Preparing Your Systems for Clustering 41
3
Preparing Your Systems for 
Clustering
  CAUTION: Only trained service technicians are authorized to remove and access 
any of the components inside the system. See the safety information that shipped 
with your system for complete information about safety precautions, working 
inside the system, and protecting against electrostatic discharge.
Cluster Configuration Overview
1
Ensure that your site can handle the cluster’s power requirements.
Contact your sales representative for information about your region's 
power requirements.
2
Install the servers, the shared storage array(s), and the interconnect 
switches (for example, in an equipment rack), and ensure that all these 
components are turned on.
  NOTE: For more information on step 3 through step 7 and step 10 through 
step 12, see the “Preparing your systems for clustering” section of the 
Dell Failover Clusters with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Installation and 
Troubleshooting Guide at support.dell.com/manuals.
3
Deploy the operating system (including any relevant service pack and 
hotfixes), network adapter drivers, and storage adapter drivers (including 
the MPIO software) on each of the servers that must become cluster 
nodes. Depending on the deployment method that is used, it may be 
necessary to provide a network connection to successfully complete 
this step.
  NOTE: You can record the Cluster configuration to the Cluster Data Form to 
help in planning and deployment of your cluster. For more information, see the 
"Cluster Data Form" on page 73 and "Zoning Configuration Form" on page 77.
4
Establish the physical network topology and the TCP/IP settings for 
network adapters on each server node to provide access to the cluster 
public and private networks.
book.book  Page 41  Monday, July 25, 2011  3:18 PM