| Title: | WinNT-Clusters |
| Notice: | Info directories moved to DECWET::SHARE1$:[NT_CLSTR] |
| Moderator: | DECWET::CAPPELLOF |
| Created: | Thu Oct 19 1995 |
| Last Modified: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 863 |
| Total number of notes: | 3478 |
I have a customer who is trying out NT Clusters and is concerned about:
1. It appears most client-server communications occur with netbios
broadcasts (a chatty protocol that runs on top of IP). Routers filter
such netbios broadcasts thus preventing communications. Opening up
routers to broadcasts defeats the whole purpose of segmenting a network
and hence is unacceptable. Reconfiguring routers to allow certain
broadcasts from certain hosts is not possible in a network with the
magnitude of ours.
Question: Why doesn't Digital Clusters for NT use directed
communications instead of broadcasts, and will this implementation be
changed in the next release.
2. Currently most command prompt utilities don't work with the cluster
alias (i.e. NET USE ..) while file manager and network neighborhood
do work. Will NET commands and such work with the cluster alias in
the next revision.
3. Is version 1.1 the next release and when is it due out
4. Will v1.1 support NT 4
5. Loading all the cluster client software on hundreds/thousands of
clients to allow communications with a cluster is a pain in the butt. I
thought Microsoft was going to be bundling the required Wolfpack client
files in the next service packs. Does DEC have any plans to do this or
will we always have to go around loading client agent software?
6. What is the relationship and migration plan between Wolfpack and
DEC Clusters NT, what will be there interopperability and
compatability. Will they share standard technology?
7. SQL and Oracle look fully supported, for other databases such as
Informix which MCI uses, does DEC plan to provide failover scripts for
other applications/databases or a template/wizard/etc to assist
customers like myself who can't get any information from Informix and
have no idea how to write a failover script. Is that going to be up to
the software vendor to provide?
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 670.1 | Please read the conference | MPOS01::nqsrv412.nqo.dec.com::Cerling | Call on the Calvary | Tue Mar 04 1997 12:11 | 35 |
Many of your questions can be answered by reading the notes in
this conference. I will take a quick stab at some, but you should
go back and read the many notes that deal with your questions.
1. This has been talked about over and over in this conference. No
change to current behavior. V1.1 has IP failover that is not dependent
on broadcasts. Does not, however, provide file sharing.
2. Basic net commands should work. I have seen some that don't. But
since this is built on a GUI, that is what is generally used.
3. V1.1 has gone to manufacturing, I have heard. FRS about mid-March.
4. V1.1 supports NT4. (This was an obvious clue that you did not read
this conference.
5. Wolfpack does not have client software. They use IP addresses for
each failover group. SMS can be used to distribute Digital's client
code.
6. I have heard it stated that Digital plans to release a 'wizard' to
convert Digital Clusters to Wolfpack.
7. Writing failover scripts is often fairly trivial. How to do this is
also in the documentation. As to whether or not other databases can
work in a cluster, that is up to the db vendor to say. They should
work, but there would be some restrictions, such as only being able
to run on a single node in the cluster.
Please go back and read this conference. There is a wealth of
information in here meant to preclude the need for notes like
this.
tgc
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| 670.2 | Questions Abound.... | DV780::KENNEDY | Tue Mar 04 1997 12:42 | 31 | |
Thanks for the reply, I have read this conference from the day it
started and it seems to me that there are still questions without
definitive answers (I apologize for the obvious ones like V1.1 and NT
4.0; I used the customers email directly). Some issues still remain
like:
Will MSoft support clients accessing NT Clusters without using netbios
broadcasts? I've seen "yes possibly in a service pack after 1.1 is
released" and I've seen "No, it will be part of wolfpack". I need a
definite Yes/No. Large accounts cannot just "turn on" broadcasts for
NT Clusters to function.
#2 The command NET USE [drive] \\cluster\disk does not work from the
command line. Some commands do work I agree, this seems to fail. This
customer uses batch jobs to map cluster disks, a GUI would be too time
consuming. Again, when will this work.
#3 Again, you have heard Mid March, when is the scheduled date. This
is a minor one, the customer will wait just like the rest of the world.
#4 I knew this one already, sorry.
#6 Will Digital release a wizard or not. If so, when?
#7 Will Digital provide examples on our WEB on failover script writing
for all supported databases? I think this is a good idea for us to do.
Again, for those db vendors not providing such information, it's
difficult to write such scripts and be confident that they are correct
and is an excellent opportunity for Digital to provide this.
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| 670.3 | MSE1::PCOTE | Just say yes to 'thin clients' | Tue Mar 04 1997 15:45 | 9 | |
> #2 The command NET USE [drive] \\cluster\disk does not work from the
> command line. Some commands do work I agree, this seems to fail. This
The only net command that is not supported and mentioned in the
release notes is NET VIEW. The NET USE command works just fine.
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