Before implementing ZfS with Novell Cluster Services, make sure you have a solid understanding of Novell Cluster Services by reviewing the following information resources:
NetWare 6 Product Documentation: Novell Cluster Services
NetWare 5.1 Product Documentation: Novell Cluster Services
When you review the information resources recommended above, you discover that clustering employs very specialized terminology. The following brief glossary provides basic definitions of clustering terms and relates them to your ZfS component installation:
cluster: A grouping of from two to 32 NetWare® servers configured using Novell Cluster Services so that data storage locations and applications can transfer from one server to another without interrupting their availability to users. It is represented by a Cluster object in Novell eDirectoryTM.
IMPORTANT: You can install only one instance of a ZfS component in a cluster because ZfS treats a cluster as if it were a single server.
node: A clustered server; in other words, a single NetWare server that is part of a cluster.
resource: An IP address, volume, application, service, and so on, that can function successfully on any node in the cluster. The volumes where you install ZfS components are a specific type of cluster resources termed "volume resources."
failover: The process of moving cluster resources from a failed node to a functional node so that availability to users is uninterrupted. For example, if the node where a Distributor is running goes down, the Distributors would fail over to a secondary node in the cluster so that the Distributor could continue functioning without significant interruption.
failback: The process of returning cluster resources to their preferred node after the situation causing the failover has been resolved. For example, if Traffic Analysis fails over to a secondary node, that cluster resource can be configured to fail back to its preferred node when the problem is resolved.
shared disk system: The hardware housing the physical disk volumes that are shared among the nodes in a cluster.
shared volume: A volume in a shared disk system that can be accessed from any node that needs the data stored on it.
cluster-enabled shared volume: A shared volume for which a Volume Resource object has been created in eDirectory.
IMPORTANT: Cluster-enabling is required for ZfS components.
virtual server: A logical server, rather than a physical node, to which cluster-enabled shared volumes are tied.
storage area network (SAN): The clustered nodes together with their shared disk system and shared volumes.