Sun Cluster Concepts Guide for Solaris OS

Data Services FAQs

Question:

Which Sun Cluster data services are available?

Answer:

The list of supported data services is included in Supported Products in Sun Cluster 3.1 4/05 Release Notes for Solaris OS.

Question:

Which application versions are supported by Sun Cluster data services?

Answer:

The list of supported application versions is included in Supported Products in Sun Cluster 3.1 4/05 Release Notes for Solaris OS.

Question:

Can I write my own data service?

Answer:

Yes. See the Chapter 11, DSDL API Functions, in Sun Cluster Data Services Developer’s Guide for Solaris OS for more information.

Question:

When creating network resources, should I specify numeric IP addresses or hostnames?

Answer:

The preferred method for specifying network resources is to use the UNIX hostname rather than the numeric IP address.

Question:

When creating network resources, what is the difference between using a logical hostname (a LogicalHostname resource) or a shared address (a SharedAddress resource)?

Answer:

Except in the case of Sun Cluster HA for NFS, wherever the documentation recommends the use of a LogicalHostname resource in a Failover mode resource group, a SharedAddress resource or LogicalHostname resource can be used interchangeably. The use of a SharedAddress resource incurs some additional overhead because the cluster networking software is configured for a SharedAddress but not for a LogicalHostname.

The advantage to using a SharedAddress resource is demonstrated when you configure both scalable and failover data services, and want clients to be able to access both services by using the same hostname. In this case, the SharedAddress resources along with the failover application resource are contained in one resource group. The scalable service resource is contained in a separate resource group and configured to use the SharedAddress resource. Both the scalable and failover services can then use the same set of hostnames/addresses that are configured in the SharedAddress resource.