Clustered environment overview

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Clusters consist of many components such as IBM Storage Protect servers, hardware, and software. You can use clustering to join two or more servers or nodes by using a shared disk system.

This configuration provides the nodes with the ability to share data, which allows higher server availability and minimized downtime, for example:
  • You can configure, monitor, and control applications and hardware components that are deployed on a cluster.
  • You can use an administrative cluster interface and IBM Storage Protect to designate cluster arrangements and define a failover pattern. The server is part of the cluster that provides an extra level of security by ensuring that no transactions are missed because a server failed. The failover pattern that you establish prevents future failures.
  • You can apply clustering to the node replication process. In this way, server availability is higher than it would be if node replication is used as a process on its own. Server availability is higher because a client is less likely to fail over to another server in a clustered environment. If you replicate data from several source replication servers to one target replication server, there is a high dependency on the target replication server. A clustered environment eases the dependency on the target replication server.
Components in a server cluster are known as cluster objects. Cluster objects are associated with a set of properties that have data values that describe the identity and behavior of an object in the cluster. Cluster objects can include the following components:
  • Nodes
  • Storage
  • Services and applications
  • Networks
You manage cluster objects by manipulating their properties, typically through a cluster management application.

Cluster nodes

Nodes in a cluster all have similar characteristics, which allows them to work together.

Cluster nodes include the following similarities:

  • Every node has access to all cluster configuration data.
  • Every node communicates with the other nodes in the cluster through one or more physically independent networks (sometimes referred to as interconnects). Network adapters, referred to in server clusters as network interfaces, attach nodes to networks.
  • Every node in the cluster is aware when another system joins or leaves the cluster.
  • Every node in the cluster is aware of the resources that are running locally and the resources that are running the other cluster nodes.
  • All nodes in the cluster are grouped under the cluster name, which is used to access and manage the cluster.