| This chapter covers the following testing objectives for Novell Course 3000: Upgrading to NetWare 6: Identify the Purpose and Advantages of Implementing an NCS Solution Design and Set Up an NCS Cluster Configuration Install and Test NCS on a Two-Node Cluster Configure and Test High Availability File Access Configure and Test High Availability Services
Welcome to Chapter 7 the final lesson in Novell's CNE Update to NetWare 6 Study Guide. Throughout this book we have studied NetWare 6 as a catalyst for anytime, anywhere access to these network services: filing (iFolder), printing (iPrint), network management (iManager), and directory services (eDirectory). Now, in this final chapter, we shift our attention away from building Novell's information superhighway to keeping it running. In this lesson, Anytime, Anywhere Access (AAA) will take on a new meaning Anytime, Anywhere, Always Up!! Always Up in the Novell universe is accomplished by using NCS (Novell Cluster Services). NCS is a high-availability solution built into NetWare 6 that allows you to create redundant Storage Area Networks (SANs) for critical network applications and files. In this lesson, you will learn how to design a NetWare 6 NCS solution, how to install it, how to configure it, and how to keep it running. Here is a preview of the NetWare 6 high availability lessons we'll explore in this chapter: Understanding Novell Cluster Services In this first section, we will explore high availability in theory and explore the various factors that cause computer system outages. High availability generally means 24x7x365 availability of services for a certain percentage of the time. Of course, every IT manager or businessperson has a different definition of high availability. For this reason, we will explore a variety of high-availability vocabulary terms, including Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) and Mean Time To Recovery (MTTR). Finally, we will explore the benefits and features of NetWare 6's NCS high-availability solution, including multinode clustering, multiprocessing, flexible resource management, shared storage support, and a single point of control. Designing Novell Cluster Services After you have nailed down the basic fundamentals of NCS, it's time to design your clustering solution. NetWare 6 includes a two-node version of NCS 1.6. To activate this high-availability solution, you will need two or more NetWare 6 servers, NCS 1.6 installed on each of them, and a shared disk system. With NCS 1.6, you can share a central disk system using a Fiber Channel configuration or a SCSI hard drive configuration. Installing Novell Cluster Services Installing NCS 1.6 is a four-step process. First, you must make sure your system meets the minimum hardware, software, and disk system requirements. Then, in step 2, you can create a cluster by installing NCS on each server and adding a Cluster object to eDirectory. In step 3, you must perform some NCS configuration tasks to the Cluster objects created in eDirectory. Finally, in step 4, you test and monitor the cluster state by using ConsoleOne, NetWare Remote Manager, and NCS-based console commands. Congratulations, you are clustering! Configuring High-Availability Solutions There are two main network resources that you can make highly available by using NCS: files and services. In the final lesson of this chapter, we will explore high-availability file access and high-availability services using NCS 1.6. To cluster-enable Novell Storage Services (NSS), you must first create a shared disk partition and NSS file system on the shared device. Then you can cluster-enable the NSS components by associating them with a new virtual server object via a unique IP address. In addition, you can make network applications and services highly available to users, even if they don't recognize the cluster. The good news is that Novell already includes a number of cluster-aware applications that take full advantage of NCS clustering features (such as GroupWise). However, you can also cluster-enable any application by creating a cluster resource and migrating it into NCS.
Novell Cluster Services makes it possible to practically guarantee that your anytime, anywhere network won't ever go down. This always up capability is the final polish on your NetWare 6 information superhighway. Don't underestimate the importance of high availability. After all, this is the difference between your successful anytime, anywhere network and the job-crushing alternative no time, nowhere! Let's start the final NetWare 6 CNE Update lesson with a comprehensive overview of NCS fundamentals. |