Conference noted::pwv50ift

4150.0. "Pathworks failover and Aliasing" by VULTUR::CWINDOM () Sun Feb 09 1997 01:31

    
    Hello All, 
    
     I am currently part of a migration team of MIS types
     looking to consolidate about 10 pathworks servers with 
     about 2500 clients (all in their own domain to 2 AlphaServer 4100s)
    
     The Pathworks servers are mostly of version 4 type except for
     2 Pathworks servers in the cluster, which are running version
     V50D-eco3 in backward compatibility mode.
     
     In consolidating the servers into 2 Alpha type servers, the
     company is also moving all of the version 4 clients and some 
     Mac clients to WindowsNT 4.0 workstation but, this will take
     some time so there will be version 4 type clients around for
     some time after the migration of the servers. These clients
     are using file and print services on the servers.
    
     They wish to use the Pathworks alias to do cluster load balancing.
    
     They are also using a WINS server for the NT clients and are
     going to rely on the PWALIAS for the existing 4.1 clients.
    
     The AlphaServers will be running PathWorks Server version 
     V50D-ECO3 along with UCX 4.1-ECO2.
    
     I don't for see a problem with the 4.1 clients, but I have questions
     about the NT clients around connections to cluster, load balancing and
     WINS entries.
    
    
   I.  MY PROPOSED CONFIGURATION:
    
     I have been talking about using UCX to do cluster load balancing.
    
     The configuration for UCX would be as follows:
    
                       RPLUS --> UCX TCP/IP Cluster Alias
                         |
                         |
           =========================
           |                       |
           |                       |
         RPLUS1 -Node1           RPLUS2 --> Node2
        xxx.xxx.xxx.59          xxx.xxx.xxx.61            
     
    The PWALIAS name would be RPLUSDOM (or something to that nature)
    I should also mention that the clients are on various subnets.
    
    
  II.  THE COMPANY'S PROPOSED CONFIGURATION:
    
    The configuration that the group is currently talking about using,
    is as follows:
    
    A static WINS entry under the MULTI-HOMED group consisting of 
    
            RPLUS --> WINS IP NODE NAME
    
            IP xxx.xxx.xxx.59 --> Node1
            IP xxx.xxx.xxx.61 --> Node2
    
    The PWALIAS name of RPLUSDOM (or something to that nature)
    
    They expect for this to do load balancing and provide some type of
    failover for the client's file and print service connection.
    
    I am telling them that this will not work as expected and might cause
    them great grief. I explained to them that MicroSoft's meaning of a
    Multi-Homed group is a gateway or computer with multiple network cards.
    WINS does not know how to do load balancing.
    
    In partial testing of the company's config, they seem to be
    experiencing round robin loading of the connections. No testing 
    has been done around what happens when a node fails in the cluster.
    
    In my propsed config, what I believe is 
    
    A. An entry needs to be made in the Company DNS server describing RPLUS
       (RPLUS.SOME.COMPANY.COM)
    
    B. The UCX configuration and DNS SERVER on the cluster node need to 
       be configured.
    
    C. The WINS server needs to configured to use DNS lookup in addition to
       WINS NAME-TO-ADDRESS translation.
    
    Question #1 Will my config provide load balancing and if not, why?
    
    Question #2 What type of connection failover is possible with my 
                configuration ?
    
    Question #3 Will I see and be able to browse the RPLUS domain from
                a WindowsNT 4.0 workstation.
    
    Question #4 If neither configuration is correct, then what is the
                correct configuration for this company ?
    
    Question #5 What are some of the pitfalls of the company's config ?
    
    Question #6 Why won't the company's config work ?
    
    Question #7 What part does WINS play in both configurations ?
    
    
    I believe cover everything and I would appreciate any help and/or
    suggestions around the above. 
    
    If you wish, you may reply to me direcly using Exchange mail or VMS
    mail.
    
    
    [email protected]  ---> Exchange mail
    
    VULTUR::CWINDOM  ---> VmsMail
    
    Thanks in Advance
    Charles Windom Sr. 
    Digital Senior Software Consultant