Use of Microsoft s OS Clustering (MSCS)

     

Use of Microsoft's OS Clustering (MSCS)

Microsoft's OS Clustering (MSCS) supports hardware failover for multiple servers, or nodes, in a cluster sharing the same common disk device. MSCS provides failover protection so that if two servers running WebSphere are set up for failover, and one server becomes unavailable, the second server will come up, use the shared disk subsystem, restart the respective applications, and continue with the processes. It will use the same disk where the WAS data resides and the same IP address that the WebSphere server is using. Therefore, the failover function is transparent to clients . MSCS provides only failover protection. Also, if the shared disk device OS clustering is using goes down, the system is down. Thus, it is very important to have a mirrored (RAID 1) shared disk for OS clustering.

Microsoft Cluster Server ("MSCS") is clustering software that ships with Microsoft Windows NT Server ”Enterprise Edition. MSCS supports clusters of two, specially linked servers running Microsoft NT Server ”Enterprise Edition. The primary function of MSCS occurs when one server in a cluster fails or is taken offline. With MSCS, the other server in the cluster takes over the failed server's operations. Clients using server resources experience little or no interruption of their work because the resource functions move from one server to the other.

MSCS is comprised of two main components: clustering software and the Cluster Administrator. The clustering software enables the two servers of a cluster to exchange specific types of messages that trigger the transfer of resources at the appropriate times. The clustering software has two primary components : the Cluster Service and the Resource Monitor. The Cluster Service runs on each cluster server. It controls cluster activity, communication between cluster servers, and failure operations. The Resource Monitor handles communication between the Cluster Service and the application resources. The Cluster Administrator is a graphical application that is used to manage a cluster. It runs on any version of NT (server, workstation) that has Service Pack 3 or later installed. In MSCS, a cluster is a configuration of two nodes, each of which is an independent computer system. Together, these independent servers create a "server cluster." The cluster appears to users as a single server. For MSCS, both nodes must be running NT Server (or Windows 2000) Enterprise Edition. The network applications, data files, and other tools you install on the nodes are the cluster resources, which provide services to network clients. A resource is hosted on only one node at any time.



IBM WebSphere and Lotus Implementing Collaborative Solutions
IBM(R) WebSphere(R) and Lotus: Implementing Collaborative Solutions
ISBN: 0131443305
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 169

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