storage

Building Highly Available

Systems: The Dell
PowerEdge Cluster SE600W
and PowerVault MD3000
By Nam Nguyen
The Dell™ PowerEdge™ Cluster SE600W is a Serial Attached SCSI
Daniel Moges

Shabana M.
(SAS)–based cluster solution comprising Dell PowerEdge servers,
Travis vigil Microsoft® Windows® operating systems, and the Dell PowerVault™
MD3000 storage system. Deploying this solution enables enterprises
to achieve highly available service levels in a cost-effective way.

G
lobal commerce and the demand for 24/7 access Dell PowerEdge Cluster SE600W
have made information availability vital to Dell PowerEdge clusters are based on Microsoft Cluster
enterprise success. A lack of data access during Service software and designed to keep applications and
maintenance, hardware or software failure, or any other services available during any single failure within the cluster.
period of downtime can lead to decreased productivity, When Microsoft Cluster Service detects a failure, it automati-
customer dissatisfaction, and lost revenue. As high- cally moves cluster resources from the failed cluster node to
availability technology continues to advance, both the a healthy one and restarts the applications. PowerEdge clus-
cost and complexity associated with clustering for avail- ters support cluster-aware applications such as Microsoft
Related Categories:
ability and failover have been reduced significantly, SQL Server™, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Oracle® Database
Clustering making these configurations feasible for small businesses with Oracle Fail Safe software.
Dell PowerEdge servers as well as large enterprise-class data centers. In addition to application-level availability, enterprises
For data to be continuously available, IT systems must should consider redundancy in the server-to-storage I/O
Dell PowerVault storage
maintain uninterrupted data access during both planned and path. Because a failure of any component along this path
Direct attach storage (DAS)
unplanned downtime. Host-based clustering, in conjunction (such as a server, adapter, controller, cable, or disk drive)
High availability (HA) with high availability at the storage level, can greatly enhance jeopardizes system availability, the storage system’s ability
Microsoft Windows IT service levels, and represents a crucial step toward ensur- to maintain data access during such a failure is a key part of
Server 2003 ing data availability and minimizing downtime problems. a highly available storage deployment.
Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Allowing multiple servers (for example, a two-node cluster) The PowerEdge Cluster SE600W is the latest addition to
shared access to data on a single storage system helps pro- the Dell family of feature-rich clustering solutions, and the
Storage architecture
vide application availability even if one of the servers first based on Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) technology. It cur-
Visit www.dell.com/powersolutions
for the complete category index.
becomes unavailable. rently supports two-node clustering based on the compo-
The Dell PowerEdge Cluster SE600W solution and Dell nents shown in Figure 1. The supported PowerEdge servers
PowerVault MD3000 storage array are designed to allow provide key high-availability features such as error-correcting
enterprises of all sizes to build highly available systems in code memory; software or hardware RAID for the internal
a cost-effective way. Deploying this solution can help main- drives; hot-swappable drives, power supplies, fans, and PCI
tain access to critical application data even following a hard- slots; optional dual host bus adapters (HBAs); and optional
ware or software failure. redundant paths to the storage systems.

