Understanding the active-active configuration – StorCase Technology FC-to-SCSI Single & Dual RAID User Manual
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FC-SCSI Dual RAID Module User's Guide - Rev. A01
StorCase Technology, Inc.
Configuration
101
Understanding the Active-Active Configuration
Controller A -
The primary controller. The controller's identity is displayed continuously
at the bottom of the Disk Array Administrator screen.
Controller B -
The secondary controller. The controller's identity is displayed continu-
ously at the bottom of the Disk Array Administrator screen.
Failback -
The act of returning ownership of controller resources from a surviving
controller to a previously failed (but now active) controller. The resources
include disk arrays, cache data, and host ID information.
Failover -
The act of temporarily transferring ownership of controller resources
from a failed controller to a surviving controller. The resources include
disk arrays, cache data, and host ID information.
Kill -
One controller can kill the other controller by resetting it and taking it off-
line.
Other -
The opposite controller from the one currently being used.
Ownership -
In an Active-Active configuration, a single controller has ownership of the
following resources: arrays and dedicated spares. When a controller
fails, the other controller assumes temporary ownership of its resources.
Unkill -
When a surviving controller removes the reset from the other controller,
it unkills it. The other controller will reboot and attempt to come on-line.
In order to run the two controller modules in Active-Active mode:
-
The two controllers must be installed in a proper configuration.
-
Both controllers must be loaded with compatible firmware levels. The system auto-
matically detects firmware incompatibilities and will halt the boot of the second
controller.
-
The operating mode of each controller must be set to Active-Active.
-
Host channel 0 of each controller must be set to a different ID only if using a single
host interface. If using two host connections, then each controller's host channel can
have the same ID.