Preliminary Considerations. HP HyperFabric

Chapter 2

Planning the Fabric

Preliminary Considerations

Preliminary Considerations

Before assembling a fabric physically, do the following to address all of the appropriate issues:

Step 1. Read Chapter 1, “Overview of the HyperFabric Product,” on page 1, to

get a basic understanding of HyperFabric and its components.

Step 2. Read this chapter, Planning the Fabric, to gain an understanding of protocol specific configuration guidelines for TCP/UDP/IP and HMP applications.

Step 3. Read “Configuration Overview” on page 69, “Information You Need” on

page 71, and “Configuration Information Example” on page 74, to

understand how to configure the fabric.

Step 4. Decide the number of nodes that will be interconnected in the fabric.

Step 5. Decide the type of HP 9000 system for each node (for a list of supported

HP 9000 systems, see the HyperFabric Release Notes available at http://docs.hp.com/hpux/netcom/index.html#HyperFabric .

Step 6. Determine the network bandwidth requirements for each node.

Step 7. Determine the number of adapters needed for each node.

Step 8. Determine if a High Availability (ServiceGuard) configuration will be needed. If ServiceGuard is used, each node should have at least two adapters.

Step 9. Decide the topology of the fabric.

Step 10. Determine how many switches will be used based on the number of nodes in the fabric. The only configuration that can be supported without a switch is the node-to-node configuration (HA or non-HA). HyperFabric supports meshed switches up to a depth of four switches, starting with the following versions of the HyperFabric software:

• For HF2 switches: software versions B.11.00.11, B.11.11.01, and

B.11.23.00.

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Planning the Fabric

Preliminary Considerations

Step 11. Draw the cable connections from each node to switches (if the fabric will contain switches). If you use an HA configuration with switches, it requires more than one switch for complete redundancy and to avoid a single point of failure. For example, each adapter can be connected to its own switch, or two switches can be connected to four adapters.

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