System Administrator View

To the system administrator, the Sun Cluster software is a set of servers (nodes) that are cabled together, sharing storage devices.

The system administrator sees software that performs specific tasks:

• Specialized cluster software that is integrated with Solaris software to monitor the connectivity between cluster nodes

• Specialized software that monitors the health of user application programs that are running on the cluster nodes

• Volume management software that sets up and administers disks

• Specialized cluster software that enables all nodes to access all storage devices, even those that are not directly connected to disks

• Specialized cluster software that enables files to appear on every node as though they were locally attached to that node

Key Concepts – System Administration

System administrators need to understand the following concepts and processes:

• The interaction between the hardware and software components

• The general flow of how to install and configure the cluster including:

  • Installing the Solaris Operating System

  • Installing and configuring Sun Cluster software

  • Installing and configuring a volume manager

  • Installing and configuring application software to be cluster ready

  • Installing and configuring Sun Cluster data service software

• Cluster administrative procedures for adding, removing, replacing, and servicing cluster hardware and software components

• Configuration modifications to improve performance

More System Administrator Conceptual Information

The following sections contain material relevant to the preceding key concepts:

• Administrative Interfaces

• Cluster Time

• High-Availability Framework

• Global Devices

• Device Groups

• Global Namespace

• Cluster File Systems

• Disk Path Monitoring

• About Failure Fencing

• Data Services

Sun Cluster Documentation for System Administrators

The following Sun Cluster documents include procedures and information associated with the system administration concepts:

• Sun Cluster Software Installation Guide for Solaris OS

• Sun Cluster System Administration Guide for Solaris OS

• Sun Cluster Error Messages Guide for Solaris OS

• Sun Cluster 3.2 2/08 Release Notes for Solaris OS

• Sun Cluster Release Notes Supplement