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Configuring the Association  



It is critical to specify the correct values of systems and hard and soft partitions for GCM to run properly. Incorrect values will cause command routing to fail. Before installing the GCM and defining the configuration of the association, it can be helpful to define the association on a worksheet.

Sample Worksheet for A Simple Association is an example of how to define an association for a system with two hard partitions, each of which contains four soft partitions.1

Table 1   Sample Worksheet for A Simple Association
Fully Qualified System Name IP Address System Hard Partition Soft Partition
sysnam1.zko.dec.com
16.32.112.1
0
0
0
sysnam2.zko.dec.com
16.32.112.2
0
0
1
sysnam3.zko.dec.com
16.32.112.3
0
0
2
sysnam4.zko.dec.com
16.32.112.4
0
0
3
sysnam5.zko.dec.com
16.32.112.5
0
1
0
sysnam6.zko.dec.com
16.32.112.6
0
1
1
sysnam7.zko.dec.com
16.32.112.7
0
1
2
sysnam8.zko.dec.com
16.32.112.8
0
1
3

Consideration  

An association can be a single system, a combination of hard and soft partitions within a single system, or multiple systems with any combination of hard and soft partitions. Typically, the GCM is used within a single system, including all soft partitions that exist in that system. Although you can extend a GCM association to span multiple systems, including older AlphaServer systems, be aware of the performance impact of creating large associations.

A burst of network traffic is created by the GCM in response to a configuration change. If your association spans many systems and partitions, the volume of data may become excessive. Although HP is continually improving the operation of the GCM, you can define associations that become unmanageable. It is difficult to set limits on association size because of the number of factors that affect performance, such as network speed and load, and GCM client system resources. Note that the design goal for the initial release of the GCM is a maximum of eight partitions. Typical customer installations contain far fewer partitions.

Adding Systems to An Association  

A system is a physical machine cabinet. You can add systems to an association with the GCM Setup utility (which requires you to define at least one local system; see Setting Up the GCM Server ) or at any time using the GCM client. As you add new systems to the association, you must specify identifying details and, if necessary, adjust GCM server limits.

You must assign a unique system number to each system. For example, a GS320 may have up to eight partitions, all within the same system. System numbers are assigned sequentially starting with zero. Each system number results in the creation of a separate branch of the configuration display.

For each hard partition within each system, you must define a a hard partition number. This must be the actual hard partition number. For example, if you partition a GS320 into four hard partitions, you must be aware of which partitions are numbered zero through three.

For each soft partition within each hard partition, you must define a soft partition number. This must be the actual soft partition number. For example, if you split hard partition number 0 into soft partitions 0 and 1, you must specify the appropriate partition number for each system. Sample Worksheet for A Simple Association shows a system configured in this way.

Note that all partitions reside within system 0. If you extend your association to include another system with its own set of partitions, those partitions will have system 1 designations.


NoteIt is critical that you set these values correctly. If you fail to provide proper values, GCM will be unable to form the desired association, or will be unable to properly route command traffic through the association. At times you may need to invoke the native Graphical Configuration Utility (GCU) utility with the CONFIGURE GALAXY command to determine the proper identifiers for the GCM.

Note that the GCM server maintains limits over the number of concurrent GCM clients and GCM servers it will support. The defaults are four concurrent GCM clients and eight concurrent GCM servers. When these limits are reached, additional GCM client or GCM server connection requests are denied. You can alter these values by editing the GCM administration database from a privileged GCM client.

Remember to manually propagate the modified GCM administration database file GCM_ADMIN.EDB to all instances that are new to the association. If a GCM server was running previously but is new to this association, stop all GCM servers, manually copy the GCM administration database file, and then restart all GCM servers. Once you get your association set up and functioning, it is best not to alter it more than necessary. Once stability has been achieved, the GCM should remain stable and usable.


Footnotes
1

A value of zero causes DNS name translation to look up the current IP address.

( Number takes you back )


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