Hello! I would like to build a cluster in my house for testing and educational purposes. I need shared disk for my Quorum drive and really need something small and inexpensive. Has anyone experimented with external drives with 2 USB ports or 2 Firewire ports? Will that work for a cluster? Please advise.
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SAN required to build a cluster
- Thread starter Kory123
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LWComputingMVP
IS-IT--Management
All but certain that won't work.
But if you're just doing it to experiment and learn, why not setup Virtual Server and do it virtually. The June 2005 Windows IT Pro magazine had a great tutorial on doing this in Virtual Server. Since Virtual Server is free, you don't have to buy it and you don't have to worry about hardware costs.
But if you're just doing it to experiment and learn, why not setup Virtual Server and do it virtually. The June 2005 Windows IT Pro magazine had a great tutorial on doing this in Virtual Server. Since Virtual Server is free, you don't have to buy it and you don't have to worry about hardware costs.
- Thread starter
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LWComputingMVP
IS-IT--Management
Hey, it's your wasted money...
If you want a supported SAN you need to get components on the Hardware Compatibility list.
USB and Firewire, I've never seen - and no one I know would even attempt - building a cluster with firewire or USB (besides being slow, the technologies were not designed for that).
If you insist on doing this on the cheap, I've successfully built a cluster using two SCSI NICs and an external SCSI storage array. Make sure EVERY component has a unique SCSI ID and connect both computers to the connectors on the rear of an external SCSI drive - you don't need anything too fancy - a cheap, slow drive will do (check ebay). My cluster used two adaptec 2910 SCSI cards, one with an ID of 6 and the other with an ID of 7 (one required me entering the card's setup routine and manually changing the ID) and connecting to a BASIC SCSI enclosure running an old UW (40 MB/sec drive).
If you want a supported SAN you need to get components on the Hardware Compatibility list.
USB and Firewire, I've never seen - and no one I know would even attempt - building a cluster with firewire or USB (besides being slow, the technologies were not designed for that).
If you insist on doing this on the cheap, I've successfully built a cluster using two SCSI NICs and an external SCSI storage array. Make sure EVERY component has a unique SCSI ID and connect both computers to the connectors on the rear of an external SCSI drive - you don't need anything too fancy - a cheap, slow drive will do (check ebay). My cluster used two adaptec 2910 SCSI cards, one with an ID of 6 and the other with an ID of 7 (one required me entering the card's setup routine and manually changing the ID) and connecting to a BASIC SCSI enclosure running an old UW (40 MB/sec drive).
WhoKilledKenny
MIS
I know I can do it using VM, but I really want to do it using a regular cluster.
You could get an old Compaq cluster in a box, cheap on ebay. With that being said, just do it in VM - really no differnce in the way the cluster service is installed or functions.
You could get an old Compaq cluster in a box, cheap on ebay. With that being said, just do it in VM - really no differnce in the way the cluster service is installed or functions.
MikeBatters
Technical User
You could go down the route of a single node cluster that does not need a shared bus if all you are after is a platform to get to know clustering etc.
When you run up the cluster config you can select to use a local quorum (search the MS Docs for Local Quorum) and then all you need is a second SCSI bus.
That way you can build Cluster Services, create & destroy cluster resources and all the usual stuff.
When you testing and Education - do you actually need a second node to fail over on to?
PS: I do not think that USB/Firewire will not be identified by the Cluster Admin as a suitable shared bus.
Mike
*************************************
Remember - There is always another way..........I just haven't found out what it is yet!
![[yinyang]](/data/assets/smilies/yinyang.gif "[yinyang] [yinyang]")
When you run up the cluster config you can select to use a local quorum (search the MS Docs for Local Quorum) and then all you need is a second SCSI bus.
That way you can build Cluster Services, create & destroy cluster resources and all the usual stuff.
When you testing and Education - do you actually need a second node to fail over on to?
PS: I do not think that USB/Firewire will not be identified by the Cluster Admin as a suitable shared bus.
Mike
*************************************
Remember - There is always another way..........I just haven't found out what it is yet!
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