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Understanding the active-active configuration – StorCase Technology FC-to-SCSI Single & Dual RAID User Manual

Page 114

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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.