- Understand the theory behind system and component
failures, their impact and subsequent cost to the
Enterprise
- Learn about the leading-edge technologies used inside
the Sun Cluster 3.0 software
- See how Sun Clusters enable Enterprises to deploy best
practice cluster technology quickly and safely
Designing Enterprise Solutions with Sun Cluster 3.0 is an
introduction to architecting highly available systems with
Sun servers, storage, and the Sun Cluster 3.0 software.
Three recurring themes are used throughout the book:
failures, synchronization, and arbitration. These themes
occur throughout all levels of systems design. The first
chapter deals with understanding these relationships and
recognizing failure modes associated with synchronization
and arbitration. The second and third chapters review the
building blocks and describe the Sun Cluster 3.0 software
environment in detail. The remaining chapters discuss
management servers and provide hypothetical case studies in
which enterprise solutions are designed using Sun
technologies. Appendices provide a checklist for designing
clustered solutions, additional information on Sun
technologies used in many different types of clusters,
guidelines for data center design best practices, and a
brief description of some failure analysis tools used by
Sun systems designers and architects.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements.
1. Cluster and Complex System Design
Issues.
Business Reasons for
Clustered Systems. Failures in Complex Systems. Data
Synchronization. Arbitration Schemes. Data Caches.
Timeouts. Failures in Clustered Systems. Summary.
2. Enterprise Cluster Computing Building Blocks.
Data Repositories and
Infrastructure Services. Business Logic and Application
Service. User Access Services: Web Farms. Compute Clusters.
Technologies for Building Distributed Applications.
3. Sun Cluster 3.0 Architecture. System Architecture.
Kernel Infrastructure. System Features. Cluster Failures.
Synchronization. Arbitration.
4. Management Server. Design Goals. Services.
Console Services. Sun Ray Server. Sun StorEdge SAN Surfer.
Sun Explorer Data Collector. Sun Remote Service. Software
Stack. Hardware Components. Network Configuration. Systems
Management. Backup, Restore, and Recovery. Summary.
5. Case Study 1-File Server Cluster. Firm Description. Design
Goals. Cluster Software. Recommended Hardware
Configuration. Summary.
6. Case Study 2-Database Cluster. Company Description.
Information Technology Organization. Design Goals. Business
Case. Requirements. Design Priorities. Cluster Software.
Recommended Hardware Configuration. Summary.
A. Sun Cluster 3.0 Design Checklists. Business Case
Considerations. Personnel Considerations. Top-Level Design
Documentation. Environmental Design. Server Design. Shared
Storage Design. Network Design. Software Environment
Design. Security Considerations. Systems Management
Requirements. Testing Requirements.
B. Sun Cluster Technology History and Perspective.
SPARCcluster PDB 1.x and
SPARCcluster HA 1.x History. Sun Cluster 2.x. Sun Cluster
2.2 and 3.0 Feature Comparison.
C. Data Center Guidelines. Hardware Platform
Stability. Server Consolidation in a Common Rack. System
Component Identification. AC/DC Power. System Cooling.
Network Infrastructure. Security. System Installation and
Configuration Documentation. Change Control Practices.
Maintenance and Patch Strategy. Component Spares. New
Release Upgrade Process. Support Agreement and Associated
Response Time. Backup-and-Restore Testing. Cluster Recovery
Procedures. Summary.
D. Tools. Fault Tree Analysis,
Reliability Block Diagram Analysis. Failure Modes and
Effects Analysis. Event Tree Analysis.
Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Glossary. Bibliography. Index.