DELL POWER SOLUTIONS | May 2007 Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, May 2007. Copyright © 2007 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
70
 technology and offers high-availability features
Operating systems Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 Release 2 (R2) Enterprise such as hot spares; hot-swappable drives,
Edition and Enterprise x64 Edition
power supplies, cooling fans, and storage con-
trollers; redundant storage controllers; redun-
Servers Dell PowerEdge models 1800, 1850, 2800, 2850, 6800, 6850, 1950, 2900,
2950, 2970, and 6950 dant back-end paths with dual-port SAS drives;
and optional premium features such as snap-
Storage Dell PowerVault MD3000
shots and virtual disk copy.
To appreciate the potential value of cluster-
Figure 1. Supported components for the Dell PowerEdge Cluster SE600W ing with PowerVault MD3000 storage, enter-
prises should first understand the host-based
The PowerEdge Cluster SE600W offers three component fails, I/Os are transparently RAID method of clustering. This method uses a
configurations: rerouted to the alternate path without affect- direct connection from a storage device to each
ing applications or clients. server, and the RAID controller itself resides on
• Entry-level configuration: This configuration • Fully redundant configuration: This configu- a PCI RAID card installed in the server. In an
offers only one path from each server to the ration provides the highest availability of external RAID configuration, like that of the
storage (see Figure 2). If a component in one the three configurations, incorporating two PowerVault MD3000, the RAID controller resides
path fails, the server loses access to the SAS 5/E HBAs and two paths from each outside the server in the external storage
storage; when this happens, Microsoft server to the storage (see Figure 4). system itself.
Cluster Service moves resources from the Administrators can configure I/Os to use Among the issues associated with host-
affected server to the other server and any path for load balancing. If a storage based RAID clustering, one of the most signifi-
restarts the applications. path fails, I/Os are transparently rerouted cant is related to the cache and performance.
• Redundant configuration with dual-port to the alternate path without affecting The cache is high-speed memory designed to
HBAs: This configuration provides higher applications or clients. reduce the time required to read or write data.
availability than the entry-level configura- In host-based RAID configurations, the cache
tion, incorporating two ports on each SAS Dell PowerVault MD3000 resides on the RAID adapter card located in the
5/E HBA to create two paths from each server The Dell PowerVault MD3000 storage array, with server. To help ensure that in the event of a
to the storage (see Figure 3). If an HBA fails, two high-performance, active/active external server failure the unwritten cache data is writ-
Microsoft Cluster Service handles applica- RAID controllers and a mirrored cache, can be a ten to disk, vendors disable the use of the
tion migration the same way it does in the key part of designing a cost-effective, highly cache on RAID adapters to maintain cache
entry-level configuration. If another storage available cluster system. It is based on SAS coherency for the cluster. Unfortunately, doing

Dell LAN Dell Dell LAN Dell

Dell LAN Dell
PowerEdge PowerEdge PowerEdge PowerEdge PowerEdge PowerEdge
server server server server server server

HBA HBA HBA HBA HBA 1 HBA 2 HBA 1 HBA 2

Controller 1 Controller 2
Controller 1 Controller 2 Controller 1 Controller 2
Disk drives
Disk drives Disk drives

Dell PowerVault MD3000

Dell PowerVault MD3000 Dell PowerVault MD3000

Figure 2. Entry-level Dell PowerEdge Cluster Figure 3. Redundant Dell PowerEdge Cluster Figure 4. Fully redundant Dell PowerEdge
SE600W configuration SE600W configuration with dual-port HBAs Cluster SE600W configuration

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, May 2007. Copyright © 2007 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. www.dell.com/powersolutions 71
storage

“The PowerEdge Cluster SE600W and PowerVault

so can cause a significant degradation in clus-
ter performance.
When using external RAID, the cache
resides on the external controller within the
MD3000 are designed to build upon the reliability of
storage system, and cache coherency can be parallel SCSI while addressing that technology’s per-
maintained without disabling the cache func-
tionality. For this reason, external systems formance, reliability, and scalability limitations.”
are preferable for a clustered configuration.
Storing the cache separately from the server
helps eliminate the risks associated with a
server failure in a host-based RAID cluster. Cluster SE600W compared with the parallel In a PowerEdge Cluster SE500W, the write
As an external storage system, the PowerVault SCSI–based PowerEdge Cluster SE500W. cache is disabled in the RAID controller to main-
MD3000 is ideal for highly available two- tain cache consistency, because the RAID intel-
node clustering applications on PowerEdge Performance ligence is part of the controller residing on the
servers when performance and access to data The PowerVault MD3000 can provide better host. In a PowerEdge Cluster SE600W, the write
are critical. performance than PowerVault 22xS storage cache is enabled in the RAID controller, because
because of its increased data transfer rate over the RAID intelligence is part of the controller
Cluster features and advantages the SAS link and its enabled write cache. While residing on the external storage device. Each
The PowerEdge Cluster SE600W and PowerVault the maximum data transfer rate for Ultra320 storage controller has 512 MB of cache, which
MD3000 are designed to build upon the reli- SCSI is 320 Mbps (and the complications of the helps significantly improve overall system
ability of parallel SCSI while addressing that shared bus architecture make increased speeds performance.
technology’s performance, reliability, and scal- unlikely), SAS currently offers speeds of up to
ability limitations. Figure 5 summarizes the 3 Gbps, and the SCSI Trade Association plans Reliability
cluster features of the SAS-based PowerEdge for it to eventually support up to 12 Gbps. When deployed in an environment using
parallel SCSI and a shared bus architecture, a
misbehaving device can bring down the entire
Dell PowerEdge Cluster SE500W Dell PowerEdge Cluster SE600W system. The PowerVault MD3000 offers a point-

