Determining the Location of the Application Binaries

The two locations where you can install the application software and application configuration files are: on the local disks of each cluster node or on the cluster file system. The advantage to placing the software and configuration files on the individual cluster nodes is that if you want to upgrade the application software later, you can do so without shutting down the cluster. The disadvantage is that you then have several copies of the software and configuration files to maintain and administer.

If you put the application binaries on the cluster file system, you have only one copy to maintain and manage, but you must shut down the data service in the entire cluster to upgrade the application software. If you can spare a small amount of downtime for upgrades, put a single copy of the application and configuration files on the cluster file system.

For information on creating cluster file systems, see the planning chapter of the Sun Cluster 3.0 Installation Guide.