ProLiant Cluster F500 for the Enterprise SAN

Highly Available Server Hardware
HP high end servers incorporate as standard high availability and manageability features such as off-line backup processor, PCI hot plug, redundant hot plug fans, redundant processor power modules, redundant NIC support, hot plug dual port NIC, redundant hot plug power supplies.

Redundant Connections between Server and Storage System
The solution includes dual Fibre Channel switches and dual active/active storage controllers found in the large storage capability of the EVA3000, EVA5000, RA8000 or MA8000/EMA12000/EMA16000 Storage Subsystem for total hardware redundancy in accessing the external storage subsystem. The redundant storage connections are supported by HP software included in the cluster kit, which provide dual HBA (host bus adapters installed in the servers) support with static load balancing. And auto fail over in the event of an HBA or Optical link failure.

Web-based Cluster Administration
Provides anywhere administration for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows 2003based clusters. The ProLiant Cluster F500 for the Enterprise SAN configurations utilize HP SmartStart, HP Insight Manager, Cluster Monitor, SANWorks SecurePath, and MSCS software to enable rapid installation, configuration monitoring and management, as well as deployment of clustered environments throughout the enterprise. HP SmartStart and HP Insight Manager are now "cluster enabled," allowing easy installation and sophisticated cluster and systems management, either locally or from remote locations.

Fail-over capability of MSCS for Windows Operating Systems
Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) allows applications to fail-over from one server in the cluster to the next in case of hardware or software failures, including failure of the operating system. MSCS provides for static load balancing between servers for various Windows applications. In the Windows Server 2003 environment, provides for 8-node cluster with various fail over modes, which increase the usage factors of clustered servers significantly.

Cluster Extension Continuous Access EVA for Windows 2003
Utilization of Microsoft Majority Node Set for Quorum device
Support of EVA GL arrays with Continuous Access
Microsoft Certification: "Geographically Dispersed Cluster Solution" + CLX-certification for Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 Microsoft Windows Catalog certification Geo-cluster-certification without reboot of cluster during failover to 2nd storage system.

Multipath Input/Output (MPIO) for Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003
Multipathing increases availability by providing multiple paths from the host to the external storage device.

The Multipath Input/Output (MPIO) Driver Development Kit (DDK) allows storage vendors to create interoperable multipathing solutions that work with Windows Server 2003.
Up to 32 paths to each logical unit are supported.
For devices that can support multiple active paths, a vendor can improve performance by implementing load balancing.

To take advantage of MPIO on your SAN, you must ensure that your storage uses multipath drivers that support Microsoft MPIO technology
HP has developed "basic functionality" Microsoft specific MPIO Device Specific Modules (DSM's)
HP's "basic functionality" DSM's support basic failover only.

SCSI Port (StorPort) HBA driver for Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003
In addition to the SCSI Port driver, Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 and later versions provide Storport (storport.sys), a storage port driver that is especially suitable for use with high-performance buses, such as fibre channel buses, and RAID adapters.

There are several advantages to using Storport rather than the SCSI Port driver:

• Improved performance, both in terms of throughput and the system resources that are utilized. The Storport driver should also perform on a par with, or better than, a monolithic port driver.
• Improved miniport driver interface that addresses the needs of high-end storage vendors, particularly host-based RAID and fibre channel vendors.

Highly Available Storage
The HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array 3000 (eva3000) is the newest addition to the HP StorageWorks V-class Array family that is enabled by VersaStor technology. It is an ultra-high performance, ultra-high capacity and ultra-high availability "virtual" RAID (Vraid) storage solution for the mid-range data center. It removes the time, space and cost boundaries of traditionally architected storage.

The Enterprise Virtual Array 5000 is also a member of StorageWorks Disk Array family that is enabled by VersaStor technology. It is an ultra-high performance, ultra-high capacity and ultra-high availability "virtual" RAID (Vraid) storage solution for the upper-end of the enterprise marketplace that removes the time, space and cost boundaries of traditionally architected storage.

The RA8000/ESA12000 or MA8000/EMA12000/EMA16000 storage systems from HP StorageWorks are high-capacity storage subsystems that support single or redundant RAID controllers, which manage up to 72 disks per controller or controller pair. The use of fibre channel switches (FC-Switch), will support four pairs of controllers for a maximum raw storage capacity configuration of 42.05 TB per cluster (4 storage subsystems x 72 drives x 146 GB= 42.05). NOTE that the capacities increase linearly as higher capacity drives are added and supported by the storage subsystems. The dual RAID controllers can also be configured to up to four independent clusters utilizing the switch configuration (FC-Switch).

Investment Protection
The ProLiant Cluster F500 for the Enterprise SAN is designed with state of the art technology and standards-based components to provide a long-term business solution. The advent of fibre technology in conjunction with high speed processing power and system and network interconnects will position the user to take advantage of new software that taxes the capabilities of much of the current hardware. The ProLiant Cluster F500 for the Enterprise SAN can be configured utilizing many of the standard servers and components that are available now and may already be on site. This means that customers can achieve high availability systems through clusters assembled using their existing servers.

With the addition of Windows Server 2003 operating system designed specifically for clustering, customers existing hardware is supported in the operating system migration. Because the solution is based on industry standard hardware, it can be implemented at a much lower cost than RISC/UNIX-based cluster solutions without compromising availability.

Integrated Solutions
HP ProLiant Clusters integrate hardware and software to provide a total solution for business-critical environments. HP servers, interconnect, HP Storage Systems, Microsoft and HP software, and HP integration documentation have all been thoroughly tested in cluster configurations. HP's close relationship with application partners such as Microsoft, SAP, BAAN, PeopleSoft, Oracle, Informix, and many others has resulted in the development of cluster applications on HP hardware. HP uses this expertise to assist customers to design cluster configurations that will meet customer demand.

HP offers a full range of cluster products, such as SCSI Packaged clusters, Infrastructure cluster kits, as well as kits for enterprise IT environments. This Family of products supports ProLiant Servers and StorageWorks Storage with Microsoft Cluster Server software.

• high availability for applications and data in business-critical environments
• flexibility to choose from a wide range of ProLiant servers to address performance and scalability needs
• full redundancy and optimal performance with dual paths to storage systems
• support for Fabric switches that allow the customer to connect to the larger SAN
• multiple Cluster support allows customers to realize their business goals of Server/Storage consolidation