytes. For best results, add at least 512 Mbytes for Sun Cluster software to the amount required by the Solaris operating environment. In addition, allocate any additional amount required by applications that will run on the cluster node.
/globaldevices – Create a 512-Mbyte file system that will be used by the scinstall(1M) utility for global devices.
Volume manager – Create a 20-Mbyte partition for volume manager use on a slice at the end of the disk (slice 7). If your cluster uses VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM) and you intend to encapsulate the root disk, you need two unused slices available for use by VxVM.

To meet these requirements, you must customize the partitioning if you are performing interactive installation of the Solaris operating environment.

See the following guidelines for additional partition planning information.

Guidelines for the Root (`/`) File System

As with any other system running the Solaris operating environment, you can configure the root (/), /var, /usr, and /opt directories as separate file systems, or you can include all the directories in the root (/) file system. The following describes the software contents of the root (/), /var, /usr, and /opt directories in a Sun Cluster configuration. Consider this information when you plan your partitioning scheme.

root (/) – The Sun Cluster software itself occupies less than 40 Mbytes of space in the root (/) file system. Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager software requires less than 5 Mbytes, and VxVM software requires less than 15 Mbytes. For best results, you need to configure ample additional space and inode capacity for the creation of both block special devices and character special devices used by either Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager or VxVM software, especially if a large number of shared disks are in the cluster. Therefore, add at least 100 Mbytes to the amount of space you would normally allocate for your root (/) file system.
/var – The Sun Cluster software occupies a negligible amount of space in the /var file system at installation time. However, you need to set aside ample space for log files. Also, more messages might be logged on a clustered node than would be found on a typical standalone server. Therefore, allow at least 100 Mbytes for the /var file system.
/usr – Sun Cluster software occupies less than 25 Mbytes of space in the /usr file system. Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager and VxVM software each require less than 15 Mbytes.
/opt – Sun Cluster framework software uses less than 2 Mbytes in the /opt file system. However, each Sun Cluster data service might use between 1 Mbyte and 5 Mbytes. Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager software does not use any space in the /opt file system. VxVM software can use over 40 Mbytes if all of its packages and tools are installed. In addition, most database and applications software is installed in the /opt file system. If you use Sun Management Center software to monitor the cluster, you need an additional 25 Mbytes of space on each node to support the Sun Management Center agent and Sun Cluster module packages.

Guidelines for the swap Partition

The amount of swap space allocated for Solaris and Sun Cluster software combined must be no less that 750 Mbytes. For best results, add at least 512 Mbytes for Sun Cluster software to the amount required by the Solaris operating environment. In addition, allocate additional swap space for any third-party applications you install on the node that also have swap requirements. See your third-party application documentation for any swap requirements.

Guidelines for the `/globaldevices` File System

Sun Cluster software requires that you set aside a special file system on one of the local disks for use in managing global devices. This file system must be separate, as it will later be mounted as a cluster file system. Name this file system /globaldevices, which is the default name recognized by the scinstall(1M) command. The scinstall command later renames the file system /global/.devices/node@nodeid, where nodeid represents the number assigned to a node when it becomes a cluster member, and the original /globaldevices mount point is removed. The /globaldevices file system must have ample space and inode capacity for creating both block special devices and character special devices, especially if a large number of disks are in the cluster. A file system size of 512 Mbytes should be more than enough for most cluster configurations.

Volume Manager Requirements

If you use Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager software, you must set aside a slice on the root disk for use in creating the state database replica. Specifically, set aside a slice for this purpose on each local disk. But, if you only have one local disk on a node, you might need to create three state database replicas in the same slice for Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager software to function properly. See the Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager documentation for more information.

If you use VxVM and you intend to encapsulate the root disk, you need two unused slices available for use by VxVM, as well as some additional unassigned free space at either the beginning or the end of the disk. See the VxVM documentation for more information about root disk encapsulation.

Example—Sample File System Allocations

Table 1–2 shows a partitioning scheme for a cluster node that has less than 750 Mbytes of physical memory. This scheme will be installed with the Solaris operating environment End User System Support software group, Sun Cluster software, and the Sun Cluster HA for NFS data service. The last slice on the disk, slice 7, is allocated with a small amount of space for volume manager use.

This layout allows for the use of either Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager software or VxVM. If you use Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager software, you use slice 7 for the state database replica. If you use VxVM, you later free slice 7 by assigning it a zero length. This layout provides the necessary two free slices, 4 and 7, and it provides for unused space at the end of the disk.

Table 1–2 Example File System Allocation


Slice	Contents	Allocation (in Mbytes)	Description
0	`/`	6.75GB	Remaining free space on the disk after allocating space to slices 1 through 7. Used for Solaris operating environment software, Sun Cluster software, data services software, volume manager software, Sun Management Center agent and Sun Cluster module agent packages, root file systems, and database and application software.
1	swap	1GB	512 Mbytes for Solaris operating environment software. 512 Mbytes for Sun Cluster software.
2	overlap	8.43GB	The entire disk.
3	`/globaldevices`	512MB	The Sun Cluster software later assigns this slice a different mount point and mounts it as a cluster file system.
4	unused	-	Available as a free slice for encapsulating the root disk under VxVM.
5	unused	-	-
6	unused	-	-
7	volume manager	20MB	Used by Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager software for the state database replica, or used by VxVM for installation after you free the slice.