I'm looknig to set up a miniature clustering lab at home and looking for some
advice.

I would like to hopefully keep the price tag to around $750-$1250.

I've already found a couple of boxes that I'm going to use for my nodes
(dual node cluster). I can do all the internal stuff myself (NIC's, etc.).
They each are about $300.

What I need now is shared storage and a switch/hub. I'm new to the
networking side of things. What DO I need: switch, router, etc.? Also, is
there a way to set up things wirelessly? All my big stuff will be in a mini
server room in my basement and my office is upstairs.

If anyone has any advice, I'd really appreciate it.

Thank You!!!

Wireless is probably more of a pain thatn it is worth. A single switch or
hub will be fine. You can use a crossover cable for a two node cluster
heartbeat LAN. As for storage, you can use almost any SCSI drive. get a
self-powered enclosure ($50 or less) , a couple of cables, and a couple of
cheap controllers. I have done it with Adaptec cards, even with mis-matched
ones. It isn't particularly pretty, scalable or stable, but it does work.

One alternative that many people are using is Virtual Server from Microsoft.
Then you have one physical system that can simulate a cluster internally.

Good Luck,

Geoff N. Hiten
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Senior Database Administrator


"A. Robinson" <ARobinson (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

Maybe you could give me your unofficial blessing on the following?

- Found a four port hub
- Two servers both with two NICS. One of the NIC's is connected directly to
the hub. This would constitute the two private IP addresses.
- The second NIC's would be a wireless adapters to act as the "public" IP
addresses. This is so I can see them from my office. Not a good idea?
- The network storage is a network storage device I found...160 GB. This
plugs directly into the hub as well? Once plugged into the hub, would I then
configure IP's, subnets, etc. What is the admin interface?

My next dumb question is this: when setting up the hub, do I just plug it in
and go? I've worked on network stuff before , but it's always been set up for
me. I just go in and assign IP addresses, network names, etc.

Thanks again!!

"Geoff N. Hiten" wrote:

Two problems. Wireless NICs almost always use DHCP addresses. Clusters
require hard-coded IP addresses.

NAS is a definite NO-NO for SQL in general and clusters in specific. There
is no way to arbitrate ownership of a NAS or any network storage type device
which completely rules them out for clustering. Direct Attach SCSI, iSCSI,
Virtual SCSI, or Fibre Channel are your options, even in a test and training
environment.

GNH


"A. Robinson" <ARobinson (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

You need a domain controller for the cluster service to even start. Unless
you plan on making one/both of the clustered nodes as DC's.

The hub should just work, plug in and go.

You can use wireless for the public, no worries and the hub for the private.
Your DC will have to be available on the wireless.

I still prefer VS 2005 to cheap hardware


Cheers,

Rod

MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
http://www.nw-america.com - Clustering
http://msmvps.com/clustering - Blog

"A. Robinson" <ARobinson (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

Yes. VS allows you to attach multiple virtual server instances to a single
virtual SCSI array. You can also have multiple virtual NICs.

GNH
"A. Robinson" <ARobinson (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

For the wireless router, I would be assigning a static IP (my linksys router
allows for this). I'd be configuring one of the nodes as the domain
controller.

A question about virtual server (pc): how does one simulate the shared
storage? Do I still need actual SCSI storage? Also, Does Virtual Server allow
you to simulate multiple NIC's per virtual machine?

Thanks!

"Rodney R. Fournier [MVP]" wrote:

As for VS, yes, no (Real SCSI Storage), and yes.

Cheers,

Rod

MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
http://www.nw-america.com - Clustering
http://msmvps.com/clustering - Blog

"A. Robinson" <ARobinson (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

i have used VMware workstation(100bucks), have 4 different clusters running
on my laptop..
much easier then buying all the stuff. all you need is a vmworkstation 4.3
version(this is one older then what they have now) Workes like a VM lab for
me. simulations are much easier and faster ..

"A. Robinson" <ARobinson (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote