Chapter 1 Planning the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Installation

This chapter provides planning information and guidelines for installing a Sun Cluster Geographic Edition configuration. This chapter also describes how to plan the data replication between two clusters.

This chapter contains the following sections:

• Installation Process

• Planning Cluster Hardware

• Planning Required Software

• Planning Resource and Resource Group Names

• Planning Required IP Addresses and Hostnames

• Planning the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Environment

Installation Process

To successfully install the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software, you must complete the following phases:

1. Planning your installation

2. Connecting your hardware

3. Installing Sun Cluster software

4. Installing data replication products

5. Installing and configuring the required software

6. Installing the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software

7. Configuring the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software

This installation process progresses from the initial planning phase to the eventual startup of the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software. This guide provides information about phases 1, 6, and 7.

For information about installing Sun Cluster software, see the Sun Cluster Software Installation Guide for Solaris OS.

For information about configuring a cluster after startup, see the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition System Administration Guide.

Planning Cluster Hardware

This section helps you to plan your hardware for the primary cluster, the secondary cluster, and the inter-cluster communication.

The Sun Cluster Geographic Edition hardware configuration consists of the following elements:

• At least two separate clusters that are running the Sun Cluster software with attached data storage

• A primary cluster with at least two nodes

• Internet connections for inter-cluster management communication between the clusters and for default inter-cluster heartbeats

• Connections for either host-based or storage-based data replication

• Connections for custom heartbeats, if any

The Sun Cluster Geographic Edition supported hardware configurations are the same as those of the Sun Cluster product. For use of the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software with storage-based data replication mechanisms, the cluster hardware configurations are those configurations that support the related storage hardware. Partner clusters must be compatibly configured to support data replication between the clusters. Use of the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition product with Hitachi TrueCopy data replication requires Sun Cluster configurations with Sun StorEdge^TM 9970/9980 Array or Hitachi Lightning 9900 Series storage that supports the Hitachi TrueCopy command interfaces.

Internet access is required between partner clusters. The communication between partner clusters for inter-cluster management operations is through a logical hostname IP address. The default inter-cluster heartbeat module also communicates through a logical hostname address.

A cluster in a Sun Cluster Geographic Edition partnership conforms to the standard configuration rules of a cluster that is running Sun Cluster software.

A cluster that is using the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software with a data replication product is subject to the same standard hardware configuration rules of a cluster that is running the data replication product with Sun Cluster software. For use of the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software with storage-based, data replication mechanisms, the cluster hardware configurations are those configurations that support the related storage hardware. Partner clusters must be compatibly configured to support data replication between clusters.

Planning Required Software

This section helps you to adapt the configuration of your Sun Cluster software for the installation of the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software. This section also helps you to plan the installation of your data replication software.

The Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software must be installed on a cluster that is running the Solaris Operating System and the Sun Cluster software. The Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software configuration is identical to the as Sun Cluster software configuration.

Required Software

The following table lists the required software.

Planning the Data Replication Software

A cluster that is using the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software with a data replication product is subject to the standard configuration rules of a cluster that is running the data replication product with Sun Cluster software. Partner clusters must have compatible software configurations to support data replication between the clusters.

The Sun Cluster Geographic Edition product supports the following data replication products:

• Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 software

• Hitachi TrueCopy software

If you use Hitachi TrueCopy RAID Manager software, it must be installed on each node of the cluster.

The Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 software is a host-based replication method. This method consists of software installed on a host that controls replication from one server to a secondary server.

The Hitachi TrueCopy replication method is a storage-based method. These methods use replication that is built into the storage hardware.

Planning Resource and Resource Group Names

A partnership requires two clusters to be combined into one environment, and one cluster might be a running production system. Therefore, advance planning of resources and resource groups is essential for a successful installation.

The Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software requires that resource group names are identical on each partner clusters to avoid resource and resource group name collisions.

Planning Required IP Addresses and Hostnames

You must have all the required IP addresses and hostnames before you begin the installation process. The logical hostname is a special high availability (HA) resource. The Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software requires that the hostname of a logical host is identical to the cluster name.

You must set up a number of IP addresses for various Sun Cluster Geographic Edition components, depending on your cluster configuration. Each node in the cluster configuration must have at least one public-network connection to the same set of public subnets.

See IP Addresses in Sun Cluster Software Installation Guide for Solaris OS for a list of components that require IP addresses. Add these IP addresses to any naming services that are used. Also add these IP addresses to the local /etc/inet/hosts file on each cluster node after you install Solaris software.

Planning the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Environment

This section provides guidelines for planning and preparing the following components for Sun Cluster software installation:

• Licensing

• Logical Addresses

Licensing

Ensure that you have available all necessary license certificates before you begin software installation. Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software does not require a license certificate. However, each node that is installed with Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software must be covered under your Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software license agreement.

For licensing requirements for data replication software and application software, see the installation documentation for those products.

Logical Addresses

The Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software uses the logical hostname of a cluster for inter-cluster management communication and heartbeat communication. A logical hostname must be the same as the name of the cluster and be available on the namespace of each cluster.

To find the name of the cluster, run the following command:

# scconf -p | head -2

For more information, see the scconf(1M) man page.