HBAs Up to two PowerEdge Expandable RAID Up to two SAS 5/E HBAs per node
to-point architecture in which such devices can
Controller (PERC) 4/DC or PERC 4e/DC be easily isolated without affecting the entire
adapters per node
system. In addition, the fully redundant PowerEdge
Storage Up to four PowerVault 22xS enclosures One PowerVault MD3000 enclosure connected Cluster SE600W configuration provides two paths
to up to two PowerVault MD1000 enclosures
from the servers to the storage, and includes
Cables 68-pin shielded P-type SCSI cable for Compact cable and connector, up to 6 meters dual-port SAS drives to allow data access from
connection to the host, up to 12 meters long long
either port from one of the two storage controllers.
Hard drives 13 SCSI hard drives per enclosure 15 SAS hard drives per enclosure (with As a result, if a component in a storage path fails,
expansion to up to 45 drives by adding
PowerVault MD1000 enclosures) the multipath software can automatically reroute
the I/Os to the alternate path without affecting
Redundant path No Yes, including redundant storage controllers
to the storage with failover capability, dual-port SAS drives, the applications or clients.
system and a multipath failover driver

RAID RAID-1, RAID-5, RAID-10, and RAID-50 RAID-0, RAID-1, RAID-5, and RAID-10
Scalability
Parallel SCSI can support up to 16 devices on
Write cache Disabled in cluster mode Enabled in cluster mode the shared bus, while a SAS domain can sup-

Storage Dell OpenManage Storage Services and Dell Dell Modular Disk Storage Manager with port up to 16,384 devices without performance
manageability OpenManage Array Manager, installed on a advanced features such as snapshots and degradation. The PowerEdge Cluster SE600W
host directly connected to the storage virtual disk copy, installed on a management
station (either in-band through the SAS link or can support up to 45 SAS hard drives by adding
out-of-band over the network)
PowerVault MD1000 disk expansion enclosures
to the PowerVault MD3000 using a daisy-chain
Figure 5. Feature comparison of Dell PowerEdge Cluster SE500W and PowerEdge Cluster SE600W topology (see Figure 6).

DELL POWER SOLUTIONS | May 2007 Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, May 2007. Copyright © 2007 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
72
 Highly available cluster solution Daniel Moges is a systems engineer adviser in the
The Dell PowerEdge Cluster SE600W and High-Availability Cluster Development Group at
PowerVault MD3000 take advantage of SAS Dell. His responsibilities include developing SCSI-,
Dell LAN Dell
PowerEdge PowerEdge technology to offer enhanced performance, reli- iSCSI-, and Fibre Channel–based high-availability
server server
ability, and scalability, and include additional clustering products; his current interests related to
features not found in parallel SCSI–based high-availability clustering include enterprise stor-
PowerEdge Cluster SE500W configurations. This age technologies and database systems. Daniel
cost-effective clustering solution can benefit has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the
HBA 1 HBA 2 HBA 1 HBA 2 enterprises of all sizes that require high avail- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
ability for critical applications such as data-
Controller 1 Controller 2 bases, messaging systems, and file, print, and Shabana M. is an engineering analyst in the High-
Disk drives Dell PowerVault
MD3000 Web servers. Availability Cluster Development Group at Dell.
Her interests include the development of SCSI-
Dell PowerVault
MD1000 Nam Nguyen is a senior consultant in the High- and Fibre Channel–based clustering solutions and
Availability Cluster Development Group at Dell, application performance. She has a B.E. in
Dell PowerVault and the lead engineer for SAS, Internet SCSI Computer Science and Engineering.
MD1000
(iSCSI), and Fibre Channel Dell PowerEdge Cluster
products. His current interests include business Travis Vigil is a senior product marketing consultant
continuity, clustering, and storage technologies. for Dell PowerVault storage. He has a B.S. from
Figure 6. Fully redundant Dell PowerEdge
Cluster SE600W configuration with two daisy- He has a B.S. and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Northwestern
chained Dell PowerVault MD1000 enclosures from the University of Texas at Austin. University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, May 2007. Copyright © 2007 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. www.dell.com/powersolutions 73