What is a Domino cluster?

A Domino cluster is a group of two or more servers that provides users with constant access to data, balances the workload between servers, improves server performance, and maintains performance when you increase the size of your enterprise. The servers in a cluster contain replicas of databases that you want to be readily available to users at all times. If a user tries to access a database on a cluster server that is not available, Domino opens a replica of that database on a different cluster server, if a replica is available. Domino continuously synchronizes databases so that whichever replica a user opens; the information is always the same. Clustering requirements -: Server requirements

All servers in a cluster must run one of the following: the Lotus Domino 6 Enterprise server, the Lotus Domino 6 Utility server, the Domino Release 5 or Domino Release 4.62 Enterprise server, or the Domino Release 4.6 or Domino Release 4.5 Advanced Services server. Note Earlier releases of Domino do not have access to features that are new in Domino 6.

All servers in a cluster must be connected using a high-speed local area network (LAN) or a high-speed wide area network (WAN). You can also set up a private LAN for cluster traffic. All servers in a cluster must use TCP/IP and be on the same Notes named network All servers in a cluster must be in the same Domino domain and share a common Domino Directory. You must specify an administration server for the Domino Directory in the domain that contains the cluster. If you do not specify an administration server, the Administration Process cannot change cluster membership. The administration server does not have to be a member of a cluster. Each server in the cluster must have a hierarchical server ID. If any servers have flat IDs, you must convert them to hierarchical IDs to use them in a cluster. A server can be a member of only one cluster at a time. Each server must have adequate disk space to function as a cluster member. Because clusters usually require more database replicas, servers in clusters require more disk space than unclustered servers. Each server must have adequate processing power and memory capacity. In general, clustered servers require more computer power than unclustered servers.

Client requirement

Notes clients must run Notes Release 4.5 or later to take advantage of the cluster fail over feature.

How fail over works A cluster's ability to redirect requests from one server to another is called failover. When a user tries to access a database on a server that is unavailable or in heavy use, Domino directs the user to a replica of the database on another server in the cluster. The Cluster Manager on each cluster server sends out probes to each of the other cluster servers to determine the availability of each server. The Cluster Manager also checks continually to see which replicas are available on each server. When a user tries to access a database that is not available, the user request is redirected to a replica of the database on a different server in the cluster. Although the user connects to a replica on a different server, failover is essentially transparent to the user. 1. A Notes user attempts to open a database on Server 1. 2. Notes realize that Server 1 is not responding. 3. Instead of displaying a message that says the server is not responding, Notes looks in its cluster cache to see if this server is a member of a cluster and to find the names of the other servers in the cluster. (When a Notes client first accesses a server in a cluster, the names of all the servers in the cluster are added to the cluster cache on the client. This cache is updated every 15 minutes.) 4. Notes accesses the Cluster Manager on the next server listed in the cluster cache. 5. The Cluster Manager looks in the Cluster Database Directory to find which servers in the cluster contain a replica of the desired database. 6. The Cluster Manager looks in its server cluster cache to find the availability of each server that contains a replica. (The server cluster cache contains information about all the servers in the cluster. Cluster servers obtain this information when they send probes to the other cluster servers.) 7. The Cluster Manager creates a list of the servers in the cluster that contain a replica of the database, sorts the list in order of availability, and sends the list to Notes. 8. Notes open the replica on the first server in the list (the most available server). If that server is no longer available, Notes opens the replica on the next server in the list. In this example, Server 2 was the most available server.

When the Notes client shuts down, it stores the contents of the cluster cache in the file CLUSTER.NCF. Each time the client starts, it populates the cluster cache from the information in CLUSTER.NCF. Installing a new Domino cluster In this section we will describe how to install Lotus Domino Enterprise Server and how to configure a cluster. The installation steps can be summarized as follows: 1. Install the first Domino server. See the Link Below

..\Lotus Domino\Domino server installation.doc

2. Configure the first Domino server: a. Configure the server name, organization and domain. b. Configure the ports, protocols and named network. c. Start the server. 3. Prepare to install the remaining cluster servers: a. Create the certification log. b. Register additional servers. See the Link Below

Domino Additional Server Setup.doc

4. Install and configure the remaining cluster servers. For each of them: a. Install the program files. b. Configure the server name, organization and domain. c. Configure the ports and protocols and named network setup. d. Start the server. 5. Create the cluster: a. Create the cluster using the Domino Directory. b. Verify that the cluster database directory file is replicated or replicate the file manually to all the servers in the cluster. c. Configure the communication port for the backbone communication Between the servers participating in the cluster. 6. Test the cluster.

Cluster Implementation Process: -

Sr Activity No 1 Registration of New Cluster server entry on main server i.e. IGSMALDOM01 2 Installation of New Cluster Server 3 Join server to domain and connect to network. 4 Configure the New Domino Server Copy mail files of users from e.g. IGSMALDOM01 to IGSMALDOM02 Start domino server. Create Connection Document 2 nos. Create Configuration Document

Description Need to register host name of new server in the existing Domino server. Have to provide hostname, Domino domain name and organization. Install Win2K Advanced server OS along with all service packs and hot fixes. Install Domino Server. IP address thru DHCP. Configure by using domino domain, Organisation, Administrator Name, Server id file & Domino Administrators id file. Mail Folder Start the Domino data service. 1) IGSMALDOM02 to IGSMALDOM01 2) IGSMALDOM01 to IGSMALDOM02 This will set the notes.ini parameter namely Server restricted =1 Server_maxusers =0 Server_availability_Threshold=100

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