Keeping networks constantly up and running is critical to today`s fast-moving Internet economy. With that in mind, Novell has announced directory-enabled NetWare Cluster Services for NetWare 5. Endorsed by hardware vendors Compaq, Dell, HP and IBM, NetWare Cluster Services is a highly scalable, extremely manageable clustering solution for Intel-based servers that maximises network uptime and allows businesses to provide their customers with reliable access to network resources like file, print, e-mail/collaboration or Web applications.
Novell SE manager James Stewart says through integration with Novell Directory Services (NDS), NetWare Cluster Services also simplifies and lowers the cost of network management by providing a single point of administration, allowing live upgrades and maintenance, and supporting shared storage between servers in a cluster. "The costs of network downtime can be dramatic for any business that relies on an IT infrastructure for customer service or employee productivity. According to The Standish Group, network downtime can cost up to R60 000 each minute in the case of an e-commerce application and R80 000 each minute in the case of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application."
NetWare Cluster Services for NetWare 5 adds higher availability to Novell`s award-winning, directory-enabled network operating system. NetWare Cluster Services maximises network uptime by tying together from two to eight Intel architecture network servers, or nodes, to create a cluster. The clustered servers have access to shared volumes and can also back each other up if one of the nodes fails, a process known as failover.
This combination of NetWare Cluster Services and NetWare 5 allows customers to dramatically reduce network downtime by providing extremely fast failover if problems occur. In most cases, if a clustered server does go down, failover is imperceptible to end-users. For example, if a user sends a print job and the network server fails, that user doesn`t have to resubmit the print job and would notice little more than the passing of a few seconds before the job is completed.
Other key benefits of NetWare Cluster Services include scalability, manageability, preventative maintenance and support of storage area networks. NetWare Cluster Services scales to more nodes than any other clustering solution in its class. Novell has announced support for an eight-node cluster, but extended configurations are possible, and NetWare Cluster Services has been demonstrated to support up to 12 nodes.
Furthermore, NetWare Cluster Services is extremely flexible and easy to manage because of its integration with NDS. Using ConsoleOne, network administrators can manage all clustered resources, including connection licenses, data volumes, services and applications, from a single point.
Administrators also have the option of monitoring the cluster remotely via any Web browser. NetWare Cluster Services allows administrators to conduct routine network maintenance without disrupting the work of end users accessing network resources, such as applications like Novell GroupWise or Oracle. Those resources can be quickly and easily transferred to another server in a cluster allowing critical maintenance to occur.
Finally, by designing NetWare Cluster Services to support large numbers of nodes, Novell has helped pioneer the Storage Area Network (SAN). NetWare Cluster Services helps customers obtain the maximum benefit from their investment in high-performance SANs by providing storage consolidation, a single point of storage management and server-free online backup.
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