Topics | Windows Cluster | Unix Cluster | NetWare Cluster | Troubleshoot | Support
Installing the Software on a Cluster
Each node within a cluster, whether active or passive, must have the necessary software components installed. Installing these software components to be cluster-aware involves both the active and passive nodes, whether the software component is installed directly to a particular physical node or not. During the cluster server installation, software binaries are installed on all physical nodes in the cluster, and the configuration files on all physical nodes are edited to contain information about all installed cluster servers.
It is important to remember the following guidelines:
The following sections describe the basic principles of installing the different software components supported on a UNIX cluster.
A physical installation of a software component is the default type of installation, where the software is installed on a physical server and acts independently of the cluster. Services installed in this way do not take advantage of clustering features like failover protection. For instance, the File System iDataAgent can be installed on each node in the cluster to protect the data on the physical servers. MediaAgents are also supported, but not required, on the physical node of a cluster.
For software installation instructions, see Installation.
The MediaAgent software can be installed in one of the following ways:
Install the MediaAgent software on the physical node. When you install the MediaAgent software on the physical node, you can use GridStor® to provide the necessary failover capabilities. See Alternate Data Paths (GridStor) - Clustered Environments for more information.
Clustering support is provided only for a library which is shared across a SAN in a non- DDS and in a DDS environment.
The index cache must be configured either on the shared disk or on a network share accessible to all the nodes on the cluster. The index cache should not be configured on the physical nodes.
For software installation instructions for a MediaAgent, see MediaAgent Deployment.
If you will be installing the File System iDataAgent on the cluster server, you must install the File System iDataAgent as virtual on each node of the cluster.
For software installation instructions for a clustered UNIX File System iDataAgent, see:
Deployment on a Cluster - AIX File System iDataAgentDeployment on a Cluster - HP-UX File System iDataAgent
Deployment on a Cluster - FreeBSD File System iDataAgent
Deployment on a Cluster - Linux File System iDataAgent
Deployment on a Cluster - Solaris File System iDataAgent
Deployment on Cluster - Tru64 File System iDataAgent
Veritas cluster installations for Unix platforms has been simplified with the following integrated features:
| Snapshot and VSS backups for SQL Server iDataAgents are not supported on Veritas Clusters. |
For installation instructions, see Install the Unix Agent - Veritas Cluster Environment.
Different ways of installing Calypso on a Linux cluster are displayed in the table below:
| Scenarios | Steps |
| Scenario 1: Installing Calypso on a virtual node
only. The cluster contains physical node A and physical node B. |
|
| Scenario 2: Installing Calypso on a virtual node,
physical node A and physical node B. The cluster contains physical node A and physical node B. |
|
| Scenario 3: Installing Calypso on physical node A,
physical node B, physical node C and multiple virtual nodes (virtual
node1, virtual node 2 and virtual node 3). The cluster contains physical node A, physical node B and physical node C. |
|
A failure of the MediaAgent or any Agent software on the active server in a UNIX cluster will not cause a failover to be initiated.
The cvclusternotify script should be added as part of the normal cluster startup/shutdown procedure. The script is provided as a generic template, and it must be run at the beginning of node shutdown and at the end of new active node startup. In both cases, data protection services must be up and running.
Run the following command to notify Calypso that the specified "virtual node" is going up or down because of a cluster failover:
Usage:
cvclusternotify -inst <Instance> -cn <Client Name> -start|-shutdown
Where:
cvclusternotify - Program to notify Calypso of cluster failovers
Example:
For two-node cluster, if the virtual client name is "virtual" and the application instance is "Instance001", run the following command:
cvclusternotify -inst Instance001 -cn "virtual" -shutdown
cvclusternotify -inst Instance001 -cn "virtual" -start
In general, data protection operations in a cluster environment function as they do in a non-clustered environment. However, it is recommended that you include the shared data for data protection operations only on the shared disk, and conversely, that you include local data for each physical server only on the physical server's local disk, using the appropriate Agent software on the physical server to back up this disk.
If an Oracle database is included in the system, do not perform simultaneous data protection operations from the cluster server and the physical server(s) because Oracle locks its database files in such a case.
In general, data recovery operations in a cluster environment function as they do in a non-clustered environment. You can restore data that resides locally on a physical node, or that resides on the cluster group's shared disk, just as you would restore data for a non-clustered computer. The process of restoring client data to a cluster group is the same as it is on a non-clustered computer; the nodes in the cluster group is viewed as another computer on the CommCell.
| WARNING Do not specify this occurrence of MediaAgent in any operations such as Data Path. |
A specific Product License must be available for each component you install, whether CommServe, MediaAgent, or Agent, and a license is consumed for each installation. When a File System Agent is installed on a cluster group, a special license is required, for Virtual File System.
As an example of a UNIX cluster, consider one with five physical nodes configured to host the same cluster server, with an Informix instance in the cluster group. License requirements would be as follows:
Review general license requirements included in License Administration. Also, View All Licenses provides step-by-step instructions on how to view the license information.