4.4 Hardware Requirements

The following hardware requirements for installing Novell Cluster Services represent the minimum hardware configuration. Additional hardware might be necessary depending on how you intend to use Novell Cluster Services.

  • A minimum of two Linux servers, and not more than 32 servers in a cluster

  • At least 512 MB of additional memory on each server in the cluster

  • One non-shared device on each server to be used for the operating system

  • At least one network card per server in the same IP subnet.

    In addition to Ethernet NICs, Novell Cluster Services supports VLAN on NIC bonding in OES 11 SP1 (with the latest patches applied) or later. No modifications to scripts are required. You can use ethx or vlanx interfaces in any combination for nodes in a cluster.

In addition, each server must meet the requirements for Open Enterprise Server 2015 SP1. See Meeting All Server Software and Hardware Requirements in the OES 2015 SP1: Installation Guide.

NOTE:Although identical hardware for each cluster server is not required, having servers with the same or similar processors and memory can reduce differences in performance between cluster nodes and make it easier to manage your cluster. There are fewer variables to consider when designing your cluster and failover rules if each cluster node has the same processor and amount of memory.

If you have a Fibre Channel SAN, the host bus adapters (HBAs) for each cluster node should be identical and be configured the same way on each node.