Guidelines for OpenVMS Cluster Configurations

This document, "Guidelines for OpenVMS Cluster Configurations" (September 2003), is a comprehensive guide for designing and optimizing OpenVMS Cluster systems to maximize availability, scalability, performance, and ease of system management.

The guide covers key aspects such as:

• Determining Requirements: Analyzing business and application needs, including budget, availability, scalability, physical location, and security.
• Choosing Components: Selecting OpenVMS Alpha and VAX systems, various interconnect types (CI, DSSI, Fibre Channel, SCSI, Ethernet, ATM, MEMORY CHANNEL, FDDI), and storage subsystems (SCSI, Fibre Channel, host-based).
• Configuration Strategies: Providing detailed guidelines for configuring multiple paths to SCSI and Fibre Channel storage for increased availability, optimizing for specific availability and performance goals across different cluster types (LAN, DSSI, CI, MEMORY CHANNEL), and strategies for scalability in terms of systems, storage, and I/O.
• System Management: Discussing strategies for system disks (single vs. multiple), environment management (common vs. multiple), and quorum.
• Advanced Topics: Including detailed technical summaries and configuration for SCSI, MEMORY CHANNEL, CI-to-PCI Adapter (CIPCA), and multiple-site OpenVMS Clusters.

The guidelines are specific to OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.3-2 and OpenVMS VAX Version 7.3.