"Joel" <joelmacaluso@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23qfT7o%23MFHA.4028@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> We've been struggling with a problem for a while now. If anyone has has a
> similiar issue, I'd appreciate it if you could share it here as it may
> lead me to a solution... The Cluster houses SQL and IIS (bad I know, but
> it shouldn't cause the problems we see)
>
> We have the following Cluster hardware:
>
> 2 IBM x345 Servers
> 1 IBM ServeRAID 4MX (RAID 5)
>
> Basically, whenever we have both machines connected to the cluster, at
> some point (sometimes days, sometimes weeks) a failure will occur where
> the Clustered drives (Data and Quorum) will become defunct. Bringing them
> back online and restarting, etc works fine (but this takes a while and
> always with risk).
>
> I've been working with IBM for months now to try to troubleshoot this but
> nothing has helped to make this a "highly available" environment.
>
>

"Geoff N. Hiten" <SRDBA@Careerbuilder.com> wrote in message
news:uiCzd1ANFHA.2136@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> From your description it looks like this is a SCSI cluster. Can you give
> a complete description of the SCSI device as well as the physical(RAID)
> and logical(LUN) disk layouts for the cluster. I have an idea where your
> problem might be, but I need more information to be sure.
>
> Geoff N. Hiten
> Microsoft SQL Server MVP
> Senior Database Administrator
>
>
> "Joel" <joelmacaluso@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%23qfT7o%23MFHA.4028@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>> We've been struggling with a problem for a while now. If anyone has has
>> a similiar issue, I'd appreciate it if you could share it here as it may
>> lead me to a solution... The Cluster houses SQL and IIS (bad I know, but
>> it shouldn't cause the problems we see)
>>
>> We have the following Cluster hardware:
>>
>> 2 IBM x345 Servers
>> 1 IBM ServeRAID 4MX (RAID 5)
>>
>> Basically, whenever we have both machines connected to the cluster, at
>> some point (sometimes days, sometimes weeks) a failure will occur where
>> the Clustered drives (Data and Quorum) will become defunct. Bringing
>> them back online and restarting, etc works fine (but this takes a while
>> and always with risk).
>>
>> I've been working with IBM for months now to try to troubleshoot this but
>> nothing has helped to make this a "highly available" environment.
>>
>>
>
>

"Joel" <joelmacaluso@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Of$K0BHNFHA.244@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> Thanks Geoff,
>
> Here's what I think you are looking for:
>
> 1.)Both servers are equipped with 2x18GB (Array A) mirrored. They are
> connected to the internal channel of the IBM4MX SCSI. This is the logical
> C: and D: drives.
> The external Channel 1 of the Raid controller connects to the shared scsi.
>
> 2.)Array B = 2x18 GB mirrored = Q drive (Quorum) slots 13-14. (Physical
> device is a shared IBM SCSI storage array)
>
> 3)Array C= 5x18 Raid 5 = S drive (Shared) slots 0-4 (Physical device is
> shared IBM SCSI storage array)
>
> Summarized:
>
> LUNs= Q: and S: [Storage Array-Arrays B&C]
>
> C: and D: internal Server [Array A]
>
>
> "Geoff N. Hiten" <SRDBA@Careerbuilder.com> wrote in message
> news:uiCzd1ANFHA.2136@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>> From your description it looks like this is a SCSI cluster. Can you give
>> a complete description of the SCSI device as well as the physical(RAID)
>> and logical(LUN) disk layouts for the cluster. I have an idea where your
>> problem might be, but I need more information to be sure.
>>
>> Geoff N. Hiten
>> Microsoft SQL Server MVP
>> Senior Database Administrator
>>
>>
>> "Joel" <joelmacaluso@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:%23qfT7o%23MFHA.4028@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>>> We've been struggling with a problem for a while now. If anyone has has
>>> a similiar issue, I'd appreciate it if you could share it here as it may
>>> lead me to a solution... The Cluster houses SQL and IIS (bad I know,
>>> but it shouldn't cause the problems we see)
>>>
>>> We have the following Cluster hardware:
>>>
>>> 2 IBM x345 Servers
>>> 1 IBM ServeRAID 4MX (RAID 5)
>>>
>>> Basically, whenever we have both machines connected to the cluster, at
>>> some point (sometimes days, sometimes weeks) a failure will occur where
>>> the Clustered drives (Data and Quorum) will become defunct. Bringing
>>> them back online and restarting, etc works fine (but this takes a while
>>> and always with risk).
>>>
>>> I've been working with IBM for months now to try to troubleshoot this
>>> but nothing has helped to make this a "highly available" environment.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

"Geoff N. Hiten" <sqlcraftsman@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:ezGgdnfNFHA.3512@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> Looks like there is a problem sharing a controller between the clustered
> resource and the local disk resources. Make the vendor show you where
this
> is a certified cluster solution. I don't thing shared controllers is
> supported.
>
> Any way you slice it, you will get very poor performance from a SCSI
storage
> array in a clustered environment using RAID5 containers. Clustering
> requires that the controllers operate in direct-write mode (no write
cache)
> so RAID5 is extremely slow.
>
>
> Geoff N. Hiten
> Microsoft SQL Server MVP
> Senior Database Administrator
>
> "Joel" <joelmacaluso@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:Of$K0BHNFHA.244@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> > Thanks Geoff,
> >
> > Here's what I think you are looking for:
> >
> > 1.)Both servers are equipped with 2x18GB (Array A) mirrored. They are
> > connected to the internal channel of the IBM4MX SCSI. This is the
logical
> > C: and D: drives.
> > The external Channel 1 of the Raid controller connects to the shared
scsi.
> >
> > 2.)Array B = 2x18 GB mirrored = Q drive (Quorum) slots 13-14. (Physical
> > device is a shared IBM SCSI storage array)
> >
> > 3)Array C= 5x18 Raid 5 = S drive (Shared) slots 0-4 (Physical device is
> > shared IBM SCSI storage array)
> >
> > Summarized:
> >
> > LUNs= Q: and S: [Storage Array-Arrays B&C]
> >
> > C: and D: internal Server [Array A]
> >
> >
> > "Geoff N. Hiten" <SRDBA@Careerbuilder.com> wrote in message
> > news:uiCzd1ANFHA.2136@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> >> From your description it looks like this is a SCSI cluster. Can you
give
> >> a complete description of the SCSI device as well as the physical(RAID)
> >> and logical(LUN) disk layouts for the cluster. I have an idea where
your
> >> problem might be, but I need more information to be sure.
> >>
> >> Geoff N. Hiten
> >> Microsoft SQL Server MVP
> >> Senior Database Administrator
> >>
> >>
> >> "Joel" <joelmacaluso@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> >> news:%23qfT7o%23MFHA.4028@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> >>> We've been struggling with a problem for a while now. If anyone has
has
> >>> a similiar issue, I'd appreciate it if you could share it here as it
may
> >>> lead me to a solution... The Cluster houses SQL and IIS (bad I know,
> >>> but it shouldn't cause the problems we see)
> >>>
> >>> We have the following Cluster hardware:
> >>>
> >>> 2 IBM x345 Servers
> >>> 1 IBM ServeRAID 4MX (RAID 5)
> >>>
> >>> Basically, whenever we have both machines connected to the cluster, at
> >>> some point (sometimes days, sometimes weeks) a failure will occur
where
> >>> the Clustered drives (Data and Quorum) will become defunct. Bringing
> >>> them back online and restarting, etc works fine (but this takes a
while
> >>> and always with risk).
> >>>
> >>> I've been working with IBM for months now to try to troubleshoot this
> >>> but nothing has helped to make this a "highly available" environment.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>